Hey, being from Florida, I know almost 0 people who know about NEU, so its hard for me to make a decision against UF. I was the only person I know who applied out of my circles, because I genuinely liked the program when I read about it. I got some financial aid and a nice merit scholarship (18.3k/ full semester), however all things considered I could end up with over a 120k debt (worst case scenario). That is with my understanding of how the co-op program interacrs with the scheduling system, correct me if im wrong
After looking extensively into the program, my family and I are pretty convinced that the opportunites presented by Boston, the co-op system, and the overall program (courses, philosophy, etc) make the cost worth it.
Since we would’ve been willing to take loans for gtech, or any upper end cs program, we are now considering it for NEU.
My main alternatives are:
-UF Honors with a $2000 merit scholarship + Bright Futures Scholarship paying full tuition. I’d only have to pay room and board, resulting in a total cost of around $40,000 ish, however I believe it’s harder to get good internships.
-Purdue CS with no aid (probably too expensive if NEU is comparable.
I do wanna get out of Flordia very much, but am trying not to use that a decision factor.
Basically, is Northeastern underrated and will its recognition increase significantly in the coming years, or is it just marketing hype. Also, how does CS opportunity compare to UF. @PengsPhils
It’s most definitely NOT worth the debt, especially for a degree as ridiculously employable as CS. Florida has a strong tech market and the vast majority of employers recruit locally or regionally. I would take the scholarship and be happy you did. What would really be regrettable would be having $120k in debt you can’t get rid of. When you settle down and have a family, that burden could eat you alive financially.
Since you probably are better at math than I am, take a few moments to figure out how long it will reasonably take you to pay a $80k debt(it will probably be more) at current interest rates.
And where are you going get the money; it’s my understanding that is is well past the loan cap for UG?
I love Northeastern CS and can/do rant about it for days. There is no way Northeastern is worth anything close to that level debt compared to the solid program and amazing price of UF. Go there and don’t look back, seriously.
I’m not sure exactly what you’re saying the net cost of Northeastern is and would generally be willing to help verify/sort that out, but I honestly don’t think it’d even be worth the time given the huge difference that appears to be here.
Hey, thanks for your input. I just got off the phone with fin aid, and my estimate was quite off. The cost would be 36k/year, and should drop a little more after we submit 2019 tax reports. Considering I could expect to make 40-60k from co-op, my family is definitely willing to manage these expenses.
The UF program has an unbeatable price, but my family is willing to invest a lot into post secondary education.
I guess the question is, would you say NEU is considerably better than UF’s CS program?
I estimate the debt will take less than 7 years to pay off after graduation.
Considering my family wouldve been willing to pay more for gtech or anything above, does NEU come close to the opportunites/education provided from more “reputable”(where Im from at least) program?
I wouldn’t be wanting to go to NEU if it was more along the lines of like UCF or UGA.
This is not a realistic way to plan it. First, you need to consider taxes and living costs on co-op. Always plan for the lower side - if you only make $20 an hour, that could be only $15K over 3 co-op’s. And if you change your major, it could be breakeven. Yes it is possible to make more, but you absolutely should not take debt out on that assumption. Even in the best case world I would still also max that earnings out at 40K. Again, do not rely on this.
Also, you won’t be going on co-op until your fourth/fifth semester, so your costs will be front loaded.
Not 130K in loans better by any means, which is what you’d possibly be looking at minus whatever your family can pay. You can keep trying on the appeal to the FA office, but I wouldn’t even put Northeastern into consideration unless you can get your COA down to 20K a year or less (without considering any co-op income) or have a way to graduate with less than 25K in loans, and even then it’s still going to be hard to make that case.
CS is generally not strongly affected by reputation, especially within closely ranked programs. UF is within the same ballpark enough where you can get anywhere you need to within the CS world coming from there.
At this point I’d really say focus your mind on UF, which is a great school with a very solid CS program!
what exactly will NEU cost you in per year excluding anything you are factoring in for Coops? Like what is the yearly cost after your scholarships for 4 academic semesters?
Just use Tuition + Fees + Room + Board - Scholarships. Ignore the books and all that.
Then tell us what your family is comfortable paying out of pocket (not including any loans).