Anxious about financial safety

Bill_Marsh
Mon, 19 Jan 2026 02:26:37 +0000

What is her intended major?

My GS is a NYer in Honors at UMass, a sophomore majoring in Engineering. A quiet kid, he has found a friend group, all from the Boston area. Playing on a club lacrosse team has helped. His honors dorm is really nice. (I visited.) He’s loving his experience at UMass so far.

It’s hard to justify $48,000 over 4 years for one state university over another, but if she wants the experience of spending her 4 years with fellow students from outside of NY, UMass will offer that. Depending on her intended major, what can make the UMass experience qualitatively different (better?) is the 5-college consortium. Amherst College, only 2 miles across town offers small classes and world class professors. Same thing at Smith College about half an hour away in Northampton. To me, these factors + the fact that she wants to go out of state would in fact make UMass worth the extra cost.

If she likes music, a nice bonus is the fact that Northampton/Amherst combine to form the 2nd biggest booking venue in New England. From the 1300 seat Calvin Theater and 1000 seat Academy of Music, to 600 seat Sweeney Concert Hall, to the 180 seat Iron Horse Cafe and the 75 seat Parlor Room, Northampton is teeming with opportunities to see top performers. Both towns have numerous clubs with live performers. UMass itself has 4 different concert venues with the largest, 10,000 sear Mullins Center, primarily a sports arena, able to accommodate crowds for really big name acts. This kind of hub for the arts alone makes this area different from Binghamton.