<p>I got the last of my two decisions back yesterday (denied at UVA and waitlisted at Chicago) so now my final decision is coming down between NYU or the University of Tennessee, Knoxville Honors Program.
I'm making a Pros and Cons for each school to let you all know exactly where my head is at. Some of these bullet point may not be the most rational statements, but I'm trying to consider my overall happiness in addition to finances and education.</p>
<p>Pros of UTK</p>
<p>-I'll be paying near $10,000 a year as opposed to $50,000 at NYU.
-I'll be closer to home and have a lot of my friends going with me as well.
-I'll be in the Honors Program which is arguably as appealing to grad schools as going to NYU.
-I'm an aspiring musician to some degree, and I'll still be a reasonable distance from Nashville (Music City) if I attend there.</p>
<p>Cons of UTK</p>
<p>-It's not as prestigious as NYU.
-I feel somewhat that I'll be settling for less by going there.
-I'm more of a liberal arts guy, and UTK is more of a science-based school (good nursing program).</p>
<p>Pros of NYU</p>
<p>-I love New York in general.
-NYU was one of my top three choices.
-NYU is great for networking, whether it be for music or internships, and it would be a good school to attend for someone interested in liberal arts.
-I have the option of studying abroad in Florence, London, Paris, or Shanghai in my first year which is appealing to me.</p>
<p>Cons of NYU</p>
<p>-I was accepted to Liberal Studies, and it is apparently considered the "dumb school" in the college.
-I have the notion and have heard that a lot of the people at NYU are unpleasant hipsters.
-$50,000 a year is a ton of money, and while my finances allow me to pay for at least half of my 4 years there, I'd still be taking out considerable loans to pay off the rest.</p>
<p>If I could get any advice at all that might help me rationalize my decision, I would really appreciate it.</p>
<p>Who would help you borrow the other 100k for NYU? Will that person pay off that debt, or will it be your responsibility?</p>
<p>You can borrow up to the maximum for the Stafford Loans on your own, but that is a grand total of 27k. Anything more than that will require a qualified co-signer, or it will mean that your parents will need to take out PLUS loans.</p>
<p>I don’t think that NYU is remotely affordable for you.</p>
<p>I have talked to my parents about it, and I will be taking out the Stafford loans if I apply. What I meant is that they have 2 years worth of costs saved up for it, plus about half of another year, but they will still have to pay an additional year’s worth more than likely which is not currently saved up.
On another note, is there a possibility of doing undergrad at NYU and not having to go to grad school because of connections/name of the school?</p>
<p>just curious mom2collegekids, how easy would it be to transfer after two years to NYU? If a school accepts you as a freshman does that make it easier to transfer? Couldn’t it be more difficult to get in as a transfer student than as a freshman? Maybe it depends on the school but I was thinking that it wasn’t always that easy to transfer to selective schools.</p>
<p>What is your prospective major, and what are your long-term career goals? Depending on your field of study, you might need an advanced degree that you have to pay for yourself. In that case, you’d be best off at the cheap school to begin with and save the college fund for grad school. There are very few fields of study (finance is the only one I’ve heard specifically mentioned here) where an NYU degree is more helpful than a degree from another institution when it comes time to get a first job.</p>
<p>It isn’t particularly easy to transfer into the more selective schools, but if you have what it takes to get in now, chances are that you will have the drive and ambition that will make it possible to transfer later on. In any case, that is a better plan to go with than to start out at the expensive institution, run out of money, and have to transfer to your cheap home-state public U later on - something that happens fairly often.</p>
<p>Right now you seem to be particularly interested in the study abroad options at NYU. Talk with the people at UTK about the programs that they participate directly in, and about others that you could participate in on your own if you enroll at UTK. The 25 to 30k you would be paying NYU for that semester abroad could easily cover a full year of studies abroad through a different program.</p>
<p>Here is a nice calculator that will help you and your parents look specifically at the financial factors as well as some non-financial factors. It may be helpful for the three of you to see the data side-by-side. [FinAid</a> | Calculators | Advanced Award Letter Comparison Tool](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid)</p>
<p>I am also a little worried by that idea. That’s kind of a gamble thinking that I can just transfer back there. NYU is very competitive as it is. Also my parents have been telling me since I got in that they can pay for whatever I’m currently lacking as long as I take out the Stafford loans and pay those off after college on my own.</p>
<p>While I don’t have a specific major nailed down, my heart is telling me I’ll be in some sort of liberal arts field like political science or communications. It seems that NYU is extremely resourceful with its hookups, and I feel that by going there, I have a chance at getting an internship at some kind of media organization like MTV, Fuse, Fox, etc. I don’t know that it’s reasonable to think like that, but from what I’ve read, it looks like going there puts a person in a good spot network-wise.</p>
<p>As an NYU student, I have a number a number of friends who have done internships. </p>
<p>I know student who have gained internships with very reputable TV networks, such as BBC America, NBC, MTV, etc. </p>
<p>Such students have often been politics, english, or some other liberal art or social science majors which have done such things as WNYU (NYU’s radio station) and other such activities to boost their resumes by having area-related experience.</p>
<p>$100,000 in student loan debt with a political science or communications degree means that a media organization may be interested in a story about how you are drowning under student loan debt with a relatively low paying job.</p>
<p>As much as it pains me to write this due to the rivalry between Vandy and UT, it sounds like UT is by far the smartest choice. Stay in Tennessee- we’re way nicer here! :). Seriously- no way is NYU worth that debt for you.</p>
<p>Let me put it this way. The only debt that I will have is the $27,000 in Stafford loans that I’ll be taking out. If that is the case, should I still pick UT over NYU?</p>
<p>You said that your parents could pay two and a half years’ worth of NYU. The Stafford loan maximum would be another half year worth of NYU. So, after three years of NYU, you and your parents will have run out of money and you will have maxed out the Stafford loans. So if you cannot graduate in three years, will you have to drop out then?</p>
<p>How are your parents making up the difference? Don’t forget to include an increase of 5-7% each year that you are there.</p>
<p>If your parents do have the resources to cover the costs except for what you would borrow in Staffords, and if they have nowhere else they’d like to be able to use that money, it is OK to go to NYU. Some families can do that.</p>
<p>Most families can’t. My advice would be for you to sit down with your parents and go through all of the numbers with a very sharp pencil before making your decision.</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus No I said earlier that I have talked with my parents and they said that they will make up for whatever money that I will be lacking after I have used my Stafford loans as well as the money that they have currently set aside for me (roughly $120K). I’m still trying to iron everything out with them and get a definite commitment from them because obviously I don’t want them to shell out another $50K or so if they can’t do so feasibly.
But in the event that this all works out, do you think doing undergrad at NYU would be more beneficial than at UTK Honors? I am also wondering if just getting a Bachelor’s at NYU and doing a good amount of networking would make grad school unnecessary for me because of the connections I can get?</p>