<p>S got accepted into SUNY Buffalo and Purdue for Engineering but SUNY gave us $7500 scholarship for a net of $17,500 and Purdue gave nothing for a net of $37K. we are not expecting much aid just loans...we have enough to pay B straight up </p>
<p>From a ranking standpoint Purdue is certainly much higher ranked than Buffalo but is it really worth $80 k over 4 years?
Buffalo was our first visit and we really liked it, problem is that has we visited another 8 schools we kind of lost favor with it. Now that we have to make a decision soon we are really unsure of what to do. Loved POurdue campus as well
Pros/cons
We live in Pa, so 6 hours to NY state vs. 12 hours to In.
S loves to snowboard and B has plenty of that
Purdue has better coop and internship opportunities
Research at both schools are plentiful
Sports teams much better at Purdue</p>
<p>Any rational advice would be welcomed, hard to tell son that he can't go to his number one choice</p>
<p>Hard to justify 80k for any school.</p>
<p>Well Purdue is highly touted from a recruiting standpoint for Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering!! My s also an engineering prospect and is attedning U of Michigan because they are top rated for Materials Science. (Purdue was also on the list, but he prefered Michigan) I think you should judge based on the quality of the specific program of engineering offered at your choices along with your $$ investment, since you are really investing in his future marketability among other things…4 years from now it will all be about which companies go to which universities to recruit the best in that field. No job at the end of graduation is more of a problem than the $$ tuition difference. Purdue is top rated also for their coops and internships which are so important to companies recruiting in a very tough job market even for engineers. Good luck. Also remember that your s can apply for scholarships once he is in college providing that he joins engineering organizations, has relevant summer employment and good grades. There is $$ out there you just have to look hard for it. Also consider if your son is ready to work really hard, you may have read on this site that Engineering at Purdue is very rigourous…getting in is the easy part.</p>
<p>Oh one more thing…Penn State, Pitt are decentrated well for engineering. Have you considered those?. Also U of Delaware is great for Chemical Engineering…lots of $$ from Dupont. VA tech also has more reasonable tuition and lots of East Coast kids go there for engineering. I am also originally from NJ & PA.<br>
Not to be judgemental…but are you really sending your son to college to snowboard??</p>
<p>Yes I am sending him to college to go snowboarding, he his really good and has a great chance at the Olympics:)</p>