<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>If you are 100% sure about engineering then University of Texas At Austin is the better school. Rice doesn’t have great resources like UT-Austin for eng. In this case, UT-Austin is cheaper, so my vote is for UT.</p>
<p>However, if you think you will fit more at Rice, then go ahead. Its an elite private college.</p>
<p>If you were offered 64K of merit scholarship (or 16k/year) in UT engineering, you must be having an impressive resume. Typically UT Engg. honors offers 2500 to 7500 per year max for their top students. Tution, board and room in UT is less than 20K per year,so its close to full ride in UT if you do some work study or summer internships as well. I have never heard recently of anyone being offered such a high scholarship by UT. Plus UT engg. program is highly rated compared to Rice. Unless you have a strong inclination or a feel fit for Rice, UT would be my recommendation.</p>
<p>If your goal is to have a career in mechanical engineering, go for the cheaper option. That for you is UT-Austin. Employers will not pay you more because you went to Rice. UT-Austin is a fantastic school.</p>
<p>Doesn’t the Honors program help negate some of the big class size fears?</p>
<p>If you’re a longtime UT fan, I think you’d enjoy the UT football experience waaayy more than Rice football experience.</p>
<p>Also, for engineering employment, you don’t really need a Masters degree right away. I suggest working for a couple years and seeing where your interests/career path drive you. Your employer may even help subsidize the cost for an advanced degree.</p>
<p>Something’s not right here. OP is Perkins eligible, but Rice has OP’s EFC as $9,700? OP should appeal Rice’s FA offer ASAP and state he wants to take Rice over UT’s offer.</p>
<p>Football is not the issue here. Rice is the better school.</p>
<p>How do I go about appealing my financial aid offer? Like I said, I think the small classes and individual attention at Rice would be very helpful for me (and the aspect of no weed-out classes), but not if I would be stuck with insurmountable debt. UCBChemEGrad, I think the EHP doesn’t actually affect most of the classes I’d take; basically I just do a research thesis before I graduate and on my degree it says “with honors”. I could be wrong, though. Oh and by the way, I know what I want to do, I’m just not sure how to go about doing it. I want to design cars someday, especially something high-performance like the Corvette. I was looking at U of Mich because it’s in Michigan and I would have opportunities to intern at car companies there, but it’s just not feasible for me to go to school that far away right now. </p>
<p>Oh and I just heard about a loan called the Texas B-On-Time loan, which is a loan of up to $7400 per year that if I graduate within 5 years with a 3.0 gpa, is forgiven and becomes a grant. If I do work-study, that brings the cost of Rice down to 19k, which is definitely doable. The thing is, I emailed my financial aid counselor asking how to apply for it, and she just responded that it was not available for new incoming freshman (it says on the loan website that you must be enrolled at a university). I literally got a one-sentence response. I emailed her back and asked if I would be able to get it when I enroll at Rice, and what I had to do to make that happen. I then told her that I really want to go to Rice but was worried about the cost, and I asked her if I didn’t get the loan, if there were any other scholarships or types of financial aid I could apply for to make a Rice education possible. And she hasn’t responded yet.</p>
<p>God, I am pulling my hair out agonizing over this decision!</p>
<p>Rice has already figured in work/study contribution at $2,500/yr. $20K debt at graduation is reasonable, but you already have $10K in Perkins. That leaves $7,200 per year to cover, but you are expected to make money in the summer as part of the EFC. Still it sounds like Rice has EFC too high - by maybe $2-3K (?). Say your parents kick in $2,400 per year. You need to make money in the summer, and there are hidden costs. I’d contact Rice tomorrow.</p>
<p>Actually they say they’ll give me $40,404 per year in grants, and then on top that I have a $2500/yr Perkins loan and $2500/yr. work/study, and then they expect our family to pay $9700/yr. out of pocket to add up to their estimated total cost of attendance of 55kish. That includes transportation, books, supplies, and personal expenses, in addition to tuition and room/board. The thing is, my family couldn’t actually pay that. My dad doesn’t want me to do it, but my mom would be willing to contribute a couple hundred dollars per month, although it wouldn’t be easy. I don’t want them to do that, so there’s some added cost. When I think about it, I think it would be worth a little more to get the more individual attention, but I don’t know if it’s THAT much worth it. I do plan to work over the summer, and I haven’t factored that in because I don’t know how much it would help, but it definitely would. Specifically who should I contact? The financial aid office or my financial aid counselor?</p>
<p>IMO Rice is overrated in Engineering for Texas residents. UT/A&M are both equal to or better than Rice when it comes to program strength, undergraduate research opportunities, on campus recruiting, after graduation salaries.
UT regular engineering>Rice engineering.
Small class sizes aren’t really a big deal either. If you want one on one time with a prof, just go to office hours-It’s easy to get to know your profs and get on a first name basis.</p>
<p>Thank you very much. It’s beginning to look like I’m gonna go to UT because of the cost, especially since our family’s EFC is gonna go up in two years when my older brother graduates college, and the classes were my biggest worry. Although I felt like I fit a little better at Rice, I know I’ll love UT.</p>
<p>If you think you fit better at Rice, then I would choose Rice. The educational experience and environment at Rice is at the top in the nation. While cost is definitely a consideration, it looks like the price difference is only $5 or $6k per year, plus there are also departmental scholarships you could apply for and summer jobs and paid internships that will bring that cost down. The Rice experience is definitely worth far more than that amount and you really develop a close relationship with your professors. I have friends who have attended both, and while they were happy at their chosen school, you have to choose the one that best fits you. It’s a tough decision, but ultimately you have to choose where you feel like you fit and where you think you will be happy. One of my friends said that Rice had the happiest student population, but that may be just because she went there, lol! It sounds like you are choosing UT based on price, and I think that is a mistake in your case because the price difference is rather negligible and while the EFC amount will go up a little bit when your older brother graduates, it won’t be that much to make a huge difference. Choose based on fit, not price. That being said, they are both excellent schools with quality education. Just remember most students do not graduate in 4 years at UT (not in the engineering department at least), so if you have to spend an extra year at UT, then in that case Rice would actually be much cheaper!</p>
<p>OP, was your UT 64K package made up of two different scholarships stacked together? I am guessing that you recd one merit schol. from the university president’s office, and the other from the cockrell college of engg. this is what i also recd.</p>
<p>if so, then one thing nice about the president’s office schol. is that it will stay even if you decide to completely switch your area of study away from the engg college. one never knows!!!</p>
<p>also, the schol. through the president’s office has a lower GPA maintenance condition (2.5 and higher) relative to 3.5 reqd. by the engg. scholarship.</p>
<p>i recently chose UT over Rice, but Rice had not offered me any money at all. I did visit Rice but it was not something that wowed me totally. I am looking forward to the Honors within UT. I am told that the Honors prog. at UT is like an elite college within a college</p>
<p>Thank you all for your helpful advice. In the end, I chose Rice because I felt like I fit better there. Although I love both schools, I think I’ll be happier there. I also realized I could work over the summer to help bring my debt down, and my parents decided to help me out by paying a couple hundred dollars a month or so. I think that I would probably learn the material better at Rice, which in my mind is worth the extra cost. I paid my enrollment deposit a few hours ago and am now counting down the days to O-week. And I think I’m gonna go to UT for grad school (if I get good scholarships, but that’s four years down the road. I didn’t even know I was going to Rice a month ago). Again, thank you all for your input, and go Owls!</p>
<p>Oh and sanchanim, the scholarships I had been offered at UT were: 60k over 4 years from the university, a one-time payment of $2500 from the Cockrell School of Engineering, and an additional $1500 one-time payment for being selected as a President’s Achievement Scholar (or something similar. Not sure what that is.). Good luck to you in college!</p>