<p>Hi, Im trying to decide between Rutgers and Vanderbilt.</p>
<p>Rutgers will cost me $25,000 a year while Vanderbilt will cost $66,000 a year.</p>
<p>My parents are covering college, but still its a lot of money. Basically what I'm asking is Vanderbilt $40,000 a year better than Rutgers?</p>
<p>40,000 dollars is a lot of money…is it worth it? (good question)
vandebilt is a top notch school , beautiful campus, amazing med school/hospital, biz school etc…in one of the hottest cities in the country.
rutgers, is a well known school in the NY/NJ area , in a massive struggling economic zone. people move to nashville to escape the NY/NJ mess…but, you can always move to nashville after your family saves 160,000 over four years.
all things being equal vanderbilt wins but…money is not something that can be ignored.</p>
<p>That’s a lot of money, but I would say yes.</p>
<p>It must be considered in the context of your academic and career goals. For example, for some subjects like philosophy or math, a case can be made for Rutgers over Vanderbilt even if the price were the same.</p>
<p>If you have expensive professional school goals (e.g. medicine or law), consider saving the money to apply to professional school so that you will finish professional school with less debt.</p>
<p>Is it $40K better? Not in my mind.</p>
<p>For me, Vandy wouldn’t be $160k better unless I were so rich that $160k was no big deal.</p>
<p>What are you wanting to major in?</p>
<p>^Econonmics</p>
<p>Maybe you ought to run the numbers with an expected rate of return to see what your parents think? Start using that economic mind set.</p>
<p>Questions about college prices,value,cost and benefits are best reviewed and thought out not so much in any absolute way but rather in the context of family finances,individual career goals and individual preferences. You might start by having a general discussion with your family about college costs and affordability…keep in mind the sticker price…62,000 could be significantly less if your family qualifies for need based financial aid …which you can find through the financial aid calculator on the college web site…then if you feel you want to go further start making some lists of positives for Vandy ie…smaller class size, more prestige, warmer climate, more geographic student diversity, easier access to professors etc. etc, etc.you might then make a list of negatives…farther away from home…etc.high transportation cost …etc fill in the blanks…try doing the same with Rutgers positives…very well known in immediate area…maybe can come home more frequently…more course selections etc etc…fill in blanks. When you are done you will have a clearer picture of the various attributes of each school…and what they mean to you…</p>
<p>For econ neither is outstanding or bad. I agree VU is nicer and has more prestige overall but RU has closer links to NYC and the financial world. If money matters–RU.</p>
<p>If you can afford Vandy, I’d go there. But it comes down to what your family can comfortably afford without debt, what you want to study (if you are planning grad school etc.). You may also want to apply to a couple of other schools – for example at a school like Tulane or Fordham (to name two of many choices) you might qualify for merit aid that would make the price differential between attending a public and a private school not as great.</p>
<p>If your parents can afford it without any debt (or more than $5,500 a year) I’d say Vanderbilt.
However it doesn’t have to be Vanderbilt OR Rutgers, right? You still have plenty of time to find a handful of schools, like happy1 suggested (Emory, Fordham, Georgetown…)</p>