But the point is, as students neither you nor your sister are allowed to borrow that much. It’s only roughly $5500 a year available to you. Anything beyond that is your parent’s debt, not yours.
OP, I am concerned that you, your sister, and your parents will be spending a significant part of the rest of your lives paying off debt. Probably an even worse scenario, which still sounds likely, is for you to go to university for one or two years, discover that you can no longer afford to continue, and end up stuck with the debt without the degree. In all of the numbers floating by I sort of missed the total debt that will pile up over 4 years at your least expensive option, but it sounds like it is still going to be ugly. Can you calculate it out carefully, include travel costs, assume some inflation, and post what you thing the total debt will be if you go to Rochester for 4 years? Also, if you end up for some reason taking 5 years, with no scholarship the last year, what would the total debt be?
You said in the original post that you are probably going to want to go to graduate school. When you are in graduate school will be the time to network out-of-state. However, if you pile up too much debt getting your bachelor’s degree, then you might not be able to afford to go to graduate school.
I have met one person who went to an expensive university for two years, ran out of money, and transferred to their local state university to finish (in another three years). They got 1/2 the debt of the expensive school, but a degree from their less expensive local school, one year late. It could have been worse.
I think that realistic options are your local state school for undergraduate if you can still apply and get in with aid, community college, or take a gap year and apply to more affordable options next year.
On CC, we have nice-earning parents who only finished paying off their own exorbitant college loans while their own kids were in high school. It’s not easy.
Yes you could find a way to make the UH course offerings work for your majors, work hard and do superbly, have almost your pick of top grad programs, probably with funding. For fields requiring grad work, that’s where the bigger name/bigger rep school pays off.
@DadTwoGirls
Okay here is the math for Rochester:
Total cost of attendance: $68,546 (Tuition, room and board, books and supplies, required feess)
-IB scholarship $12,000
-Grant of $12,100
Cost of Attendance for me: $44,446
-Savings I will have from part time job by fall semester $3,000
-Work Study $4,000
Cost of Attendance after work: $37,446
Plus personal expenses and travel for breaks $2,500
Annual Cost without loans: about $39,000
I’m not sure how much of the $30,000 budget my dad gave me is loans and how much of it is from savings and salary.
I think you just need to sit down together as a family and hash this out. your parents need to tell you the real options. Nothing you have posted points to reality. Sit down tomorrow.
I just spoke with them over dinner.
Figured out that out of salary, my parents can pay $15,000 for each of us. So with the $39,000 cost for Rochester, it’s a $24,000 annual loan. My dad doesn’t want to use his retirement funds, so he says that he is going to second mortgage the house. With my $3,500 loan, it’s a $20,500 annual loan for the parents. Times two kids, times two kids, its 164k, not including inflation.
But if Rochester is affordable, I personally think it’s a hidden gem.
In alumni achievements, it’s about the same as Vandy.
Also, those silly statistics department rankings your sis is looking at are GRADUATE rankings. An undergrad experience will be pretty different and Rochester almost certainly would be better academically.
As for the weather: Back when I was in college, we had kids from sunny SoCal come out to the frozen tundra of Chicagoland. They survived for 4 years.
My dad (the breadwinner), wants us to choose Rochester. My mom (the tiger mom) is somehow still pushing for me to go to Berkeley?? Wants me to get a paying internship while in college so I can start paying some tuition.
You’re not getting an internship that will bring in $25K.
Tell Tiger Mom to find $100K from somewhere then she can have a say.
@PurpleTitan She is saying that because of Berkley’s location and academics it will be easier to get a high paying job after graduation to pay debt. Is she right?
It’s also super expensive to live in the SF Bay Area which is where most Berkeley grads end up.
^ Not that much more than Rochester. The major you choose actually makes a bigger difference in ROI.
And in any case, who is going to lend that money? You can only borrow a small amount yourself.
https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/ has average salaries 10 years after college matriculation. Punch in UC-Berkeley and U of Rochester.
@PurpleTitan I would go into Operations research and management science at Berkeley and Engineering Science at rochester. And not to mention I want to go to a good grad school eventually. Would Berkeley’s reputation be better to get accepted into good grad schools? And I want to live on the West coast eventually, would it be difficult to find a job on the West coast if I go to school on the east coast?
Mom is saying she is willing to gamble on me being “successful” after/in college, and will borrow money from family? This is a bit too much financial pressure to place on my potential success
Damn, Rochester is about to be more expensive in the future than NYU.
“I would go into Operations research and management science at Berkeley and Engineering Science at rochester.”
I personally would consider Optics or Optical Engineering at Rochester as they are renown in that area. Or if you want something more generic yet practical, Data Science. At Rochester, switching majors is likely extremely easy. And you could potentially study a 5th year tuition-free there.
“And not to mention I want to go to a good grad school eventually”
That’s a long way’s off. Plans may change along the way.
“Would Berkeley’s reputation be better to get accepted into good grad schools?”
No
For what it’s worth, Rochester actually sends a greater percentage of grads in to PhD programs than Cal does.
“And I want to live on the West coast eventually, would it be difficult to find a job on the West coast if I go to school on the east coast?”
Cal would have a greater reputation and alumni base on the West Coast, but after a few years experience and if the economy is good, that shouldn’t be difficult.
“Mom is saying she is willing to gamble on me being “successful” after/in college, and will borrow money from family? This is a bit too much financial pressure to place on my potential success”
I very much agree. I think she’s out of her mind. And frankly, I’m getting quite annoyed with her because she seems pretty ignorant about how good a school Rochester is. She seems to think that it is on a community college level or something just because she’s never heard of it.
By the academic preparation of its incoming students, URochester tends to slot in between UCB and UCLA:
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-610-smartest-colleges-in-america-2015-9
Personaly, I’m not sure what the basis could be for making sharp academic distinctions with this range.
Tuition for 2017-2018 University of Rochester is now $70,108.
@PurpleTitan yes I do feel that her best intentions are a bit misplaced. I do want college to open doors for great job opportunities but not in the way that if I don’t find an amazing job I’m going to be financially crippled for the rest of my life. I will try to speak with my college counselor and put her in contact with my dad hopefully they can discuss finances and also talk to some students from these schools. I have a teacher who went to UW and is currently almost done paying her student loans (she is UW class of 2015) because she is working and living with her parents.
@NASA2014 yeah I’m pretty grateful for the IB scholarship they offered
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
Please do not have sidebar conversations that have nothing to do with the OP’s question. S/he really does not care what your Aunt Sadie’s cousin’s grandson’s roommate did. 18 posts deleted.