what are some good targets/reaches
So…are you planning to take $30,000 in loans every year?
if the school is good enough, then yea.
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Do you have a qualified cosigner for these loans? There are places where you can get loans in your own name. But if you do this for all four years, you will have $120,000 in principal PLUS interest. Your loan repayments will be probably over $1500 a month. Think about how that will affect the thibgs you will want to do or be able to do as a college grad with your first job.
Do you have a credit history, assets for collateral? Who is lending you this kind of money? You are lucky- this is your first Econ homework assignment and you don’t even need to pay tuition! Go research “how can I borrow 120K” and come back to us with the answer…/
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I’m trying to figure out where this string got confused. I think you are referring to this post, no?
Not sure Tufts, Emory, WashU - or, especially Chicago - would necessarily be “safeties”, but maybe more realistic than HYPMS? Sure.
my parents would take out a home equity loan…
That is a wonderful gift they are giving you. Have you sat with them to work through a loan repayment schedule on a HELOC?
HELOC loans are increasingly more difficult to get these days. And you will need this for all four years. It might work, and it might not.
But the fact remains…there will be a large monthly payment when you graduate.
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There were two different posts from OP that the moderator merged.
why would i tell u that…
You are saying - they’ll pay $60K - but if you need to spend $100K, they’ll borrow the other $40K against their home?
So if they make $250K to $400K, they can’t cash flow the extra $40K?
If that’s the case and it’s your family’s decision, but I would say that school - Chicago, etc., is too expensive for you / your family. But obviously, they get to make that decision.
But how will they pay it back? That’s a lot of money.
All the schools I gave you above are fine schools that will achieve your budget. I was looking at as you wanted to avoid the Tufts, Wake Forests of the world - which is good because if I had to guess, you wouldn’t get into them.
So I gave you a list of schools I think you could get into (unless noted a match) and schools that would achieve your $60K. Not all were safeties - no - but I showed where they weren’t and I included some with special programs like Charleston Fellows - which I’d assume you’d only consider the school if you could obtain a spot - which would be a reach. Same with W&L, Davidson, etc.
But all the schools are listed are very good - with many safeties that will require merit - but I do think they’ll deliver for you.
Hope that list helped.
You don’t need target / reaches - you need an affordable school you can get into.
But look at my list above - it has safeties, targets and reaches - and noted what each is - whether by school or program.
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Don’t tell me-- it’s not my money. You’re the econ major, you should know the fully loaded cost of that loan before you decide that this the right path for you.
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As others have said, this makes need based aid unlikely. This means that there are quite a few universities that could cost you close to $100,000 per year.
With a budget of $60,000 per year, there are a LOT of very good universities that will meet this budget. They are not likely to be the very famous ones that do not give merit aid, or who like Chicago have very limited merit aid. However, you should be able to find multiple very good universities to attend that will fit a $60,000/year budget. UMD might be one of them.
By the way, it might not be crazy to apply to Chicago since they do have some limited merit aid. However, I would do this planning to only go there if you get very good aid that brings the cost down a LOT from their full price. I also would do this will the understanding that Chicago is a LOT of work, and you have to want to do it. One friend of a daughter’s was one of the strongest students I have ever met and went there. He came back for Christmas saying “Chicago is where fun goes to die” and looking exhausted. He however did well and I think that at some level he appreciated learning that he could handle it (with some pain). Again this is something that should only do if you really want to do it, and you should understand that this sort of intense undergraduate experience is really not necessary to be very successful in the world.
One issue here: As others have said, you cannot borrow $30,000 per year. It is possible or even likely that your parents can. However, that would add up to a LOT of debt over four years.
Exactly. That is a HUGE payment for a recent university graduate. Of course with a budget of $60k some schools might require closer to $40,000/year of debt.
Also, economics is a major where some form of graduate school is relatively likely. This might be for an MBA, some other master’s degree, a PhD, a law degree, or something different. However, it is not unusual at all for someone with a bachelor’s degree in economics to go on to some form of graduate school (either with or without some work experience after the bachelor’s before graduate school).
If you look at the various graduate students at very good and highly ranked graduate programs, in the vast majority of cases you will find that they come from a HUGE range of undergraduate schools. It is not unusual at all for someone to for example get a bachelor’s degree at their in-state public flagship, or a different in-state public university, or a university that gives very good merit aid, and to then go on to get some form of graduate degree at a very highly ranked university (even at the Harvard / Princeton / MIT / Stanford level). Just as one example, Harvard has about 7,000 undergraduate students and about 14,000 graduate students. Those graduate students did not all get their bachelor’s degree at Harvard, and I would bet that the large majority did not get their bachelor’s degree at Harvard.
Also, to attend a very good graduate program you need to be able to afford to attend a very good graduate program.
If you go straight from a bachelor’s degree to a job, first jobs often do not pay all that well and being able to afford to take the job that you want and then support yourself again will be a lot easier if you do not have education debt.
For an MBA this might make sense. For a bachelor’s degree this is very unlikely to be a good use of the money for someone who can avoid loans with a $60,000 or even $50,000 budget.
As a potential economics major, you might want to think about what is called “opportunity cost”. You can only spend any particular dollar one time. You can only spend one particular year of effort one time. Pick your application of the available resources (time, effort and money) carefully.
With your great results from high school and a $60,000 per year budget I think that you are going to get accepted to quite a few very good universities that have very good economics programs and that will fit your budget.
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For the potential for merit scholarship recognition, look into Richmond and Boston University.
Has the OP indicated whether they are a US domestic or international student? If international, the list of colleges that could meet budget may be smaller.
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No. Several posters have asked, but the question has not been answered.
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@demiraslsas are you a U.S. citizen, or permanent resident green card holder….or are you an international student.
Please answer this question.
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thank you
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