<p>Hi everyone,</p>
<p>I am currently trying to decide between three colleges. One is a smaller, exclusive liberal arts school [Pomona], one is a big state school (but with a good reputation) [UW-Madison], and the last is one of the best regional state schools in its state [UT-Dallas].</p>
<p>If finances were of no concern, I’d choose Pomona right away. However, my family falls somewhere in the “above-average middle class” category, and so the question of paying for my education is rather important. Pomona offered me enough money through scholarships and loans to cut the cost substantially (to around $22k per year). By contrast, UW-Madison would cost about $14k per year, and UT-Dallas would be free because I’m a National Merit Finalist.</p>
<p>Assuming that I work pretty hard while in school and over the summer, and my parents make good on their promised $12k per year contribution, I should have somewhere between $30k and $40k in loans by the end of my four years at Pomona. Of that amount, $29k would be fairly low interest ($19k in unsubsidized Stafford loans + $10.4k in “Pomona loans”). The rest would probably be higher-interest ones taken out to cover any shortfall that exists between what I contribute and what my parents contribute.</p>
<p>Though a friend has told me that I should just take the loans if Pomona is really where I want to go, my parents have a more practical view. They struggled a lot during and after college, having had me in their final year. Their loans were probably significantly less than what I might have, but neither chose a particularly high-paying career and so it took them a good ten years to get everything paid off. The painfulness of being in this situation seems to be what is driving their opposition toward my taking the Pomona offer.</p>
<p>However, my situation will (hopefully) be different: I want to major in computer science and become a software engineer, a job in which the starting salary is around $60k per year. Assuming I can use 20% of my after-tax income toward paying off loans, I should be able to pay them all off in five years, which isn’t wonderful but would probably be acceptable.</p>
<p>So here are my questions:</p>
<li>Am I thinking realistically?</li>
<li>Aside from the giant financial gap (probably $60k total) between Pomona and UT-Dallas, the main difference seems to be the overall experience. The professors (and pretty much everything else) at Pomona are extremely highly ranked, and the one I chatted with over email seemed wonderful. Also, there’s about a 200-point gap in SAT scores (math-verbal) between the two. As the professor I mentioned said, it appears that the reason UTD wants me so badly is that I am worth more to them than they are to me. Does Pomona seem worth it?</li>
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