<p>Marist or Fordham?
I am an undergraduate transfer student(completed 1 year at CC) majoring in Business Administration(human resource management), and have been accepted to both of these schools.
After getting my undergraduate degree, due to scholarships and other factors, I would have either 15,000 worth of debt from Marist or 45,000 from Fordham. Essentially, I am having difficulty deciding if Fordham is significantly better than Marist, so much so that it makes up for the discrepancy in price. I know that from Fordham only 45,000 worth of debt isn't that much (its about 38,000 for one year), however if I went to Marist I could cut that amount in half. I would be commuting to Fordham, and the drive is a concern, however my tentative scedual for them avoids the main "rush" hours(though no ride into the city at any time is EASY lol).</p>
<p>-Is Marist comparative to Fordham? For example, would someone with a degree from Marist be passed over for someone with one from Fordham? Is it better to go to Marist and have little debt, or is Fordham substantially better and worth the investment?</p>
<p>-Given this opportunity which would you choose? </p>
<p>Thanks in advance for any input.</p>
<p>Full disclosure: I know practically nothing about Marist except what I was able to pull up on College Board, so take any of my comments towards it with a grain of salt. </p>
<p>I think a lot of people turn down great deals for schools they would probably love because they get ridiculous deals for a school they don’t have a lot of interest in. Thing about it this way: if Marist wasn’t in the picture, do you see yourself leaping at the opportunity to go to Fordham w/ only $30k debt at the end? If so, I think you should go w/ Fordham. </p>
<p>That said, if you have any draw to Marist, it’s definitely something you need to seriously think about. My preliminary research on Marist tells me that while it certainly isn’t on Fordhams level, it isn’t that far behind. It looks like a fine school and an institution to be proud of. </p>
<p>Bottom line: it comes down to personal draw. If you are seriously drawn to Fordham, it isn’t irresponsible to take on that sort of (relatively) modest debt. If it’s only a slight preference or if you’re mostly concerned with name recognition and everything else is more or less equal, I would recommend Marist.</p>
<p>Edit: I see you took out that bit about outside help you mentioned earlier. Is that not a factor anymore?</p>
<p>I really appreciate you taking the time out the produce this thoughtful and insightful answer.
It most definitely is still a factor, FTW-My dad is offering to put forth 15,000 which would leave me responsible for the remainder of 30,000 for Fordham and make Marist free. I decided to edit it out because while there is without a doubt something to be said for a “Free” education, I didn’t want people to just base it off of that because my dad is still paying. Now that you mention it though, I realize it is an important background factor, as going to Marist would leave me without the worry and responsibility of paying back excessive loans, which many other student’s in my position must deal with. </p>
<p>You really hit the nail on the head when you said “If it’s only a slight preference or if you’re mostly concerned with name recognition and everything else is more or less equal, I would recommend Marist.” Fordham is actually the harder commute, and would be significantly more in gas, tolls, etc. I’m not worried about the social scene in either school, and truthfully the ONLY reason Fordham is at the forefront is because of “name” recognition. </p>
<p>I’m really struggling with the concept of the “value” of a name. </p>
<p>You really helped put things into perspective for me, and definitely gave me something to think about.</p>
<p>You ought to do some online research & determine how long it would take you to pay back that amount of debt from Fordham, it might surprise you.</p>
<p>It’s what you do at college, not the name that matters. Besides, academically Marist and Fordham are similar. Marist!</p>