My D narrowed down her choice to Northeastern(COA $77K), Fordham (COA $52K) and UMass-Amherst ($35K). She got into business school in all of them. She really liked Northeastern, but they didn’t any scholarship award, we appealed again, got declined. Fordham has given Loyola scholarship and Tuition award totaling $25K which made it somewhat affordable. UMass-Amherst is a beautiful college town with good scholarship. Our questions are:
- Is Northeastern worth that much money?
- What would be the better choice between Fordham and UMass-Amherst?
Any thoughts will be much appreciated. We are so stressed. Thank you !!!
Unless you can easily afford it and there’s a strong fit preference, no way!
All of these are solid for business and within a similar tier, so it would be hard to argue for anything but UMass-Amherst here. I guess the question is why would you pay more for any of the others?
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Thank you for super quick reply. We were thinking the advantage of Northeastern and Fordham are private schools in a big city (strong alumni network, intern opportunities etc.)
We can’t afford Northeastern at this price, but we can stretch and make Fordham work. We are also thinking of asking for a little bit more money from Fordham, we heard they give you a little when you appeal. 
I would scratch Northeastern off the list.
So, it’s down to UMass and Fordham. UMass has a strong alumni network too. I’m more familiar with the law field where Fordham punches about its weight because of its location. I would choose based on location and state preference.
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I think people overestimate the effect of private vs public. Nearer to the city helps a bit, but Fordham always feels a bit “outside” of NYC speaking as someone currently living there. Plenty of UMass grads have no issue getting set up in Boston and NYC too. I think it would be a bit of a waste to pay more for Fordham given the quality of UMass Amherst for business. You still haven’t said anything about fit that makes Fordham worth paying more to me, so my vote still goes UMass!
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Thank you for the reply. Coming from a rural (upstate NY) background, my D is attracted by the big cities, that’s the “fit” I see at the moment. Personally I just loved the UMass Amherst college town atmosphere and Isenberg’s business innovation hub. I will wait for her to tell where her heart is at. Even though we are very late in the game, we are going to request for some more funds from Fordham, let’s see what the answer is.