<p>Hey Parents Forum, I would like other parents’ perspectives on my situation. </p>
<p>My family is very low income. Right now I have the choice of attending UC Davis for a low cost, or attending a much more prestigious NYU for a much higher cost. Factoring in loans, I would be paying 10k a year for UC Davis, and around 35k a year for NYU. </p>
<p>My parents see this opportunity of mine to attend NYU as a dream come true and are more than willing to pay for my education at NYU; they are convinced that they would be able to get by and don’t want me to take loans. But paying for NYU for four years would take a huge chunk out of their retirement money (however, they understand this very clearly; one of their top goals in life is to send me to a prestigious college). I also feel that NYU is not worth the money. While it is ranked higher than UC Davis, and located in NYC, I am adamant on attending law school and I believe that the money saved at UC Davis could be paying for law school. </p>
<p>Go to Davis. NYU is NOT worth the cost differential. Davis is an excellent university and you’ll do fine there with any pre-law major. There is NO WAY that your parents should spend their retirement money on NYU. </p>
<p>One additional item you haven’t factored in is that your living expenses would also be much, much higher in NY – not just dorm fees, but what you would end up spending on day-to-day life. </p>
<p>So I have to say that you are being both wise and frugal. You won’t regret the choice.</p>
<p>Thanks for your input calmom. But I’d like to add that my parents truly WANT to pay for NYU. I try to convince them that I am unwilling for them to make such a sacrifice to their retirement money, and they convince me back that their biggest goal in life is to put me in a prestigious university (they never attended college), no matter what the cost. I think the best plan of action would be to attend UCD, work my ass off, then attend NYU Law and make them proud!</p>
<p>I agree with calmom. Unless you have a compelling need to study in New York City then the academic difference between the two universities is not significant, and I would guess that it varies from major to major. UC Davis is an exceptional UC with a good reputation.</p>
<p>It’s your parents’ dream, not yours. They need to understand this and get a grip. How will you/they pay for your law school if their RETIREMENT money is spent on UG?</p>
<p>I’m sorry, NYU is not all that prestigious. It’s a very popular school, but its academic reputation isn’t particularly strong as compared to Davis. </p>
<p>I’m not saying that its a bad school. It’s just not in the same prestige league as the Ivies or very top LAC’s (like Amherst). So your parents might be able to impress the neighbors with NYU – but a degree from NYU won’t help you get into law school or any other grad program, as compared to UC Davis. The grad schools are much more focused on the academic reputation of a school than popular perceptions.</p>
<p>Even US News ranks NYU it as #32, well below the top 20 - only a few slots above UCSD - and only ten slots above UCD, ranked nationally as #42… I don’t really buy into US News rankings… but my point is that NYU isn’t far enough up the ladder from UCD by any measure to justify the cost you would be facing. </p>
<p>I don’t want to diminish your accomplishments in getting accepted to NYU, because admissions for NYU are very competitive, and NYU certainly is very popular. That’s probably why your parents consider it so prestigious – everyone has heard of it, and people are probably congratulating them and making a big deal of your acceptance. But if you were to go to NYU for reasons of prestige, I think that you would be very disappointed in the end. Your parents are NOT going to get the cachet they think they will.</p>
<p>(Also, I think you can do better than NYU for law school as well… but we can defer that discussion for a few years).</p>
<p>You are a good kid. Don’t let your parents throw their money away for something they understand about so little. Sounds like they just want bragging rights, don’t we all, but the price is way too high. Tell them you may need the help later. Especially because law school is such a huge debt burden and the job prospects are bleakish now. </p>
<p>I knew a girl who graduated from Hastings Law a few years ago. She went to UC Riverside. I also know a CA girl who went to NYU and was pretty unhappy with it. So ya never know.</p>
<p>And that is just another example of the crappy financial aid that NYU gives. For my daughter, the privates she was accepted to met and exceeded the aid given by the UC system. Too bad you didn’t apply to more schools that are known for generous aid.</p>
<p>Telling your parents that you’re aiming to go to NYU School of Law might get them off your case and it’s a good goal besides: It’s a top-ranked law school. That’s where the prestige is. And you can enjoy living in New York City then.</p>
<p>Try to do the best of both worlds- let them make their generous gift to a prestigious Grad school rather than undergrad school.
And remember, “rankings” are an artificially created measure on the quality of schools propogated by a magazine in the business of selling its rankings to the public.</p>
<p>Have I understood correctly though, that the “very low income” family has accumulated over 140k in retirement funds? (35 X 4) That seems inconsistent…</p>
<p>UCD. NYU is not worth the extra money. Loans are toxic debt and your parents need their savings for retirement. Save your money for law school or grad school.</p>
<p>Go to UCD. You are both wise and frugal, as another poster remarked.
Perhaps you can have your parents put away money each year that is saved. Do not have them spend retirement money. Their financial independence will actually a great gift to you.</p>
<p>the Reach: If you are planning to work right after your undergraduate, I could see some reason to pick NYU. If you are planning to go law school or other graduate program, then definately UCD.</p>
<p>The UCs are very highly regarded and ranked. Plus you want to go to UCDavis. That puts me in the UC camp.</p>
<p>However, what do you define as low income? How drastically is paying for NYU going to hurt them financially, given what they do have for retirement? If they have millions in retirement income, it is something they can comfortably do.</p>
<p>However, even if I were Gate’s kid, if I preferred UCD, that’s where I would go. Many kids from very well to do families go to state schools, not to save money, but because that is where they truly want to go to school. Where do you prefer to go if cost were not the issue at all? That was the question we asked our oldest, and really all of them to see where the schools ranked in personal preference. We also rated other factors including cost.</p>
<p>I’m normally one of the people arguing for the more prestigious school. In this case, though, I agree that NYU isn’t enough better/more prestigious to justify the difference in cost.</p>
<p>Since your parents are “very low income,” that means that if they spend their retirement money on NYU, they won’t likely be able to “re-save” that money for their own retirement. Maybe they’re thinking that you’ll take care of them in their old age? Not a good strategy.</p>
<p>Have you visted NYU? Something tells me if you like Davis you won’t like NYU - night and day as far as comparison goes! Or maybe that’s something you dont like about Davis?</p>
<p>My oldest briefly considered NYU - she was sold on the idea of living in Manhattan for 4 years ala “Sex in the City” She ended up at another city based school but one with a campus and some school spirit but visits a friend at NYU several times a year. After getting a close up look at what it would be like to attend she is so thankful she didnt go there. </p>
<p>I would think your parents would support a dream of NYU Law…</p>
<p>That’s a point my parents argue; that I won’t know in four years if I still want to pursue law or not, or if my LSAT score is low enough at the time of graduation that I would have to enter the workforce first while studying for the test more.</p>
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<p>They don’t have much, but they have enough to pay for NYU’s COA for four years and still have some left over. That’s why they tell me not to worry. </p>
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<p>Yes I have. They are black and white yet I like both campuses equally. In the long run, I’m not so sure.</p>