I think there IS a wrong choice in these situations. There may be many right choices, but there’s no set of facts where I think it’s right for a kid to borrow $80k for undergrad. With parent borrowers, the situation is more complex, but for the kid to take the debt in her name? Hell no. Not for journalism at Northwestern, and not even for computer science at MIT.
Maybe, but there is the psychological aspect of this, and I have experienced both of these. Graduating from MIT you will get the “benefit of the doubt” as to your skills and competency until you prove otherwise, Graduating from another average school you will not get the “benefit of the doubt”, if fact you will have to prove competency. Like I said it is much easier to have the golden aura around you and mistakes are often overlooked as anomaly’s vs when trying to prove yourself and mistakes appear as verification of your lack of competency. This is not a fair assessment but it does happen that way.
Northwestern is not generally considered “another average school”, though $80,000 in debt is not a good idea, especially when the career goal is a lower paid field like journalism.
Given her parents’ recent divorce and financial situation, she should have not applied ED to NW or anywhere.
I am confused. If she was accepted ED would she not have had to pull her other applications? The May 1st part would have made no difference (scholarships, etc.) because she wouldn’t have had any other acceptances, no?
What @MomOf3DDs said.
I am a bit confused here , too. I was under the impression that if accepted ED a student was bound to that decision unless the FA offered (if any) made it financially unfeasible to attend. My impression was that the student needed to notify the school of that right away yet she waited 5 months to tell the school. Can someone explain that to me?
The in-state COA at many state flagships is now in the $25k-$30k range. If the parents can’t/won’t pay anything toward college, what’s the alternative for those people? Community College
It would have been far worse if she incurred $80K in debt at Northwestern, and then found herself waiting tables since the market for journalists is close to zero.
@FallGirl She began negotiating with the financial aid office a few days after receiving her award letter, and that negotiation went on for months.
One issue of timing that is not clear to me is when did her parents divorce relative to when she submitted her application materials. I get the impression that maybe the divorce had not been finalized at the time she applied? That could really screw up one’s financial aid situation!
^Thanks @colfac92 . I missed that.
But agree with other posters that perhaps applying ED was not a good choice in her situation.
First off, before reading more than a couple of paragraphs, I noticed her writing ability (and her email is at the Chicago Tribune).
I second the comment that no one should get fixated on a dream school. And with this writing talent, she might have chosen Harvard or another generous Ivy if she wanted to fixate, with their incredible financial aid.
Chances are the aid would have gone up the next year, if the divorce was recent. The CSS Profile does have a special circumstances section and some schools, (including Harvard) will make an adjustment for a divorce that happened recently. Otherwise, the financial ramifications of the divorce become relevant for financial aid the following year, for many schools. (An example of this is my husband had a stroke and we lost his income, but had to pay for college as if he was still working because our tax forms didn’t yet show the loss yet.)
I think DePaul is a great school. But if Northwestern was her first choice, and her friends were all going off to college, perhaps she could have attended for one year, and then seen what aid would be one year after the divorce was finalized. Chances are the price would have improved. Also she would have been able to do work study, and a summer job, and gauge her earning power during college years. (My son did this and ended up making about 30% of the total cost, enough to make it affordable.) The drawback would be possible reduction in financial aid at a second school if not applying as a freshman.
I imagine that first fall out of school was painful but we don’t know anything else about that “gap year.” Did she spiral into a depression? Find a rewarding volunteer position? Work at McDonald’s? Travel to India? To me, that is the most relevant piece of information and it is missing. For many kids, that involuntary gap year might have been emotionally dangerous.
To sum up, it is unwise to fix on any school. Look into the financial aid policies of schools you apply to and be prepared. If the cost of a school you love is too high, but almost in range, consider attending for a year to see how it goes. Better yet, don’t negotiate for months and let other offers go by the wayside.
This piece is so well-written that it is easy to take it at face value. To me, she is lucky to have escaped depression during the gap year, because she clearly felt left behind. Her choices should not have been so black and white. There are many great schools out there, and many give merit aid as well.
She is eminently likable and I am glad it worked out for her. She will obviously do fine. But should not consider herself an example of wisdom in the realm of college decision-making!
It certainly makes sense financially as that it a lot of debt for a future journalist that plans to go to grad school. But it also seems a bit of shame that she didn’t use the gap year to perhaps apply to some other schools that may have been slightly more prestigious than her chosen school, but still would have offered her merit and need-based financial aid. Newhouse at Syracuse for example might have been a good choice for a kid turning down NU. However, it also seems like she is one of those kids that is blooming where planted and has obtained good internships. Seems to support the argument that kid who get into, but turn down, top schools still do very well.
I believe that you can withdraw from ED if the finances don’t work. But agree that from ED decision to May 1 is a long time to not figure this out and make a decision that would have allowed her to go to college on time. Or to have worked and earned enough to put a dent in the $80K debt. Since they appealed, I would think the NU financial aid office would have looked at the divorce particulars and projected future aid. I would also guess that journalism internships are unpaid or low paying so making a lot of money in the summer may not have been likely.
Every day I turn down my Dream Car, when I drive past the dealership…
And a few times a year I drive past my dream house… which would have meant staying at a job I loathed, limiting my children’s educational choices, and pouring every extra cent we had into maintaining the property.
Nope, don’t regret it for a second.
Wonderfully written article, but I do wonder about her dismissal of ideas such as becoming an RA to make it more affordable. There are certainly opportunities to reduce the cost if one is willing and able to take advantage of them. An RA role would cover ~$10-15K of expenses for R&B after her first year. NU offers ROTC, which would cover everything. There are some student loan forgiveness plans for public service or teaching. Maybe these ideas were considered and ultimately rejected, which would show that you actually can put a price on a dream.
D18 doesn’t have a dream school luckily, but her top choice is an OOS public with a standard COA price of almost $50,000 per year. We expect to be full pay and we don’t have the kind of cash to cover this without incurring some serious debt.
We’ve discussed the things that she’ll need to do in order to bring that cost down including
- Spending a full year abroad so that she can pay the in-state rate for that year and save about $20K (took a lot of arm twisting there!)
- Participating in their co-op program which should allow her to contribute ~$30K and giving us an extra year to earn the balance (benefit of being an engineering major)
- Working full-time in the summers when not doing co-op or taking classes
- ~10 hrs/week work-study when taking classes
NU’s tuition is around $50,000 per year, while Depaul’s tuition is $37,000 per year. She must have gotten some merit aid at Depaul to make it work.
What is wrong (in her mind) with an in-state public or other less expensive school?
Seems like a stretch budget school that needs all of the above to be just barely affordable could end up being unaffordable if just one of these things does not go the right way (e.g. does not get the co-op or summer job, finds that engineering course work and labs are too high a workload to take a part time job during the school year, etc.).
Also, course work available at study abroad may not fit well into sequenced prerequisites for many engineering majors.
With the exception of UIUC, Illinois kids dislike Illinois publics. Plus, if she wants to be a journalist, there will be many more opportunities to intern or work on the side by going to Depaul in Chicago than going to a directional public in a small, rural town.
Actually, the question was for @shortnuke’s D18, intended engineering major, unspecified state, but with an out-of-state public school as a top choice but needing a lot of financial stretching to pay for.
For an Illinois resident looking for journalism or other field where being in or near Chicago is helpful, aren’t there at least three public universities in Chicago, plus one or two others somewhat near Chicago to give options for those who are not able to get into or afford Depaul?
State flagship is at least $31k/yr. Since she got into Northwestern, I have no doubt that she received a nice merit package from DePaul. With a large merit aid the COA of $55k/yr would get down close to UIUC.
While the flagship might be higher-ranked, perhaps she thought staying in the Big City would enable her more opportunities for internships.