Hi - I wanted to get a bunch of opinions on my two college choices.
At Oberlin, I would be $43,974 in debt.
At Madison, I would be $25,891 in debt.
Collectively, my parents and I can contribute $33,000 to my college education. Therefore, I would be in around 11k of debt after Oberlin, but I could be debt free after Madison. I am very conflicted because I would rather go to Oberlin, but I don’t know how I could pass up an offer to graduate debt free.
At Oberlin, I would have to live and dine in a co op for all 4 years to come out with the 11k in debt. I don’t know how much I like that idea, after touring the co ops. That would give me around 5 hours of work a week in addition to my work study hours.
I like Madison, but all of my high school goes there, and after touring, all of the people who go there seem very similar. At Madison, however, I would be able to choose what house to live in and I would get a college meal plan. Madison is also only 1.5 hours away, whereas Oberlin is around 7.5.
I plan to major in international relations, and I don’t know which school would look better on my application, or which would give me better opportunities to succeed.
Sorry if all this information is jumbled around, but I would really appreciate any thoughts you guys have about the topic!
If I’m understanding you correctly, you’re saying that your expected family contribution is $10,993.50 a year. That’s not what people normally mean by “in debt”–the FAFSA is saying that your family has the means to pay that amount without going into debt.
So $43,974 is the four-year total you and your family would have to pay for Oberlin, after subtracting grants and term-time work study. You mention that you and your family have $33,000 to contribute, so that leaves about $11,000 more to cover over the course of four years. That works out to about $2,800 per year, which is a reasonable amount to earn each summer. Alternatively you could cover it with federal loans. Many people would say that $11,000 in federal loans is not excessive.
@dave72@Fifty sorry i didn’t clarify this more, i didn’t want to write a big post but here it is:
$43,974 is the amount i would pay after subtracting my scholarship, grant, and work study. my parents can contribute 25k over the course of four years, and i can contribute 8k (estimating low) by working in the summer and during break. that leaves me with around 11k to come up with after four years.
Even if you were in the hole by $25K, I think it would be worth it. I am unfamiliar with Madison, but I am familiar with a similar Big Ten school in Ann Arbor. It’s a much different culture than at Oberlin. At Oberlin, you do not have 40,000 or so students; the large classes; the GSIs; the pervasive football and basketball culture with the offshoots of Thursday to Sunday partying and drinking, the athletes on top, and vast resources devoted to sports as opposed to academics; the fraternities and sororities; and large instate student bodies who sometimes resent people different from them.
Earning $2k per summer to contribute toward your education sounds very doable. Now we are looking for a way to cover the remaining $11k over the course of four years.
Have your parents taken into consideration the education tax credits they may receive? https://studentaid.ed.gov/types/tax-benefits
Would they consider putting the $2.5k per year tax credit toward your education in addition to the $6,250 per year that they already plan to contribute? If so you would be within $1k of paying for Oberlin without any loans.