Pitt or Alabama?

Hey everyone! I hear from NYU on the 15th, and if I get in I’m going there, but if not I’m stuck between my two back-ups. I got into both the University of Alabama Honors College and the University of Pittsburgh, and I can’t decide. For Alabama, I’d be studying Biology with a poly sic minor, and I applied to the Blount Scholars program where I’d do another Liberal Arts minor. Alabama has offered me $20,000 a year plus I’d get more from the FAFSA and I have a chance to win another $10,000.
For Pitt I’d study Neuroscience and probably minor in poly sci. No scholarship money, no honors college (at least freshman year.) It seems like Alabama should be a no-brained, right?
But I love the city of Pittsburgh and the campus, and it’s close enough where I can drive home and visit (I live in Ann Arbor MI). I haven’t been to Alabama’s campus but from pictures it just doesn’t seem the same. I feel like if I went to Alabama I’d regret it, but if I go to Pitt I’d regret turning down 20K. What should I do?
(Also, before anyone says anything, I am aware of how expensive NYU is. It’s freaking New York City, I don’t care, no way I’m missing out on that experience)

Net price at each, how much can you and your parents afford without debt, and do your post-graduation plans include professional (e.g. law or medical) school?

@ucbalumnus my parents have saved about $40,000 and I have $5,000 of my own money. I also have been applying for smaller scholarships and I have a couple savings bonds. I plan to go to medical school and to work through college
Also my EFC is 37,000 (even though my parents don’t even have that much money)

Oops typo. My parents have saved $20,000

So you have $25,000, or about $6,250 per year. If you take federal direct loans and work part time and summer jobs, you may be able to contribute up to $8,000 to $10,000 more per year at the most, so total net price needs to be $14,250 to $16,250 or less per year. Additional loans would require a parent cosigner, which not generally a good idea, and having a lot of debt is a bad idea if you want to go to medical school and accumulate even more debt.

With an EFC of $37,000, it is unlikely that need-based financial aid will come anywhere near enough, so you need to find large enough merit scholarships. Even the $20,000 scholarship from Alabama is not enough, unless you get additional scholarships beyond that. NYU does have big merit scholarships, but if you are uncertain about admission, those scholarships should be treated as super-reach.

Do you qualify for any of the large scholarships listed at http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/20798968/#Comment_20798968 ? Be sure to check college web sites to verify, since some may have changed.

Do any Michigan public universities offer large-enough in-state scholarships that you can get?

What @ucbalumnus is trying to tell you is that unless you go to private HS and it will free up cash next year, you have no good options now. Leaving undergrad 40-100+k in debt is a really bad idea. Especially if med school is in your future.

@Eeyore123 @ucbalumnus I’m going to have debt anywhere I go, it’s a question of do I want more debt and go to a great school that I love, or graduate with minimal debt and possibly regret it?

@nyuhopeful44 I agree with @ucbalumnus

Have you asked your parents how much they can afford to pay per year between savings and income? From what you have said, it’s unclear if NYU, Pitt, or even Alabama will be affordable.

NYU is likely to be unaffordable, assuming you get in. They are not very generous with financial aid. “Aid” is often calculated in the form of loans that will need to be repaid.

If the OOS cost at Alabama is 43K a year and they have offered 20K in merit, your balance is 23K a year. Your parents’ EFC is 37K, which exceeds this balance. You are unlikely to get any additional need based aid. Can they afford 23K a year?

Pitt is about 45K per year for OOS, which sounds unaffordable.

Have you looked to in state options? Michigan State has merit awards and an honors program, but the best consideration date for scholarships was Nov 1. In state costs are about 25K annually.

U of Michigan is about 27K instate, 15K if you were to commute from home.

Between Federal Student Loan, work study, and summer job, you might have a personal budget of about 10K, other than what your parents can contribute.

If you take on lots of undergraduate debt, you will likely regret it over many years afterward as you write large checks every month to pay down the student loans (particularly on either a biology graduate’s relatively low pay, or a physician burdened with huge medical school loans in addition). The worst case would be if your parents use up their cosigning ability after your first year or two, and your loans cannot get approved for later years, forcing you to drop out with no degree but large amounts of debt.

@ucbalumnus so you think I should take the 20K from Alabama?

Alabama isn’t affordable given the information you provided. You need to find affordable options.

@itsgettingreal17 I don’t have any affordable options. College is expensive and everyone takes out student loans. The only other places I applied are University of Michigan and Northwestern, and I probably won’t get in, let alone merit aid. My only other option would to be not to go to college

My question is should I take on a little debt and go to an “okay” college, or take on a ton of debt and go to an amazing college?

You cannot borrow enough money for either. Anything above the 5,500 federal student loan will be on your cosigner’s credit rating. I’m assuming if all your parents are giving you is that 20K savings account, they are cash strapped and have poor credit.

How about community college and saving up money to transfer?

GPA and test scores?

@ucbalumnus OP has a chance-me thread with stats.

@ucbalumnus According to the OP’s “chance me for NYU” thread, he has a 3.75 unweighted with many AP courses and a 1440 SAT.

@nyuhopeful44 I hope you get into U of Michigan because that seems to be your most affordable option as well as being a fantastic school.

You said in your other thread that you applied to and were accepted to Arizona State. Did you get any merit aid from ASU? Its Honors College is excellent.

3.75 HS GPA and 1440 SAT give you:

Full ride:

Tuskegee
Alcorn State
Jackson State
Mississippi Valley State
Prairie View A&M

Full tuition (may be a stretch to cover the rest based on your budget):

Alabama State
University of Alabama Huntsville
Troy
Florida A&M
Louisiana State Shreveport
Louisiana Tech
University of Louisiana Monroe
Delta State
Southern Mississippi
Lee University
Texas A&M Kingsville

http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/20798968/#Comment_20798968

@mamaedefamilia yes, I received $14,500 a year from ASU but I’m not really considering going there because Alabama is offering me more money and is a better fit for me imo

@AroundHere my parents have fine credit, they just can’t give me anything over 20K. They’ll probably keep helping me a little bit through college, but it would only be a couple grand a year