is the extra debt worth it?

<p>i know this is probably a tired question, but...my top four are rhodes, scripps, wellesley, and barnard. so far rhodes has given me the best financial aid, but i also got amazing aid from wellesley (especially considering it costs thousands more than rhodes) and good (but not as good) aid from scripps. i'm really set on going to barnard, but i'm waiting for their aid (my tax stuff was late), which i'll likely find out about tomorrow. </p>

<p>the problem is, rhodes, my least favorite, gave me a way better package than expected. nearly the entire COA is covered with only $3500 in loans per year—there's only a few hundred to pay out of pocket. if i went to barnard, scripps, or wellesley, i would likely have to bump up the amount of loans from $3500 (scripps) or $1800 (wellesley) to $5500 per year (maybe even up to the max allowed during jr/sr years) to lower what my mom has to pay. i'm so grateful, but REALLY don't want to go to rhodes—it's too close to home and it seems rather homogenous (i really want to be somewhere diverse) and too small (i like the claremont consortium, barnard's ties with columbia, and wellesley's relations with MIT/the numerous surrounding schools). plus, i really want to be in the northeast, and i just like that environment a lot more. i feel like nyc or close proximity to boston would allow me so much more opportunity to do whatever i decide on. i also want to live and work in the northeast. i'd probably major in econ or computer science, and i want to study a language, too. i just feel like those schools have a lot more resources than rhodes....is ~10k extra debt at graduation that horrible? </p>

<p>bump??</p>

<p>So Wellesley only gave you $1,800 in loans each year? How much are you expected to pay out of pocket? Did you get work study?</p>

<p>You can always find a summer job to decrease some of the loan burden. </p>

<p>so what are the costs to you and your family of each school including loans?</p>

<p>rhodes is just a few hundred with $3500 in loans, scripps is around $4800 with $3500 in loans, and wellesley is $4600 with $1800 in loans. i don’t know about barnard yet. </p>

<p>yeah, i got work study </p>

<p>So</p>

<p>Rhodes: Your loans $3500, your parents pay maybe $500 out of pocket.
Scripps: Your loans $3500, your parents pay $4800 out of pocket.
Wellesley: Your loans $1800, your parents pay $4600 out of pocket.</p>

<p>You of course need to wait on Barnard’s financial aid package, but if I had to select out of these packages - assuming that your parents can afford the out-of-pocket costs - I’d choose Scripps or Wellesley. Both debt amounts will result in less than $30,000 of debt after college, even assuming that they go up for the sophomore, junior and senior years, which are manageable amounts to repay assuming around the average starting salary for college grads.</p>

<p>Talk to your parents, though. I don’t currently have children, but if I did, I’d rather pay $5,000 a year for them go somewhere they really want to attend and will be happy rather than pay $500 for them to go somewhere they won’t be as happy, especially when that “somewhere happy” is Wellesley or Scripps. That’s what we work for, right?</p>

<p>well, that’s the thing—my mom can’t pay that out of pocket, so it would be up to me to take out more loans each year to reach the max amount allowed + get a summer job to cover most of the EFC. i would end up with the max fed loan debt when i graduate, which is around 27k, i think. yeah, that’s not too bad, right? basically, it’s just 14k debt at undesirable school vs 27k at dream school. </p>

<p>scripps and barnard had estimated NPCs that were almost the same, and scripps’ actual offer nearly matched the estimate, so i’m expecting barnard to be around the same amount…i really wish i just wanted to go wellesley or rhodes, but i love barnard too much…</p>

<p>Have you amortized the debt yet? That is, have you figured out how much 14K or 27K will cost you each month when you graduate? for how long? could you pay off some of the debt by summer work? It seems clear that for reasons unknown you prefer one or more of these schools over Rhodes. Can you afford your preference? Have you included travel costs? study abroad? Are you so absolutely sold on why you prefer, say, Barnard? Can you write down the reasons and how sure you are of each? Some more study is required, I’d say.</p>

<p>no, i haven’t, but i thought i made the reasons why i prefer barnard/wellesley pretty clear in my original post, and i could probably list quite a few more.</p>

<p>Barnard will want you to take the full amount of subsidized Direct Loans that are available to you, but not more. (Though you’ll have the option of an extra unsub loan if you want). I think that’s $4500 the first year, $5500 each year after that. And yes, if you do well at Barnard, its worth it. My Barnard grad daughter isn’t happy with her undergraduate debt, but she doesn’t regret the choice of Barnard for minute. I’m sure she’s make the same choice over again.</p>

<p>Rhodes is a great school too – but not if you’ll be miserable there! You aren’t asking the typical free ride vs. $50K/year CC question – you are asking about an amount of debt that probably translates to about $100 more for a monthly loan payment down the line, and that is not going to be a significant impact on your finances. </p>