Need Advice on College Selection

kj998855
Tue, 19 Apr 2005 21:09:58 +0000

I am not a parent, but a first year student at Tufts and have seen several of your posts. Financial aid was also a major concern of mine when applying to colleges. I too received only a 5K grant to Tufts in addition to the various loans and work study. What really stood out to me from your post is this:

“Finally, it won’t be a tremendous hardship to pay for a place like Tufts or NYU (mainly, I’m just reluctant to pay them so much more than I would’ve had to pay my dream school). However, if it IS very much worth it to go to an undergrad school with a name (for grad school’s sake), my family would be able to afford it without any sort of financial crisis occurring.”

You say your family could afford it without any big financial crisis, so I would really think about whether you think it is worth it to pay so much more for either Tufts or NYU. Judging from your posts, I get the feeling that you truly want to attend one of these schools instead of TCNJ. Fact is, many students at top colleges could have gotten free rides or large scholarships at their state schools but instead chose to pay more to go to more of a “dream school,” either by explicitly turning down these offers or implicitly by never applying to these safer programs. Unless they get a full need-based scholarship, the type of student who gets into these schools is likely leaving money, perhaps alot of money, on the table somewhere. I got into several fairly well-respected schools with big merit $, but deep down I knew that Tufts was more in line with the type of college I had always envisioned myself at. Think of it this way: Does part of you wish you had not received the money from TCNJ because you feel compelled to accept it and would feel guilty turning it down? I know that part of me felt this way when trying to decide where I was going to go. While I felt guilty turning down big scholarships from Providence and Dickinson to attend Tufts because my financial situation sounds similar to yours, deep down I knew that I would regret passing up this opportunity. Looking back, I am 100% happy with my decision. I understand the pressures of going to a prestigous school can be quite big, but if the only reason you hesitate to pick TCNJ is because of a perceived lack of prestige I would question that logic. TCNJ is certainly a very good school and would be a great value for you. If however, you truly feel that Tufts or NYU would offer a better college exeperience to you, than follow your gut. Have you come to open house at Tufts yet? We have two more this Thursday and Friday and it really influenced me to come here last year. I think Tufts provides an excellent college experience, and I hope that if you truly wish to attend Tufts you will be able to reconcile yourself to this decision without feeling guilty.