DD was accepted into both schools for engineering. VT is in state and we did already accept there, but USC came in at the last minute with an offer for Honors College, instate tuition, and scholarship money. Bottom line is that VT (even though in state) will cost about $10K per year more than USC. My understanding is that VT is a great engineering college with an incredible alumni network and amazing engineering career fairs. SC is a great college with an engineering program, but I’m really struggling to find information about student experiences in engineering there and their success with internships and jobs. The savings will be all hers. Her dad and I are paying the equivalent of 2 years of Tech no matter what scholarships she gets. She’s still leaning towards VT (as of now, she’s planning to live in VA after school), but I feel I could sway her one way or the other. Is it worth paying the extra money for a Civil Engineering degree at VT? Will it lead to better jobs and/or internships? Appreciate the guidance!
Please please. If the finances work for your family, please let your daughter choose the college she wants to attend. She is the one who will be living there for four years. VT is a great school.
Disclaimer…my own kid also received a HUGE and I mean HUGE scholarship from South Carolina. It would have cost us about $10,000 a year to send her there. BUT we had agreed on her application list prior to applying and never said she had to choose the lowest price option. We were able to pay for any acceptances she received. We never leaned on our kid to accept the South Carolina offer, and our costs were over 4 times more than SC would have cost us. But we let our daughter choose…and you know…we agreed with her final choice.
I will say, South Carolina is a fine school, and our kid would have done fine there (also an engineering major). But she was also fine where she chose to attend. And your daughter will be also.
Thank you! I’m just worried about the additional loan costs she will have. She could come out of VT owing $50K+. USC would be closer to $10K. I prefer VT for her too, but will she understand the loan burden when she’s never had that before? Will she think it was worth it 3 years after graduation? Her scholarships won’t change how much her father and I will pay. The savings is all hers.
Loans greater than about $27-31k will need to be cosigned loans or parent loans.
Because the difference involves cosigned or parent loans, the argument for less expensive is stronger than if the more expensive option were easily affordable without loans.
So she will need you to take loans? Is this something you anticipated doing?
I think you need to explain loans to your daughter. 50k loans are quite a lot. 10k loans in 4 years are nothing and maybe you would be able to swing it without loans. (2.5K summer job.)
I know VT is great engineering school, but I am not sure I would take 50k in loans for it…
Run the loan calculators and have a conversation about it all. It is still abstract to them, but they need to understand the scenarios.
Unsubsidized Student loans have more repayment options for them.
The full amount of student loans allowed ($27000 plus fees and accumulated interest) will create payments ranging from $0 (if underemployed or in grad school with interest still adding up) to $400 or more depending on the repayment plan.
https://studentaid.gov/loan-simulator/repayment/wizard/personal-info/select-what-applies
Parent plus loans you would take out and she would pay them back or you would get loans from a bank.
$20,000 is about $250 a month for ten years.
My son is a freshman at Virginia Tech and loves it. HOWEVER, $50k in loans is a lot (not totally insane, but I strongly recommend not going more than the federally backed loans of about $27K over four years unless there is a very compelling reason).
I don’t know Uof SC engieering that well, but it is ABET accredited, which is the most important thing. I tried to look up their outcomes but it doesn’t seem that detailed:
https://sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/career_center/gamecock_gradstats/index.php
Maybe someone here can find better outcome data for recent graduates. But at a glance it looks fine and comparable to VT.
I don’t think $50k in loans is disastrous, but only $27k would be hers, you would have to take out $23k, are you ok with that? How will that effect your life? If it were my kid, I would probably encourage them to go to South Carolina, unless he really could articulate why he would not be successful there.
So she can get like maybe 2 internships or co-ops during that time that are usually paid but you can’t relay on that. Things happen.
For civil engineering I would take the less expensive option if it’s a financial strain at all. If the goal is to be engineer then let her go do that. Going to VT doesn’t guarantee her a job there also. She can do her internships and /or Co-ops there if she still wants to, to increase her odds of ending up there.
I don’t understand the financing- since you can pay for 2 years of VT full pay, it means you have more or less 78k on the table, correct?
Then she needs to come up with the rest - another 78k for the last 2 years, unless she’s thrifty and figures out how to cut into the discretionary amounts.
That’s 27k in federal loans (taken&banked freshman& sophomore year), 14k in work study, wages from a job or internship over the summer.
Where does the 50k number in loans come from? Does that inckude the 27k?
Are you ready to take on the 23k in loans for her (she can’t borrow more than 27k)? Is that your version of “skin in the game” and/or will you forgive the amount when she graduates? Or is 78k what you had set as a budget when the list was established, or can afford to cashflow and/or use from college funds?
Her dad and I are paying $80K. I am estimating that she will be able to work p/t (not right away) plus summers to pay for some of her expenses. I also think she will get some scholarships along the way. So I’m hoping $50K is worst case scenario for 2 years of school that has a COA of $41K per year (with engineering fees). She has worked part time for the last 2.5 years and is thrifty with her money. Yes, we would take loans for her, but they would be hers. Her sister is one year behind her in school and I’m getting close to retirement and did not factor that college would be $40K/yr when we were saving along the way. We are not high income earners and I worked part time a for many years when the girls were young. That’s our finances in a nutshell. She’s worked incredibly hard. She also got into Purdue and UVA. Before SC came in with this offer at the last minute (after she already committed to Tech), VT was the most affordable option out of her top 5 choices. I want her to be in a great engineering program - which VT is. She’s earned it. But I also want her to be aware of the cost of giving up basically $40K in scholarship money at SC. I guess I’m just wondering if there are any anecdotes out there that spending the extra money to go to the more renowned school will be worth it or possible that you know an engineer from SC that has had a fantastic experience. In the end the decision will be up to her (and she needs to make it in 3 days). Just desperately looking for answers before making a big decision. Thanks!
The $41K COA you are seeing from VT has a lot estimates and optional things in there (like travel, book estimates, cost of computer, etc). It’s a good way to estimate, but it’s on the high end (which I think is good so people aren’t shocked later).
For reference, our cost was way below that this year. I spent just under $30K for tuition, room and board this year. Add $2K for engineering fees. We spent $1100 on a very nice laptop. I don’t have the exact cost of books, but my son was very good at finding used books, online books, unbound books, etc… I think we spent less than $500 for books for the entire year. There was a software fee that was I think $100, something like. And then travel costs. Move in was expensive b/c hotels were pricey (about $300 a night, but you can control that based on how close you choose to stay). He took the bus home for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Spring break at $80 each.
So all in, we probably spent less than $35K. Tuition is going up, but that will be I think $700 for the year… but I won’t be buying a new laptop, so probably will spend roughly the same amount next year.
Basically, really look at the line items and see which lines are actual VT fees, and which ones are estimates.
Thank you for the explanation 
.
The environment will be different - at VTech all students will be focused and many will be peers, with a large number of STEM majors (though not all). Opportunities will be more plentiful in the Midatlantic (NOVA/DC area, Baltimore, Philly?) where for UoSC opportunities will be more in the South and may suffer a bit from GTech’s reach. UoSC is a generalist university, not a Polytech/Engineering powerhouse.
But ultimately both are ABET accredited (this guarantees high academic rigor) and with such a scholarship at UoSC she’s sure to get a lot of faculty attention, a personal adviser, and a group of peers, plus all advantages and perks that will make her life easier/more comfortable, never a bad thing when studying Engineering.
VTech wins on food though 
Students do not get paid more based on the university they attended- if they passed the technical test and did alright at the interview, they’ll all be paid the same.
The opportunities each university presents will differ though but with the special programs each offfers there’d likely have priority.
The loans you sign for are your loans regardless if your daughter signs a contract she will repay you over 10 years. Does she understand the monthly payments she will have? Some internships over the summer will pay decently but you can’t always “count” on that. Both schools on their websites have outcomes of their students and what kinds of jobs are they will get. My son graduated a few years ago from Michigan engineering. His 7 co-horts for his job where from GT, UIUC, Penn State, OSU, University of Cincinnati. All making the same. This is how it works. All very capable. He doesn’t have the debt lots of his friends have. He is thankful for that now a few years out. It’s hard for a 18 year old to get it. Someone needs to spell out what her monthly payments will be over 10 years for all her loans. My son worked during his school year all 4 years like 10-20/hours week when he could. He paid back some smaller loans quickly. He didn’t have a paid internship since it was during the pandemic. He had a great one lined up. So you can’t rely on those but she should see what the summer internships pay and can call school or /and they will have a list online. That might help.
Also and this is a big also. Lots of students going into engineering don’t become engineers. They all think they want to be one. Some of the best students can’t make it through. Or decide on another major. Lots transfer out and all very capable students going in. She might want to go in a completely different direction. Will those loans be able to be paid back if that happens?
Lots to think about but to me less is more when it comes to engineering when you can’t cleanly afford it. If anything I would have her take the max she can take so $27,500/4 year’s and nothing more. This is manageable and some of it can be paid back with internships co-op work that she should be seeking the differences on both campuses to help defray the costs. Anything more I wouldn’t put my child through that. You also can’t “count” on scholarships,unless they come before May 1st. But I would call the school and see how else they can help you financially. Just ask.
Good luck to your daughter.
And some actually get engineering degrees but then never pursue careers in engineering. Ask me how I know😉
We are currently watching a young person in our circle struggling with educational debt. Because of debt repayment they are making very different decisions about first jobs, location, living arrangements. And while their peers are saving money for houses, funding retirement accounts, and investing, all their extra is going to pay down the loans/interest.
As others have pointed out, engineering is very egalitarian. My Purdue grad is working in her ELDP along side grads from Pitt, Cincinnati, GT, and even a never talked about on CC directional regional university. All making the same $.
My $.02 is to take the path of zero debt.
If both options were comfortably affordable (no loans, no hardship) then I’d let my child choose. But in this case I’d go with the more affordable college and minimize debt. (FWIW The honors program at South Carolina is a big plus).
Also not being talked about, SC honors programs is a really really good honors program. There are probably lots of advantages with her and engineering right there that she can’t get at VT.
My 26 y/o had a similar dilemma but as an adult living on her own since after 6 months living at home after college during the pandemic… She had the choice of ending up with $15,000 after her masters in speech therapy or $50,000 all loans. She did the math and looking at her friends struggling with loan payments that she never had she choose the less expensive option. She’ll make money in her fellowship year to pay back the small loan. But she’s on her own since college paying her own bills with an older used car and she told us she would have no clue how she could afford living on her own if she had large loans. Not in engineering though.
Read this and reach out to the person who’s daughter is there. Lots of advantages.
@3kids2dogs Hi I posted the thread above with you on it. Any other insights for the OP? Thx so much.
Hi OP - I wish I knew more about engineering and engineering outcomes at USC. Anecdotally, I can tell you that my daughter (a Chemstry and Math major) has lots of friends in marching band who are engineers, so there engineering kids are able to balance coursework and being involved in the school as a whole (and marching band is not an insignificant time commitment) plus we are from the Chicagoland area (so quite far from USC) and one of my daughter’s engineering friends spent a summer here in the area at Fermilab (a DOE National Lab) so the federal government was fine with a USC engineering student.
As I mentioned in my comment on the Honors College thread, the Honors classes are often much smaller than regular classes. I quickly looked up civil engineering and here are some samples. If your daughter would benefit from smaller classes (not every class is offered as honors of course, there are more at the lower levels), then don’t sleep on the SCHC.
