Paying full at NWU or Full ride at state school

Colleges and Universities A-Z Northwestern University
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<p>So, I'm in a bit of a dilemma for decisions. I've narrowed down my list of schools (sorry cal, ucla and usc) to Northwestern or the University of Minnesota.</p>

<p>At the U of M, I have a full scholarship plus honors program admissions.</p>

<p>At Northwestern, I have a measly 2k/year from being a nat'l merit finalist. (didn't apply for aid.. but wouldn't have gotten much)</p>

<p>I intend to study something either business related or science related but I am easily sway-able.</p>

<p>Can anyone offer me some insight as to what I should do?</p>

2

<p>U of M is a fantastic school and a full tuition scholarship there is golden. If you’re not paying out of pocket (i.e., with loans) don’t do NU. Not for those career paths where NU’s advantage is marginal (while a little less marginal for “business”, it’s not particularly massive). Don’t get me wrong; academically, there’s no question which is the better school, but you won’t feel restrained by U of M. </p>

<p>Admittedly, it’d be helpful for me to know about your aspirations before you accept the assumptions I made about you as fact when considering my post.</p>

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<p>I should’ve mentioned this in my first post, and I will edit it in there, but I am also an only child to a high income family. I think my parents can afford it. </p>

<p>That being said, I not only feel bad for axing my parents’ bank account but I also want to save money for graduate school. </p>

<p>Thanks for the reply, Viviste.</p>

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<p>I know that I am in the minority on this but I feel VERY strongly that nobody on this board should make any comments that pertain to anyone else’s financial situation. </p>

<p>If your family is sufficiently wealthy that the $200K difference is meaningless, than I think it is a no-contest. </p>

<p>Likewise, if your family absolutely would be crushed under the weight of debt (presuming you don’t pursue a high-paying profession straight out of undergrad), then the decision is also probably out of your hands.</p>

<p>To wax poetic about the value of a Northwestern education in terms of the caliber of individuals you will work with, the quality of extra-curriculars, the lessons learned on-campus, and, of course, the ability to get a foot in the door with employers and establish a certain educational pedigree seems a bit useless.</p>

<p>I’ll boil this down for you: at some level, you and your parents need weigh the educational and financial pros and cons. For your sake, I would hope you wouldn’t anonymous cyber personas make this decision for you.</p>

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<p>My English professor mentioned last semester that there is a huge amount of aid available for graduate students, and because of that, many grad students often are paid to attend a certain university.</p>

<p>Might be true, might not. It’s worth looking into.</p>

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<p>Only PhD’s are funded. But all PhDs are funded.</p>

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<p>I’ll qualify what arbiter213 said:</p>

<p>NOT all Ph.D.s are funded, but most are. There are quite a few programs that offer a Ph.D. of some sort, but do not give any aid/stipend (i.e., professional degree mills [see “Schools of Professional Psychology” and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology]; some programs where the attrition rate is so high that only years 3+ are funded [see Ph.D. in Economics at many state schools, such as UCSD]; and some programs in the humanities [see Ph.D. in English, Literature, History, etc., at non-R1 institutions). However, if the school is at least fairly well-known in its respective field, and item 2 isn’t an issue, then you should expect a full tuition remission + living stipend for your time there.</p>

<p>Some Masters are funded, but very very few. Many programs that offer only terminal Master’s degrees sometimes have full tuition + stipend offerings on a competitive basis. This may be through a scholarship, but most likely through an assistantship (as most doctoral students would expect). If you’re pursuing an MBA, however, you’d only expect a tuition remission as stipends are typically never provided for professional programs.</p>

<p>Anyway, my opinion has always been to take the route of least debt if your pockets aren’t lined with cash. I know your situation is different from the rest, but honestly it depends on your parents. I personally would take U of Minn full-ride over NU or any other ‘elite’ program at sticker price, but that’s just me. U of M is a flagship R1 with great resources, faculty, and research. If we’re only taking post-grad career prospects into account, the marginal benefit from attending NU (I’d argue for the majority of students) wouldn’t be $200k+. I say most since NU does have Kellogg and therefore more ‘foot in door’ networking, but such a small minority of undergraduates get to even do anything in Kellogg from what I hear (I’m coming from the perspective of an incoming Kellogg graduate student, so I don’t really know what the opportunities are really like, but my doctoral advisor said you’d almost never see any undergraduates at the Jacobs Center). The subjectivity in experiences should and will play a large factor in your decision. Large state school vs. small private school – way too many differences to list.</p>

<p>You can’t go wrong, but I’d default to what your parents think. If they’ve been planning to go all-out for your education and have been doing the responsible thing of saving up your whole life, then it’d be a well-advised decision; but as someone else mentioned, even if you come from a wealthy family, $50k/year might start hurting if not prepared.</p>

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<p>I agree with CerebralAssassin.</p>