<p>I was admitted to Cornell and Santa Clara. Cornell gave me no aid. Santa Clara is offering to pay full tuition. I'd have to take out about $160000 in loans over four years to go to Cornell. At Santa Clara, my parents could cover all non tuition costs and I would graduate debt free. I've wanted to go to Cornell for a long time and feel like I could better relate to the people there. I'm a prospective econ major either at the Leavey school or cornell's college of arts and sciences. It's quite the dilemma. Please help me. I'll be forever grateful. Do I take the money or the ivy.</p>
<p>Santa Clara is a pretty good school and that is a lot of loans to repay back.</p>
<p>You don’t have a choice between taking the money and an Ivy. You have a choice between Santa Clara and $160,000 in loans. That much debt is absolutely not acceptable. I don’t think you could even get that many loans without a parental cosign, and the weight will drag you down for many years to come.</p>
<p>Easy call - Santa Clara.</p>
<p>160,000 dollars is simply not worth any school, not even Harvard. I know its hard, but in the future you are going to be happy to have the opportunity to pursue the job you want or grad school and not have to worry about the massive amount you owe.</p>
<p>Thanks guys. Anyone else? The more opinions the better.</p>
<p>Definitely Santa Clara! You would worry about finances the entire time you were at Cornell and then would spend many, many years paying off the loans and regretting your choice. Santa Clara is a great school in a great climate. Best of luck!</p>
<p>First off, you can’t even take out that amount of loans without a co-signer, so it is likely that you wouldn’t be able to attend Cornell period. The only loans you are guaranteed to be able to get are the Staffords and the total for all four years is $27,000. </p>
<p>Run the numbers here: [FinAid</a> | Calculators | Award Letter Comparison Tool](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Award Letter Requirements - Finaid) Then ask yourself if you really, truly want to be making that kind of loan payment for umpteen years.</p>