<p>I know this may seem like a no brainer, but I'm stuck! I'm a first generation college student and as a result am walking pretty blind through all of this! I got into my DREAM school, Northeastern university (in Boston). It's roughly 49,867 a year. I received the max on my grants and loans, as well as 11k from the school every year (with a single working parent my efc is 0). I would need to come up with ~23k a year. </p>
<p>On the other hand, I got into Colorado State where I have an aunt down the road, I got the WUE, and would only need to come up with about 8k a year. </p>
<p>I'm a broadcast journalism/pre-law major. I know debt is crippling and makes you a slave but my mother and I are committed to doing EVERYTHING we can to make it work. The co-op/internship program at NEU is #1 in the world setting me up with a great resume and connections. It's where I want to be. I just don't want to be 4 years down the road and be stuck. Help? Keep in mind I didn't tack on the federal loans to those numbers. </p>
<p>Any help and guidance is greatly appreciated as I am very unfamiliar with all of this. While Northeastern is clearly the best move career wise, I'm not sure if it's worth it. Thanks for the help!!!</p>
<p>“Keep in mind I didn’t tack on the federal loans to those numbers.”</p>
<p>Is your out of pocket cost for NE $23K and $8K for Colorado? Where do the loans figure in? How much would you have to borrow (if you could) for four years at NE and for four years at Colorado?</p>
<p>Offhand, without much to go on, the difference is $60K plus interest. </p>
<p>However, you don’t say where the $8K or the $23K are going to come from.</p>
<p>Assuming you can afford it, please go to Colorado State. Your dream will be a nightmare if you take on that sort of debt to attend NEU – and it’s unlikely that you would be able to borrow that much in any event. </p>
<p>You can get a good pre-law foundation anywhere. </p>
<p>You can also build a foundation of experience anywhere. Of course NEU has all sorts of contacts for great co-op experience, but they don’t hold a monopoly. As a student a CSU you could get involved with CTV – see [CTV</a> - about_us](<a href=“http://www.ctv11.com/page.php?url=about_us]CTV”>http://www.ctv11.com/page.php?url=about_us) – and build experience while a student. Obviously the college cable access tv network isn’t the same a working for CNN – but the point is that you need to start somewhere – and if you aren’t going broke trying to pay for school, you will be in position to continue to build your skills through summer internships or exploring other avenues. </p>
<p>Please-- you need to use some common sense. You simply have not been given an aid package to NEU that you can afford. You are living in a fantasy world if you think that somehow everything is going to be perfect if you go to NEU.</p>
<p>Your family contribution is $0. How would you “come up with $23K” per year? How?</p>
<p>Go to Colorado. It is much more affordable for you…having almost $100K in debt after undergrad school would mean loan payments in excess of $1000 a month for at least ten years. Don’t put yourself (or your cosigner…because you would need one to get a loan in excess of the federal loans) in that position.</p>
<p>What you want to avoid is this type of a situation. This is extreme, but even finding yourself at half this level of debt, or even at 1/4 this level of debt, can be crippling. Northeastern is a fine school and has done an excellent job of selling itself as a practical choice because of the entree to the job market that coops provide. However it is by no means the ONLY choice, and if you cannot afford to go there then it is not even a GOOD choice.</p>
<p>How much do you need, including in awarded loans, to go to each school? If the amount is $23K this year to go to NE, you are looking at having more than $100K in debt when you graduate from there. With your mom having an EFC of zero, she can’t help you pay that. Where do you think you are going to get the money to do so? Most people versed in this situation think that the Stafford maximums of about $27K are the upper limits of what kids should take for ug loans except under special situations. For someone without family financial support available, that is still a lot of money, since that $27K is a max that I am considering for kids in upper middle class, and average situations where family support is available upon graduation.</p>
<p>Neither of my graduates have loans and they have really been sucking it down since graduation, living hand to mouth, even living nearby with help from family who can help. That is the reality. And the older one went to a school that is considered every bit as prestigious or more than NE–it is a top 25 university on USNWR. i have a friend whose oldest dropped out of NE because she could not bear livng so poorly and preferred to work but she is still paying loans from her 2 years there. a real hurt since she now is married with 3 kids. She got her degree, by the way, from a local state school with tuition that was rock bottom in price. She has a great job, and she is the first to say, that NE was not worth the price.</p>
<p>Not down on NE, by the way, for those who can afford it. My son was WL there. It was definitely on his list though we would not have paid full price to go there. We have our financial constraints too, though we are not eligible for fin aid. We have to be, in order to meet all of our priorities.</p>
<p>It’s roughly 49,867 a year. I received the max on my grants and loans, as well as 11k from the school every year (with a single working parent my efc is 0). I would need to come up with ~23k a year.</p>
<p>Are you saying that you’d have to borrow about 23k per year PLUS your federal student loans? If so, you’d have over $100k in debt by the time you graduate.</p>
<p>I know debt is crippling and makes you a slave but my mother and I are committed to doing EVERYTHING we can to make it work.</p>
<p>Ok…this is going to be harsh but I think it needs to be said. I’m sure that your mom has been committed to earning as much as she can over the years, but she still has fallen short…hence the 0 EFC. So, since history is a good indication of how things will go in the future, it’s highly unlikely that you and your mom could reduce that $23k per year to some small number (keeping in mind that you’ll also have fed loans as well).</p>
<p>You need to be realistic. Your fed loans are going to be about $30k by the time you graduate. Even if you borrowed only $2500 more per year, that puts your debt at $40k…which is high for your intended career. For this to work, you’d have to get that $23k down to like $3k so that you wouldn’t have to borrow much more. If you and your mom could come up with an extra $20k per year, believe me, your mom would have done that years ago.</p>
<p>This school is not affordable. In the worst case, you would start there and then quickly have to leave because you don’t have the money to finish there. Then, getting the FA you’d need at another school would be very difficult since getting FA as a transfer student is more difficult.</p>
<p>Thank you so much! And yes, to clarify the 23 does not include the federal loans. I really appreciate the blunt and honest advice. Sugar coating will not help me at this point. Thank you!!!</p>
<p>I’ve worked in the media for 25 years and I want to say, go Rams! CSU might not be your “dream” school but if it’s likely to put you less debt than NE, don’t think twice. In fact, if it’s not too late, I would look at schools in Oregon like PSU, which would be an even better deal financially. With college costs the way they are, you should get the most affordable undergraduate degree you can find, then if you’re inclined to do grad work, that’s when you should get loans…</p>