I am changing the name of the Discussion to better advertise the choice.
S1 has a couple choices. Money is always a factor, however the value is the most important factor. He is an engineering candidate and accepted into Miss. State, Auburn, Virginia Tech and Clemson. As a Georgia resident, he will be considered OOS for all options at this time. Common Market may work for Auburn but not until Jr. Year. He has merit aid at all 4 schools, however, MSU is most affordable and under budget! Auburn, Clemson and VT are all over budget to the point of requiring between $5-$10K per year in Student loans. S1 likes all choices, and is leaning towards the more expensive options. Will the additional investment by S1 be worth the debt considering graduation with an engineering degree from these institutions. Discussions with folks that hire engineers has indicated that there all are fine schools. Some like Auburn best, other say VT, others say All are relatively the same
$5,000 per year over parental contribution can be covered by either federal direct loan or (a relatively high amount of) work earnings (or some combination of smaller amounts of each). $10,000 per year over parental contribution would need both federal direct loan and work earnings.
You may want to see if each school has a career destinations survey. VT has one at http://www.career.vt.edu/postgraduationsurveyreport/postgrad.html ; do not know about the others.
My opinion is this order…VT, Clemson, Auburn, then MSU. Then take money into account which is most likely the exact opposite list. $25000-$40000 debt is not bad for engineers since postgrad degrees aren’t absolutely necessary.
One thing to do is figure out how much the tuition will go up in the next few years and project how much it will be when it’s senior year if you haven’t done this already.
Co-oping is very important for engineering too…is it an option? That will help a lot since those kids make quite a bit. Auburn is great with getting them in excellent Co-ops. No experience with the others in that.
Lastly, what gpa is required to hold merit scholarship? Share what you find since we are looking at the same schools for 2017. Just being nosy…No GA schools?
Thanks for the feedback.
@ucbalumnus great point on the student loan max. we need to take into account that as well. Our budget for him is 20K. we are trying to stick to that. he has applied for consideration of on campus employment.
@mom2engkids good point on rising tuition. His goal is to co-op which will assist in the cost as well. All 4 have good co-op programs from our research. Auburn and VT seem to be most forthcoming on who are their co-op partners.
the scholarships require 3.0 to keep.
Only really strong program in Georgia is GT. Very competitive to get into. he is deferred and will find out on Saturday if he is accepted. That will change the dynamics a bit.
Since he could simply take the federal loans and/or work, and be within budget for VT, AU, and Clemson, I’d stick to those and pick the cheapest among the three. VT would probably be my favorite because they offer more co-op opportunities (with the DC/NOVA/MD area, there are really opportunities not available in other areas of the country), which would considerably decrease the need for loans/work after the first year (even wiif tuition rises).
Mississippi State is rural, not just in location but also in culture, and rural Mississippi culture can be an acquired taste (some love it, but it’s something to keep in mind - the “feel” is very different from Ole Miss or even Southern Miss.)
Clemson’s Honors College seems to be pretty great.
@mom2engkids Calhoun (Clemson Honors) is building brand new dorms to be open this summer.