<p>Sent my deposit into Lehigh but just recently got off the Vanderbilt waitlist. Will major in Business or economics at Lehigh and economics/polisci at Vanderbilt. Not exactly sure what I want to do straight out of college, though I've thought about law school, consulting,politics, and business of some sort. </p>
<p>Vanderbilt will cost 12,000 more a year. My parents and I will pay for this in a combination of loans for me/loans for my parents. I visited both and preferred Vanderbilt (though not ridiculously so) but I am a bit worried that this extra cost could be an unnecessary burden on my parents, who are already taking out money from their IRA to pay for college. I won't take on any loans if I go to Lehigh, though my parents will. The amount of loans I take on if I go to Vanderbilt is yet to be determined, though it could range from very little to the full 12000 a year.</p>
<p>Is a degree from Vanderbilt worth 48K more than Lehigh?</p>
<p>That depends on what your parents can afford. </p>
<p>How much are you having to pay at Lehigh? How much of it is loans? How much in loans would you have to take out to go to Vanderbilt? How much are your parents willing to contribute? etc.?</p>
<p>Lehigh will be 37K a year. Vanderbilt will be 49K.</p>
<p>My parents can afford to pay about 10K a year out of pocket and said they would take the rest out in loans to pay for Lehigh (which alone is alot I feel like). I will have to have work study on campus/have a job during the summer to bring in about $4,000 a year, excluding money for social events.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt they said they definitely wouldn’t be able to take the entire amount in loans and said at the very minimum I would have to take out stafford loans, but depending on their financial situation I may have to take on more (my dad has been in and out of the hospital for a while and hasnt been able to work full time). I will also have to have a work study/summer job.</p>
<p>So even for Lehigh your parents will be incurring $27k/year, a total of $108k+interest if you graduate in four years. This is a huge amount of debt to take on for parents who have steady income and great health. For someone who has been ill and not working full time the thought of this debt or more is overwhelming. I would not even consider adding to this amount, even for Vanderbilt.</p>
<p>I hate to be intrusive, but given this information was there no thought to a school that would have required less debt? To be accepted to such high caliber schools you certainly had the stats to consider many schools that had a lower COA or would give more merit aid.</p>