My DD is an exchange student in the Czech Republic this school year. My H and I are trying to help her make her college decision via e-mail and long distance. She’s deciding between the NYU Stern Scholar Program and the College of Arts and Sciences at Univ. of Pennsylvania.
D is interested in finance, languages, and psychology. She was previously interested in a variety of languages. Now she’s interested in French, maybe Russian. She has been learning Czech as an exchange student.
D really wants NYU and is willing to take out loans to go there. However, we hate to see her get saddled with lots of debt.
We would appreciate any information and advice!
NYU Pros:<br>
D loves NYC
NYC is great for internships and employment
Stern Scholar program has many benefits
(internat’l travel, cultural activities, etc.)
NYU and Stern seem very down-to-earth
NYU will guarantee housing all 4 years<br>
Good mix business classes and liberal arts
NYU Cons:
Few languages offered
Cost would be about $30,000 more than Penn, over 4 years
No campus
Penn Pros:
Over 100 languages offered
D can take finance and business classes
About $30,000 less than NYU (lower tuition, more grant money)
Great liberal arts program
Nice campus
Penn Cons:
D could try to transfer into Wharton or go for the dual-degree, but it’s not guaranteed that she would be accepted
Penn doesn’t guarantee housing
Phila. probably doesn’t have as many internship opportunities as NYC
<p>Will your daughter be borrowing much of the $30K? If yes, I would run the numbers for her and show her what that means in terms of monthly payments. If she will add grad school debt too, it could make life more difficult for many years. </p>
<p>I'm not as adverse to borrowing as some for a great school, but Penn is every bit as good (or better) so personally I wouldn't go into debt here.</p>
<p>Yes, zagat, she would be borrowing the $30,000, plus. That's why I want her to make an informed decision--not on the basis that she loves NYC. And I will follow your suggestion and run the numbers for her--good idea!</p>
<p>She wants to work right after college to pay back loans--before going to grad school. She'd probably get a well-paying job coing out of Stern, but I'm not so sure of the type of job she could get from Penn's Arts and Sciences (if she can't get into Wharton).</p>
<p>With an econ, math or science major at Penn, she would be in line to be recruiyed for the high paying jobs in NYC including i banking and management consulting. </p>
<p>The average kid graduates $20K in debt, having over 6X that is pretty unusual. She'll be much more in debt than her peers and won't be able to live the same post college lifestyle as they'll enjoy. If she's looking forward to heading to NY as so many smart young college grads interested in business are, it will be difficult for her to participate in the fun but expensive life these kids lead.</p>
<p>Zagat, thanks for the info. The scholarship at NYU was increased today--that was good news! It now looks like NYU would cost @ $13,000 more than Penn, over the span of 4 years. That's better than before.</p>
<p>That's interesting about the job recruiting situation after graduating from Penn. Also, I hadn't considered that her lifestyle would be so different from other grads. </p>