My son has two options that are reasonable (due to cost)
Macaulay Honors @ Baruch which is basically free, we live in NYC, commute from home vs. Northeastern which will cost $25K/year (he has around $50K in scholarships) but I expect tuition & expenses will go up every year. I have to older children and by senior year the tuition was close to 10% higher. If tuition were 7K that wouldn’t be a problem but when tuition is $50K that means it’s $5K more. Since scholarships don’t go up when tuition does I expect the total cost will end up being around $100K.
So this comes down to
Baruch for free vs.
$100K for Northeastern
I can afford to pay $10K/year so my son will need around $60K in loans for 4 years. I don’t know about internships, nor how much money he can earn.
Pluses for NE - living on campus, more “college” experience.
Academically it is probably a better school.
Pluses for Macaulay Honors
Free.
Other things I don’t know.
How much better is Macaulay vs regular school? Are there special classes only for Macaulay students? Is Macaulay prestigious at all?
I also wonder if anyone has any idea if school will open up in the fall or will they all switch to remote learning. If Covid19 dies down during the summer but resurges in the Fall I fear this is what may happen. Paying $10K for room & board at Northeastern for a semester that may not even happen or get cut short without a refund is a concern.
Macaulay Honors for Free. Baruch’s a really good school. It’s got great connections in the City for jobs. Especially with COVID in the air, not knowing if he’ll be at home anyway with that hefty tuition at Norteastern, Macaulay for free seems a clear choice to me. Congratulations to your son!
Macaulay Honors and a XX scholarship (the free ride) will look mighty impressive on a resume. Don’t put him (and yourself) in bondage to banks - for years! With the money you save, you can give your son a fabulous summer in Europe as a college graduation present. Or a study abroad opportunity. Honestly, this IS a no brainer.
Just chiming in to support Macaulay - everyone I know who’s in the program is really brilliant, and loan free vs 60K of debt is a HUGE difference. I know a Macaulay grad who got a really competitive internship at Goldman Sachs (and now works there), so I think employers recognize the quality of its students. Plus, who knows how much longer remote learning is going to go on . . .
Macaulay for free - but be aware it’s not a traditional college experience: no campus and no campus life, 99% commuters…
Does the scholarship cover a year of living in the CUNY “dorms”? Those dorms aren’t much but they can create a small community of students and some sort of “campus life” - not the same as living on a “real” campus but better than commuting. Perhaps investigate.
Also, Baruch is especially strong for Business, so what would his major be?
Benefits:
He’ll get special, Macaulay-only seminars that make use of the City; access to Honors classes and seminars (he should definitely choose those if he can because there aren’t bad professors in these - he can use Rate my Professor); a cultural passport to go visit museums, see plays, etc, that he should absolutely take advantage of every week, as well as a laptop; access to an adviser (normally at a premium at CUNY universities).
He should definitely plan to use the savings to try and schedule study abroad during Winter Session freshman year, for instance, and a semester abroad . There are Macaulay-only study abroad programs, for which he can get an “opportunity fund” scholarship if needed.
Its more likely that private universities stay open over a public one. Its looking like some schools will open and some will stay closed. CUNY hasn’t decided yet.