Major: Computer Science with the intent to pursue an MBA afterwards
I am in-state for UNC and NCSU.
I am full pay at all four universities, but I’ve also received full tuition + 1,500/yr engineering scholarship at Alabama.
So the total costs will end up being:
UNC - 24k/yr
NCSU - 23k/yr
Georgia Tech - 50k/yr
U Alabama - 7.5-10k/yr
I also want to point out that I have two years of transferrable college credit (associate degree) I’ve earned from dual-enrollment that will allow me to graduate from UNC, NCSU, and possibly U Alabama in two years.
I’ll only need to take out loans for Georgia Tech totalling about 200k.
Is this debt worth the Georgia Tech CS degree? Will the degree give me an advantage in the job market? Will a UNC undergraduate degree give me an advantage when applying to UNC’s MBA program later on?
Do you mean to say that your parents will pay the net prices for UNC, NCSU, or UA, but pay $0 for GT, since you say that you need $200,000 of debt for GT, but no loans for the others?
In any case, $200,000 of debt is such a big disadvantage that it far outweighs any possible advantage that GT could give you (and there are computing employers in the UNC / NCSU Research Triangle area). You also cannot borrow anywhere near that amount without a cosigner.
MBA programs often prefer students who have had some post-bachelor’s-degree work experience.
Undergraduate students can only take out about $7,500 in loans the first year and $5,000 each year the next three years, for a total of just over $20,000 in debt. Anything beyond that would be a loan to your parents. It is possible that $200,000 in debt is more than what they have paid for their house. Just forget about Georgia Tech. It won’t give you any advantage beyond the other universities.
Go with Alabama. Having and keeping a scholarship there (you have to maintain your grades to keep it) will be impressive to MBA programs when you go to apply to them later on. If you have doubts about your ability to keep the scholarship, then take your pick between UNC and NCSU.
Sounds like you will only have to incur $20K of debt to get your undergrad degree in CS from Alabama or $48K from UNC. A 2 year MBA will typically run 90-100K in tuition + living expenses but you should wait a few years to have some management experience before going back to school. You could make a decent living as a developer and with a few years of experience you will be earning well into 6 figures. You could probably save enough to go to business school and incur minimal debt, or have your employer pay part of it.
If it were me, I would choose between UNC and Alabama after confirming which credits would transfer.
UA will also allow you to use your 4 year scholarship to help pay for grad school. If you do graduate early, you can then use your scholarship funding for grad school.
As the others have said, take GT off your list. Any of the other 3 schools are great options.
My DS too had to choose between zero aid from GT and full tuition++ from UA. He’s a smart boy studying aerospace, astronomy and Math minor freshman year at UA. Took him all of a minute to cross GT off his list! So far freshman year we’ve paid ZERO to UA. In fact they wrote us a check and his first year will be free (freshman housing was free). He’s getting a great education and UA has become his second home. Know two UA seniors recently accepted to Stanford grad school, one to MIT grad school (another school where DS got zero aid) and a handful just offered jobs by Boeing. And these are just people I know. Many more success stories at UA!
At any rate, UA seems like a winner, IMHO. I’m surprised you did not receive any merit-related aid from UNC/NCSU.
Dual Enrollment gives you certain advantages by lowering your total college cost (shortening your undergraduate duration to only two years) and could potentially allow you to get your graduate degree (MBA) tuition cost paid for by UA’s generous scholarship program.
Congratulations on getting into GT - that alone was an accomplishment this year! Nevertheless, full pay at GT does not seem worth it given your other options.
The only school that might sway me from UA would be UNC. Even then, I think I’d go where the money is the best as long as the education is solid (which I think it would be at UA) - especially in light of grad school plans.
Congratulations; my son may be a CS major at UA as well! Have you visited UA yet? You might want to talk with Jeff Gray if he is available.
200K in loans to go to Tech? You can’t take out those loans (which would be ridiculous anyway) - your parents would have to. And many Tech students take 5 years to graduate (with co ops etc) so the loan would be even higher. Take that completely off your radar.
Your financial situation is a little confusing. Since you are full-pay, are your parents refusing to pay anything for college expenses? Or are they willing and able to pay for the in-state options, but don’t want to pay big money for Georgia Tech?
If your parents have the money and it will not cause any hardship, I would choose UNC-Chapel Hill. Great school, great reputation and a lot of fun to boot. If it will cause hardship, then UA seems the obvious choice.
To answer a few questions:
-My parents will fund the vast majority of my education, apart from about 8-10k which I will have earned through work by the start of my first year
-My parents would take out loans to cover the full cost of Georgia Tech, which is about 200k
-My household income is about 175k and will likely grow next year
I’ve narrowed down my choices to UNC and Alabama based on your responses. I’m still waiting on a few reaches (MIT, Harvard, etc.) but for the sake of practicality, it’ll likely be either UNC or Alabama.
Avoid the need for parent loans or parent cosigned student loans.
How much would they pay for UNC or NCSU, and is it financially comfortable for them, considering their retirement plans and college for any younger siblings you may have?
It’s easy to earn that much and not have the cash flow to pay $49K a year for GT (Non-Georgia Residents Cost of Attendance). A large mortgage, a second home, multiple cars, private K-12 schools, health related bills, retirement savings…