As a follow-up to this, I would ask your parents to think about a few questions and then get back to you (unless they feel comfortable discussing the topic with you, but many parents will not):
- How likely do you think it is that there could be a job loss?
- How likely do you think you could find a position with sufficient earnings to continue contributing to college (including $50k in loans for year 4 of UMD or $102k for Fordham)?
- How secure is your retirement if you keep your job?
- How would a job loss impact your planned retirement (lost contributions and potentially needing to start withdrawing money early if it becomes a de facto forced early retirement)?
- What impact would $50k or $102k in loans have on your retirement?
There are no loans for retirement. Many families are willing to work longer or to make other sacrifices in order to send their children to particular schools. But those sacrifices are often dependent on 1) their employment, and 2) their health.
If your parents indicate that they feel financially safe for you to attend any of the institutions you’ve listed, then a couple of questions for you to think about:
- How would you feel if you attended an institution for one or two years and then had to transfer because your family could no longer afford it? Would you prefer to start at a less expensive school and know that you could remain there for four years, or would you prefer to attend a more expensive school with the hope that it will work out and then find out partway through that you need to transfer to a less expensive option (which may still come with substantial loans if you’ve already spent 80% of the saved college money on your first two years).
Essentially, it’s a question of your risk tolerance. UConn and Binghamton are risk-free ($120k cost, so perhaps $30k for grad school, house down payment, whatever, if your parents give you the difference). UMass is pretty safe, but would need $10k in loans, which is a pretty minimal amount to come out of college with. Your other options are definitely financially riskier based on the information you’ve shared. But if you chose your riskiest option (i.e. Fordham), it has the biggest potential for financial loss, but also, perhaps, the greatest potential for financial gain.