Brown/Princeton or UVA full ride?

DunninLA
Fri, 28 Oct 2011 13:40:52 +0000

Orange,

Leaving your parent’s money aside for a moment, you’ve asked whether $40,000 in loans to attend Brown or Princeton is worth it, vs. full ride at UVA. To that I’d say, absolutely, $40,000 Educational Loan repayment is quite manageable over 10 or 20 years even if you should decide to pursue a career devoid of monetary windfall…such as teaching, non-profit, artist, etc. I would say $80,000 would not be worth it…my point of indifference would be at about $60,000.

Now, let’s bring your parents’ $200,000 back into the discussion. IF your parents would be willing to put 50% of their commitment to your education into a bank account in your name, no strings attached, to do with as you please at age 25, I would say take the $100k and run to UVA. Your parents will clearly be stretched to provide the full $200k, since they cannot do $240k, so they’ll appreciate the $100k windfall in their retirement as much as you will in establishing your life.

Incidentally, I switched from Stanford to UCLA way back when, for mostly personal, partly educational specialty reasons, and never regretted the decision. My GPA was higher at Stanford, the environment was easier to navigate, but my other reasons outweighed those benefits of staying at Stanford.

P.S. If Berkeley similarly offers you a free ride, then my decision would not rest on academics, but on the lifestyle found on the two campuses.

P.P.S. tk21769 – my niece was a recruited soccer player at Northwestern. Indeed, it is the case that Admissions at competitive DI athletics schools reaches decisions on athletes by October.