I have narrowed down my choices to my state honors (not naming but is comparable to Penn State with a reputable med school), Barnard College, Carleton College, and BC (last on my list). I am undecided between business/econ and bio w/pre-med track. In my previous threads, I’ve stated that my main interest is business, but I know for a fact if I do choose to go premed, I would attend my state to save up for medical school.
Financials:
My parents are able to afford my tuition with their investments but I have two siblings and starting this fall, my parents will pay college tuition for 12 years continuously…
If I go instate with the scholarship, I will pay a comprehensive total of about $27K a year.
If I go to any of the privates listed, I will be paying close to $70K a year. That’s a $43K difference each year, totaling to about $172K over four years. Is the extra cost worth it?
I plan on taking out the federal $5,500 loans each year, and my parents want me to cosign loans. They find that I should play a larger part in financing my college education and settled on $20K a year if I attend a private. They can afford the costs but want me to take out loans because many of our family friends have done so. That is $80K to $100K in loans. I know that is A LOT and a lot of fresh college grads even have difficulty paying off the $20K in loans. Knowing that affording college is possible, is attending a private still an option?
Academics:
I’ve visited my state school, Carleton, and have yet to attend Barnard’s admitted students day. Unfortunately, I could not attend BC’s admit day but I did visit last year.
To my surprise, I liked my state school after the visit. The honors program is similar to the setup that places liberal arts school within the larger university. There is priority registration and a required senior thesis.
Carleton is great but far away. Barnard was my first-choice but I decided to be open and consider other choices.
BC is my least favorite of the final list, because of the people who attend.
Is a honors program instate as reputable as a selective private college like Barnard?
If you were definitely going the premed route, I would tell you take on as little debt as possible for undergrad. If you were definitely going business, I might lean toward Barnard. Overall you’re undecided and it sounds like the cost could strain your family’s finances, so I would say go instate.
If you’re interested in business I would lean towards BC, but since you don’t like it go with your state flagship. Although the other two options are great schools they aren’t really business focused and your job prospects won’t outweigh the high costs.
My response is to forget about the other schools completely and only even consider the state HC. $80,000 in student loan debt is way too high. When you graduate from college, it will control every decision. You will only be able to accept jobs that allow you to live in a low cost of living situation b/c you are going to have such a huge loan payment every month.
No UG degree, regardless of prestige-focused ideology, is worth that amt of debt when you are 22 and starting out with little job experience. You will look back at your 18 yr old self and ask what were you thinking.
Instead, go to the public U, take advantage of every opportunity you can find, take challenging and interesting classes, maintain a high GPA, get involved in UG research (find professors who want students working for them), make the career office a place of priority so that you know how to find good internships to develop marketable skills. Do those things and you will be fine.
Barnard offers financial aid and you can always apply for some scholarships. I think it’s well worth the money. The networking and internship opportunities are AMAZING and you will get a great return on the investment of college. Also, some people join ROTC which pays for your college education. I know a girl at Barnard that is doing that.
Also, liberal arts college are great for undecided people as you can explore your interests through amazing classes. You can also see what you like better through internships and jobs in NYC. Barnard also has Barnard Babysitting and Barnard Bartending where you can make some extra cash while working for influential and interesting people throughout NYC