USC vs. UCSB Regents (vs. Northeastern)

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Santa Barbara
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So I got into both of these schools: for USC, I got into the Computer Science/Business Administration major, and for UCSB, I got into the Computer Engineering major (will probably switch to Comp Sci though). Now I’m stuck trying to decide between the two, because USC will cost me approximately $50k/yr and UCSB will cost me approximately $21-24k/yr with a regents scholarship. I’ve talked it out with my parents, and they say we’d need to take loans for everything. So I’m looking at a total debt of either $200k or like $86k.

USC has been my dream school for the past four years. Every sacrifice I’ve made, every late night, every AP class–all were made believing I would go to USC. I’m beyond infatuated with the school, and I’m having extreme troubles being rational about this decision.

One other option is Northeastern University, which I’d also be majoring in Computer Science at. My EFC there is about $35k/yr. after aid and scholarships. I’m not 100% sure whether that cost is worth it or whether I want to go there either, so any information would be helpful there too.

I want to go to my dream school, make good connections in the Trojan network, and get recruited at a big tech company out of undergrad, but $200k in debt is steep, even if I get an $80k or so tech job out of undergrad. So my question is, is USC Viterbi worth it over UCSB (or Northeastern)? I’m going into debt either way, and I’m incredibly dead-set on my dream school, but I don’t wanna dig my parents and myself into this hole. PLEASE HELP!

*PS: NYU’s Tandon school also gave me a $47k scholarship, making my EFC about $18k for the first year–NYU didn’t indicate if the scholarship would continue past my freshman year. Is Tandon even close to worth it, though?

-THANK YOU

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Many kids that start in CS or engineering drop out of it, half or more at most schools. You seem likely to be one of them since you wrote in an earlier thread

IMHO digging a $200K hole is a poor choice. Even $80K in debt sounds like a lot to me. If its all loans like you said then I guess your parents weren’t able to save anything for your college education nor are they able to help out while you are in college. Before you go any further you need to see if the debt you are planning is possible at any of these schools. You can only take about $6K/yr on your own, so have your parents agreed to cosign?

You should give serious consideration, assuming you are a CA resident, to attending a CC. You’ll save a lot of money, and it will let you sort out what you want to do in life with the meter running at far less per year than at UCSB or any other choice. You can use TAG to get guaranteed admission to some of the UCs