My daughter got accepted into CS+Math with first year at the NYC campus.
I’v a question about the potential $90k yearly cost. If my daughter were to get 2 co-ops during years 2 and 3, does that mean approximate fees during those two years would be $45k each assuming both co-ops lasts for 6 months.
If so, is it fair to calculate total approximate cost for completing the graduation as $90k+$45k+$45k+$45k=$225k as year 4 is only for one semester?
Each plan shows 6 fall/spring semesters and 4 summer sessions. Each summer session tuition is about half of a fall/spring semester tuition. So these plans show the equivalent of 8 semesters of tuition, and probably approximately 8 semesters of living and other expenses (depending on if summer session living and other expenses are more or less than have of a fall/spring semester living and other expenses).
So $45k * 6 + $22.5k * 4 or $360k would be a reasonable estimate of the total list price while the student is in school (for the 6 fall/spring semesters and 4 summer sessions). The student would not be paying these amounts while working on co-op (although the student at a co-op job may have to use some of their earnings to pay for living expenses at the co-op location).
Thank you for your responses!
Assuming daughter’s 16 AP credits covers for 4 courses, that might help to shave off one semester reducing the cost by $45k.
Even if she doesn’t get the co-op, I’m hoping she can take the remaining courses during years 2 and 3 to potentially graduate early.
So regardless of getting the co-ops or not, and assuming the HS AP credits apply to 4 courses, I believe I am looking at ~$225K to pay for her graduation.
Are you sure the AP credits will waive classes? I’m unfamiliar with NU’s policies but at many schools some might waive a class but some only allow the student to waive a pre-requisite or allows to take a higher lever class in its place.
Northeastern appears to be pretty generous with AP credit, and it does apply to specific classes which would help. BUT engineering is notoriously tough with sequencing which more often than not precludes the ability to meaningfully shorten the time line, but will instead allow a bit more flexibility and lighten the load of required prereqs for engineering. I’d look a specific roadmap and which classes would be waived, before assuming anything:
I have to be honest - when I saw their plan, I was like that’s way too many credits. 17-19 in a semester. I wonder how many truly do that? It’s too much for any major and engineering is at another level.
I think you are in dreamland. It’s not realistic. My opinion.
If you want the student at NU - then great.
At my son’s school, a few got out in 3.5 years. My son started as a 2nd year credit wise (had 36 or 39) and given course flows still took four years - that includes one minor and almost a second.
No issue with NU but if you are full pay, at least for me, your math isn’t mathing !!
I don’t like the idea of having to spend a year in NYC before moving to the main campus. I think it could be disrupting. For example, many friendships are made freshman year when everyone is new, your student would need to get into new routines on a new campus while most peers are settled in, etc.
Northeastern NYC (formerly Marymount) is a small branch campus primarily known for the arts. I would be sure to fully understand the depth of coursework, variety of professors, etc. offered in CS and Math.
Also the price sounds challenging. I would not want to count on early graduation.
So my son took 18 credits most semesters at Michigan engineering. Don’t ask but it’s doable for the right students plus he worked and ran an organization starting in Freshman year. I think he slept …
But… He also had a internship that got canceled during the pandemic so anything can happen.
Also… Engineering is done in sequence. Many students think they can graduate early but still need to take their classes. That is where he had double minors.
I would just review any plan with an advisor now to make sure it works as planned.
My advice would be to budget for the worst case scenario. Your student may not have every class they’ll need to graduate being offered every semester. And co op makes that more challenging.
There are also reports coming from NU that some students are struggling to find co ops with the changing job market.
What if there is no co op? What if the salary is much lower than you are estimating? Our experience was that coops were the same length as a semester so 4 months, and that the higher salaries came for the last rotation. IMO, most first year coops, even in cs, aren’t going to be earning $45k in one semester.
Just for reference, looks like the median co op is $24-25 an hour but as an example the co OPs my son interned at the same time as him got $20 plus a car - so it will vary by other benes and location. He also got $1k per month housing when he interned more than 50 miles from home.
My point - there will be variability. On salaries hopefully it will open - ok the filters undid so I put in 2022 COE starting salaries. Pic below. It shows 84% are $70k plus but doesn’t give an average or median so hard to tell. And each discipline is different. But that’s certainly promising.
I think NU is wonderful if you can afford it but can you ? Engineering is a butt kicker. It’s why 50% drop out or change majors nationally. I don’t think @Knowsstuff student is the norm, but rather than the exception (and exceptional) so possible but likely not for most (but maybe yours too).
And as noted earlier, having many APs and credits in engineering which has a defined sequence - very different than say - Poli Sci and many kids will retake the math and science APs in college to ensure their foundation is there.
This is exactly the issue. The plans as shown are already ‘overloaded’ for some semesters and to cut another semester out would be difficult. Your D with CS+Math is in a tough major and many students have a difficult time making the academic transition to college, so grades/GPA in an overloaded situation should be considered too.
The crux of the matter is really what type of college experience does your D want? Does she want to accelerate her college experience like this?
One more thing to consider is that some proportion of Northeastern students don’t graduate in 4 years. There are many reasons for that (including coops, major, ability to get courses, cycling of courses, finances, etc), and AFAIK, Northeastern doesn’t publish the 4 year grad rate. Their most recent CDS shows around a 90% 6 year graduation rate.
Such great points here. Lots of families assume their child did great in high school d and that will just continue. College is not high school and many excellent students are unpleasantly surprised. Not a major I would rush.
At least in our experience internships and coops are great for the work experience, but are not something that actually helps in a significant way with the cost of education. I would not count on the coop program reducing the overall cost.
Both daughters had internships or a coop over various summers, and the pay did mostly exceed the cost of living but not by all that much. Both were already at affordable universities so we mostly were just glad for them to get the experience, which was very valuable in both cases.
Also, of course internships and coops are available at a wide range of universities (not just Northeastern), and engineering is not a major that makes it easy (or even feasible) to graduate early. I have heard of a few cases of students taking one or two extra semesters to graduate with a degree in engineering. For math in graduate school for a master’s degree I did know a few students who took one extra quarter over the summer to complete their degree (I got my master’s degree in a sub-field of applied math at a university that is on the quarter system). I was slightly jealous since stretching things out for an extra quarter did allow them to take a lighter course load, but my budget did not allow this at the time.
When we were budgeting for university, we did set a budget that would not have been a major problem if either daughter had taken an extra year before graduating.
And there are a lot of universities that are very good for engineering and for computer science, and for mathematics. I would pick a school that is clearly going to be affordable. I do not think that this describes Northeastern in your case.
If you have an accepted student, I strongly recommend joining the Northeastern U Parents Facebook group. It has 11,000 members and you will get much more informed responses from people familiar with the school’s cost, benefits and requirements. Most CCers know little about the school and how it works. It is unusual.
My son and most of his friends graduated in 4 years, except for engineering, which I think encourages 3 co-ops instead of two. Some students graduate in 3 1/2 years, due to generous amount of AP credit. NU gives credit for scores of 4 or 5. My son had two paid co-ops but Boston rents are high, so that is something to consider. Good luck!
I’m a little confused - CS+Math is not engineering. Yes, it may be just as tough or tougher, and required courses (and the course sequence), even with a lot of AP credit, may make finishing in less than 4 years impossible.
Why did the discussion turn to engineering?
I personally think that the cost of colleges with co-ops like Northeastern or Drexel is too much. However, my niece went to Northeastern, and I know a lot of Drexel grads, and they really liked the experience and most would probably recommend it to others.
Of course, you can do CS+Math a lot of places - does she have other options? And kids can have great internships without a co-op style program.
Make sure you also understand how summer tuition works. Ask about it specifically. Don’t assume that the summer classes are included in the 90K you pay for the year, as “year” is the calendar year (fall + spring). I did all the calculations few years ago when my child was accepted and my conclusion back then was that the coops would not save me any money. But things can change, I am not sure how it is now. Just make sure you look at everything. Good luck! I have many friends that went to NU and are very happy with their experience.
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