Hi! I’ve narrowed down my college decision to New York University, George Washington University, and Penn State University. My main career goal is to be a journalist, preferably in the arts realm. NYU was always my dream school but I wasn’t offered any aid, so I would likely end with about $100k debt. I also likely need a masters in journalism (it is my end goal to attend Columbia for grad) so I’m not sure if the debt is worth it, but I think the name alone with NYU makes it a valuable option. Additionally, for NYU I was admitted to the Tisch School of the Arts for drama and for Penn State I was admitted to the voice program, so I would be able to double major in one of those majors and journalism at either of those schools. With GW, I would be able to double minor in music and theatre. GW and Penn State I would graduate debt free.
Please help!!
You can’t borrow 100K. Sorry, but nobody will lend an 18 year old that kind of money.
So that’s off the table.
Bad idea to borrow so much for undergrad and, as noted above, it can be very hard to do unless you are borrowing from family. Alternatively you would need a co-signer. But overall just a bad idea. Go with one of your other excellent debt-free options.
I agree with @blossom. Even if you could get the financing, assuming it’s $100k in debt, (I suspect it will be a whole lot more), it would be financial suicide. No bachelors degree is worth that. The maximum federal student debt for a 4 year degree is $27k. Also keep in mind that college is a maturation process. The average college student changes their major at least once. Go with the debt-free option and go in with an open mind. Your older self will thank you later. 
$100k debt (which would mean parent loans or co-signing) is not a good idea, especially when going into a low pay profession.
As others noted, $100K is not obtainable - only $27K is and the rest by your parents.
So you want to be an Arts Journalist and I wish you look - but journalism is a horribly paying field and it has horrible success rates. I’m a Sryacuse journalism major.
$100K (and there are fees so you get less) is over $1200 a month for ten years - on top of rent, car payment, and more - so no school is a dream school and for you NYU is actually a nightmare.
Choose either of the other - but NYU is - quite frankly - for 99% of people in your situation - a disastrous ending that will strangle you financially for many years - with little ability to work in your field even if you got a job - because you won’t make near enough.
If you like NYU, it seems GW would then be your next best bet environmentally although I don’t know the cost delta vs. Penn State.
Even GW if $65K a year (assuming NYU + $25K) would be a disaster - but if your parents are able and willing to fund it, then it’s their money - so that’s ok.
Good luck.
There’s something to be said graduating without debt. You will be thankful down the line that you don’t have debt sitting on top of your head.
Agree that NYU is not a realistic or reasonable option for you.
Masters in Journalism at Columbia is an excellent plan. Has paid off very well for several of my relatives.
If both GWU and PSU are affordable without debt, choose one of these.
I imagine GWU is the closest to NYU in environment and prestige so if the cost difference with Psu is not a problem for your family that’s what I’d choose.
It’s interesting how you list the schools, not by how much they would each cost your family, but by the fact that you’d have to borrow 100K (which, BTW, your PARENTS would have to borrow most of, not you, since they’d have to cosign anything over 27K of your loans).
You are interested in two fields, performing arts and journalism. It’s very difficult to make a living in either of them. Since most news is consumed online these days, there has been an enormous contraction of journalism jobs that pay a living wage. Arts journalism might bring you satisfaction, but it’s unlikely to feed you. For this reason, I suggest that you consider not how much you’d have to borrow, but how much the school actually would cost your parents. So if PSU is in-state for you, and substantially cheaper than GWU, you should go to Penn State. If you’re lucky, your parents might put the difference towards grad school for you, or towards helping you to get started in life, financially. If the cost to your parents is the same, you might consider GWU over PSU, based upon GW’s location in a major metropolitan area, with possible internship opportunities in journalism while you are an undergrad.
NYU is a no-go. You cannot afford it.
Agree with the crowd. NYU is unaffordable.
Pick from the other two.
Go with the debt free ones. First time posting on the college side as my daughter is just a freshman in high school so I have been hanging around on the Prep School side the most. I found this site very late at the time we were applying for her boarding school and this site was a big help to me. Now I am starting again to come here often to start to look at how we will be able to afford to pay for her college education as she is aiming at those colleges that we won’t be able to afford to pay for without a scholarship, FA or a loan. I want her to get out of college debt free or with a manageable debt as I see one of my cousins who we are very close to and talk about anything what she is going through. I honestly don’t like at all what I see.
We both went to public universities and I got out debt free and my husband had no debt at the time we were married. Do not get a loan even if it might be very easy to get it, especially the private loans. My cousin met her husband at a private college so the combined debt for them was almost $250K when they got out. They are both Pharmacists but they have lived paycheck by paycheck since graduating from college. She’s in retail and her husband is in compounding. She was comparing herself with her friend who is a registered nurse, they met at a community college then she went to a Pharmacy school and her friend went to work. She is regretting it so much to take that route. It is not worth it to come out with a loan like 1 ⁄ 2 or 1 ⁄ 3 of a mortgage regardless of how much the field is paying.
Hi, I don’t know anything about your field, but I would sense you’d spend a lot more spending money in DC vs. State College. There are so many arts things in DC too, which which is great, but adds cost. The museums in DC are mostly free and you can probably get on the list to events without charge. DC would be really exciting for events, but DC will come at a cost for sure. Having travelled up from DC (where we live) to Penn State/University Park.