<p>I got into Wash U early but due to financials they have given me the option to get out of the binding commitment. They gave about 25k a year of aid so it comes down to about 35k a year we have to pay but it still is a stretch for my family to afford. I just got into the honors program at the University of Georgia and there I would be paying about 8k a year. I am planning to go into premed but am not certain at all that is the path I want to take and want to explore other options before committing to medicine. I feel like I would be a lot better off at Wash U if I decided to switch to something like business. Do you think the extra money would be worth it to go to Wash U if we had to take out about 40-50k in loans?</p>
<p>Just my opinion, of course, but I personally don’t think any undergrad school is worth 40-50K in loans. It can be a tough pill to swallow, but where to attend college is indeed a value decision, not an absolute one.</p>
<p>That is a lot in loans – especially if you end up in med school and need to take out loans for that as well. I’d say for you Georgia is a better choice.</p>
<p>Congrats on your acceptances. I would also go with Georgia over Washington U. You will be glad if you decide to go to med school and don’t have 40-50k in loans on top of whatever you will take out for grad school.</p>
<p>I vote Georgia. That’s too much money. That’s per year…</p>
<p>40-50K is not per year. S/He is saying that is the total over 4 years. But it is still too much, especially with med school looming, if s/he stays on track. And if they don’t end up in med school, that is a big nut to have coming out of college and looking at a “regular” salary.</p>
<p>My son had to make the very same decision at Wash U and chose to go elsewhere.</p>
<p>It’s more than just the loans. The difference in cost is $27k, or $108k over 4 years, at today’s numbers. Even if you didn’t have to borrow part of that, would you spend that much more to go to wash u rather than Georgia? Georgia for $8k is a screaming deal. Esp in the honors college you will be challenged and you will receive a great education. When you get into med school nobody’s gonna care one bit where you went to undergrad.</p>
<p>If you are certain about being a premed and your financial situation is such that you need to borrow 40-50k while spending 100k for undergrad (35k x 4) you are better off attending a school within your means, without any borrowing. </p>
<p>You need about 150-200k at a minimum if you end up spending in full to go to med school and it could be much higher if your choice happens to be a private school. So it all adds up.</p>
<p>foursite makes an excellent point. Since you say you are still on the hook for 35K a year and you would be talking about 40-50K in loans (10-12.5K/year), you are talking about spending about 25K per year or about 100K in total (foursite’s 108K sounds about right given tuition increases) from savings. If you could keep and even invest even half that 100K, that would help reduce borrowing for med school considerably, or serve as a nice down payment on a house someday.</p>
<p>I also have a question as to why it comes down to WUSTL or Georgia. There are more than a few private schools similar to WUSTL where you might have been able to get much larger financial aid packages with loans that would have either been much smaller or zero. But that isn’t what you asked, so…</p>
<p>OP said they gave $25k per year and OP would still need to come up with about $35k per year…does WashU cost that much to attend? Vs. $8 k per year out of pocket if OP attended Georgia…</p>
<p>
You are kidding, right? A large number of the privates in the USNWR top 75 or so cost well over 50K now. Here are the typical costs from this year, and they usually rise a couple percent at least every year. <a href=“https://admissions.wustl.edu/scholarships-financial-aid/Pages/Undergraduate-Charges.aspx[/url]”>https://admissions.wustl.edu/scholarships-financial-aid/Pages/Undergraduate-Charges.aspx</a></p>
<pre><code>Tuition: $44,100
Student Activity Fee: $441
Student Health Fee: $300
Average University Room and Board*: $13,502
Total Charges (including room and board): $58,343
</code></pre>
<p>And that doesn’t include books (can sometimes run $1,000 easily), transportation, and not being a hermit all year.</p>
<p>DD turned down WashU for a public Big 10 U due to cost and after 1 semester it’s pretty clear she made the right choice. While it’s a wonderful school, we can’t imagine WashU would be $25k/yr “better” than said Big 10 U.</p>
<p>No, not kidding at all, fallenchemist and was simply asking (no don’t care enough to go look it up either). I’d advise the OP to choose Georgia or like you said, fallenchemist, what about other comparable LACs that would offer more merit (since the OP has the chops to get into WashU…)</p>
<p>I wasn’t making fun, cmgrayson. It is shocking how expensive (sticker price anyway) these schools have gotten. Makes it very hard for middle to upper middle class families. The upper 5% can afford it, and below middle class incomes usually can get enough non-loan FA to make these kinds of schools affordable (not that they don’t have other issues that make it tough). It is the middle ground that struggles most with affording these schools, or so it seems at least.</p>
<p>Just FYI, WUSTL is not an LAC. It is a full service university with world class graduate programs in numerous areas.</p>
<p>stbemtpynest,</p>
<p>Although I am glad that your daughter is doing well at a big ten school, I don’t know how you can say it is “Clear” you made the right decision. Since she chose not to attend WUSTL, you actually do not know the alternative.</p>
<p>I have a son who attended a big ten and another that is going to WUSTL. It was surprising to see the differences between the two. Overall, the student body, professors and administration is of a much higher caliber at WUSTL. . The financial resources are also much greater at WUSTL than at the state schools. Academic name recognition has gotten my WUSTL son internships that were not available to the state schools. Most importantly, the alumni connections open up significant future opportunities. The biggest difference is the level of nurturing at WUSTL. Resources will find you to succeed. These resources are also available at state schools, but you need to search them out.</p>
<p>I too question if the cost difference is worth it. A superior student will succeed in any environment. I can tell you that the difference in academic environments has made a noticeable impact on my WUSTL child. We expect this attitude will serve him well in life, but it will probably take 20 years before we can validate this.</p>
<p>Winston - I don’t think anyone questions that the overall academic quality of the students, the more intimate relationships between faculty/staff and students, and accessibility of certain resources is greater at WUSTL than most big state schools. I might question the assertion that the professors are of “much higher caliber” at WUSTL than at the flagship campus of an Illinois, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Michigan, etc. But I interpreted stbemptynest’s comments to strictly mean that it was clear they made the right decision if the alternative was to take out big loans, or if paying the tuition meant depleting virtually all their savings. They can obviously speak for themselves, that is just what I thought the discussion was about.</p>
<p>I totally agree with you that the academic environments at WUSTL “type” schools is palpably different. So not only are the students more academically accomplished to begin with, but they spur each other on to greater academic success simply by virtue of being aggregated and competing for grades. Then you add on other factors such as smaller classes, more external opportunities, etc. and clearly there is considerable added value at these schools. The issue, of course, is how much is that worth. And to make it more complicated, we tend to measure that value by looking at how much debt is involved, rather than the seemingly more logical perspective of total $$ spent.</p>
<p>In other words, a student with $200,000 in an educational account is more likely to be willing to deplete that but have no loans at the end than another student would be to take on, say $100,000 in debt. But they both (in this example) spent the same amount on their education. Obviously there is some logic in that, because of the burden the debt puts on student #2, while student #1 has “simply” lost opportunity costs with that money, or more accurately traded it for longer term opportunities. Still, that money could have been used to buy a house, invest in a business, or numerous other things. It all makes for an interesting discussion of the true value of an upper tier, private education.</p>
<p>Regardless of what you choose, it would probably be worthwhile for you to apply for merit scholarships (deadline is in Feb or Mar I believe, don’t really remember) and wait for those before you make your final decision, if that is possible.</p>
<p>There are merit scholarships… have you looked at those at all? they might make up the difference :)</p>
<p>I wouldn’t steer anyone away from WUSTL for obvious reasons but the aid package at the OP’s other school makes a compelling case for what everyone always advises here - do well at your undergrad institution of choice. Make your mark in graduate school, perhaps even at WUSTL. And have the most compelling application among your competitors.</p>