<p>Hey everyone, I visited Michigan and I really liked it a lot. I am looking to go pre-med. I was waitlisted at Notre Dame, so I have to commit somewhere very soon. My issue is that I'm from Illinois, and my family is the middle of middle class ( an large.. innacurate.. arent they always.. EFC of $19k). I have a small grant and work study.. but I really dont know if it is worth so much debt and such a financial burden on my family.</p>
<p>If ND accepts me, they are really great about financial aid. My other option (which I'm not as fond of) is UofI. It is a really nice school, but when I visited it didn't strike me as somewhere that I'd really want to be. UMich's honors program sounds so nice... but I'm not sure that it's worth twice the cost.</p>
<p>Honestly, I'm holding out hopes that ND takes me off of the waitlist, but I have about 2 weeks to decide where my deposit will be going... any advice?</p>
<p>I do not believe any education is worth $40,000 if you come from the a middle income family...not when you can get UofI for a third the price. Medical schools is bloody expensive. You would save $100,000 by going to UofI instead of Michigan. I love Michigan, but in my not so humble opinion, NO school is worth paying and extra $100,000 for middle income familes.</p>
<p>That is exactly why I'm going to Umich over Dartmouth...I simply refuse to pay 15K extra A YEAR...I'm thinking about law school, and I'll def. have more options. Dude...follow the $$$...come to Umich for law.</p>
<p>I don't know if I would come down as strongly as Alexander about paying extra, as there are circumstances that I feel it is warrented. But in your case, I do agree with him. Though Michigan is a great school, the difference between it and Uof I is certainly not $100K. If you were considering going to California or the East coast, or had some striking reason for the more expensive school, that is a different story. And some kids are just much better off at smaller schools, LACs over their state school, but Uof I vs Michigan is not that huge of a difference. There is an excellent post that goes into the differences and similarities among Uof I, UM and WIsconsin. You might want to read it. You can do an awful lot with $100K and so can your family.</p>
<p>Jamimom, I agree with your point. If a student is better suited for a LAC, then it may be worth paying the extra money. However, for students looking at research universities, be it Cornell, Penn, MIT, Michigan, Cal or Harvard, I would say it is hard to justify spending an additional $100,000 to middle income families.</p>
<p>Your plans for medical school would weigh heavily if i were in your shoes. Med school tuition can be BRUTAL and you will leave med school with a lot of loans. I wouldn't, therefore, be eager to accumulate too much student loan debt as an undergrad.</p>
<p>It's hard to advise someone to NOT come here, but that may be what's best for you. I'll cross my fingers for Notre Dame for you (which is really saying something--I've loathed Notre Dame for decades! LOL)</p>
<p>I am in somewhat of the same situation. I'm from Kansas, and I refuse to go to KU. I hear it is a good school, but for me, high school was enough time for me to be an african american in a conservative district. I got into Umich Kinesiology, and received approximately 9,000 in grants/work study. I dont plan on attending grad school. Is it worth it for the undergrad debt?????</p>
<p>I am from NY, and I also refuse to attend my SUNY schools, about 20k. I am getting around 10k from umich in work study etc. I also have to attend the bridge program at umich, and I dont know if I have for it. btw my mom makes 113k. How far is umich from NY.</p>
<p>Debt for undergrad isn't horrible; it's overall a good investment in yourself and your future career. Debt can be worth it in that context.</p>
<p>But I think there are graver concerns when you (a) have plans to attend the sort of grad school/professional school that doesn't give much financial aid </p>
<p>and/or </p>
<p>(b) come from very limited means and may not have a safety net for paying those back after graduation.</p>
<p>Keep in mind, a lot of graduate programs do provide teaching assistantships and other aid, so the loan burden won't be as bad. It's law/medicine/business where they really add up.</p>
<p>mhawk, I was in your exact same position. Waitlisted by an ivy that is better about financial aid (Harvard), and faced with either U of I or uMich. U of I was about half the price for me ($19k v. $38k) because I am in-state as well. I chose uMich because my parents could afford it, but mostly because I truly believe that a great 4-year experience is worth any amount of post-graduation debt. I especially think that a degree from Mich goes a long way and that you shouldn't have too much of a problem paying off that debt after your four years. To me, such a pivotal time in life really should not be determined by money, no matter how little you have.</p>
<p>Hell, I'm choosing Michigan over U of I for physics, and if I had chosen U of I I would have only had to pay half tuition! Michigan is lucky they have great books :)</p>
<p>I do not believe it is worth paying $40,000 for a top 15 university like Michigan or Duke or Brown and get into big-time debt as a result when one can get an education at a top 40 university like Illinois or Wisconsin for half the price. </p>
<p>However, as Chibearfan points out, if you have the money, or if one gets into manageable debt, go for it because college is about much more than just studying.</p>