<p>So this is the situation I'm in: I plan to study mechanical engineering and I've narrowed my choices down to Rice and UT. I'm a Texas resident, Rice is 4 hours away and UT is 5, so the distance is negligible. I've been accepted to the Engineering Honors Program at UT and offered 64k in scholarships over four years. This would mean I'd graduate with about 32k in debt, unless I got a summer job to bring that down. At Rice I haven't been offered a dime in merit scholarships, but I have been offered a generous financial aid package. Rice expects me to pay about $9,700 per year (which my family couldn't really afford), and on top of that there is a 10k Perkins loan spread out over four years, and 10k of work-study over four years. So this would make Rice about 59k total if I shoulder this all by myself. My parents have offered to help out a little, paying a couple hundred dollars a month or taking the loans out in their name, but I really don't want them to go into debt or sacrifice for my sake, so I would prefer to do this myself. </p>
<p>I absolutely loved both campuses when I visited, but I'm leaning towards Rice a little. The residential college system and the small classes really appeal to me. On the other hand, I do love football and the school spirit at UT. I've been a Longhorn fan my whole life (however, I do plan on getting a master's degree anyway, so since Rice is more geared toward undergrads and UT is about the graduates, if I choose Rice for my undergrad then I'll just go to UT for my master's). I know I would be happy at either school, but I kinda want to go to Rice a little bit more, so my question basically boils down to this: Is it worth the extra 27k of debt to go to Rice? If anybody who had a similar predicament to mine could chime in, that would be great! Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>Congratulations LDaniels those are great choices!</p>
<p>One thing you might consider, assuming the UT scholarship is merit based, is whether a certain GPA is required to renew for subsequent years. You don’t want to get in a situation where you lose your funding because you don’t meet GPA a certain semester. </p>
<p>Our son had the same choice (without the FA) but UT did offer a merit scholarship through Engineering Honors. Given the difficult reputation of UT’s engineering program, we felt we couldn’t count it for 4 years.</p>
<p>Also, are you certain you can graduate from UT in 4 years? I don’t know many students who finish UT’s engineering in 4 years, but haven’t seen that come up at Rice. In fact, our son is graduating a semester early.</p>
<p>That said, only you can decide if you don’t mind an additional 27K in debt. Hard decision. Good luck!</p>
<p>I think JustTryHarder summarized some important points to consider and I only have 1 additional point to make. The work-study duties are not very onerous at Rice (at least were not for my D). She worked on research projects with a Rice professor to earn her $10k and never had to do real “work”. The research was fun, built her interest in her engineering field, led to publications and summer work in that prof’s lab. All very positive outcomes. Given how helpful these experiences were, I don’t really see the work study as a debt so the difference is more like $17k.</p>
<p>Of course, I don’t know if UT would offer the same work study possibilities, but most state schools have too many applicants for too few work study positions.</p>
<p>Thank you both for your responses. They’ve help put me at ease. MSmom&dad, how did your daughter handle the workload? How busy was she studying engineering and doing work-study?</p>
<p>Also, since you qualify for federal aid and are a Texas resident you should ask about a B-On-Time loan which is a forgiveable state loan. The colleges are not allowed to include it in a student’s FA package (you have to ask about it by name), but basically it is a $7,400 interest free loan that is forgiven if an engineering student graduates in 5 years with a 3.0 GPA.</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“HHLoans”>http://www.hhloans.com/index.cfm?objectid=b00c090d-e45d-4f4b-89da195959930185]HHLoans.com[/url</a>]</p>
<p>Wow, thank you very much!! I had never heard of this loan but if I could get it, then paying for Rice would be a breeze! Is it competitive, or does everyone who applies for it get it?</p>
<p>Well, I would call the FA office and ask. Basically I think that Rice has to put you on some kind of list until they receive confirmation from the state about next year’s funding. So you wouldn’t know before May 1st if you receive it, but I understand it’s been quite successful with Rice students since practically all graduate on time. It’s not academically competitive, but funding does run out at some point.</p>
<p>Good luck with your decision</p>