<p>Hey guys I've gotten accepted into RIT Rochester Institute of Technology for electrical engineering and Embry Riddle for Aerospace engineering. I'm a non traditional student aged 28 with a BA in Econ who always had a passion for engineering.</p>
<p>I want to go into engineering for two reasons: job stability (more than the field that I'm in) and intellectual enjoyment.</p>
<p>Most of my aid is in the form of loans and that comes to about 30k a year in loans with the rest covered by need based aid. 30k * 4 = 120k over the course of 4 years.</p>
<p>My question is, I've been reading about engineers being laid off and outsourced and having trouble finding employment especially when they are older. </p>
<p>Unlike medicine where the loans are very large but the pay and job stability is there to service the debt. I don't know if the same can be said about engineering.</p>
<p>To answer thread title, no.
To answer post question, yes.
I’d cap debt at around 55k + or - 10% personally (~roughly equal to 1st year salary of an engineering major)</p>
<p>The general rule is don’t shoulder more debt than your first year’s salary. At $120K you’re approaching double that. Did you apply to any state schools? RIT and ER aren’t bad schools, but I’d argue against carrying that debt from even the very top schools like MIT or Stanford.</p>
<p>Why not go to a less expensive school? While they are good schools, engineering isn’t as concerned as rankings like humanities and liberal arts are. If you get into abet certified school, you’re more or less good to go once you graduate. Going to a top school for engineering helps boost the initial salary, but after a few years wages become merit based. with 120K debt, the debt to salary ratio is unbalanced in the debts favor. </p>
<p>I personally go for the cheapest option that meets all the requirements I need in a school, such as a strong program, good networking, class availability and so on. I don’t care for location, parties or the other superfluous activity. University is a job where you learn the techniques to be marketable in life, not a vacation. </p>
<p>Though I would not give an absolute “NO” to the question, given your age and where you are in life, I think a cheaper option would be a lot smarter. Use your background and education in econ to study the question. Yes, I have seen engineering fields get hit with down turns and those with degrees and experience in the field can’t find jobs. Things are changing ever so fast these days. Also, most engineering professions hit a wage plateau in time, and owing that much money is like buying a house in many places, but you won’t have the house. It may be quite the drag to still be paying this 10 years out. Do the numbers. You know what it costs to live, the car, the ins, etc. What would you advise someone?</p>
<p>Thank you all for your input, I really appreciate all the time people took to write out well thought out responses.</p>
<p>Another thing I would like to add is that I also got accepted into the University of Buffalo for aerospace and the total cost for four years comes out to 54k.</p>
<p>The reasons I left this out from the original post is that I didn’t consider the university of Buffalo as being such a great school for aero engineers vs. Embry Riddle. </p>
<p>But taking debt into consideration perhaps engineering at University of Buffalo makes more sense at 54k vs. 120k. </p>
<p>I think it really depends on what you are looking for. </p>
<p>RIT and Embry-Riddle are excellent schools. As an E-R grad myself (Prescott), I would not hesitate to recommend the school to anyone who has a strong interest in engineering, especially aerospace. However, from a purely practical point of view, you can still get a decent aerospace or electrical engineering degree at virtually any accredited state school, and save some money. It really comes down to what you are looking to get out of the school. </p>
<p>Since you are a non-traditional student, it may be wiser to save some money and go to a state school to get your engineering degree since you are probably not concerned about the whole college experience thing at this point in your life. </p>
<p>I’ve been friends with a SUNY Buffalo computer engineering (and math double) major alum for 9 years. He’s a pretty smart guy but even he says their aerospace program was really tough. That is to say, don’t sell it short. I’d argue it has a better value for the money. </p>
<p>RIT is a great school, but $120K debt is too much. </p>
<p>Four years seems like a big commitment. Tell us more about why you want to study engineering. There may be ways for your to leverage your Econ skills for more analytical kind of job.</p>
<p>RIT is a co-op school. You will graduate with a year of work experience (resume builder and possible job offer), and earn a year of salary to reduce your total cost.</p>
<p>If you’re concerned about engineers being laid off or outsourced, you may want to consider something broader than aerospace. Mechanical engineering (perhaps with some courses in aero) might give you a more versatile degree. Aerospace companies hire plenty of mechanical engineers.</p>
<p>Indeed, alternatively could work abroad, if you are interested. Globalization works both ways. After graduation I worked for a dutch company for a few years before getting a job in the states. </p>
<p>RIT has a 2+2 option with MCC, which is maybe 15 minutes down the road in heavy traffic.
MCC (Monroe CC) is bashed by all the 4-yr bound kids in my HS, but it’s actually one of the top 25 CC’s in the country. Someone once told me that it’s the top, but I couldn’t tell you for sure.
If you really want to go to RIT, and they have very good job placement going for them, I’d look into this. MCC will save you a TON of money, and I believe you’re guaranteed in with the 2+2.</p>
<p>As a side note, Rochester is actually pretty great despite not having a that good of a rep and being listed as one of the poorest cities. I much prefer it to the burbs. You just gotta stay in the nicer part, like all cities. </p>
<p>^ It’s a fine school, but I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily better.</p>
<p>RIT and ER both offer an equally strong program IMO. This is based on a comparison of curriculum between all three programs, as well as personal experience with grads from each school (granted, we haven’t had a lot from Buffalo here on the west coast). </p>
<p>I would imagine Buffalo would have many more of those super large introductory lectures than the other two. If the OP thinks that the large lectures could be a stumbling block, that should be taken into consideration.</p>