Daughter was admitted to both schools. I’m a Michigan alum, but I want her to go where she wants. We live in SoCal.
Which one should she pick?
Michigan: likely major, Poli Sci
Approx 4 year cost: $300,000 (combination loans and help from us)
ASU Barrett Honors: Already admitted to business school
Approx 4 year cost: $92,000 (she received a full tuition ride)
If she goes to ASU, I give her the additional $35,000 we have saved for grad school or anything else
@sbdad12 Since it is much cheaper and closer to home, Barrett is the obvious choice. She can go to Ann Arbor for grad school if she applies and gets accepted again. Save the money and have easier access w/o airports if needed
Maybe I am not understanding but how does Asu come to $92,000 if she got tuition paid for? Room and board is like $12,000/year.
But even without that it’s a huge cost difference. You know I am a Michigan fan with my son there but I would have pause.
But if you have the money and can pay for it cleanly then that’s your call. As you know she’s limited yearly what she can take out.
@Knowsstuff , good question. Works out to the following:
Barrett Honors College supplement: $2,000
WP Carey College Fee (Business School): $1,800
Student Initiated fees: $628
Books and Supplies: $1,000
Room and Board: $15,836
Travel: $0 (got tons of miles and she can drive if needed in her last years there)
Personal expenses: $2,500
Total $23,764
Room and Board at Barrett for two years (required) is much higher than the typical room and board off campus. Figuring $92K is close, but it might be $85-$88K for four years.
Reading between the lines, $92k + $35k means that you can contribute $127k. So Michigan would need $173k beyond your contribution. Even with optimistic assumptions of student work earnings and the maximum direct loans, that would require a rather large amount of parent loans or parent-cosigned student loans, which are generally not a good idea.
@ucbalumnus , we have plenty of home equity, but that’s a loan unto itself.
I guess the real question isn’t Michigan vs ASU Honors, but is Michigan worth another $200,000+?
Generally not if all or much of it has to be borrowed, or would make it difficult to meet other financial goals (e.g. parents’ retirement, funding other kids’ college, kid’s possible professional school, etc.).
I agree. We planned ahead and had some 529 money plus paid for college of 2 out of current income. If you borrow home equity money now do you plan to pay it back like sooner then later? Like would you just loan yourself the money with the idea of paying it back like a traditional loan?
Will she get better opportunities at Michigan even without getting into Ross for business. Maybe… Many are very successful without Ross or even honors at Michigan. She could also apply to honors at any point.
@sushiritto being a Californian what’s your take?
IF and that is a BIG IF classes are held online for the Fall Semester and the student has to stay home for one semester, would that play into your decision? The cost difference would be even greater.
As the OP may know, my kid attends UMich. With AP credits, but taking additional classes for two minors, she’ll still finish at least a semester early. So, originally, we were thinking she would finish in 3 years. At this point, it appears that there will be one less semester of tuition.
Do you know if Barrett or UMich will give your kid lots of AP credits?
Also, we were comparing to UC’s and a couple of other OOS schools in expensive cities and Ann Arbor is cheaper in terms of housing and food, assuming your kid wants to live off campus. I have no idea about Tempe.
I don’t know any of the details of Barrett, but just Barrett alone has over 6,000 students at the Tempe campus. And ASU Tempe has over 70,000 students. That’s a big campus. The one thing I like about Central Campus in Ann Arbor is that my kid’s classes are all essentially around the Quad. So, 10 minutes is more than enough time to shuttle (walk) between classes.
$200,000 is a lot of money. The difference between the UC’s and UMich was much smaller and UMich was generous with AP credits. And then at UMich, professors and advisers are relatively accessible, so that was appealing as well.
However, Michigan can be stingy with transferred college credit (even from Michigan community colleges), so frosh students who took advanced courses through a local college / dual enrollment program or transfer students may be unpleasantly surprised by having to retake a lot of courses. However, Michigan does put its transfer credit database on the web so that students with college credit can check on this before matriculating.
I couldn’t care less about Michigan’s policy towards transfer credits. I was explaining our UMich decision, not somebody else’s decision. And the OP is not a transfer.
It depends on your income. If you’re a 1-percenter ($400K or above annual income) then the cost almost doesn’t matter. As income falls it becomes more of a personal choice. Certainly Michigan and ASU are not clones, but I think the biggest difference in student outcomes (unless we’re talking HYPS or the like vs ASU) is what the student does. A student that works hard, gets to know some profs for recs if grad school is in the future, takes part in internships or research depending on career goals, etc. will do well coming out of almost any college.
All good points, @sushiritto . Michigan and ASU/Barrett have similar policies when it comes to AP credits. My daughter has mostly 4s and 5s, yet has a 3 in EuroHistory, and neither schools give credit for this. Only ones that do are the UCs and CSUs. I believe both Michigan and Barrett give her credit for the two dual enrollment classes she took at the local community college based on a search.
I’m estimating her having 24-27 credits out of 120 needed to graduate before she steps foot on campus. If she graduates early, she can use the free tuition for a semester or year of graduate school at ASU.
The Tempe campus is 51,000 students undergrad, which I believe is undergrad and grad. (the other campuses total 19,000 so that’s where the 70K total comes in) Michigan is 46K students grad and undergrad. If this is accurate, they are similar in enrollment size.
It takes 16 minutes by foot to walk from Mary Markley and the Hill dorms to The Diag. The walk between the Barrett dorms and the business school is 8 minutes, the College of Arts and Sciences is 5 minutes from the dorm, and she’s right across the street from the Sun Devil Fitness Complex. And several of her classes will be in the dorm itself, so advantage ASU. The Diag is compact, but ASU itself is relatively compact too.
Cost of living I believe is about the same between the schools. She is spending a lot her first year because she wanted a private room, with a shared bath in a quad suite. When we were looking at UCSB, room and board in town is A LOT more, unless you end up in a dump in IV.
I was talking with a financial aid person at Michigan saying as an alum it’s disappointing about the OOS cost. She knew that and heard it from a lot of OOS parents. She even said it was cheaper for her in state sister to attend Yale over Michigan because of the aid they give. Wow. But Michigan gets so many people that will pay full cost, why should they change?
Certainly not a 1% er. Wish it were the case. I agree with your take on this.
@collegeisago , good point. If that were the case, then Michigan would cost $26000-$27000 for that semester, and Barrett $2300.
OP asked if Michigan was worth well over $200,000 more than the cost for ASU Barrett.
The more precise issue:
Whether a Political Science degree from the University of Michigan is worth an additional $210,000+ than the cost for a business degree from ASU Barrett Honors College ?
The answer in “no”.
When considering that student loans would be required in order to pay for part of the extra cost at UMich for a degree in political science, the answer becomes “NO !”.
You can check Michigan and ASU transfer credit from that community college at the following:
https://www.ugadmiss.umich.edu/TCE/Public/CT_TCESearch.aspx
https://webapp4.asu.edu/transfercreditguide/app/home?init=false&nopassive=true
Note that some courses may give specific course credit, some may give only generic or departmental credit, and some may give no credit.
Did your D get her housing placement already?
FWIW, my kid was placed on Central Campus for her freshman dorm and both her sophomore and junior off-campus housing are relatively cheap (compared the UC locations) and only a couple blocks from the Diag. Her commute is minimal.
Sounds like your D’s decision is made. Best of luck to her at ASU.
@sushiritto , no, she hasn’t even put a deposit down. I would say she’s about 90-95% there with ASU. The financial costs might be too much for Michigan, and she already is pretty far down the path at ASU. I guess I’m just posting here to make sure she considers everything. (you would think as an alum, I would know this, but school has changed since the 30+ years ago since I graduated from Michigan.)