<p>I got accepted to Tulane University, and while they did give me generous aid, not all my expenses are covered. They gave me $7000 in federal loans, but $16000 is not covered, I’m guessing I will have to take out a loan for that too. So that equates to about ~23000 a year in loans… so total after four years is ~90000!!
My other college choice is University of Oregon, which obviously will be a lot cheaper since it’s public.
What do you think? Should I go to Tulane, a better known school with more opportunities but owe ~$90000, or should I go to Oregon, the cheaper + bigger + public school?
( My EFC is 932, so I can’t get much help from my parents )</p>
<p>$90k is much to much debt. Go to the other school. You will be so glad not to start your working life with that burden of debt.</p>
<p>Egads-- here we go again.</p>
<p>Way too much debt. Look for a cheaper option.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yes. WAY too much.</p>
<p>Yeah… that’s what I thought too. Looks like I’m stuck in Oregon</p>
<p>But you will have so many more options at the end of the four years than if you had all that debt.</p>
<p>My opinion is go to Univ. of Oregon with the knowledge that you are smart and mature enough to avoid starting post-college life with a crippling load of debt. Judging by what I’ve read here on CC, many of your fellow students are not so smart and mature, so you are ahead of the game already.</p>
<p>There will be very fine opportunities at Univ. of Oregon. I guarantee you many graduates have gone on to great success in a wide variety of fields. It will be up to you to take advantage of the possibilities; get to know professors, look into scholarships for continuing students for summer support or travel abroad, seek out research opportunities if that is what you want to do. A lot of what you accomplish is up to you, so keep your eyes open for opportunities and stand out from the crowd.</p>
<p>And don’t think of it as being “stuck”. A negative attitude is deadly for your ambitions.</p>
<p>IMHO, if you must, you should have total loan amount less than 3/4 of your annual professional entry level salary. If you have to go to the max, your entry level salary is the limit. The reason is, if you work as an engineer, paying $40K debt over 10 year period is no big deal. However, if you’re a musician, you will have a hard time paying off half that amount.</p>
<p>Go to the University of Oregon and never look back!</p>
<p>I’m shocked that Tulane didn’t give you more money. They are usually outstanding with financial aid. Maybe you should call their offices. I really can’t see them not giving almost a completely free ride to someone with such a low EFC. My EFC is around 4-5k, and although I did get a 20k scholarship + a few other things, I still received all but around 4k to pay each year.</p>
<p>Yeah I was shocked too, because I’ve always been hearing that Tulane was very generous… not like they weren’t to me, but I just wasn’t fully covered. I’ve already called their offices a couple weeks ago and they gave me instructions in sending my parents’ tax forms, and I’ve sent it already, but I didn’t get any updates yet.</p>
<p>I’ve already gained more interest since I’ve visited Univ of Oregon around a month ago. Maybe once I attend it, it will be a fun four years.</p>
<p>That depends if you are going to make 50k after college. Will this be a good return on your investment is what you should be asking yourself.</p>
<p>All of you kids who are posting are forgeting how much you will have to pay in interest especially if you defer payment for 4 years and capitilize. YOUR looking at well over 150,000 in debt when it is all said and done.</p>
<p>What you MIGHT make after undergrad graduation doesn’t matter. If you were graduating this year there may be NO job waiting for you. What would you do with that $90,000+ debt then?</p>