My parents have been generous enough to agree to pay 30k for me to go to college (tuiton + room and board). But I am really interested in out of state schools because they have better programs and I only have 2 choices for school in state. My parents make 100k + so if I were to go out of state I would have to take out about 20k in loans each year. I was wondering in your opinions and experiences how much debt is too much ? And does prestige really matter for a major such as engineering (in my case) ?
Debt is something that’s a bigger monster for some than others. Since your family makes 100k+ annually, $80,000 of debt, although significant, is not as much to you as it would be if your family made say 50k a year. That being said, 80k is a lot. If I were you I’d look into schools with great financial aid. Even though your family is far from financially challenged, you’d be surprised as to how much money you could actually get from the right schools. I’d look into private schools with a lot of money.
As far as how much prestige matters, in engineering it seems to matter less.
Thanks but just to clarify I would have to pay the loans myself
What state are you in and what major?
The limits of your Federal Direct Loans are $5500 - first year; $6500 - second year; $7500 - third year and beyond. You need your parents or someone else (credits & signatures) to borrow amount beyond those limits.
VA - virginia tech (very tough for in state students average accepted is 4.1 and I have a 3.74), not evening considering UVA average accepted is 4.4 so that leaves George mason and VCU but I would have to major in mechanical instead of Aerospace engineering
Thank you 4kidsdad I wasn’t aware of that^
Engineering is one major where the university/college doesn’t matter much at all provided the program is accredited by ABET. While there may be some difference in the companies that recruit between X and Y, graduates of both X and Y will have the same starting salary at company Z.
You are very lucky that your parents are offering you 30k each year. It is likely that your home-state public Us will be affordable on that budget. Some others may be as well - especially if you have the test scores and grades to qualify you for significant merit-based aid. For more reading on this topic, head on over to the Financial Aid Forum.
Thank you I appreciate it. I have one more question though. George Jason’s mechanical engineering program is brand new this year and is not yet ABET certified but they will likely be accredited so because their other existing programs are. Worse case, what if I go to GMU and they get accredited after my sophmore year or after I graduate. Will not graduating from an accredited school hurt my job chances?
You should contact GMU and ask them specifically about this issue. They certainly have some kind of plan in place for dealing with the accreditation, but you want the details.
George mason*
Thanks again!
Yes the excess loans would be in the parents name or cosigned and the payment on that much loans would be 1,000 a month at least for 10 years, so if you couldn’t pay it starting 6 months after you graduate your parents will be paying it. Ask them how they would fee about that. You should look for the OOS colleges where you might get merit and you may end up finding out that those are no better than your instate schools.