OP, is that $10,000 on top of full COA? On top of books, fees, health insurance and travel?
I would imagine it is. Going to an extremely wealthy school makes a huge difference! I believe their endowment is over $1 million per student.
OP, I wonât belabor the finances: you have received unanimous advice.
I will emphasize, though, that you have got the prestige factor off. Williams is a more prestigious institution. As someone else wrote, it will open doors you donât even know exist.
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Adding to the chorus: you have been awarded what will probably end up being close to a $400,000 scholarship to the #1 USNWR liberal arts college. I have no doubt that as a zero EFC family, should you hit any bumps along the way with travel, needing a place to stay during break, stipends for research, etc, Williams will rise to the occasion as much as is necessary.
Anyone who is of any importance in business or academia knows what Williams is, and frankly you will have access to social capital and networks there that you would not at Berkeley.
This is truly the definition of a no-brainer. Congratulations and have a wonderful experience at Williams.
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Those loans will earn interest starting with the day they are disbursed. Your total loan obligation could exceed $300,000 when interest and increased cost of attendance at Berkeley are considered.
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No offense OP, but this isnât a real dilemma. You take the money, work your butt off there, and donât look back. Youâve been handed a way out that most low income students never get. I had a similar opportunity back in the day and the decision was an easy one. Iâve never regretted it.
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You need to be aware that right now, students from Berkeley L&S who did not initially apply with designating CS as the intended major are being prevented from taking CS70 (a required course for CS majors) due to to funding issues with EECS. This could be resolved by the time it is relevant to you, but there are no guarantees.
Also, Berkeley is like two and half hours away from Silicon Valley (driving through congested Bay Area traffic or taking public transit).
At this time, with the funding issues with Berkeley EECS, you would be much better off going to Williams fully funded as opposed to not getting into the classes you need to graduate at Berkeley . If you want the âprestigeâ of the brand name, get a one year masters degree from a brand name after you graduate debt-free from Williams.
Also, Berkeley does not have housing guaranteed beyond first year, so look to be paying through the teeth for apartment rentals.
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Ok, you seem determined to go to Berkeley and confident that you will pay the loans back. Great!
Before you decline Williamsâ fantastic offer and i suggest writing a note to keep in touch (donât burn bridges) please look at the âguaranteedâ parent plus loans. Is the loan processor guaranteeing that they will loan this money to your parents given the information they have, or will they need more info?
If your heart is set on Berkeley, make sure you have the loan contract fully executed ready to go before you turn Williams down.
Before you do thisâŠunderstand what compounded interest will mean to your loans.
Your heart might be set on Berkeley but you know itâs not really affordable for your family and want to give up a fabulous full ride offer from a top school. Your reasons of prestige and notoriety are excusesâŠnot reasons.
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Whatâs scary is we get on people taking $60 or $80k in loans
We are talking over $250k
I canât even imagine the parents can qualify. But this is beyond bonkers.
Donât like Williams remoteness ? Go to a CC two years and try to transfer into Berkeley. Of course you still have the monetary thing.
College is expensive. Donât look the gifthorse in the mouth !!
Besides itâs easy for a kid to say Iâll take loans.
Fortunately most parents are not going there. And I donât see any way a loan processor does no matter the credit rating.
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Sadly, itâs very very easy to qualify for the Parent Plus Loan. But this loan is totally on the parents to repay. This student is asking their $0 EFC family to pick up several hundred thousand dollars in loans for undergradâŠ.which is unnecessary given the offer she has received.
This student needs a personal finance course NOW. Clearly she doesnât understand the impact these kids of loans can have.
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Wow, I havenât read all the replies, but $240,000 in private loans is REAL MONEY. It has to be paid back.
There is no justifiable reason for anyone to choose Berkeley for $240,000 over Williams for free, plus a $10k stipend. With that money, you can get yourself a nice internship every summer in a fun city and probably have some cash left over.
And I am sure someone has already said that Williams is incredibly prestigious and will open doors for you that Berkeley will not. It has a fantastic alumni network.
There is NOTHING prestigious about being $240k in debt as an undergrad. I mean this in the nicest way possible, but youâre clearly a very intelligent person. Please donât make a foolish mistake. Prestige is meaningless when youâre drowning in debt. If you ever want to buy a house, pay the bills, and have some money left over for fun, take the Williams offer.
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This is one of the controversies with Parent Plus loans: as long as you donât have an adverse credit history (which is not the same as having a low or no credit score), you can borrow these kinds of amounts regardless of household income.
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If only all decisions in life were this easy⊠As others have said, this would be a no brainer if it was Wyoming instead of Williams (one of the best LACs) in nation. In my opinion, the answer would still be the same if you had 250K in bank. Before you again undermine the loan of 300K at the time of your graduation, ask yourself this: how many Berkeley CS grads are driving around in a new Ferrari? Because that would be cheaper than what you will be undertaking (even if you ignore the residual value).
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And if you somehow assume the ownership of these loans after graduation, keep in mind that there are employers who wonât hire you at all with this debt.
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I just went to LinkedIn. I did a search for Williams College alumni in the Silicon Valley area. I found so many alums from Williams College living in Silicon Valley working in Tech that I eventually stopped counting. If they can do it, so can you. Please do no take on this completely unnecessary debt.
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Also, the value of â prestigeâ is significantly lower in CS than many other fields, especially for undergrads. If you know your stuff, have internships and interesting projects on your resume, you will get hired out of any T150s.
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Congrats on both of your acceptances, and the full ride to Williams. Itâs a stunning achievement.
Iâm a senior engineer at a tech company in SF/Oakland, and have worked at a number of startups, including at least one youâve definitely heard of. I interview engineering candidates literally every week. The number of times Iâve talked with them about where they went to undergrad? Zero. (I did actually talk about college in an interview once, but it was when I was the interviewee, and I asked my interviewer about his time at St. Johnâs.)
There are things I care about when interviewing candidates â can they write code? can they think through the problem space? are they considering various tradeoffs and thinking about scaling issues? can they communicate clearly / do they listen? will I enjoy working with them? (even more important if theyâre a cis guy: will women and other people from traditionally under-represented groups enjoy working with them?) will they add to the culture in a positive way? can they learn and grow? are they humble?
Note that none of those are tied to where someone goes for college.
Companies are desperate for good engineers. But what makes someone a good engineer isnât that they can grind out leetcode problems â itâs that they know how to think critically, how to build up arguments from first principles, how to adapt when the facts before them change, and how to effectively work with other people. Those arenât things that Berkeley has a monopoly on, and, in fact, I can practically guarantee that youâd develop those skills far more effectively at a liberal arts college where you receive personalized attention and instruction. I went to a liberal arts college myself, and the personal support I got from professors was life-changing.
The advice youâve gotten from literally every single person in this thread has been solid, and unanimous. I canât recall a more consistent string of advice in a thread on CC.
Congrats again on the full ride at Williams. Itâs an incredibly rare and impressive accomplishment, and both you and your parents have every reason to be proud of what youâve done.
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This is great advice and (OT) greater and eloquently put job interviewing strategy that I will surely be adapting.
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Please donât do this to your parents, especially since there is no need. We co-signed loans for our kids (private loans in our kidsâ names), with the knowledge that after a year of employment after graduation, the loans will be transferred into their names only. We are less than 10 years away from retirement, financial on schedule, I canât even imagine having that amount of debt in my name! We donât know the future, what if you are unable to pay over $2500 a month? Do your parents realize how risky this is for them? I donât think they do.
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I didnât go to Williams, but I did go to Amherst, and the two schools are very similar. I also went to Berkeley for grad school, and Iâm very familiar with their undergraduate program. I now have a kid at another UC school.
Go to Williams. Donât even think twice. UC schools are overcrowded and underfunded, and although I am a devoted Berkeley alum, I think I would have hated doing my undergrad there. Everything is a struggle, including housing and getting the classes you need. Apply to Cal for grad school â the graduate student experience is wonderful, and a whole different universe. I wouldnât trade my experience at a small liberal arts college for anything.
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