<p>Heres our dilemma: after crunching the numbers, son could attend St. Joes and have little to no debt after four years, or attend Loyola and end up with over $50K in debt. Hes planning to major in science. So, a question to be answered: is a Loyola experience/education worth 50K more than Saint Joes?</p>
<p>Not to answer a question with a question, but our D3 was accepted ED many months ago and we have yet to receive the financial aid package, which we are being told will come at the end of the month. She did receive a Presidential Scholarship…but that’s all we know. Have you received the aid package?</p>
<p>Brian6u - have not received FA pkg from St Joe’s yet, but did get scholarship, and factored that in with our current financial situation. If we get additional aid, SJU will look even better money-wise.</p>
<p>To answer your question (now that you kindly answered mine), two of my three daughters received large scholarships from St. Joe’s. I have known the college almost all my adult life, since I lived in Philadelphia. Honestly…on academics, approach, and environment…we view Loyola-MD in a completely superior league. Incredibly, Fiske Guide gives it a higher academic mark than Villanova. Although it would be awesome to have D3 in Philly, my personal push is for Loyola-MD…I am totally impressed with the university. Just for reference: D1 graduated from BC, and D2 is at Wake Forest. Best of luck to your son on whatever road he chooses.</p>
<p>brian6u–We received the FA letter a few days ago, from Loyola. We recvd the Pres Schol letter last month. </p>
<p>Tricia C–50k is a lot of debt! That needs some serious thinking—is he planning to do grad school at all? That would add even more to the pile. </p>
<p>Can you find an online calculator & figure what the monthly payments would be, after graduation? Maybe taking a good look at that kind of numbers would help him decide what he would be comfortable with in the future. I mean the monthly payments in adiditon to rent, car payments and all the other things young people have to deal with.</p>
<p>Thanks for your input Brian, and having now visited both schools, I agree with your assessment. From what I gathered from a recent visit to St. Joe’s, it’s likely their next investment will be to create a College of Education, which doesn’t mesh with my son’s goals. They have a successful Pre-Med program (86% placement), but son isn’t interested in going that route. Loyola is just about finished with a $12 million expansion/renovation of it’s science center, just in time for my aspiring young scientist, and offers many more options in their Physics curriculum including Engineering. I’m hoping the financial aid picture might improve after we’ve quickly exhausted our 529 account. We’ll see!</p>