<p>My wife and I are W&M alums from the early 1980's, and we live in Virginia. My son was recruited by U of South Carolina, and was accepted into the Honors College there. He has recieved a $4,000 per year scholarship for all 4 years, plus a $2,000 per year departmental scholarship for 2 years. Plus, anyone who gets merit aid at USC gets in-state tuition. He will get 24 hours of AP credits at USC, and will get to design his own major through the honors college. He wants to somehow combine computer science, math, French, and possibly some Arabic. He was really sure he wanted to go to USC until.....</p>
<p>Here's the dilemma. He got his W&M acceptance last week, and now he is wavering. I think he really wants to go to W&M, and I can't help but be excited. To me though, he will save so much money by going to USC, that we will be able to pay for grad school. He is getting in-state vs in-state, but at USC will get a total of $20,000 in merit aid,vs $0 at W&M.</p>
<p>S wants to double major in CS/Math, and at most schools the CS major is part of the engineering school. W&M doesn't even have an engineering school. I would guess those two departments are among the weaker W&M majors due to the fact that W&M is a liberal arts institution.</p>
<p>Adding the tuition ($4245), room ($2045), board ($1488), plus other expenses like textbooks (~$500) gives W&M of a cost of attendance around $8278 per semester. Doubling this gives a cost around $16,556 for the year. </p>
<p>Adding the tuition ($3335), room ($1760), board ($825), plus other expenses like textbooks (~500) gives USC a COA around $6420 for the semester. Doubling this gives a cost around $12,840. Subtracting the scholarship gives a COA of $8340. </p>
<p>That leaves a gap of ~$8200 per year. Is your son willing to make up the difference for W&M? Working full-time during the summer, he could earn ~$5000. Working part-time during the year, he could earn ~$2000. It's definitely possible to make up the difference; in my opinion it'd be worth it. </p>
<p>Remember that PhD programs are almost always funded, so cost isn't as much of an issue.</p>
<p>USC. Not only is USC more financially feasible (as broken down in the previous post), but also W&M seems weak in the area your son is looking into.</p>
<p>namtrag - fyi- look at housing costs for upperclass dorms if you want a more valid comparison number for USC. We have discovered that most of the "cheaper" dorms are freshman centers. Granted, the upperclass dorms are very nice, more like apartments, but they also cost quite a bit more. Next year we will be paying a lot more in housing than this year. There are cheaper alternatives, but to be realistic, I would use the higher number.</p>