Need Advice! In-state Oklahoma vs UVA vs BU for CS

College Search & Selection
21

I thought so too!

22

Technically they did but they offered like 13k in loans per year
 Like no thanks

23

Lets say 3500 per year of subsidized loans possible.

24

if 52k is all you have to borrow - it doesn’t strike me as too much 
 it won’t be crippling for a CS grad.

But some people would disagree 

I think a better name is worth something 
 question is just HOW Much 


25

How was BU’s FA offer?

I think there’s a financial aid forum on CC. It might be worth a post to see if someone could take a quick review of your FA just to be sure. Have all your documents together first.

Are you a first gen or URM? Maybe that could help. Also being from Oklahoma might help. Schools are always looking to diversify by geography.

Good luck.

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26

Why don’t you get the outcomes from each school. We know UVA and BU will be solid. OU is a fine flagship - and great campus.

See how their CS grads are doing - placement and salary wise (you may need to adjust salaries as they probably place in Dallas whereas the others in higher priced cities).

I’ve read a lot on the CC about CS degrees - some say no matter where you go to school, from a no name to an Ivy, you will be in demand.

So it could be going to OU that yes, you lose pedigree, but in actuality of life, you don’t lose. In that case, forgo the debt.

Debt is always an anchor that sinks people - emotionally if not figuratively.

Do your homework - the outcomes may provide the answer for you.

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27

The National College Scorecard has median earnings by major for each school. But note that that is the median and you won’t be at the exact median everywhere.

28

I already went over my FA package with BU’s financial advisors. It wasn’t 100% need met due to increased tuition and covid (supposedly.)

29

The average CS student from UVA has a starting salary of about 92k compared to the 70k from a student coming out of OU, that is however based on the state since Oklahoma has a really low COL. Plus, I don’t know if I want to live in Virginia, (leaning towards over BU) as I want to come back home for a few years to really get situated and ready for my career.

30

I’d have to borrow around 14k in subsidized loans

31

It’s close 
 and it’s your decision.
I think UVA / BU will get you out of your comfort zone, will expose you
to a ton of new stuff/people.

There is value to that (and the more-global connections will stay with you
for the rest of your life).

Can you try asking UVA and BU for more money?
Try to get your total loan amount under say 40k?

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32

Okay thanks, real solid input
 I guess i’ll think it through for the very limited time I have left

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33

My guess would be - if you hire in OKC, the salary will be the same regardless of where you go to school. Geographies definitely play a part.

My son goes to Bama. He’s engineering this Summer - with GA Tech kids - all the same $$.

When I got my MBA (at Arizona State), I had a UCLA and Dartmouth MBA in my hiring class. We all started at $64,992 (back in 1998).

The names are great and in the long run can help. OU is a solid flagship.

In the end, often time the name is just that, bragging rights. UVA is a great name but in the end the employer will pay what they will pay.

Once you get your first job, the school has less meaning.

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34

There are distributions, and they overlap 


Some jobs are available to many kids from different schools, and some won’t be available 

I can point out Wall Street and say that it’s very difficult for kids from many schools to get through 
 (and yet UVA and BU do crack this nut as well, OU won’t)

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35

With COL factored in the salaries are comparable between Ok and UVA/BU. At this point the only reason for BU/UVA is the experience. Some more things to consider.

  1. With Covid how much of the normal college experience will actually get? I still think this upcoming year will still be hit or miss with masks, distancing and online classes. Does it make sense to take loans for this?
  2. Ok has plenty of OOS students and internationals if you’re looking for diversity.
  3. Does Ok offer study abroad or any exchange opportunities? Some schools offer scholarships for these programs.
  4. Take one more try to negotiate some more FA from UVA or BU.
  5. Go to Ok for a year or two and transfer
if it makes sense. You might end-up being very happy at Oklahoma and just stay.

Sometimes it’s OK to punt. Go to Oklahoma and do well with no debt. CS degrees are very portable.

There’s good arguments for all the scenarios. You seem to be thoughtful and mature. I’ll think you’ll be fine either way. Good luck.

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36

For OU, I got into the President’s leadership class (the top 1% of academic and leadership achievers) which offers scholarships to study abroad in Italy. It would also open up more connections as I’d surround myself with the schools’ president and other important people. I guess the only thing I really don’t know is if the prestigious name of said schools is worth the money and the absence of these leadership positions. I mean realistically I’d assume if I want to live in Oklahoma regardless of which school, the name of the school won’t matter as OU is the top dog in this state. The only problem is that I don’t know what I want and mapping out my future starting now is nerve-racking / nearly impossible.

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37

UVA and BU seem tight with money, I’ve attempted to negotiate and it was an immediate shut down.

38

Yearly? You can only borrow $5.5k without a cosigner first year ($3.5k of it subsidized).

39

14K Total. 3.5k a year

40

You can’t “negotiate”. What you DO is ask for a review, “due to circumstances you weren’t able to highlight in the CSS Profile”. This would include anything that changed between 2019 and 2020 (in particular, anything covid related: medical bills, hours cut, fewer opportunities for supplemental income, part time job cut or lost, expenses incurred from homeschooling and working-from-home including better internet access to support work&study, having to dip into savings to pay rent/mortgage, shop you managed that closed for 4 weeks, drop in customers, retrofitting any space to respect COVID protections&restrictions, etc.) Say you’re “requesting professional judgement” (exact terms). Your email should be very professional and directed to your regional rep who’ll decide to fight for you (but may not be able to).

You can afford to take the federal loans, no more. It means 5.5K freshman year, 6.5K sophomore year, 7.5K each of jr/sr year. Total, 27k. That’s what an average college graduate can reasonably pay back over 10 years. With a good CS job, you may be able to pay that back in less time. But don’t go over that amount.
So, are UVA and BU affordable with the federal loans and nothing more?

CS is easily employable and the difference in salary will be linked to COL.
Some opportunities will be offered from UVA that aren’t available in OK though, in part because there are LOTS of defense contractors and government-related companies plus big tech companies in the region and they recruit from UVA, VTech, etc. (there’s a “high tech magnet” in the NOVA region). Make sure to keep a clean sheet though :wink: as they’ll run a background check on you.
Are you interested in discovering another region of the country? Are you interested in these “high level high tech” jobs?
OU Honors is good and you’ll be employable with a CS degree, so is that enough or do you want more?

Somone posted the link below on another thread. They focus on the top 40 programs though (based on high level, high tech employment and salary, which is of course conditional on where you work).

ETA: Just saw that the loans would only be 3.5K a year
 3.5Ksubsidized loans, not even 5.5K for UVA or BU? That’s a bargain. Seriously. You’ll have an internship after freshman year that’ll allow you to skip the loan outright and after sophomore year you’ll be making double that over the summer.

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