<p>My son has been agonizing for months about where to study music composition. It has been narrowed down to a public school and a private school. In order to go to the private school he will incur $30k in student loans over the course of 4 years. The tuition is $34K a year. The public (state) school means graduating without owing and the potential of going directly into a masters program and being able to get student loans. The private school is a great fit for him. The public school is up and coming in music. Both are good options. I think that $30k is a lot of money to owe after 4 years when he might not have the means to repay easily. Our youngest will be starting college in 4 years and my husband is 62 and would like to retire at some point.
Any suggestions on how to make this decision and what do you think?</p>
<p>The common wisdom is not to go into heavy debt for a music discipline. If you assume the max federal student amount for Stafford loans is $27k (5500 yr1, 6500 yr2 and 7500 each for years 3 & 4). Most would recommend not to exceed the aggregate Stafford total. The 30k estimate probably does not include potential annual increases, in fees, tuition, housing and other costs. There isn’t that much difference between the 27k and the 30k need, but do look at potential increases. At the max amount of Staffords, adding grad debt on top of that might be a bit too much to handle.</p>
<p>The public would leave him effectively debt free going into a grad program, which is an enviable position.</p>
<p>The tough decision is whether the public will be equivalent to the music offerings of the private.</p>
<p>Without knowing the schools, it’s a tough call.</p>
<p>$30k debt four years from now may seem like not much to your son, but it will mean quite a lot in payments, right when he wants to go to grad school. The more you defer, the larger the bill. When I married my H (a musician) he had school debt, only $12k, and that seemed like a lot–it really cut into our ability to save in those early years. If your S can see himself thriving at the public school, that sounds like a great choice. He should be very proud that he got in–with this economy the publics are swamped with applicants, in every major, and I’ve seen 3.9 gpa kids with plenty of solid EC’s and excellent test scores wait-listed and rejected at our local, giant state university. A year ago, those stats would have easily been enough. In fact, not knowing the schools, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the public school were a harder admit this year, and he’ll find himself surrounded by plenty of talented students. I’m thinking that the talent pool at the public university is likely to get even higher in the next few years, (now that debt is “out of fashion”) and that music school may well be “up and coming” faster than you expected! Good luck, and congratulations on your son’s acceptances.</p>
<p>Without knowing the composition teachers involved and how well each would work with your son, it is very hard to say. With composition majors, there is also the question of how much opportunity he will have at each school to have his works performed, and by what level of musicians.</p>
<p>If these issues are a wash, then the public and no loans would likely be the way to go. If there is a clear advantage to the private, then you have to try to equate that to dollars and cents. Does the $30K debt estimate include contributions from son from summer job earnings in the next four years? If not, he may be able to cut that figure in about half if he is willing to work hard in return for attending the private school.</p>
<p>Where is the $30k figure coming from? Does he have scholarships for the rest, and that is what is left over? Or are you paying most of it, and that is what you are asking him to contribute? When you say he will have loans, do you really mean him, or do you mean that would be family debt? It makes a difference as to the kind of loans he will qualify for. (Because I think the federal loans that are offered to students come out to a lesser amount.)</p>
<p>$34k tuition per year is a lot. My kids all went private or out of state public, and I don’t think any approached that. I assume there would be another $20k room and board? So, at the end of 4 years, his education would have cost over $200k. If you have scholarships for $170k and the $30k is just what’s left over, that seems like a good deal to me. If you’re eating beans for 4 years, and selling your younger children, and still have $30k unaccounted for, then it’s a different story.</p>
<p>There are so many more questions that you are hopefully asking yourself. Teacher is a biggee. Are you happy with the teacher at both? What about location? Atmosphere? Peer group? The reason that many of us do end up going deeply in debt to send our kids to a certain school is because we count the cost and decide that the difference is worth it in that particular situation. It wasn’t an easy decision, and the jury is still out whether or not we will get our money’s worth. So far, so good.</p>
<p>I have been faced with this dilemma time and again–I’m on my third “brilliant and gifted!” child who I could not have said no to when he was accepted by a fabulous school with just the right program and talented peers. But, the cost is ridiculous. Ridiculous. We never qualified for financial aid (until this year, thanks to the economy). I would not have the heart to choose turning down the opportunity to be in an exciting environment, and I, myself, had much to pay back when I was finished many years ago. That being said, I do believe that this is so individual. You may find that the state school has everything going for it, and what a great serendipity that would be–the ideal education and no debt. I just feel like the experiences and growth are the priority when making these decisions.</p>
<p>I think it really weighs down to how much advantage does the private music program give? Do they have a really great composition department, which is known for helping its students get their pieces performed, have great contacts, etc, or is it, to use a common term “just another music program at another school”…</p>
<p>I would say myself, without knowing anything about the details, that if he seriously wants to compose, unless the private school is so head and shoulders above the state school in that area that it makes it overwhelming, I would go with the state school and save the money. Considering that he probably will move on to a graduate program in the end, that probably (just my opinion, ,take it for what it is worth) will end up being the ‘serious’ training towards actually being able to compose music, and might take some hefty financial debt in doing so. Least that is what I would tell my son, if he were in a similar position.</p>