My child is deciding between Brandeis and Tufts. Tufts is first choice, but we don’t qualify for FA and they don’t have merit scholarships. Brandeis has offered a nice merit scholarship, adding up to about a $70,000 difference in cost between the two schools over the four years. What would you do?
That is a significant sum of money- money that, if you are able to pay full fare, could be spent on things like study abroad and saved for graduate school. Also, I would consider if there are any other things attached to the scholarship besides finances- mentoring, research opportunities and so on.
Does your child like Brandeis? I don’t see a major difference between the two in academics, population, politics,location, even if they are different schools. The Jewish population is large at both, (Tufts, 25%, Brandeis (50%) but they are also diverse enough that non-Jewish students would have peers as well as this means 50-75% of students are not Jewish, and in a large college, that is significant. Academically, they are solid and well respected.
All things considered, a 70K total scholarship would sway me, since what my child found appealing would likely be found at both these schools. If this were something very different, like Brandeis vs Cal Tech, and my child was a STEM student, the choice might be harder although Brandeis is excellent in sciences too. Ultimately, it depends on your child, as well as your finances.
You’re the parent and this is your credit on the line (You’ll be cosigning the PLUS loans to fund the 70K). Can you truly afford it? That’s a subjective question though–let’s phrase this differently. On a scale of 1 to 10, how much tighter will you have to operate if you take out these loans for Tufts? I understand how hard it probably is as a parent to be unable to send their child to his/her dream school but if you can’t afford it, you can’t afford it.
If they were taking out PLUS loans, they wouldn’t be co-signing them - they would be borrowing them. PLUS loans are borrowed by the parent, not the student.
Brandeis is an excellent university and $70K is a lot of money - I think Brandeis is the better choice here.
Partly, it depends on what you told your kiddo about your budget. If the deal was that you could afford X and Brandeis fits within that limit but Tufts doesn’t, then end of story–Tufts is out of the running.
If they’re both “affordable”, there’s the question of what happens with that $70k. Does that allow your child to travel during undergrad, or take low (or non) paying summer or post-graduation internships? Could it be used towards graduate school? How does your child feel about being able to use those funds in a different way?
And what does your child want to study? If they’re attracted to a specific academic field at Tufts, that’s one thing. If they’re not sure what they want to do, that’s another.
My D1 is about to graduate from Tufts. We are full pay. Unlike Pennylane, I do see differences in the feel of both schools–certainly my D1, who was explicitly looking for a school with a large Jewish population, did not personally like the feel of Brandeis. But there’s a big difference between not wanting to apply to a school at all versus having it being the second choice at a significantly cheaper price.
Good luck with the decision!
I would pay for Tufts because we saved up for college and told the kids to go wherever they please.
But it would hurt because Brandeis is very similar academically in just about every way that matters except for two. 1) Tufts is more urban, Davis Sq being much cooler than where Brandies is, and 2) Brandies architecture is very 20th century concrete. Very very ugly.
I think even I would encourage my student to choose Brandeis with the money.
I think I could tolerate very ugly for a merit scholarship of 70K. Even if someone has it in the bank, and can pay, it makes sense to consider value. Would you buy something of similar value for 70K more? Another consideration is, if you have the money, what else would you use it for?
My child would have to significantly love something about Tufts more than Brandeis, or vice versa, really dislike something about Brandeis for me to be swayed to the costlier option.
Would the 70K be borrowed or can you pay out of pocket? If you pay out of pocket, will it come from a college fund, retirement savings, income, shaving off dinners out/vacation? Does your child have a significant preference that is expressed rationally? Does your child intend on studying IR/political science?
Thanks for all of the replies. We wouldn’t be taking out loans for the extra money, but that certainly is money that could be spent elsewhere (like grad school, or coming home for breaks!). My child liked Brandeis a lot, but really loved the smart vibe we got from the people at Tufts. Both schools have strong programs of interest, so it really comes down to value. Is Tufts somehow worth $70k more than Brandeis?
Is Tufts worth the $70k? I would say that if you end up paying it, it will be worth it. And if your child goes to Brandeis instead, in four years you’ll say that you’re glad you saved the money. 
In other words, you’ll be able to justify it to yourself either way. We humans are good at that.
Sorry I can’t be more helpful–it’s not fair for me to spend other people’s money! But it WILL work out fine no matter which way you choose.
We were in this position last year. My son learned he was a finalist for the full tuition merit scholarship at the university of Southern California (USC) two weeks before he was going to hear back from tufts ed2. He had also earlier learned that he received $30,000 a year at Tulane. So, he had between $120,000- $180,000 in merit scholarships and we would be full pay at tufts. We considered having him convert his tufts app to RD, which essentially would have probably gotten him rejected.
We saved most of his college tuition and also have high enough income to pay the rest without impacting our retirement savings or quality of life. We’re also paying full tuition for his older brother who’s a senior at brown. We didn’t make it about the money for his brother 4 years ago, who got merit aid at Pitt, Brandeis & Rochester, and so felt that we couldn’t make it about the money for younger son. He had very logical reasons for preferring tufts over all the other schools on his list, including those that gave him merit. Still, it was a very difficult decision. Now, a year later, I still sometimes wish we had the extra cash but our son has thrived at tufts. He made dean’s lists taking difficult classes, had an extremely competent advisor, made close relationships with his professors, got leadership positions second semester in his ECs, got a great summer internship through the tufts career center, & loves his classmates, roommate & the intellectual vibe. Also did cool things in boston, Davis square and Harvard square. So we feel that he is taking advantage of everything tufts has to offer, and that has certainly taken the sting out of giving up the merit money. However, if money were a hardship for us, if we couldn’t continue to fund our retirement at the level we have been, I think my husband and I would have put more pressure on him to seriously consider the merit schools. This is a difficult but good position to be in. Good luck with your decision. I really don’t think you can go wrong with either of these two schools. They are a lot closer in vibe/size/location than my son’s merit schools were to tufts. It was more apples to oranges for us than it is for you.
Brandeis. The train is RIGHT THERE so he can go to Davis Square any time he wants. 70,000 is a nice downpayment on a house!
The train is right there, BUT it is a commuter rail (not the subway line) so the schedule doesn’t really support a college kid’s social life. That is why Brandeis provides some level of shuttle services.
There is a major difference between the two schools in terms of off-campus environments and access. Brandeis off campus access is similar to the Wellesley cluster of colleges (Babson/Olin/Wellesley) - although I am pretty sure that the Wellesley commuter line runs more frequently.
When I visited Brandeis with my mom (a very successful alumna) we were able to get into downtown Boston for a mere $2.50 per person on the bus. From there we could have taken the T to a number of exciting places within the greater Boston area. With a $70,000 price difference, I’d tell the OP to suck it up and deal with the extra 20 mins it takes to get into the city.
D was offered the Porter Science and Math scholarship at Skidmore, totaling $60K. I was amazed at how it turned a safety into a serious contender, mostly because she felt that Skidmore really wanted her (only 5-7 of these handed out a year).
But Tufts has won out, and to me the “extra” $60k is totally worth it. We will even probably have to take out a short term loan for this amount.
It is interesting: if Tufts gave out significant merit aid, it might be different. Northeastern was not ever in the running because they give out so much merit aid but she did not receive any.
One thing to consider is how the extra 70K fits into your budget. For some families, this may not be a significant problem compared to attending a child’s first choice and for others, it has a larger impact. Another consideration is the other kids in the family. A family may not wish to make the more costly for every child if they are in this position.
Also, if a student prefers one college, and chooses another, even if it is a logical and sound choice, there can be some regret. I think this is expected, especially with the ups and downs a student can have at any time during college. However, I also think that if they decide and go, with the mindset that they will take advantage of all the college has to offer, they can be happy there. Ultimately, many students must make choices within the constraints of some limits- cost, acceptance, location, and they can do fine where they are if they choose to be happy there.
I have also known families who have made the decision towards the more expensive college, and who have turned down significant scholarships to do so. These families and students are also happy with their decision. I don’t think there is one right way to decide this.
To be fair, the OP doesn’t mention this as a factor. It’s a nice side benefit, though.
I think it all depends on how much your family will actually be giving up by spending the additional $70K. To many people it is a year or more of salary. To a much smaller number, it means waiting a few years to buy that mid-level new BMW. There really isn’t a one-size-fits-all on a question like this.
If it were me, I’d probably try to find a way to make it possible for him to go to Tufts.
To be fair, Tufts is NOT “right on” Davis Square. It’s a 10 min walk, and there’s really nothing much happening in Medford right around the campus. So Brandeis’ 20 minutes is really, in comparison, 10 minutes.
I like Tufts better for many reasons, but with a difference of 70K…