<p>My parents can pay for about 10k per year while I could probably make about 5-8k per year from a part time job.</p>
<p>I have the option of attending PSU for 6k per year for 24k over 4 years (live with parents). This would leave me a lot of breathing room in terms of extra money.</p>
<p>My question is if it would be worth it spending 75k extra for the on dorm experience in terms of peers and a higher college ranking - this would probably result in my having to move back in with parents after college though (to pay off debt). In comparison, I could leave PSU and have a good amount of money saved up for a condo...</p>
<p>if you live close to campus, save your money. as long as you have an understanding with your parents that you don’t have to come home every night of the week, you can spend plenty of days and nights on campus socializing. Be sure to draw up some behavior boundaries with them ahead of time so that there aren’t any surprises when, for instance, bf or gf wants to spend the night at your parents’ or you’re bringing a post-football game party back to their house.</p>
<p>And what would someone who grew up in State College find attractive about Columbus, OH? I mean, really, you’d be a traitor to the state and the memory of Joe Pa Before the Fall. A sacrilege and an abomination is what it would be! Roar, Lions, Roar! </p>
<p>You can live at a dorm at PSU for one or more years to get the experience. That won’t cost you $75k.</p>
<p>My friend’s son was looking at colleges around the state because he’d grown up in Madison and wanted the college experience. They finally realized UW was best for him, and he could just live in the dorm. He’s come home on Sunday nights for dinner and laundry. It was a perfect solution.</p>
<p>@jkeil911 I’m almost positive the OP is referring to the Oregon system of higher education where PSU= Portland State University, UO= University of Oregon, and OSU= Oregon State University. </p>
<p>To the OP, Portland State is your most financially realistic option at this point. However, I want to stress that your stats put you in the running for schools which give outstanding aid, schools which have a considerably higher ranking than any of your choices and would allow you to dorm without taking on an unrealistic amount of debt. </p>
<p>@twoinanddone dorms at PSU are a bit odd, since Portland isn’t really a college town. From the one time that I visited (don’t live near there), the dorms seemed really spread out. It’s more of a commuter school, especially since it has a lot of non-traditional students.</p>
<p>don’t go to UO for cs. OSU is the king of the sciences in Oregon. </p>
<p>Did you get your acceptances and see if you got any merit award yet? </p>
<p>Do you know what your EFC is, are you not eligible for any need based aid? With your high ACT you can apply to a couple of the free tuition colleges in the link above and then have an away dorm experience. I think you should apply now to UA and you should still get the full tuition award plus $2,500 per year for CS & Engineering majors. Also you should be able to get some merit aid at other colleges if you want to consider.</p>
<p>If you choose PSU, I wouldn’t dorm at first since it will have to be done with debt… Esp as it is more a commuter college. I would not work or get very low hours job. After your first 2 years, you might want to move to an apartment with friends. Cheaper than a dorm and by then you might qualify for a more skilled job or a well paying summer internship.</p>
<p>OP, can you clarify which universities you’re talking about?
However, with these stats and if you apply RIGHT NOW you can get an AUTOMATIC full tuition scholarship at UAlabama, which is much higher ranked (and a better experience -lesss commuter) than Portland State. The Honors College is great and costs would be within budget (you’d have to pay for room&board but the total should be about 12k/year, so that you’d work and use some of your parents’contribution but not all of it). You’d get a pretty good scholarship at Truman State, too.
In short, you have choices thanks to that awesome ACT score
If you are lower or middle income, with these stats, you can apply to Whitman, Willamette, Lewis&Clark and almost certainly get a favorable financial aid package (with grants and scholarships). If California tempts you, look into Pomona and the Claremont College, plus Occidental - they meet 100% need (and some may offer you a package without any loans).</p>
<p>You are talking about way toooooo much debt. YOU have NO idea if your future job will be close to your parents home so that you could even live at home while paying off debt. Plus, you could be in a serious relationship at that point and not want to live with your parents then.</p>
<p>And it’s doubtful that your parents would cosign those big loans anyway.</p>
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<p>I have the option of attending PSU for 6k per year for 24k over 4 years (live with parents). This would leave me a lot of breathing room in terms of extra money.</p>
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<p>??
How would PSU be only $6k per year if you commuted from home? The cost for commuters would be at least $17k per year…likely more.</p>
<p>You do NOT need to worry about rankings when it comes to engineering?CS programs. None of your listed schools (or any flagships’) engineering/CS program makes a difference. </p>
<p>I looked at your posting history and UO and OSU are U Oregon and Oregon State Univ. Neither of those schools (or ANY school) is worth that much debt…absolutely not. That would be crazy.</p>
<p>Iff you want the “go away” experience then quickly send an app into Alabama (merit deadline is Dec 15). You would get FREE tuition plus 2500 per year for your stats. Your remaining costs would be about $12k per year. this is a very good financial safety for you. The engineering program is very good. Bama has a new 900,000 square feet Science and Engineering Complex. The app is super easy…no essays, no LORs…takes like five minutes to complete. The state of Alabama is home to the second largest research park in the nation…Cummings Research Park…many, many high tech companies and jobs.</p>
<p>It would be smart to at least attend Bama for 2 years. If for some crazy reason you didn’t like it (and you’d be rare, since kids LOVE the school), you could transfer back to PSU and commute from home those last two years.</p>
<p>There is NO REASON at all for someone with your stats to accumulate much or any debt for a CS degree. </p>
<p>If those are your only options, then I think PSU/24K would be your best choice (as long as it provides the program(s) you want). It is not worth spending 75k extra for the dorm experience, or a higher ranking, if your family can only afford ~$10K per year. </p>
<p>However, if that $10K represents the Expected Family Contribution even at higher-priced colleges, then your stats would give you many more good options (possibly including selective private schools). Even if your EFC is much higher than that, you may be eligible for merit scholarships that would bring your net costs below $25K/year. Alabama is one example. </p>
<p>For any school that interests you, try running the online net price calculators to get estimates. Compare private schools like L&C/Whitman/Pomona with Alabama and with the schools already on your list.</p>
<p>I, too, first thought he was talking about Penn State, Ohio State, etc.</p>
<p>no, he’s talking about schools in Oregon.</p>
<p>I’ll post some of my answer in my other thread here…</p>
<p>You do NOT need to worry about rankings when it comes to engineering/CS programs. None of your listed schools (or any state schools) engineering/CS program makes a difference.</p>
<p>I looked at your posting history and UO and OSU are U Oregon and Oregon State Univ. Neither of those schools (or ANY school) is worth that much debt…absolutely not. That would be crazy.</p>
<p>Iff you want the “go away” experience then quickly send an app into Alabama (merit deadline is Dec 15). You would get FREE tuition plus 2500 per year for your stats. Your remaining costs would be about $12k per year. this is a very good financial safety for you. The engineering program is very good. Bama has a new 900,000 square feet Science and Engineering Complex. The app is super easy…no essays, no LORs…takes like five minutes to complete. The state of Alabama is home to the second largest research park in the nation…Cummings Research Park…many, many high tech companies and jobs.</p>
<p>With your stats there is NO reason to go into debt…and there is no reason not to have the “go away” experience if that’s what you want…but at a REASONABLE cost!!! Tuscaloosa is a fabulous college town…very good-size…friendly people (we moved there last spring…lol)…LOTS of OOS students at Bama…50% are OOS and students are from all 50 states. </p>
<p>(just an aside, but I just learned that there are nearly 1000 students from Illinois at Bama…and there are over 900 students from California at Bama. Those are two states with very good univs, but students are grabbing the big merit at Bama and leaving their states. )</p>
<p>I don’t see how you could even afford OU or OSU. $100-110K is $25K/year and you only have $15-18K covered. You’re allowed to borrow another $5.5K as a freshman still leaving you short.</p>
<p>Are these students necessarily the scholarship chasers?</p>
<p>One (relatively high performing) California high school used to list the application and admission results for its senior class. There were some applying to and getting admitted to Alabama, but few or none were those who qualified for the automatic full tuition scholarship.</p>
<p>I think I’d rather stay on the West Coast… It’s a really difficult situation. I don’t think I qualify for too much aid due to my parents being in debt after the recession (they want to pay these debts off which I find understandable).</p>
<p>I guess my main question is if the social aspects of Oregon State University (dorm + better peers) is worth 75k over 4 years. I wish I didn’t have to choose, but I’m stuck with those options. Another aspect I like about Portland State is the fact that there are going to be way more software startups than Corvallis… I definitely want to join a startup in the future so this is a big factor…</p>
<p>If you don’t know how much financial aid you may qualify for, run each school’s net price calculator.</p>
<p>However, you may want to relax the west coast restriction, since relaxing it opens up a lot of other lower cost options where you can get more of a “residential college experience”.</p>
<p>If you are not sure, you may want to apply to some of the big scholarship schools anyway, so that you have options in April, rather than closing off the options now by not applying.</p>
