I’ve been in a bit of a predicament for the past several months. All my life, I’ve been a great student, and I would love to go to a big-name university for an undergraduate degree (assuming I can get in, of course). The only real issue is the fact that my family’s EFC alludes to my parents being able to pay the entire $60k+ sticker price of a “prestigious” institution. I’m not trying to deceive myself; I know I won’t be receiving any financial aid.
Assuming that my parents have enough savings to pay for the entire first year of school right off the bat, is it worth the >$180k debt I’ll be assuming to get an undergraduate degree? Or should I attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison instead, at a much cheaper price but without the amazingly topnotch education of, say, Stanford or Northwestern?
This is one of the most common threads, I swear. Being a great student all your life (like hundreds of thousands of high school students in this country) shouldn’t entitle you to an expensive school. How do you plan on taking out $180K in loans? That’s far past the federal allowance for student loans. Will your parents take on private loans? Seems like a bad idea overall.
My answer is pretty much always going to be SAVE THE MONEY.
Save a very small handful of prestige-based careers (think i-banking), your personal abilities and credentials will do much more for you than the name of the school. You can go to just about any state school, hustle, get that top GPA, nice summer internships, and do just as well or better than a grad of a ~fancier~ school.
UW Madison is an excellent school and certainly a much better choice than massive debt imo. However, you could always search for merit scholarships at other schools to see if you can strike a balance somewhere between UW and Stanford price and prestige wise.
Your parents will have to cosign most of the loans. Figure out what your monthly loan payment will be on $180,000 in debt then come back and answer your own question.
What are your stats and intended major? What are you looking for in a school? How much can your parents pay each year for 4 years? How much do you have saved from summer jobs?
Use a compound interest calculator to find out how many millions your student loan costs you if you were to invest that money. Find a balance so that you attend a respectable school and aren’t crippled by a huge student loan.
The only possible consideration I could see for borrowing that much would be for an Ivy league. That would be it. There are so many wonderful schools out there to choose. No need to go that deep into dept.
@MassDaD68 What makes the Ivy League worth going into strangling debt? There are tons of wonderful colleges where an Ivy stats competitive applicant could get an excellent education, possibly some merit aid…and far less debt.
My thinking is that the Ivies can open doors for you in places that others will not. Like a Goldman Sachs position in NYC or London. Those are difficult to get and they often like the “minted” degrees from the Ivy leagues. So if that is the main route to the career, then one has to find a way. If money is the only barrier, then you must borrow if you do not have it.
Very few majors would make that kind of debt worth it and even then I’d be very cautious. You don’t say what your major is, but generally a company has an entry level of pay for a given job. They don’t care that you have a ton of debt and the other new hire has none. You’re paid the same; but you’re tied down with all that debt. UW is a great school- don’t discount it.
I would say that Stanford is worth the extra $180k. I think Stanford opens doors(ex. venture capital) that UW-Madison won’t. Have you been admitted to Stanford, yet, and has UW-Madison offered you a full ride, or is this just hypothetical? Have your parents really agreed to pay $60k for the first year, nothing for any future years, but will still cosign on the loans?