<p>you wont realize how much $200,000 in debt actually is until you are out of college and start paying it off. full ride.</p>
<p>The OP must have already made a decision by now, but, in any case, most top engineering programs are found either in public universities (Cal Berkeley, Illinois Urbana, Michigan Ann Arbor, GATech) or non-Ivy private schools (MIT, Stanford, Caltech, CMU). </p>
<p>A few Ivies are pretty strong in engineering (Cornell and Princeton come to mind), but, generally speaking, it doesn’t make sense to go into debt to attend an Ivy if you plan to major in engineering. In most cases, any of the aforementioned top state universities is probably a much better deal and will provide you with a better engineering education.</p>
<p>I would go with the Ivy for almost any subject, including engineering. It is a great experience…life enhancing. Many practical benefits, too. If you are middle class, the Ivy will give you more grant money to make it affordable.</p>
<p>husken55 said: “you wont realize how much $200,000 in debt actually is until you are out of college and start paying it off.”</p>
<p>until you are 40 and STILL paying it off.</p>
<p>Nobody goes $200,000 into debt for college. The most you will go into debt, after financial aid, if your family pays nothing in cash and pays everything through loans, is about $80,000. This would be for an upper middle-class family. If your family income was substantially less than $100,000 per year, you would get more grant money and take less in loans and go less into debt. If your family income is $200,000 per year and you get no need-based grant I would be very surprised if your family couldn’t simply pay cash and forego the loans.</p>
<p>My family is more or less $200k (single parent), and they cannot afford to pay $220k for my college education.</p>
<p>“Nobody goes $200,000 into debt for college.”</p>
<p>Yes, they do (poor souls). They do it because some parents who make $200k+ refuse to pay anything. You may be “very surprised,” but it does happen. They also do it because they really want to go to an expensive school that doesn’t guarantee to meet need, like NYU or GW.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Um, yes they do. How are you even getting this? Did you read the thread the other day about the young woman who’s in debt $200K with a Northeastern degree?</p>
<p>You are ASSUMING that a person gets financial aid. Aside from the very tip-top schools in the country, a lot of schools leave substantial gaps between what the family can afford and what the school gives them.</p>
<p>Besides, you say $80K like that’s not a lot of debt for college. Especially when faced with $0 debt from another great place.</p>
<p>The OP is now halfway through his sophomore year (probably at Villanova, which gave him the free ride - and which is considerably better than “OK”).</p>
<p>With a scholarship at a school with a 35% acceptance rate and an average SAT of 1300 (as you described above as a “good school”), you would be CRAZY to pay full tuition at an Ivy League School.</p>
<p>*My family is more or less $200k (single parent), and they cannot afford to pay $220k for my college education. *</p>
<p>Your family won’t have to pay $200k all in one year.</p>
<p>And, usually when someone indicates “single parent,” it’s to suggest lower income. A single parent earning $200k per year should have more discretionary income than a 2 parent home with the same income.</p>
<p>“A lot of people in this economy will be taking the free ride, so the peer group will be stronger.”</p>
<p>I definitely get that sense! This year’s applicant pool is ginormous, especially at schools that offer a lot of merit aid.</p>
<p>Recently, I was checking one of those sites that tracks applicants (supposedly) in Real Time – they use little colored dots on a map to track the applicants’ stats. (Can’t see how this means anything, as they can’t possibly fit enough dots on the little chart to represent <em>all</em> the applicants.) Anyway, I checked UNC Asheville, which normally admits / enrolls a student body with average SATs around 1150. This year, there are apparently quite a few applicants with SATs in the 700s. Not a majority by any means, but still… </p>
<p>The economy is driving better students to the more affordable schools. It’s certainly doing so in DS’s case…he has applied to only one “reach” school. Has been accepted at two Catholic colleges, but money is an issue. Will probably go to one of our in-state schools (UNC system) if he can get merit aid.</p>
<p>LadyD…which site is that? I’d love to see that. :)</p>
<p>I was at Ohio State, full ride. Transferred to Penn. Take it from me, there’s no point. Full ride, hands down.</p>