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How much did the cost matter to your college choice?

kranky

kranky

Elite Member
I'm really shocked at the amount of debt many of the new grads are carrying. They don't seem to think $50K is a lot of student loan debt. I don't get the impression that the cost of their education was much of a factor in their decision of where to attend.

Just wondering how many people say to themselves, "I want to get a degree with less than $X of student loans" and look at schools with that in mind.

Of course, I don't get to know them until they have a job and see how much of their income goes to taxes and they figure out how long it's going to take them to pay off those loans. Some of them have told me they will be paying for over 10 years.
 
Originally posted by: kranky
I'm really shocked at the amount of debt many of the new grads are carrying. They don't seem to think $50K is a lot of student loan debt. I don't get the impression that the cost of their education was much of a factor in their decision of where to attend.

Just wondering how many people say to themselves, "I want to get a degree with less than $X of student loans" and look at schools with that in mind.

Of course, I don't get to know them until they have a job and see how much of their income goes to taxes and they figure out how long it's going to take them to pay off those loans. Some of them have told me they will be paying for over 10 years.
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That's how all student loans are. And that's how I will be paying my student loans.

Gotta pay to play.

Edit: I was stupid with money getting my Bachelors, so I will be paying back about $50k in loans over 10 years. Not fun.

On the upside, my place of employment will be paying for my masters.
 
I wanted to go to Boston University for a computer science degree. Mostly because I liked the school and I liked the city. Cost was 30K/year. I was offered 20K in scholarships.

My in state school was Clemson University and it cost around 6k/year. I had no scholarships but technically it was a better school for my degree.

Money really drove my decision but I did end up picking the school with the better program. I probably wouldn't have survived Boston because I barely stopping partying enough to graduate from Clemson which is in the middle of nowhere. I can't imagine how much trouble I would have gotten into in Boston.
 
My choices were public in-state or nothing. If I go to grad school, I'm probably open to anywhere as the savings aren't too great especially if I land an assistantship.
 
None, but in Canada it's less important.

When my kids go to school I will strongly advise them based on cost. I agree there's no good use in a lot of these loans kids have these days to earn some sh*ty degree worth almost nothing.
 
Originally posted by: Codewiz
I wanted to go to Boston University for a computer science degree. Mostly because I liked the school and I liked the city. Cost was 30K/year. I was offered 20K in scholarships.

My in state school was Clemson University and it cost around 6k/year. I had no scholarships but technically it was a better school for my degree.

Money really drove my decision but I did end up picking the school with the better program. I probably wouldn't have survived Boston because I barely stopping partying enough to graduate from Clemson which is in the middle of nowhere. I can't imagine how much trouble I would have gotten into in Boston.
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dude, have you seen how much it costs to go to clemson now? i couldn't afford it if i had to go now :Q
 
Not terribly important. I simply wanted to go to RIT. I, and my wife, both graduated from there with about $35k in student loans each.
 
A lot.

I didn't want to move out of town for college anyways, but having an extra $5k tacked onto my yearly tuition versus walking to the top college down the street made a difference.
 
For me value mattered more than cost. I went to a school where I got a good education, and after my parents' contribution and a partial scholarship I ended up with $15k in loans.

My brother on the other hand went to a local school that was around $40k for tuition, room and board, and he could have gotten a similar education at our state university for far less. I have no idea how much my parents paid for him, but I wouldn't be surprised if he has $80k in loans. Value was never a consideration for him, and my parents didn't really encourage him to consider other options.
 
Originally posted by: JohnCU
Originally posted by: Codewiz
I wanted to go to Boston University for a computer science degree. Mostly because I liked the school and I liked the city. Cost was 30K/year. I was offered 20K in scholarships.

My in state school was Clemson University and it cost around 6k/year. I had no scholarships but technically it was a better school for my degree.

Money really drove my decision but I did end up picking the school with the better program. I probably wouldn't have survived Boston because I barely stopping partying enough to graduate from Clemson which is in the middle of nowhere. I can't imagine how much trouble I would have gotten into in Boston.
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dude, have you seen how much it costs to go to clemson now? i couldn't afford it if i had to go now :Q
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I graduated in 2002. I was speaking purely about tuition. Not all the other costs.
 
Mattered a lot choosing my undergrad (when parents were helping me out).

Mattered even more for choosing grad school (completely on my own dime).
 
all the ones on my list were low
school i went to (UT), imo, was next to UNC for best value in the country... but during my attendance tuition rose really quicly (02-06)
 
Originally posted by: Codewiz
Originally posted by: JohnCU
Originally posted by: Codewiz
I wanted to go to Boston University for a computer science degree. Mostly because I liked the school and I liked the city. Cost was 30K/year. I was offered 20K in scholarships.

My in state school was Clemson University and it cost around 6k/year. I had no scholarships but technically it was a better school for my degree.

Money really drove my decision but I did end up picking the school with the better program. I probably wouldn't have survived Boston because I barely stopping partying enough to graduate from Clemson which is in the middle of nowhere. I can't imagine how much trouble I would have gotten into in Boston.
Click to expand...

dude, have you seen how much it costs to go to clemson now? i couldn't afford it if i had to go now :Q
Click to expand...

I graduated in 2002. I was speaking purely about tuition. Not all the other costs.
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that's what i'm saying, tuition by itself has skyrocketed in their attempt to be a top 20 university.
 
Cost was a huge factor for me. I got full room/board/tuition and some extra scholarship as well that served as spending money. I graduated debt-free and no pressure.
 
alot, i pay for everything, housing/school/food/everything that requires money.

that's why im not up in tally with all my highs cool friends.
 
Well it mattered enough for me to go to a public university in state. After that I think they were all pretty close.

I went there with a $5,000 scholarship from high school, and another $2,500 from MEAP (some standardized test in Michigan). That was a decent start I thought. But then I got only $500 or so from the school for several semesters and that was it. Pretty cheap of the university I thought for having done very well academically every semester.

And I still graduated with $25k in high interest student loans. And that was with my parents paying as much as they really could afford (I was the second of two kids in college) which was the majority of my rent and living costs. I also went to community college for the 1st year which was a great way to save money since your first year is just generic calc/science/english courses that all transfer.

edit: But in the end I shouldn't complain. I had good job opportunities lined up before graduating and still have a job now. I guess I'm just a little ticked about a) the interest rate on Federal Govt loans, and b) the little amount of money I received from the university.

In high school all I heard was "very low interest government loans" and "free or 50% free rides if you do well" but I guess I didn't understand it fully. :brokenheart:
 
Not too much I guess. My parents had a good amount of money put away for me. My yearly tuition is ~$22K, and I'll have to pay about that much in loans when I graduate. Not entirely sure that I made the best decision, but I'm stuck now.
 
It was a factor, but not the deciding factor. I went to the school that I felt most comfortable attending, with tuition in reason. I got into better schools that cost more, and some comparable schools that cost less, but ultimately, my folks let me make the decision up to a certain $ amt that they could afford. I went to a public school out of state, and I think it topped out at 15k/yr during my 4th year. Started at 10k and went up 50% while I was there (!!!).

I won't pretend I paid for a damn thing in college. I didn't, and am very grateful for that. I was the first in my family to go to college, so I think that played a part, but I'll do the same for my kids even if it means giving up a lot of the things that I want. As long as it's not a financial impossibility, I'd put out the money if it meant my kid could attend an Ivy. I think that each generation should aim to do better than the previous, so I'll do what I can as a parent to enable that.

In all honesty, I think I went to law school (which I paid/am paying back to uncle sam) largely motivated by my family's desire to have a family member attend professional school. Not to say I didn't want to practice law, I do, but I probably would have just stayed with my previous career otherwise. I feel like I gave up a good portion of my 20's since I was working and going to school, but my folks deserved it, they gave up a lot to put me through college so I figured I'd foot the bill for law school and give them something they wanted to see, if only because it's something they wanted to have to be proud of.
 
Originally posted by: kranky
I'm really shocked at the amount of debt many of the new grads are carrying. They don't seem to think $50K is a lot of student loan debt. I don't get the impression that the cost of their education was much of a factor in their decision of where to attend.

Just wondering how many people say to themselves, "I want to get a degree with less than $X of student loans" and look at schools with that in mind.

Of course, I don't get to know them until they have a job and see how much of their income goes to taxes and they figure out how long it's going to take them to pay off those loans. Some of them have told me they will be paying for over 10 years.
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I did. I wanted to go initially to the University of Kentucky, but settled on Morehead State University as that is where I received the most aid and a scholarship. I finished at UK a few years later. I thought the $15,000 that I had in debt was huge (1993).
 
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