MECH E + English Equestrian: Santa Clara [44K] Univ of Utah [16K] Colorado State [43K]

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Now that we have financial aid packages, dream schools ruled out because of cost: Penn State [60K], UC Davis [72K], CU Boulder [65K], Univ of Wash [62K], UBC [60K].

Top 3 (affordable) choices: Santa Clara, University of Utah, and Colorado State. All very different campus cultures and styles of MECH E programs.

Academics: Accepted to the MECH E program at each and would like an aerospace emphasis. If MECH E isn’t a good fit, would like options for accounting, stats/data science. Bonus if an astronomy minor is an option. Would also like well-established co-op and internship opportunities.

Culture/Sport/Orgs: Desire a big school with a sports culture, especially football. Equestrian (eventing) and would like to ride on an IHSA team in College. Would also like to be a part of a Formula SAE team.

Needs: Food allergy safe dining hall options

Santa Clara [44K]
+Great location for co-ops/internships
+Received a lot of merit aid, so seems like a good ROI
+Formula SAE team
+Weather/location (easy flight home)
-Equestrian team is currently inactive but opportunity to help bring it back
-CE Writing courses won’t transfer
-No UG aerospace emphasis
-Smaller campus/less sports-focused

Questions: Can a Midwest horse girl fit in here? Will local costs (Greek life, outings, etc.) significantly increase total costs?

Univ of Utah [16K]
+Has all interested programs and majors
+Formula and Baja SAE teams
+Big sports culture/football team
+Already have a free campus rental home to live in after 1st year of campus living
-No equestrian team (but 2 leased horses are nearby)
-Grew up across the street from campus
-Know lots of people going there
-Doesn’t feel special or like a marker of success

Colorado State University [43K] - last minute (mid-March) application
+MECH E and aerospace + other interested majors
+Formula SAE team
+Successful internship program
+IHSA team + vet school/campus equestrian center
-Only 2 emphases for MECH E
-Not particularly competitive which makes it feel less special right now

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You couldn’t afford the most expensive - so can you afford these three?

Since the SCU students in the survey don’t feel ready for engineering, I’d pull that out and go to Utah or CSU.

It’s MechE - you’ll find internships on your own and where you go matters little.

Good luck.

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The goal is to graduate debt free. This isn’t possible at the dream schools but is at these three.
Can you point me to the data about feeling ready for engineering? I’m guessing this is a career-readiness question asked of graduates?

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Does she really like CSU? I would not worry about it being competitive at all. It’s a great program and seems to have everything she wants. (Disclosure: S23 attends CSU. High stats kid that could have gone to “more selective” schools, but CSU was by far his first choice).

From what they post, their equestrian programs seem very active.

CSU is just as competitive as CU for engineering outcomes. Many kids prefer the more hands on nature of CSU.

I think campus dining is what you would expect. You can be safe, but there might not be a ton of variety. If you are gluten free, Fort Collins (and Colorado in general) has amazing options. There is a Colorado State University gluten free and allergy resources FB page where you can ask questions, and the food service director in charge of allergies has also posted her contact info there.

Is the equestrian part really worth the extra expense over UU, though? Only you can decide that.

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Life after college 50%. B school is much higher. You might ask what that means.

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Esp since horse sports = more $$$, however I am sure the OP already knows this. Is she already a Pony Club member? If not, there are two less than an hour from Salt Lake City, that might be a good substitution for an equestrian team.

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I find it hard to imagine paying 2.5 times as much for CSU over UU. My D went to Utah (from OOS though quite a few of her friends were instate) and had a great time. Having a big scholarship with money left over has been very important since college (she’s a ballerina). Her twin brother stayed in CA (we are Bay Area but he went to UCLA).

I think what’s most notable a few years out from college is that the kids who went to Utah generally preferred to settle in the Mountain West as the outdoor lifestyle was important to them. That was helped by the buoyant economy in SLC. The kids in CA preferred big cities (LA/SF/DC/NY) after college instead and prioritized career over lifestyle (interestingly several broke up with their college BF/GF to seek jobs on the East Coast).

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How does Santa Clara fit this criteria. My DD is a grad and we loved the college, but it is neither big nor does it have a football team. They do have a decent soccer team, and basketball. The Rough Riders are their student booster club and that group is a lot of fun.

The engineering programs are solid (according to my husband, the engineer). Our kid was a bioengineering and biology major. She loved the programs.

My kid did not go Greek and still had a very robust social life.

I’m not sure what this means…but my kid felt challenged in her engineering courses, and every single friend in engineering found a great job after graduation.

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I think a huge question is how important is equestrian to her? She will fit right in at CSU and they have a robust, wonderful program. I know several horse lovers who chose it over programs harder to get into specifically because they have a fabulous horse program. Mech E will be fine at any of these. I don’t see Santa Clara vs CSU making sense at the same price when they don’t have other things on the list. Whether the cost difference works for your family is something only you can decide - but on paper CSU sounds like the winner to me.

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The cost differential makes sense if equestrian is important to the student. Would you have taken the cheaper school if your daughter couldn’t keep dancing?

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Equestrian sports are SO expensive, and this is definitely a factor. Smartly, she would like her equestrian experience to be a part of her College experience (school team/barn) vs. taking her away from campus/college activities. She currently trains at a barn that is closer to campus than the 2 Utah Pony Clubs, who have also never responded to my multiple email/phone call inquiries over the years and have a reputation for being pretty elitist.

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It is really helpful to hear about your positive experiences with SCU. My spouse and I are both graduates of a Jesuit University, and we asked her to apply to one. When we visited, she was surprised by how much she liked it. It is a lot to expect these emerging adults to know exactly what they want, much less how to navigate life’s necessary compromises. That said, if the equestrian program could be reinstated at SCU, my guess is that the cost of participation is going to be high.

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In retrospect, if my D had gone to a more expensive school for a better dance program, she wouldn’t be dancing today, because she has needed the extra $100K in 529 money to support herself for the last three years of unpaid dance training after graduation.

The same question should be asked for CSU vs UU. Can you do more equestrian activities (inside or outside college) with the $100K difference in cost if you don’t spend it on college?

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I do think that’s the question. In your daughter’s case she WENT to a school with an extremely robust ballet program - even paying for a more expensive school getting a much higher level of ballet would be difficult. In this case the OP is trying to piece together something at a school that doesn’t have a program at all. I can say that piecing together outside dance classes into any meaningful program especially if one is also looking for performance opportunities is difficult as my daughter looked hard at it - whether the same is true in equestrian, I’m not as confident. I do know that my friend’s daughter ruled out a ton of areas because of a lack of opportunities for a serious rider.

It’s up to the family to figure out the trade off in terms of costs and how important that aspect is to the student.

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This is interesting. My kid says she sees her future in CA or CO and so the college choice feels especially relevant. My suggestion that she “split the difference” and stay in UT wasn’t particularly helpful.

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We’ve always believed that our kids were not coming back after college because the Bay Area is just too expensive to have a good standard of living unless you are in tech. And even then it’s relied on the huge growth in tech valuations over the last decade, which may no longer be the case going forward. I love living here, but only because we bought our house 20+ years ago. Now it just isn’t affordable. The kids we know who did come back after college have generally lived at home and/or been subsidized by their parents for a while.

So I’d ask what “seeing your future in CA” would look like. Because it’s a whole lot different than the future would be in a lower cost area, whether CO or UT. Even DC or NY is cheaper than here (especially as you don’t need a car).

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We live for on the east coast.

Our kid who went to college liege on the east coast now lives in Phoenix.

Our kid who went to college in CA now lives on the east coast.

Where you attend college doesn’t have to define where you will live after college

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If cost wasn’t a factor, UC Davis is her first choice and Penn State is her 2nd choice. I think both of those reflect the type of community she’d like to end up in. She’s grown up on two state university campuses (my Mom’s Midwest campus, and mine - the UofU). I think she sees herself in a smaller intellectual community surrounded by green space (farms, ranches, public land).

And, I think there are tremendous benefits to experiencing a variety of lifestyles before deciding what is best for you. I grew up in a small rural community and I went to college in a big midwest city before taking my first job in DC. All of those experiences helped me figure out my priorities (condensed daily life, i.e., minimal commute and elevation change - DC is claustrophobically flat).

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Agree and that’s one reason we were fine with our kid going to college 3000 miles away