<p>I'm trying to decide whether to go to UMass (instate) or Indiana University Bloomington (OOS). While in general, I would prefer IU, tuition wise, it'll probably cost around 20k more per year to go to IU. I want to major in business and I know that IU beats UMass in both overall undergrad rankings and business rankings. I live in a middle class family so money is an issue for me.</p>
<p>Will the $20,000 difference be paid for with loans? If that’s the case, absolutely UMass.</p>
<p>What part of business? If it’s accounting, UMass would be just as fine as Indiana. If it’s investment banking, you should probably go to IU.</p>
<p>I also got into both Kelley and Isenberg , I am leaning toward IU because of the beautiful campus and better rep of the business school. I got 9000 from IU and 5000 from Umass. If money wasn’t an issue for you I’d say IU but if it is I agree UMASS is a good choice. Also, travel to IU increases the cost substantially. If I didn’t get the scholarship I would not even be considering IU due to cost.</p>
<p>You might talk to the school and see if they would still give you the scholarship when you enroll at IU-B if you took one or two years at a community college or at UMASS and then transferred in order to save money. </p>
<p>Just be upfront and explain the economic of the situation. Given today’s economic environment, they should understand. Then it’s just a question of whether they will hold open the scholarship money, or whether it would go to a different student or students.</p>
<p>The worst they could say is “No”, and then you can still make your decision based upon this.</p>
<p>Another option is to enroll for the maximum number of units at Indiana–and then take a bunch of courses during the first two summers (and even this summer) from a local community college, and transfer them to IU-B. If you could take maybe an extra 6 units (by taking something like 19 units each semester) and then take maybe 18 units during the summer, you can actually cut down somewhere between one semester or possibly even one full year off of the cost of attending IU-B (by reducing the number of years it takes you to graduate from 4 down to 3). There were some posts from A2Wolves, where he laid out how he graduated in 2 1/2 years from IU-B, since he couldn’t afford it otherwise. Unfortunately, it was more than 200 posts ago, meaning you can’t go look at these.</p>
<p>In my own view–and most people’s views on this board, I’m guessing–to spend an extra $80,000 to graduate from IU-B versus graduating from Massachusetts is just not worth it. Save the money for graduate school, or to tide you over during this tough economy, or for the down payment on a house or to buy a house. You will be better off in the long run.</p>