I have been accepted into UT-Austin where I qualify for in-state tuition as a Texas resident and Ohio State where I was recently notified that I received the Morrill Distinction Scholarship which covers the full cost of attendance. UT is my dream school however I have not been notified if I will receive any scholarship, due to my family’s income I will not qualify for any need-based aid.
To help finance my education at UT-Austin, I would need to take out $19,500 of unsubsidized student loans and my parents will pay for the remainder of my educational costs. Obviously, I would graduate from Ohio State debt free. My plans are to major in history as an undergrad and attend law school thereafter. With respect to history, US News World Report ranks UT-Austin’s history program #17 and Ohio State at #24 (note this is for graduate level as US News does not rank undergrad history programs). Both UT and Ohio State are tied at #16 among public universities.
I have an emotional connection to UT as I would be the third-generation Longhorn in my family. I really like the city of Austin, the diversity of UT’s student body and the vibe of its campus. My father (a UT alum) wants me to seriously consider Ohio State because he thinks not having any student debt from undergrad would be best for entering law school.
Any comments are input would be very appreciated as I am really conflicted on what to do.
If YOU are taking the loans, then you MUST go to Ohio State.
Are you a Forty Acres Scholarship applicant/finalist?
As far as I know, that is the one major merit aid scholarship UT offers. I’ve read the bios of those winners and it looks CRAZY competitive! I know some of the regional Texas Exes groups offer scholarships so I’m not sure when those awards come out.
If you were my kid I would have NO problem telling you to go to Ohio! Congrats!!!
Yes, I would have to take on the $19,500 in student loans. The cost of attendance at UT-Austin is $25K a year for in-state residents. I have a younger sibling who will be entering college in three years. Just to give more context to my question, in the state of Texas you get automatic admission to UT if you are in the top 7% of your high school class. I was just outside of the top 7% so I was not guaranteed admission to UT which is why I applied to a number of other schools, including Ohio State. Had I known that I would get admitted to UT, I would not have applied anywhere else. UT has always been my “dream school” to attend. I recognize the logic in not taking on any loans, its just hard when I got into my dream school. Does $19,500 seem like a lot of loan debt to finance an undergrad education? 30 years from now will I be happier that I saved $20K, or would I regret not going to my dream school? These are the issues I’m trying to sort out.
Is that $20K total or $20K per year? Your father has a very good point, the value of a history degree is minimal without graduate school. The schools are similarly ranked and I doubt it would make much of a difference as far as law school admissions. I would consider the following:
$20K is not a huge amount of college debt, but that is still about a $400/mo payment for 5 years. That can be a lot if you have a $35-40K entry level job. Think no car and macaroni.
- What if you change your mind? Does your scholarship allow flexibility in major selection?
- Will the scholarship pay for an additional semester or two of you change your mind or double major?
- Will you receive in-state Ohio tuition if you have to pay?
I would also look very closely at each department and see if they have statistics about sending their graduates to law schools. Sometimes there is a pipeline.
@carachel2 I am not a Forty Acres Scholarship finalist. I did apply for a general Texas Exes scholarship as well as the UT general scholarship application. However, I am not that hopeful because as you note merit scholarships at UT-Austin are very competitive. The fact that I did not automatically qualify for admission to UT probably means my chances for a scholarship are very slim. At this point, I have no expectation of receiving any substantial scholarship from UT. Interestingly, I was contacted by a UT enrollment representative to ascertain if I was still considering UT. I explained my situation to her and she asked that I send her the notification from OSU. At that time, I had only been awarded the first level of the Morrill Scholarship which is free tuition. I subsequently was interviewed for the full cost of attendance scholarship and to my surprise I was recently notified that I had received that award. I’m hopeful that UT would give me something, but I have no reason to expect it as from what I’ve uncovered UT gives out very little merit aid. There are a fair number of kids who based on economics receive certain need-based scholarships but again, my parents income is too high. Our EFC was greater than the annual cost of education at UT.
Wait - you would only have to take on $19,500 TOTAL in student loans, and your parents would cover the rest?
If that’s the total amount, then I’d definitely go to UT. It sounds like that’s where you really want to go, and $20K in loans is a totally manageable amount for a new college grad. (I think the first poster thought you meant $19,500 per year, which is far too much.)
30 years from now I don’t think you’ll really care that much - people who are 30 years out of college don’t think a whole lot about it to feel extreme regret over not attending a school that was their “dream” at 17. It wouldn’t even take that long, quite frankly - 5-10 years from now you’ll probably be equally happy regardless of where you decide to go.
BUT. $20K total is less than the national average. I don’t think you’ll regret having borrowed that at all, and you’ll have a blast at UT, so I think you should go there since you want to so badly.
Oh wait… I thought you meant that would K be your debt per year. $20k would be your total debt at the end?
Those are great points @TooOld4School. Regarding the debt, it is $19,500 total to finance my education at UT @carachel2. I will have enough AP credits entering UT and Ohio State to graduate in three years. I will have 30 hours of AP credit at UT and 33 hours at Ohio State. If I attend UT, I can take out $5,500 the first year in federal direct loans, its $6,500 my second year and $7,500 my last year - again assuming I graduate in three years, which if I were to go to UT I would make sure I do. So the total is just shy of $20K for my entire undergraduate education. I’m wondering if that’s not a terrible amount.
The OSU scholarship is not tied to any particular major. It is my understanding that it is limited to only 8 semesters - four academic years. I do not believe that I would qualify for in-state tuition beyond the 8 semesters; however, I’m fairly confident that with 33 hours of AP credits I can attain a standard 120 hours liberal arts degree well-within the four academic years.
How much do your parents need to pay for you to attend UT vs Ohio State?
Thanks @juillet that’s what I was wondering. How bad really is it to take $20K in loans. In the interest of full disclosure I should tell you that my father has saved some money to finance my undergrad education. It is not nearly enough to pay for the entire cost up front. However, he set aside almost $30K which he will use to help pay for my undergrad education and he will pay the other costs as the accrue. My father told me that if I go to Ohio State, he would not have to use that $30K to help pay for tuition; therefore, he would simply give me that money when I graduate to help me pay for law school - (maybe a years tuition?).
So the reality here is that if I go to UT I will have $19,500 in loans and have given up the opportunity costs of having a $30K in cash to help with law school. Maybe that changes things?
@texaspg, for Ohio State the scholarship covers all direct and indirect costs the only expenses will be transportation cost from Texas to Columbus at the beginning of the academic year, Thanksgiving, Winter Break, Spring Break, and end of academic year.
For UT, my parents will use all of the $30K in my college account and the remaining difference between $25K per year cost of attendance at UT and my $19,500 in direct loans. If three years at UT is $75K - (30K in college fund) - ($19,500 in loans) then my parents will pay an additional $25,500 throughout the three years in different disbursements.
You are planning to finish in 3 years?
Theoretically, your parents should save the other 25k also for your future use if you do go to OSU.
I agree 
@texaspg the problem is I have a younger brother and they need to ratchet up the savings for him. My mother was a stay at home mom up until last year when she returned to the workforce full-time. As a result our household income has skyrocketed and so my parents’ income is higher than the actual savings in my college account. My parents want to use that savings if I do not go to UT to fund my younger brother’s college account. If I go to UT, they may have to consider Parent PLUS loans to assist my younger brother.
So it sounds like you will have an additional $2000 or so per year in transportation costs at OSU… so $6000 vs $20,000. I expect books and incidentals will be similar. You might want to check into the parking situation at both campuses if you want to drive home over breaks (except Thanksgiving).
So the difference is really $14K + 30K in college fund + $26K from your parents = $70K. If you plan to go to law school that would cover 2 years of tuition if you went to UT law.
I would check if you maintain your in-state residency in Texas for graduate school if you go to OSU, that might factor into things a bit. Otherwise for a $70K difference I would definitely go to OSU. ( I would ask your parents if they would consider applying the $55K they are willing to spend at UT toward graduate/law school instead.)
I received my financial aid award letter from OSU today, (still waiting on UT), and the details of the Distinction Scholarship are even better than I originally thought. My letter states that my scholarship is $22,472 for the Autumn Semester, and $22,472 for the Spring Semester, for a total amount of $44,944 for the 2016-2017 academic year. I pulled up OSU’s estimated cost of attendance for 2016-2017 for non-residents and the breakdown is as follows:
Tuition and fees $28,204 (out of state rate)
Room and board $11,864
Books and supplies $1,234
Miscellaneous/personal $3,642
TOTAL COST OF ATTENDANCE: $44,944
It looks like even after all my direct educational costs are paid (tuition/fees & room and board) I’ll have a healthy amount of funds for books and even some spending money - just waiting to see if UT can go ahead and process my scholarship application as I already know based on the EFC I will not get any merit aid only the $5,500 of unsubsidized federal direct loans.
Look up the cost of law school. If you go to tOSU, would your parents offer the money not spent on your undergraduate school to the cost of your law school?
FYI, I’ll be traveling to Columbus on April 22 to visit OSU. I’m leaning to accepting OSU’s offer and simply enrolling there. I’ve done some additional research and feel like the history and political science programs at OSU are comparable to UT (UT is better in history & OSU is better in political science). Unless something crazy that would occur during the visit, or UT/exas Exes came to the rescue, I think I’ll be a Buckeye next year. I’ve confirmed that going out of state for college does not result in the loss of my Texas residency which means I could still attend UT for law school and qualify for the in-state rate. Given those circumstances, saving $100K to fund my undergrad at UT and accepting a full cost of attendance scholarship to OSU probably makes sense. FYI, to retain the scholarship, I only need to maintain a 3.2 GPA which is way below what I reasonably expect to do majoring in the liberal arts and attempting to gain admission to a top 20 law school.
Congrats! Personally, I also think there’s something to be said for going to college in a different part of the country. Both of my boys left Texas, and I think it was the right call. Ds1 is back and working locally (yea!) so you can always come home to the Lone Star State. Ds2 still is in school, and I have no idea what he’ll do. And, hopefully, all that money will make study abroad a possibility for you.
UT Law school is quite competitive. Make sure you keep your GPA high and do well on LSAT.