<p>I am struggling with my college decision. I received the Eminence Fellowship at OSU which is a full ride with a mentoring program. However like many ND students, I just felt something at Notre Dame, I was home. I am interested in engineering, and would have to pay $15-$25k out of my own pocket (loans) per year to go. Is it worth it? Or is OSU the better option?</p>
<p>I can appreciate your dilemna…and I agree that ND is a very special place. However, the economy and job market still pose a challenge to college graduates, and many opt to continue on to grad school - which is expensive!!! Saving $100k over the next four years might not be a bad idea. As a mom, I urge to you talk with your parents and really assess your financial situation for the next 4-8 years. Best of luck to you…</p>
<p>Run the amount you expect to have to borrow (and err on the high side if you’re not sure) through an online calculator that will tell you your monthly repayment number. Then do your best to estimate your starting salary, and see what that tells you. Most likely, it will not be worth the cost for you to attend ND, especially if you ultimately decide against engineering and major in another field with fewer immediate employment opportunities. If you do decide to get a postgraduate degree (and most engineers do NOT, unless they are planning an academic career or pursue an MBA after working for several years), you will have considerably more options without an undergraduate loan burden. </p>
<p>On the other hand, if your actual total loan amount is closer to $60K, it might be doable, especially if you stay with engineering and live like a monk for your first several years out of college.</p>
<p>GrayishWater, did you get a merit scholarship from NotreDame is it grant money? I’m just wondering what it takes to get a scholarship?</p>
<p>It is just called University Scholarship, it was only about 2600 dollars</p>
<p>I was pretty sure I was going to get a full ride to OSU based on what I had coming out of high school and the overtures the school made to me in the fall of my senior year (I was taking classes there), and I ultimately decided not to apply because I realized that I would have been miserable at OSU. I made a call that loans were preferable to a very unhappy college experience. Fortunately, in my case, ND made a substantial financial contribution to my education that made things easy in the end, but when I chose not to apply to OSU, I was not expecting a full ride anywhere else. So the question then becomes, how happy would you be at OSU? It’s tremendously different from ND. My dad hated it when he was there. I hated it when I was taking classes there. However, lots of my friends LOVED it. OSU is as impersonal and bureaucratic as it gets, but can offer more options for research and jobs. If you prefer that to a smaller community and more personal attention, then it may be a good idea to go with the financiers and cut the debt. However, a word of warning! At ND, virtually everyone graduates in four years. At OSU, most engineers do not graduate in four years and many drop out. Availability of classes is a major issue in this case and often does not depend on the student. Is the debt saved worth a year of salary?</p>