Son wants to do undergrad in business /finance
got accepted into the following colleges
NYU stern - 80k per year
Rutgers - 35 k per year
Northeastern - 55 k per year
We can fully pay for Rutgers - and can pay up to 40 k / year max for the other options
Rutgers is in our backyard - 5 minutes away - and can possibly commute the junior / senior years
Bringing the total cost at Rutgers to 110k for 4 years - he
We have ruled out stern - beyond our reach
We love northeastern and the exposure that he will get being out of state and out of his comfort zone
Also the coop option is drawing us to it.
This option will leave him with a 70k loan
Is northeastern worth the 70 k in loans that he would end up with ?
No reason to spend more from a purely logical standpoint. My son was deciding between Rutgers and Northeastern and chose NEU. Both good choices. He went to Rutgers Scholars Day on March 6 where he was able to speak to a business professor and came away impressed. He wanted to go to school in a city and Boston is more appealing than New Brunswick and I think there is a value to going further away from home but from a financial standpoint Rutgers is a great option. If your son made the RU Honors College that is a beautiful dorm for freshmen.
Thanks @Mom270 - He did not get in to the Honors college @rutgers -
agreed it doesn’t make sense logically - but he is keen on northeastern and Boston and when it comes to kids it’s tough to think logically
And with the pandemic the college selection process has become tougher
Northeastern is a nice school but not worth starting life out $70k in debt. I’d choose Rutgers. He can always do a semester (or even possibly a year) abroad or at a partner school in the US to get a new expereince.
Go to RU , have him take a semester or 2 abroad, you will still come out ahead, And either way he may be starting his freshman year from your house anyway. 70k in debt is no fun, my daughter went to RU and we are about 40 minutes away, she never came home , left there debt free and could not be happier that she has options that she may not have been able to explore if she has a big student loan bill each month.
Thanks @happy1 and @NJdad07090 . RU makes sense at this point -
Unless he can make the difference up in coop pay and some campus job and come out with a smaller loan
@colbound24 Even if that goes better than expected it’s not going to wipe out any significant portion 70K. Go Rutgers here, it just makes more financial sense.
Thank you all for your guidance - northeastern came back yesterday with additional scholarship - we went ahead and committed to Northeastern yesterday . Looking forward - hopefully the classes are on campus come fall .