<p>I recently got accepted to Howard University with a Founder's Scholarship basically covered everything for attending Howard. However, I also got acceptances to several other schools, including Tulane ($49800/y award), BU ($41280/y award), Case ($40890/y award), and Duke ($38900/y award). I know Howard may not be as prestige as the other schools but I get a full-ride there plus $500 to spend on book every year. For the other schools, I am looking at minimum $20000 loan every year. I came from a poor immigrant family. Though my parents always want me to go with a higher ranked school and they say they will support me no matter what, I don't want to put too much burden on my parents. I think I may be able to manage the loans via work study or just simply pay them after my graduation. But Howard's generous offer still very much attracts me, as I can save up a lot toward my future studies ( I want to study medicine eventually and Howard also offers a 6-year BS/MD program I already applied to, that's another reason I am considering Howard). So I am really having a hard time now to decide on these schools.</p>
<p>Can someone please help me out? I never visit all these schools before. All the information I have were from the schools' websites and collected from the internet. So any insight/thoughts/suggestions are very much appreciated!</p>
<p>Although free is hard to pass up, I believe Howard has some known problems financially, which is impacting the quality of the school. Make sure you investigate those and be fully informed before accepting - free may not be all it’s cracked up to be.</p>
<p>“For the other schools, I am looking at minimum $20000 loan every year.”</p>
<p>I think your math is off when it comes to Tulane…a $50k award will leave you with around $13k per year to cover. That may still be too much to borrow, but $52k over four years is a lot less than $80k total.</p>
<p>The main thing to be aware of with Howard’s Founder’s Scholarship is that you need to keep a 3.3 college GPA to renew it. 3.0 is usually not a problem for a top scholarship student, while 3.5 demands GPA management like a pre-med or pre-law student (although if you are pre-med anyway, you need to pay attention to that anyway); 3.3 is in between. If any of the other offers include merit scholarships, check for GPA requirements for renewal.</p>
<p>However, $20,000 of loans every year is generally too much in any case.</p>
<p>Based on the above, Howard is affordable with either some work earnings or a federal direct loan. Tulane would be a stretch with work earnings and a federal direct loan and a few thousand dollars of parent contribution (perhaps instead of buying food and utilities that you consume at home?). The rest are financially out of reach if your parents cannot contribute much.</p>
<p>And Hanna, sorry my numbers were misleading. The awards I listed included the Federal Stafford loans and Perkins loan so that’s about $9,000 in total loans. So the total cost paid by my loan and family contribution for attending Tulane is $22,310, actually it will cost the least among the four schools. The rest three will add about $7,000-$9,000 in terms of my total cost, where the Howard award covers the tuition and fees, room and meal plus $500 for the books so is technically free.</p>
<p>Howard estimates books cost about $2,500 (which seems to be a lot higher than at other schools, which are usually closer to $1,000 for the books estimate), and there are misc expenses which result in the remaining price of $5,471 after the scholarship. I don’t see why you would necessarily have a much higher book cost at Howard than elsewhere, and frugal living may be able to cut misc expenses to lower than Howard’s estimate. So it wouldn’t be completely free (probably about $500 in remaining book costs plus small amounts of misc expenses), but well within your ability to earn from work or cover with a small federal direct loan.</p>
<p>If those other costs are $7,000 to $9,000 higher because the awards include loans, then they are all unaffordable if your family cannot contribute more than a few thousand dollars, leaving Howard your only choice in that case.</p>
<p>If it is any help, one of my son’s friends is a sophomore there and loves it, both the academics and the social life. She had lots of choices available. Money stress will cause your academics to suffer and is not worth the difference for someone without financial slack.</p>
<p>You can’t borrow more than the federal loans on your own, so any debt beyond that will have to be taken on by your parents in the form of PLUS loans, or they will have to co-sign for private loans with you. Med school is ridiculously expensive, and students normally pay for it with loans. If you are serious about med school, go to Howard so you can avoid debt until you absolutely need it.</p>
<p>To better compare the aid offers, try this calculator: <a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid; You need to know what your out-of-pocket (including loans) is for each place. Don’t forget to read the fine print on the scholarship offers. Are the dollar amounts fixed (which means what you have to pay will increase each year as tuition and fees and other costs continue to rise) or do they guarantee to cover all of tuition/fees/housing for as long as you remain eligible?</p>
<p>Howard is the easy choice given the financial picture you have shared. Especially since you plan on going to med school.You’ll be in DC so the ability to network for internships is abundant as well the several schools in the area where you may network with fellow students and take advantage of those opportunities. If money were no object, I’d have a different view. </p>