IU, SCU, UDUB , UCR Decision

Hi!

My daughter is accepted to

Indiana University, Kelley School of Business (Direct Admission)
Santa Clara University, Leavey School of Business with an award of $22.5K for the first year.
University of Washington Seattle with $3K per Year scholarship.
University of California Riverside (Major Economics/Administrative Studies, B.A.)
Univ. of San Diego (Major Marketing)
Cal Poly Pomona (Business Administration - Marketing Management)
SJSU (Business Administration – Marketing)
She got wait-listed in UCD and UCSD.

Results from UC Berkeley, U Mich, NYU, and some other schools are still awaited.

In your opinion, which school is my best option? Any insight will be appreciated. I know this is a tough decision as Kelly, Leavey, U of Washington are expensive but better schools while SJSU and Cal Ploy are state universities so very cost-effective. We are in the bay area.

Many Thanks!!

Don’t say better - they have more prestigious reputations. Kelly people overrate - for example, it’s not a top wall street provider but if you read the Kelly chains you’d think it’s Harvard. But yes, it’s a good school.

What are your hot buttons? Cost or school size or urban rurals, etc. What major within business will she choose?

Fit and finances are far more important. If you got into Michigan or NYU but hated being from home, what’s the point?

You are studying marketing. It is much more quantitative today but of all the business disciplines, it’s the most fluff.

If cost is an issue, depending on her unweighted GPA you can still apply to Arizona and go dirt cheap.

Since you mentioned cost, I’d look at the career outcomes for each. My guess is, especially at SJSU as they are heavily recruited by the tech companies if that interests her, they probably do well.

If cost is not an issue, then UW is in a city. IU is gorgeous…but sort of not in a city…they say Bloomington is and so nice but I don’t see it myself…so big town vs. small.

I’m not a Pomona fan…but I think you have solid choices. Just depends…first and foremost on money.

You might throw in Arizona - if you had a 4.0 UW, you get $35K vs $37K tuition. With a 3.9, you get $30K. You applied to Michigan so you probably do.

Good luck.

It would help others help you if you list them with net prices after deducting scholarships and grants from the list price, as well as how much you are willing to pay without loans.

Thanks, @tsbna44
As far as Hot Button is a concern, it is the cost for sure, however, I can manage if it’s worth it. I believe she wants to go to a bigger school but not sure about her preference for rural vs urban. She is fine to stay away from home if the college is good. We may need to plan a campus tour.

I agree with you on SJSU, that’s a big advantage there. I heard that their curriculum is custom designed keeping in mind a few local tech companies.
She is already accepted in U of A but we are not considering that. Her UW is 3.83 (it does not include 1 AP and 1 other course she took outside and she had “A” in both).

Here you go…
For some cases, I pulled information from the respective website as I have not received an official letter on the cost of attendance.

IU

Here you go…
For some cases, I pulled information from the respective website as I have not received an official letter on the cost of attendance.

SCU : $76K
IU: $59K
SJSU : $29K
UCR: $36K
UDUB: $56K
UCSB: $38K

Basically four tiers of price:

$29k ($116k) SJSU

$36k ($144k) UCR
$38k ($152k) UCSB

$56k ($224k) Washington
$59k ($236k) Indiana

$76k ($304k) Santa Clara

Assume that the four year costs in parentheses will be higher due to college price inflation.

How much are you willing to spend without taking loans or limiting savings for your retirement or for any younger kids’ college costs?

I would also look at the safety factor of each. My oldest D got into SJSU several years ago and we took a tour (beautiful campus) but looked up safety factors and decided against it due to crime in the area after dark. That was just our opinion and it may be fine now but just another factor to throw in to all of them. My youngest is waiting on all of her decisions still and although safety is not the main factor, it’s definitely something we are considering.

@SBuser - Thanks for the feedback. Safety is surely an important factor for us.

From finance stand point $130K-$150K for 4 years will be okay for me… Other higher options will be stretch.

So $32-38k per year if the student stays within 8 semesters (or $26-30k per year if you think that the student may need 10 semesters).

So that leaves only the following as financially realistic possibilities:

$29k ($116k) SJSU
$36k ($144k) UCR
$38k ($152k) UCSB