Should I go to a more prestigious university even if I cant afford it?

Paying for College
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<p>Thanks. It was tough to say no to Northwestern considering it is one of the very best, but I think that I made the right choice.</p>

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<p>It seems some people are talking about shades of affordability. The question here is

That should make it an easy answer - you can’t afford it.</p>

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<p>Ok…I will bite again. If you can NOT afford to pay for,the prestigious college, how WILL you pay the bills so that you can attend there?</p>

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<p>I was stuck between an expensive, prestigious school and my less expensive local public school. I ended up choosing the latter and I couldn’t be happier (and less in debt!). If you plan on going to grad school, no employer really cares where you went for your undergrad. In general, if you have a degree and you have the right skills for a job, your employer won’t question your choice of college. Pick a school that has a good career center and a high rate of student employment after college. A name is just a name. Save yourself the money and go somewhere more affordable. If you hate it for some reason, you can always try transferring into the more prestigious school.</p>

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<p>If you can’t afford the college, you can’t afford the college. Prestige is not a factor in this issue.</p>

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<p>As an undergraduate its more about making connections and building your CV. I see nothing wrong with attending a less prestigious school and being essentially debt free. Now if we’re talking Harvard or Yale and it’s going to cost you 10k per year to attend yeah it might be worth it.</p>

<p>The question is would you pay 40k for the same degree just for the name? I’d rather have 40k in my bank account.</p>

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<p>If you’re going to make $150k/year upon graduation, go for the more prestigious school. Even if you are paying full tuition, you should be able to pay off the loans within 10 years with that kind of income.</p>

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<p>Post #27:</p>

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<p>Could you tell us which jobs pay $150,000 upon graduation? And even if there are such jobs, wouldn’t you have to compare the additional income due to the prestigious degree with the additional college costs you incur? The $150,000 figure would be fairly meaningless, I would think.</p>

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<p>SweetIced: Who has a guaranteed job like that after college? And where would that $150 K a year job be located if it existed? NYC? Do you know how much it costs to live in NYC?</p>

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<p>My point was that if you’re going to make a significant amount of money FROM attending the prestigious school, then attending the more expensive school would be worth it. </p>

<p>A career in acting with several high grossing films could possibly yield $150k/year. </p>

<p>I tried to avoid being discouraging by saying that it’s unlikely the OP will make $150k/year upon graduation, but there you go I said it.</p>

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<p>In other words, if a prestigious school will open up a career as a movie star, you should go to the prestigious school? I don’t find that a highly convincingly argument!</p>

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<p>Did you really think I was being serious?</p>

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<p>Great question. I grew up in a VERY wealthy town in California. If you didn’t drive a Mercedes to High school you were frowned upon. I couldn’t afford going directly to a University so I studied at a Community College for 3 years and transferred to a CSU. I never regret, or look down on myself because of this. I find many fellow high school classmates have dropped out of their “prestigious” university, probably due to absolute arrogance and laziness, no problem as their parents picked up the bill. They now all go to the same community college I graduated from. Don’t forget the point of college is a JOB. Find the University with the highest quality education for the lowest cost.</p>

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<p>Go to the Top if you are able to reach.</p>

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<p>SweetIced: Irony is often lost in this medium. The sad part is there are kids who think they can just go out and find a high paying job after getting a BA. Lots of them. They think their ticket IS an expensive “elite” (hate that word) school. They do think that if they borrow the money now it will magically appear later. If you make that argument here, we end up taking it seriously.</p>

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<p>Should I go to a more prestigious university even if I cant afford it?</p>

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<p>You should not go to any university you cannot afford. Period.</p>