Advice on college decision

twogirls
Sun, 21 Feb 2021 21:30:15 +0000

I would not borrow $50,000 for a “Tulane experience” when you have excellent options that do not require loans. Your ultimate goal is PA school (unless you change your mind) which will require more loans. There is no guarantee you will get into a SUNY grad school program. What if you are accepted to private schools that are double the cost? Why add an additional $50,000? What will happen down the road when you love the one bedroom that costs xx, but you can only afford yy because you wanted that experience at Tulane?

FYI our HS sends plenty of kids to Tulane and Ohio State, so don’t fall into that “everybody from my HS goes to Binghamton” trap. When we visited Cornell my D counted 16 kids who attended our HS. She waved to 5 kids when we visited Binghamton. If you attend Bing …be a leader and not a follower. Make some friends from Rochester, Brooklyn, or Plattsburgh NYS has a tremendous amount of diversity.

OS is also a great school, but there is no shortage of kids from NJ or Long Island. Not at all.

Do yourself a favor and choose a school that does not require $50,000 in undergraduate loans, that provides you with the education and volunteer experiences you will need, and the social life you want. You have great options on the table without Tulane. I know a successful PA living in NYC who went to Binghamton for undergrad.

One more thing. Do you plan to study abroad one day (hopefully Covid will make that possible)? Some study abroad programs are very costly. Do you want that experience to be diminished or limited because you chose Tulane over one of your affordable options? What if you make some friends who want to move off campus and spend xx, and your cost is capped at yy because you spent more than what your parents could afford? Then what?

Just my opinion. Go to an affordable school where you can have some of those extras without hardship, and count your blessings.