I am wanting to major in either a pre med pathway or a business pathway(not 100% sure yet). Right now I have put my deposit in for West Virginia University and will only have to pay roughly 13,000 a year(maybe a little less). Or I can go to the University of Alabama for Marine Biology and get a scholarship which will take tuition down to the cost of instate which is about 28,000. If I go to WVU I can cash flow it and graduate debt free or if I go to the University of Alabama I will still have about 50,000-60,000 in debt. I’m thinking about med or law school later on down the road as well. Even though I have registered for wvu already I’m still having second thoughts. So my question is, is the University of Alabama worth the cost?
You cannot take $50,000 in debt for undergraduate without a cosigner. Cosigned student loans are generally not a good idea for either the student of the (usually parent) cosigner. And you probably do not want to bring undergraduate debt along if you go to expensive medical or law school.
The 50,000 would be over the duration of my undergrad career.
Generally if you plan to go to med or law school it’s best to begin with as little undergrad debt as possible. Both are very expensive.
Morgantown is cool, I’d choose WVU and enjoy graduating with all options open to you, financially. It’s hard to overstate the value of the freedom that having no debt will give you, or the career choices you can make as a result.
That is still higher than the total amount of non-cosigned undergraduate student loans you can get over four years.
If you have professional school in your future, you want to keep your undergrad debt down. My daughter loved UA and got a great education there, but I would not have let her go $50,000 in debt to attend. I personally don’t think the difference is worth it if you don’t have that money available without borrowing.
I don’t see a whole lot of difference between WVU and UA, for what you’re wanting to do. Keep the debt down.
Academically, both are roughly equivalent. There isn’t much point digging yourself a hole of debt.
Bama will require an additional expense of two summer semesters. Have you factored this into your financial decision?
If you want to major in marine biology, there are much better choices than either Bama or WVU.
“Marine science courses are only offered at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab during the summers. Portions of two summers will be needed to complete the required marine science coursework, which includes marine biology, marine geology, introduction to oceanography and at least 4 credit hours of elective classes. During the academic year, students complete the requirements for the second major as well as the general education coursework on the main campus. Graduation in four years can be achieved with two summers of marine science coursework at the sea lab and a realistic load of classes each semester.”
WVU without a doubt. Premeds need to have as little debt as possible, zero being ideal - if WVU allows you do that, go with it and feel proud.
Premed is an intention, not a major. You can major in anything - you could major in business and be premed. Being premed means handling basic intro classes for various majors and being top 10-20% in every single one of them. It means you’ll take 2 semesters each of biology, English, physics, inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, and one semester each of calculus, statistics, sociology, psychology, biochemistry, a diversity-focused class, and sometimes neuroscience or other science classes. Having fluency in a language spoken by immigrants (acquired through classes or clinic experience) can help. Being willing to serve underserved areas of your state can also help. (There are two excellent columns by Nicholas Kristof in the NYT this week -7/27, 7/29- about the challenges of health care, one at Wise VA and one in Texas, that as a potential health care professional you should read.)
No, it isn’t worth it.
How is this even an option in July? Did you just get off a waitlist? If you were accepted to AL but turned them down, there’s probably not a spot there for you to accept. If you got off the waitlist, it doesn’t sound affordable because you can’t borrow that much money.
UA is an awesome school as my son is a soph to be for mech eng but no school is worth being in debt $50,000. I would not let my son attend if that was the case. Head to WVU.