University of Chicago or University of Minnesota...?

College Search & Selection
1

I’m trying to make the very difficult decision between attending The University of Chicago or The University of Minnesota next year. I know those two schools are very very different, and they each have pros and cons, so I was wondering if anyone here could offer some advice.

UChicago is my dream school. By some miracle I was accepted, but I will have to pay full price minus whatever national merit scholarships I get. My family is not loaded, so to pay for an education at Chicago, I would have to go deep into debt. The reasons to consider accepting this debt include being able to go to my dream school, and the world-class education I would get there along with the connections and networking the degree would offer.

For the U of M – I have been accepted into the Honors program. I don’t know how it stacks up to Chicago’s academic standards… But the scholarships they’ve offered me combined with my savings will allow me to leave college debt-free, probably with money in my pocket. This would obviously be a nice alternative to going thousands of dollars into debt. I don’t yet know if I will be going to grad school, so in case I want to or need to, not being in deep debt might be nice. However, if I don’t want to, I’ll probably regret passing up the opportunity to get a world-class education from Chicago. And also if I want to go to Chicago for grad instead of undergrad, I don’t even know if I’d get in again…

I don’t know what career I want for sure, and therefore I’m also very undecided when it comes to majors, but I’m interested in checking out Economics as a possible major. Conveniently, Chicago is a world-renowned Economics school. That said, I’m also very interested in English, though, so it could go either way (and a double major in these things sounds impossible at Chicago). The U of M might be safer if I don’t know what I want to do, but if I do end up doing Econ and I passed up a UChicago education… oh the regret…

The U of M is almost free, close to home, and my best friend is going there. Chicago will leave me in debt, and as an introvert it will probably be stressful getting to know new people in a new place, but I want to go there so badly anyway. It’s an amazing school with an amazing and unique atmosphere. I just don’t know if the cost is worth it. And I don’t know how stressful it really is (where fun goes to die?), and I don’t want to burn out, but the opportunity to go to one of the best schools in the world with the best minds in the world doesn’t come every day, you know? I don’t want to regret my decision to pass up my dream school, but I’m not sure if I want to be buried in debt either. A Chicago degree might help me pay it off faster, but then again it might not.

If anyone can offer any thoughts to help me out, I’d appreciate it! Thanks in advance.

2

What are the net prices of each school, and how much of it would be debt?

Generally, it is a bad idea to take on more debt than the federal direct loan limit.

The Chicago economics major is math-intensive. Minnesota gives three economics major options of varying math-intensity (the most math-intensive is recommended for pre-PhD students).

3

It is hard to advise you because you don’t actually say what the cost is. While thousands of dollars is do-able, tens of thousands aren’t.

My thoughts is that is a high income family didn’t save for an expensive college, then that college is just out of reach. There are always things that are too expensive.

At U of M you will never exhaust the resources and opportunities available, you will just have to seek them out. I don’t know how the honors college works there, but hopefully it will be an avenue to expose you to more opportunities there.

4

If you are thinking of making the expenditure for Chicago, be sure you go for an accepted students visit to both before making up your mind. I live in MN and had a kid accepted at U of Chicago a couple of years ago, and she did not end up choosing to attend U of C after a less-than-stellar visit (and it was her first choice going into final visits, and she had been to campus for a day visit prior to applying). Also, U of C’s econ department has a decidedly conservative bent – read up on that as part of your decision process. It may not appeal to every student (or may be just what you are looking for).

I would leave where your best friend is going to college out of the decision entirely.

Final thought – a “dream school” is not a dream school if you can’t afford it.

5

U of M also has a very high ranked economics program. Couple that with being in the honors program (more selective than many other honors programs) I think it would still provide for a stimulating academic environment. Select honors housing and you are even more likely to be within your comfort level. As noted by other posters, the economics curriculum has a very strong mathematical and theoretical bent at UChicago. Talk with professors and academic chairs at both schools to ensure it will be the type of program you want.

6

Well, UMinny’s econ department actually has the same conservative bent. In fact, UMinny’s econ department was populated by Chicago PhD’s, I believe.

Both provide undergraduate training that is well-respected by econ PhD programs.

Without you knowing what your goals and costs are, it’s really hard to actually provide advice. BTW, you know that you are limited in how much debt you yourself can get from the federal government, right?

7

Thanks for the responses – I didn’t say the cost because I’m not positive exactly how much my parents can realistically contribute (and my mom has hinted that I might get an inheritance soon which might change things – as horrible as that sounds :frowning: )… Without some miraculous influx of money, the debt would be easily above $50,000, which is kind of the end of anything reasonable :/.

And yes @PurpleTitan, I’ve heard that. I would take on as much debt as I could, and my parents would go into debt the rest, and I would probably have to bail them out at a later point… It’s hard to say exactly how things would go down. They said they can try to stretch, but how far… I don’t know.

8

OK, so without clear goals, going in to massive debt doesn’t make a lot of sense, IMO.

9

$50,000 per year of debt is obviously way too much. But if you are looking at that much in debt for Chicago, what are you looking at for Minnesota? Unless you are getting substantial scholarships there, Minnesota may also be too expensive.

What are the net prices of each school after deducting scholarships and financial aid grants from the list prices? (If financial aid offers are still pending, check their net price calculators.)

10

Minnesota will be almost free for me after scholarships so no worries there. Chicago is $67,000 per year. They did not offer us any need-based aid, even though we can’t afford the school, just like many other middle-class families. Haven’t gotten the official NMF scholarships, since I haven’t declared it as my #1 school, but it would be a minimum of $4,000 off the tab. My family could probably cover the entire first year of costs, but the 2nd-4th years would require we go into debt.

11

$189,000 in debt is far too much. Between these two, “almost free” Minnesota is the only reasonable choice.

12

I’m sorry. I know its a disappointment not to be able to afford to attend the dream school. It happens to lots of smart ambitious kids every year. Friend’s very academically accomplished D was told it was State U for financial reasons - end of discussion. Her friends applied to the selective and expensive schools she had hoped to attend and some even got admitted. But when they got their financial aid packages, a number of them ended up at State U with friend’s D. Were they better off knowing they were admitted to the selective schools but still couldn’t go? Friend’s D was sorry for her friends, but feeling a lot better about her own situation. Fast forward - she’s in a PhD program at one of the schools she would have applied to as an undergrad had the money been available. And she is debt free.

If you are going to be graduating with $50k+ in debt, you will be closing off a lot of options. It means you may be working at a job when you might have been able to do a valuable unpaid internship or interesting research. You may be paying off debt when you might have been buying a house or a car. You may be paying off debt when you’d rather be going to school for an advanced degree. You may be paying off debt when you would rather be supporting yourself or a partner to be at home with kids - or trying to start a business or whatever else you decide to do with your life. Those are an awful lot of options to give up at the age of 18.

13

Again you are super vague with the financial part. You need to clarify what your parents can and will pay each year. A 4 year plan. Not pay all resources the first year and then wonder how you are going to have funds to finish, that is a recipe for disaster. No one does that. You can’t plan to bail out parents! If this would put them in a ‘bail out’ situation, then it is not feasible. And don’t count your chickens before they hatch. I don’t think you understand that your parents would have to pay these loans starting right away. You may not be in a position to contribute as a new grad. And you yourself will have payments if you take your student loans which are max:

Student Federal Direct Loan
freshman 5,500
sophomore 6,500
jr 7,500
sr 7,500

Chicago’s NMF merit award is 2k according to the website You would have to be very high income not to get any aid from Chicago.

Graduating with no loans is a huge freedom.

14

I can’t understand why Chicago does not give you any FA. They just changed their policy that any FA will not be debt based. Does your family of high income or high net worth?

15

In your case, I agree with most of the other posters here. Take Minnesota’s offer, and do not go into so much undergrad debt. Minnesota does have a nationally recognized economics department, and several other disciplines also have excellent faculty and resources. If you have the ability to be accepted by Chicago, you likely also have the ability to take advantage of Minnesota’s resources and excel there.

16

Presumably, the OP’s family makes a high enough income and/or has high enough assets that Chicago’s EFC for them is list price or higher. Of course, that presumably means that the OP’s family has expensive spending, or has had significant financial setbacks, or has lots of non-liquid assets, if there is little or no money for college.

17

If the OP’s family income is more than $200K/year, and if a sizable inheritance is likely in the next few years, then it might make sense to stretch for an expensive, prestigious private school. Only the OP’s family can decide how big a premium they are able (or willing) to pay.

The University of Chicago is a knowledge factory. For a motivated undergraduate, it’s a very good one. Still, it won’t automatically open doors to much greater income than Minnesota would.

18

The OP has already stated that the first year of Chicago could be paid, but then the rest would be debt. Would you consider choosing Chicago to be a good idea compared to Minnesota at “almost free” (according to the OP) in this situation?

19

The OP wrote, “the debt would be easily above $50,000”.
How far above $50K would it be? Would it truly be equal to the full COA for years 2-4 (~$200K)?
In that case, no, I don’t think it would even be worth considering.

If it would be more like a $50K-$75K (total, not per year) loan to help manage cash flow, well, maybe it would be (as long as the OP and his parents have realistic expectations about the likely return on that investment.) However, even that amount would be significantly above the average debt at graduation for UChicago.

20

OP, have you run the net price calculators on UChicago?
Also, to clarify: have you been accepted (ED?) and received a financial aid package already, or are you projecting?
UChicago has a very generous FA policy, so that only very upper middle class families would be expected to pay full price. Middle class families would be expected to pay very little, actually, and probably less than at a UIllinois.
So, to reiterate… have you run the NPC? What was the result?