Is this decision like choosing between ASU and NAU if you live 20 miles from Flagstaff? I know people with good outcomes, especially grad school, that did well at NAU.
Maybe you can get into the Kent Honors College after freshman year.
Sounds like if you can get on board with Kent that would be your best option. You say youâd be comfortable in your bed at home. Youâd get max credits from AP courses. Youâd still be able to get involved in clubs, etc. Youâd get a good CS education and youâd have way less debt. Let us know what Kent says. Good luck to you.
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When I applied I applied for Kentâs honors college and was accepted. I assume the offer still holds since Kent still is emailing me to commit. So Iâd be in honors off the bat probably.
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Eyemph, you make a great point about there being no advantage to attending an elite college once you control for high school record. So, I think itâs worth being repeated and emphasized.
In fact, one study found that the best predictor of future success is NOT what college a student attended BUT what college a student was accepted at. In other words, students who are accepted at Harvard are highly likely to be successful regardless of whether they attend Harvard or their State U.
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This is what you said:
I asked what you meant because this is a pledge that everyone should take. College students. Non-college students. Kids who live on campus. Kids who commute. Not sure why you would single out someone looking to take part in the âfull college experienceâ unless you thought getting drunk was a very big part of said experience.
And I agree its an issue. Though 2 college aged kids killed in crash earlier this year with no drugs/alcohol involved. Everyone wearing seatbelts.
In terms of loans being worth it, depends on what the other options are. And the various studies I have seen look at averages. Average amount paid, average loan balance and average salaries (to start, at x year intervals). What if you arenât average?
But, about $16K of that is room and board? Is that correct?
I believe thatâs elite vs flagship. Once you get to regional or local universities, I have found that job opportunities are much different.
A key is also to stay focused on graduation, even with debt. Many students extend their time in college by working significant hours in a job paying $15 or less an hour.
Yeah thatâs right. The majority of that 16k would be room and board.
So, after you and your parents each contribute $5K weâre essentially talking about a $9K gap. You mention a $5500 sum resting in a 529 account, so Iâm assuming thatâs a one-shot deal.
At the end of four years that only comes to $36,000 in loans - and, thatâs before applying whateverâs in the 529 plan. 
Nope. I donât know how you figure that. Iâm paying 19k per year minus the 5000 me and my family chip in. So 14k per year in loans total. Times 4 possibly. So thatâs up to 56k minus the 6000 in savings still 50k. Without interest. If I donât live with my parents after I graduate there will also likely be a lot more interest accumulated over the payment period.
Oh, Iâm sorry. I thought you meant your parents were paying 5000 and you were paying another 5000. So, your parents can only afford $2500 in out of pocket expenses and you donât qualify for Pell grants? 
Okay, but just to be clear: thatâs almost half what was making people lose their minds just a little while ago. It probably wonât sway the consensus, but it really depends on what @Bill_Marsh was alluding to: Can you have fun without drinking and driving for the next four years?
Letâs put this to rest. Anyone can do this. Itâs even MORE likely if youâre not driving home to your parents. This is a gross mischaracterization of what the âtypical college experienceâ boils down to. Responsible kids will Uber or have a DD no matter where they live.
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I donât see why not, people crash with people who live on campus or off campus all of the time, even when my kids were in college they had friends visit and they visited other friends at other colleges a lot. Even high school kids where I live donât drive to parties. These kids grew up ubering too.
I definitely do not see me drinking being a problem. I donât plan to drink, especially underage.
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Thatâs great cuz youâre the only person on this board qualified to answer that question.
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Letâs nit put it to rest. To be so dismissive about such a serious matter is irresponsible.
Commuting a distance by car puts kids in harmâs way regularly - especially if campus becomes the center of their social world. Saying yep that âANYONE can do this . . .â Simply dismisses everything we know about the driving records of young drivers and what we know about brain research and judgment of late adolescents. Of course anyone CAN do this. Thatâs not really the point. The issue is whether anyone WILL do this - and in this case the OP in particular. I know that it can be done, and thatâs precisely the reason why I asked the OP if he can make the commitment to not getting behind the wheel of a car impaired.
I have no idea why you say that my comment was âa gross mischaracterization of what the âtypical college experienceâ boils down to.â Are you that naive? First of all, I never said that it âboils downâ to anything. It was the OP who said that as a commuter, he would be âsacrificing so much fun and the majority of the âcollege experienceâ.â I have no idea what he was vaguely referring to, so I didnât make any assumptions about what he meant - one way or the other. But I know full well that when college kids get together to have âfunâ, in many cases that fun involves alcohol. I thought that the risks of being in that situation put him at risk. I think that the responsible thing is to make sure that he is aware of this going in.
I have no idea why more than one person of this forum is affronted by a reference to the fact that many college kids drink, and that drinking & driving is deadly. Of course kids can Uber or crash at a friendâs but unfortunately too many donât. The slaughter on Americaâs highways is testimony to this.
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Being a programmer myself, I wouldnât recommend that much debt for a bachelors degree. There are up/down swings in the market and you really donât want that much extra debt hanging over your head. I know this because I took out that much debt for a masters degree, and life doesnât make it easy to pay down. I promise, your older-wiser self will go back in-time to thank you laterâŠbecause you will probably be the dude who invented the time machine in the first place. 
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No one is suggesting otherwise. Whatâs raising hackles is the suggestion that THAT is what defines the âtypical college experience.â THAT is a part of being a young person irrespective of where they go to to college, irrespective of whether or not they even go to college. Your advise is germane to the OP whether or not they commute, but you didnât frame it that way.
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It is a fact that teen/young adult drunk driving has been decreasing since the 90âs, I think by close to 50%. Itâs still a problem, because although teens are less likely to drive under the influence than older adults, they are more likely to be in accidents.
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