Virginia Tech or Cornell Engineering?

Money is a significant factor in my decision
Is Cornell worth the extra investment? Financial aid looks out of the question and while VT I would graduate with no debt and possibly grad early, Cornell looks like I’d have to take out 20-30k in loans per year. I will be majoring in CS. Thank you for your time

Give yourself the gift of no debt. You’ll be highly employable with a CS degree from most universities in the US.

I don’t believe it’s worth the debt. Your parents would take out loans, you mean? A student can’t borrow that much. And with the uncertain economy, that seems much too risky.

No. It’s not. Go to VT.

THink about which school can the easiest land you top jobs
Think about the location, which college is at the best location especially if you want to find a job there after four years

The money label may be true in most cases but the aid office differs by school to school too. Like a state uni thats less competitive in terms of rank likely has a less financial aid package for you. School with higher ranking may has a higher financial aid for you and cancels more and left less in its amount.
Think about each’s national level ranking which affects tons (on USNWR).
Now left you to decide and look on the national rankings .

$20-30k debt per year would require parent loans or parent cosigned loans, which are typically a bad idea.

VT is an awesome school. Warmer. Less intense culturally and I would say more fun over 4 years. Cornell has the name recognition and some of the best resources.

One is free. The other is 120,000 in debt.

It’s really a matter of choice. No one would knock you for either. No one but you will foot the bill or live those years.

As I learned in my thread (I had to make a similar decision to yours), the reputability/ rank/ prestige of an undergrad college doesn’t matter.
Companies will recruit CS majors at VT and at Cornell.

Thank you all for your help, probably will be choosing VT

Re #6: I’m not sure it is a correct takeaway to abstract from a thread where two of the most prestigious CS schools in the nation were compared, to extrapolate that to the current where the schools are more disparate. Or yet more broadly, to suggest that no place “matters”.

I can readily believe VT CS grads get jobs, especially regionally, which is not a bad thing. However I personally have no idea how many of of its grads get the “prestige” jobs in the primo high-tech firms out of region. Or how deep in its class those firms go to interview.

Maybe it’s great, I’m not saying it isn’t. But on the other hand I’m not saying it necessarily just “doesn’t matter”. It might matter. I really don’t know.

On the other hand not everybody gets those jobs anyway, and not everybody wants them either.

As to what $$ to any broadening in future opportunities that may be found to exist, should there be found to be any, that is a personal/ family matter.

Additionally, college is more than just an anticipated major a HS student thinks they want, before they so much as take a single class in it. They can change their mind. They can have a great experience outside the classroom. Or not. They can expand their horizons, academically and otherwise. They can socialize. Develop new interests. Suggest OP think more broadly. Not suggesting this would turn out any particular way…