My son can go to Lehigh University and graduate with about $54,000 total in loans (we will cosign a private loan over the federal max amount or take out a PLUS loan and he will pay us back) or go to Millersville University, which is one of our PA state schools (not as prestigious, but still a decent education on a beautiful campus) and borrow the max federal loans and owe $27,000 total.
He is majoring in Computer Science and has been coding since he was 12 and even taught a unit in his Comp Sci 2 class as he knew more than the teacher, so he is sure what he wants to pursue.
Is the private school education worth the extra debt?
It’s a personal decision and some on cc advocate against taking loans. Others say it does matter where you get your education. In this case, since one school will offer a stronger education and many more opportunities, if it were my kid I would go with Lehigh. Terrific school and strong for that major.
I disagree with wisteria100 – a computer science grad will get a good job after graduation whether you’ve spent 100K or 250K for that Bachelor’s. Avoid the debt, save yourself, and your son a lot of headaches down the road.
But there will be debt at both schools. $27k more at Lehigh, but the starting salary will be more with a degree from Lehigh and that gets magnified 3-5 yrs down the line. Lehigh will have much better career placement/services and internship opportunities. Take a look at which employers recruit at the 2 schools.
I would ask about the internship experiences at both places so see if CS students have different experiences there. I would go with Lehigh also, but it depends on how that extra $27,000 debt worries you. A family member recently graduated in CS from a Lehigh-type place and had well paying summer jobs and an offer at the same employer after graduation. But I don’t know how we would have fared at the Millersville-type school.
“but the starting salary will be more with a degree from Lehigh” – Really? Is that guaranteed?
“Lehigh will have much better career placement/services and internship opportunities” – a kid who’s been coding since he was 12 and knows more than computer teachers will have the wherewithal to do very well both in getting good internships, and in performing well in them to land a good job. Plenty of threads on this forum alone about talented coders without college degrees doing well at Google. In this field, it’s all about what you know, not where (and even if) you went to school for it.
Value is not always measured in sticker price or the least expensive. So it is all about how you assess value and of course your own finances. And of course a grad from Millersville can go on to do great things, but for reference I just did a quick LinkedIn search. Number of Lehigh grads at Google - 121. For Millersville - 8. Number of Lehigh grads at Goldman Sachs - 312. Number of Millersville - 10. And Millersville is a bigger school so produces more grads. To me the extra $27k is worth it.
I graduated in the Stone Age, so take this with a large grain of salt, but… I have a CS degree from a public flagship (transferred from community college). I have the same job and SAME PAY GRADE as my colleagues from Stanford and Duke. Just sayin’.
Yes, @Mommertons, but Millersville is no flagship.
The comparison is different.
In your situation, you’re comparing people with degrees from very good but not elite schools to those with degrees from elite schools.
But in the OP’s situation, the choice is a very good but not elite school vs. one that ranks considerably lower.
I don’t know whether it’s safe to generalize from one situation to the other.
I would only do Lehigh if we were willing to mostly foot the bill for it (other than work study, etc.) and not ask our son to pay us back. I understand that some will disagree.
Otherwise I agree with @Katliamom.
Does he have the option to start out at Millersville and transfer to Penn State in State College Or transfer to Pitt? That is a lot of debt for Lehigh, but it is a great school. Does Millersville have the same depth of comp sci classes as Lehigh? What aspect does he want to study?
If your son is committed to doing well, I think it’s worth this debt for a motivated student like your son to attend a research university like Lehigh, and to take advantage of all it offers. CS is really hot right now, and my company is having to pay unbelievable salaries for strong graduates. Lehigh will have stronger students attending.
If your son doesn’t have that commitment, then there is a certain risk to you both.
To say that CS grads can get good jobs no matter where they attend school doesn’t imply that CS students shouldn’t place any value on college amenities such as campus culture and academic strength of peers. Paying $27k more per year would not make sense to me but here the discussion is aboit $27k in total. Having taught at small state regional schools and at a flagship (but not a private school), it was clear that the employers coming to recruit were different.
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Thanks so much for all of the thoughtful responses. As far as transferring to Penn State, he did apply and was accepted. However, since Lehigh met our need 100% and all we will get from PSU is loans he would have even more debt going to PSU in the end. Lehigh is a no brainier in that situation ( even coming from mom who is a PSU alumni).
Another wrench is the works is that he has a girlfriend who will be going to West Chester Univ. (another PA public school). He applied there and really wants to go there to be with her. They offered him only loans (Millersville is offering a full tuition scholarship), so his debt in the end would be $48,000 for this school. My husband and I are “No! No! That is not a good investment vs. Lehigh!” I’m hoping our visit to Lehigh next Sat. will help to steer him away from that choice. I don’t even know if my husband will help to pay anything or even cosign a loan for him to go to West Chester. I hope it doesn’t come to that. At this point he is open to Lehigh and we are fine if he chooses less debt at Millersville. It will be an interesting month.
I think you have a well thought out plan. You are willing to help pay for the mid-priced college, but Pitt just isn’t worth it.
Don’t hesitate to remind your son about Turkey drop, and how often HS couples do break up, even if at the same school
Millersville does offer the basic set of advanced CS courses, so that is a point in its favor compared to Lehigh that would require parent loans or parent cosigned student loans.
I looked up the USN&WR for CS grad schools. Lehigh is tied for 101 - barely making the top 100. Your other choice doesn’t make the rankings list at all. Neither choice is in the big leagues for CS. btw- Harvard was ranked 39th.
It appears your son was looking at a lot more than just CS when making his college choices. Is the overall college experience worth the extra loans to you and him? Do both schools offer comparable math and CS courses? Some schools require far less than others for any given course. A college friend ended up teaching CS at a mediocre U for a short time where she was supposed to cover less in a semester than in a quarter TAing at a different U. Is the student body comparable at both schools, especially will there be other students forming his peer group with similar abilities?
It doesn’t matter how many come from a school. What matters to your son is if he will get good preparation for jobs that may interest him. It sounds like programming interests him. He will discover a lot more about CS once he is in college. Perhaps starting at one school and transferring to one that offers a much better major may be in his future. Maybe he is better off at the least expensive school then doing the transfer to a school that meets his needs once he learns more about CS in college.
Hello, It’s not where you start, it’s where you finish. Matriculate, excel, transfer if you desire after 2 years and pocket the difference if the loan offers still apply on transfer. . As noted by others, coders get job offers,especially if proficient in the desired language. But the strength of networking and internships can not be discounted. Some corporate employers are paying college debt making the educational cost a moot point if able to acquire such a position. Of note, they forgive the debt of the student, not the parent, and the payment is seen as payment in kind benefit so it is taxable income until the tax laws change.
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but the starting salary will be more with a degree from Lehigh an
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No. Companies pay new hires the same. They don’t pay a Lehigh grad more. Who told you that??
@mom2collegekids The starting salary will be higher because a Lehigh grad will be recruited by higher paying companies than the Millersville grad.