<p>No in-depth analyses needed, although feel free to include horror stories (or better ones!) if you want to. I just want to have something to show my mom later; we've been having a slight disagreement because I haven't been gung-ho about an idea she proposed, and it's not because I want to tune her out without consideration...</p>
<p>Which is the wiser choice?</p>
<p>(a) Binghamton University: graduate $0 - $23k in debt (depending on whether Stafford loans are taken out or not, and pending scholarship notification)
(b) Barnard College: graduate $70k - $100k in debt (depending on what amount my mother wanted to project)</p>
<p>As of this moment, I don't know what my major will be; my whims say that a Poli Sci/Computer Sci double major would be pretty versatile while keeping in line with my interests, though.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that this is for a four-year degree, and that I want grad school to be a possibility after all of this.</p>
<p>go to finaid.org and click on calculators, that will give you a hint on the payments on a 100K debt over 10 years=approximately 1100 a month for 10 years=138K payback counting the interest it will accumulate. </p>
<p>Based on what the calc says, you would need a salary of 138,000 to comfortably repay a 10% of your AGI to payback.
Remember, all young people want cars/rent/nice clothes will be a tad difficult paying back 1100 a month and still want a life.</p>
<p>Yeah, I understand that completely, and I've run the numbers myself. It's a hypothetical question and I want to be able to show my mother what other people would find practical.</p>
<p>YEars ago I might have thought it made sense to take on more debt, now that I have one who finished UG school and is in grad school and one almost done with UG school and no lottery winnings or amazing raises have happened, I am very happy we went with financial safeties ;)</p>
<p>I am sure this is not the answer you want to hear -
Go to Binghmaton and forget Barnard.</p>
<p>Q. - How are you going to borrow $70,000??? Max on Stafford over 4 years is $19,000, the max you can get from Perkins is $16,000 though most kids get much less than that.</p>
<p>My husband did take on that much debt -- many, many years ago (we have son who will apply for college next year). We are still paying that debt off and the impact on our lives has been significant. I would never advise doing it -- and to be honest, if I had known the amount of the debt and understood the difficulty of paying it off, I would have thought twice about marrying him. Starting salaries for students out of college are never as high as you think they will be; grad school adds more debt; out of that starting salary you have to pay taxes, medical insurance, food, housing, clothes for the new job and a car -- ask anyone, there is never enough! </p>
<p>go to binghampton and be thrilled with a great college experience that will not cost you your future happiness.</p>
<p>"I am sure this is not the answer you want to hear"</p>
<p>No, it actually was! I wouldn't look for supporters without defining my cause if I thought it was wrong ;)</p>
<p>Long story short, a couple days ago it seemed like the only way to realistically go to a school like Barnard, and I was nothing short of terrified...I think my mom got angry with me for saying undergrad's not worth the risk of that much debt after college, because I reacted really badly when she suggested that she'd cosign that much in private student loans for me. Despite the generous offer, I simply couldn't find a way to be happy about that much debt, even when she said she'd help me pay it off...having that much hanging over my head the moment I step into the "real" adult world is too much to bear for me.</p>
<p>Best of luck to your son in the upcoming college (and FA -_-) application process, hsmomstef. Your story as well as others I've seen on this forum are precisely what made me so reluctant...thank you.</p>
<p>ETA: LurkNess, I believe they do, but my family happens to be asset-rich. However, after crunching a lot of numbers this morning, we figured it out: FinAid doesn't lie, and my family will be able to pull it off. I'll still be in debt, but only with the "average" amount -- which I can live with!</p>