<p>I was accepted to both schools. W&M offered me the Monroe Scholars award, which is a one-time $3000 stipend for research. We got $0 in financial aid, but my parents will only pay $20,000 a year, leaving me personally with $120,000 in loans over the course of four years. I plan to major in international relations and grad school. Northeastern, on the other hand, offered me a full tuition scholarship. I did a summer program at W&M and loved it there. I know it's the right school for me, but is it worth the cost? Thanks.</p>
<p>120,000 is not a reasonable number for anyone. if you plan on grad school, you’re going to spend even more for that. Be wise, and choose the one that won’t hurt your credit later on.</p>
<p>I would go to northeastern. Northeastern is a pretty good school and you dont have to pay anything. Also I agree with what eg1995 said. YOu can always go to Wm for grad school!</p>
<p>Same here. For me, this wouldn’t even be a question.</p>
<p>I would also like William and Mary better, but there is no way I would incur that kind of debt. Northeastern is the choice.</p>
<p>OP, I see in your posting history that you were accepted into the University Scholars program at Northeastern. That is essentiaslly a special Honors program within the Honors program. In addition to full tuition it usually includes a scholarship to cover an international period of study and/or coop. Add to that the $160,000 in total scholarships versus $3000 from W&M, you would be foolish to turn it down for W&M.</p>
<p>Also, the $20,000/year your parents can afford to pay will cover room and board in Boston and they could save some to help you out in grad school.</p>
<p>Few people are bigger W&M fans than I am, but I agree that it’s not worth $120,000 in undergrad debt when you have a fine school like Northeastern offering you a full scholarship. If your financial situation were different - if you had a $160,000 college fund sitting in the bank, and no possibility of a self-funded grad school - then I’d say that W&M is worth the cost. But it’s not worth the debt.</p>
<p>You mention that your parents would only be able to cover $20K annually, leaving you to take on $120K in debt. That is not the way college borrowing works. You’ll only be able to take on a relatively small amount in your own name, through Stafford loans ($31K, I believe). Your parents would have to apply for anything above that, either in ParentPLUS loans or private loans.</p>
<p>I would also choose Northeastern in this situation</p>
<p>I don’t know why people turn down full-ride scholarships at “lesser” colleges because they think the job prospects are better coming out of more highly ranked schools…if you tell employers “I attended Northeastern on a full-ride academic scholarship…” it sounds a LOT more impressive than being one of ~2,000 William & Mary grads.</p>
<p>My son loves both schools as well. The co-op program at Northeastern is so good that going for free and being in the Boston metro area easily outweighs paying out of state for W&M.</p>