NYU Liberal Studies Program vs. Rutgers SAS

horsfeathers
Sun, 10 Apr 2011 00:30:19 +0000

Natra,

Are you saying you need to take out 27 thousand dollars per year in loans for NYU? If so, then no, it is absolutely not worth it. That’s $108,000 in loans just for your undergrad (and that’s assuming that costs won’t go up - and you know that they will.) First, that’s way too much for undergrad debt for any school. Second, can you even get that much in loans? or is that both you and your parents taking on that debt?

Paying off those loans will be a huge hardship for many years to come. Unless you can be fairly certain of a high starting salary in a high demand job like engineering, taking on debt if you have other alternatives is a very bad idea (and $108,000 in debt is a very bad idea for anyone, future engineer or French major). Please run a debt calculator on what the monthly payments on a $120,000 debt will be (that’s probably what the loans will actually be with tuition increases.) And consider that your starting salary will probably be much less than you think. French or Linguistics are both interesting fields, but unfortunately the job prospects are slim. I’m not saying that to discourage you. Not everyone goes to college to get rich. But you have to go into any debt situation with your eyes open and think about what kind of salary you are likely to get and how much debt you can comfortably handle without living like a pauper for years to come.

Almost any college in the country will allow you to study in France for a semester or a full year. And France is wonderful whether you go there with NYU or Rutgers!