Is It Worth It? Indiana University Bloomington - Page 3

EMM1 · 12-02-2007, 05:39 PM

the answer to this question is clearly to go to SDSU. Indiana is a fine university, but these is nothing special about it. You may think that you will love it, but right now, you simply love the idea of it. The quality of your experience at both will depend on any number of factor that you cannot predict with any confidence right now.

Save your money.

barrons · 12-02-2007, 05:57 PM

Actually I think IU is a pretty special university with extremely loyal alums in the Kelley school which is Top 10 for undergrad IMHO. It's one shot at having a great college experience which is not matched by 2 years at CC and 2 years at SDSU which is still basically a glorified commuter school. I think $60K is a lot of debt and you need to work your butt of year one to earn some additional aid which is always available to enrolled students who prove themselves worthy. Get that debt down to $30K total and it's definitely worth it.

MomofWildChild · 12-02-2007, 06:16 PM

IU is worth it. Try to get some more money out of them, especially after year 1.

SoCal18 · 12-02-2007, 06:22 PM

barrons - I would go to SDSU for all four years, but I agree with you on the glorified commuter school thing.

And yeah IU is an amazing school...and I definitely hope it will be my future school...unless I happened to get into UMiami than that would make things a bit crazy.

But I'm just going to hope that IU gives me some good financial aid...I'm almost positive they won't, but I'm just going to hope for the best. And hopefully I'll be able to become a tourguide. And I hope my parents decide to take out PLUS loans for me too.

I really like hearing all of your guy's opinions and I hope they keep coming. If I do in fact have to decide between these two in 4 months....I'm going to come back and read each and every post...

thanks...

SoCal18 · 12-02-2007, 09:01 PM

I just wanted to give you guys a breakdown of how I came up with the 60-65k in loans.

Well I have a $12,000 college account that is going to go towards personal and travel expenses. And my parents don't make a lot of money, and since my brother is enrolled in a college, my EFC is cut in half. I'm not sure, but I think it is only a few thousand. So pretty much that is going to cover books and supplies.

So if you combine the $22,316 tuition with the $6,676 room and board...a total of $28,992 emerges. On average IU meets 66% of need, and 47% of that in grants/scholarships. So statistically speaking they would cover $8,993. So then the total decreases to $20,000. I figured I could make around $3,500 over the summer with a job or a paid internship. So that decreases to $16,500, and I think my parents could take that down to about $15,000/year....thus resulting in $60,000 in loans.

I don't want to become an RA, because I plan to rush and maybe join a fraternity, so that isn't an option. But I think I would really like to become a tour guide. So hopefully that should cut down the total a bit.

I'm also looking into cancer scholarships as both my mother and brother have had cancer, but I can't seem to find any.

IU didn't offer me any merit-based scholarships, but maybe they will surprise me and give me some other award.

Thanks...

Mombot · 12-02-2007, 10:16 PM

Why not UP? If you can't hack the weather in Portland, Indiana will suck for sure.

I do not think under ANY circumstances, Indiana is worth the extra money over SDSU. If you want a small college experience, UP offers that and didn't they offer you a very attractive scholarship? Indiana is an excellent state school but is IS a state school. You'd be far better off at even a mid-tier UC.

SoCal18 · 12-02-2007, 10:31 PM

I don't know...I'm thinking I want to go to a big school. At least I don't have to decide until May 1st.

But I did the calculations for the expected loans for all 7 of my schools. Below is the monthly payment for 10 years.

1. University of Portland ($138)
2. San Diego State ($272)
3. Florida State ($667)
4. Pepperdine ($715)
5. UMiami ($765)
6. Indiana ($815)
7. LMU ($865)

Of course these are just estimates, but it gives me an idea of how much each school is going to cost. And to lower these figures I could get an on-campus job or maybe find some outside scholarships...or convince my parents that PLUS loans are great.

What do you think?

younghoss · 12-03-2007, 12:35 AM

So now you tell us Indy grads on average earn $100 wk more than the other school, yet you want to take on debt of 800 month for 10 yrs? Somehow that sounds good to you? Assuming your figures are correct, and assuming that for all 10 yrs you actually do pay $800 month(no hardships slow you down), do you realize that for the first 10 years of your career you'll be bringing home LESS than you would have by going to lesser priced school? Factor in your other losses, what housing? what car? what leisure activities can you not afford that first 10 yrs on so much less money. Plus, as a finance major, you can figure the real cost of that loss- in the sense that the money spent on loans is money not in any account earning extra money. That costs you even more. If you want Indy for the location, or for the student bodies, etc., that is an emotional issue, and my advice is financial. Financially speaking you'll put a big damper on your life for AT LEAST 10 yrs, and I believe after 2 or 3 yrs of netting less money than from the cheaper school you'll be regretting your decision- but will still have at least 7 yrs payments still to go!
Think of it another way- if you had extra $400 month discretionary income first 10 yrs after school, what pleasure that could bring you. More investment, more savings, nicer car, nicer housing, fancier dates, or whatever you chose to do. If you have some reason other than financial for being so interested in pricier school that ok, but come clean with us please.

SoCal18 · 12-03-2007, 12:51 AM

"If you have some reason other than financial for being so interested in pricier school that ok, but come clean with us please."

I said this earlier..."So to sum it all up....Indiana is the perfect school, and that is why I would go into debt for it. My gut is telling me that I am meant to be a Hoosier."

I thought I made it clear that I truly want to go to IU.

Maybe I'm not understanding what you are asking...

wis75 · 12-03-2007, 02:30 AM

You need to spend a week in winter at IU. Just made a 500 mile (one way, an all day drive) trip to SE Indiana, and have lived in Indy eons ago- you need to experience the small town in the middle of nowhere with ice, slippery, near freezing conditions every day-need to travel to a big city to get to an airport to either coast... CT is a 2 day drive, don't see any connection to anywhere in the Midwest (Think- to us San Francisco and San Diego are really close, like an hour apart, right?). I might understand if you were crazy about basketball, but of all the Big Ten schools I can't see why you would get hung up on IU for other sports. You have lousy reasons for going into such debt, there are many schools that can give you a good education in business- there is always grad school. If IU comes through with scholarship money it can be an excellent option, presuming you still love southern Indiana after spending time there in its worst season (also remember midwesterners always say it's the humidity, not the heat, that makes the weather miserable in summer).

Your gut is immature. No school is perfect. You only know the school from the media- get a reality check. PS, if you really want to be a Hoosier, go live in Indiana for awhile- be prepared for some culture shock.

SoCal18 · 12-03-2007, 03:29 AM

What's immature about liking a school's overall academic quality, a top 10 business program, one of the nicest campuses in the world, a friendly and happy student body, an amazing social life, Big 10 sports, great college town, etc.

I think IU is an amazing place, and if my estimates turned out to be correct...IU is definitely worth the extra $500/month over SDSU. I would just have to visit UPortland to make sure I'm not passing up something amazing.

"No school is perfect."

2 words prove that statement wrong...Indiana University!

boysx3 · 12-03-2007, 07:02 AM

Socal,

Were you a direct admit to Kelley? It's something to consider if it is not a done deal. While an internal transfer in to Kelley takes "only" a 3.0 --not too hard to get if you focus on your books-- you do need to be focused on your books. The girl my son used to go with had planned to transfer in to Kelly but her first semester grades so far don't promise to be pretty and she has already dropped one class. The 3.0 requirement inches up every year, too.

As far as the financials go, check to see what on-campus and off campus jobs pay. After the first semester you could probably work a number of hours. Would it be worth it to you?

And check with the business office to see what kind of summer internships students are able to get after sophomore and junior years, and what they pay and what you need gradewise to get those jobs with the great paychecks.

check online to see what it would cost you to fly to and from Indianapolis.

Then sit down and think things through carefully.

A lot of your reasons for wanting to go there are very good but a lot of your financial future is at stake.

northeastmom · 12-03-2007, 08:38 AM

It might be perfect for you, your gut might be telling you to go, you might wonder what you missed if you did not go there. It sounds like you are going to go there, and you would like people to tell you to go for your dream, and go to IU!

If you were my child I would advise you that there is no way that I think you should put yourself into that amount of debt. There are many schools that you can make work for you. Just make the best of any situation. Find great professors, interesting people, interesting classes, make wonderful friends, find clubs, internships, jobs. I believe that there are many good fits for everyone. Sure, some might be better than others. The finances do not make this a good fit for you in my opinion. Wait and see what the financial package is, but plan to go somewhere where you don't have so much debt. This is the advice that I would give my own children, and my son did turn down his first choice school, bc of the lousy financial package (and he did get a 10k merit scholarship, but at a private school that is often not nearly enough money).

SoCal18 · 12-03-2007, 10:01 AM

Thanks for the advice northeastmom.

The thing is I do truly love each and every school on my list (minus UPortland, I just applied there because they emailed me a free application). At some point in time I was dying to get in to Pepperdine, LMU, FSU, etc. I have no problem going to any of my schools, I just like IU (and UMiami) a whole lot better.

I guess I'll just have to wait and see....thanks for all of the help.

rrah · 12-03-2007, 10:03 AM

socal, as you may recall, I'm an IU fan, but I think you really need to consider this debt load. From someone that's been there, it's NOT fun starting off life with a huge debt. You get through it, but it's always there. There are somethings you might want to do that will need to be delayed until the debt is paid off or more easily managed: i.e. a home purchase, children, new cars.

Several times you've mentioned you would like to be a tour guide. Exactly how would that help with the debt load? I can't imagine it would qualify you for in-state tuition or even pay that much, if anything. It doesn't really sound like a "plan" to me. Have you considered a job while attending school? Even a few hours a week would be enough for spending money. If IU is your dream, than you need to consider what you might be willing to do while you're in college to get that debt load lower.

My children have been told that we'll have a hard time paying for an OOS public school from a logical/intellectual viewpoint. There are several fine schools instate for them. We fail to see a real benefit for them to attend an OOS public when most of those academic options are available for an instate fee. (Since we've just started this process, we could be way off base on this though.) Can your state schools really not provide a similar experience for you?