Tulane [no debt] vs Georgetown [$180k debt] for History/Poli Sci [full tuition scholarship vs $60K/yr]

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41

I have a tremendous amount of respect for how good Georgetown can be for History and Poli Sci, in preparation either for academia or law school, or indeed perhaps a job in government or so on.

But like everyone else, I would balk at taking out such large loans. If you had savings you could comfortably use, and/or could just tighten the budget a bit for a few years and pay out of income, that is a different matter. With that much in loans, though, and Tulane being so good, I would also vote for just circling back possibly for law school, grad school, internships, jobs, and so on.

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42

If it were SFS, then Georgetown might be worth the extra $160k – if it were affordable.

But in this case, I join the throng recommending that you hang on to that money and choose Tulane. Tulane is a very good school in its own right.

And
 if the kid still has a crush on Georgetown and law school (or an MA in History or Poli Sci
) is in the cards, then by all means they can become a Hoya then.

43

I assume you mean $180,000. This is still way, way too much debt.

There is a huge opportunity cost to taking on debt. When a student graduates from university, the big question comes up “what do I do next?”. In many cases there may be some very interesting and valuable opportunities that do not pay very well, and that a student can only take on if they have little or preferably no debt.

Law school might be one example of an opportunity that will be a lot easier to handle if the student goes into it with no debt. Internships may be another example. There are lots and lots of other examples.

Also, your affordable alternative is a very good university.

I think that there is only one sensible choice here (unless there is some other acceptance that we do not know about). Save your money for graduate school or other opportunities. Tulane is a great choice. Tulane with no debt is an even better choice.

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44

There is no universe in which the difference between Gtown and Tulane is worth $180K in debt.

And don’t let the prospect of turning down Georgetown turn it into a Bright Shiny Object of Perfection. No college is perfect, and kids have disappointing experiences at their Dream Schools all the time. No matter where your child goes, there will be bad days, bad classes, bad profs, bad roommates, and the list goes on. College is stressful and some parts of it won’t live up to the hopes and dreams. But the disappointing parts are a lot easier to accept when you’re not mortgaging your future to make it possible.

Also, overspending for college is a lot to live up to. We all think our kids will get on, and stay on, the proverbial “fast track”
 but all sorts of things happen in life. For the fast track to be the only choice, no matter what’s going on with your physical, mental, and emotional health, is a burden it’s best not to choose.

It is incredibly fortunate that your child has such a great offer from a terrific school like Tulane. If your alternative to Big Debt for Georgetown were a local commuter school or community college, this would be a much more painful decision. Congrats to her for earning such an enviable opportunity! As people say, “love the school that loves you” and grab the great scholarship at the great school, with no regrets. Gtown will be around for grad/law school, and grad/law school will be financially feasible because of making the smart decision now.

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45

Georgetown tuition for 2023-24 was $65k.

An increase of 4.9% from previous year.

So factor an increase of almost 5% a year, too,
for tuition.

(Next year’s tuition jump will likely be announced soon.)

So if Tulane is giving your D free tuition than there is a HUGE difference between the two schools. $260k even if tuition was capped at GU
.which it is not.)

And DC is more expensive living than Tulane.

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46

I am actually not a fan of the “love the college that loves you” school of thought, because it often means telling a kid who doesn’t want to attend college in the South “Alabama is perfect” or a kid who only wants college in a blue state 'Hey, Oklahoma isn’t that conservative" when selling TU. I.e.-- a forcing mechanism for a bad fit.

But in this case- WOW! Unless the OP’s D has a reason for eliminating Tulane from contention- this is a win/win/win in my book.

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47

For sure, “loving the school that loves you” can’t turn a poor fit into a good choice. But it’s certainly worth considering when one has several good choices, one of which is showing you more love than the others. And it can be a good counter-narrative to the tendency to feel as if a school that’s pursuing you must not be as good as the ones that aren’t.

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48

I won’t completely disagree with you but in your scenario why would you be applying to Alabama, Oklahoma, etc anyhow?

How about “love the school that loves you back”?

In this circumstance my assumption is that Georgetown might be slightly ahead.

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49

Congratulations on some wonderful and exciting options!

Parent of a '22 Tulane grad here. If you are concerned about relative outcomes, all I can tell you is that my D, her friends and classmates had very few limitations on where they ended up. With regard to jobs, grad school or law school
less than first choice was very much the exception for this group (Georgetown Law included). D had a job before graduating and moved into a six-figure role less than a year after graduating. She is preparing to move to NYC this summer. The roommate she will be living with graduated with her from Tulane, has been doing political consulting for a couple of years and just decided to enter a grad program. Got into Columbia but the fully-funded program at NYU made more sense. Just a few anecdotes out of an impressive list of kids and outcomes. All to say, the Tulane name was not a hindrance to this group getting to where they wanted to be.

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50

I agree with the chorus in favor of Tulane, but will also approach it another way: even IF we weren’t talking about a HUGE loan, is Georgetown 4 times better than Tulane (taking the $15K v $60K numbers provided)? (However you might define “better.”). I very much doubt it. Go to Tulane and save the debt for law school


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51

Rarely is there such unanimity of opinion on CC.

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52

Tulane.

You’re asking her to take on 6 figure debt for a potential 60k a year job.

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53

I think where you go to undergrad has little relation to where you will go for grad school. Your GPA, LSAT, and at many top schools today - work experience will be what matters.

At Harvard law, for example, 147 colleges are represented today. Schools such as Auburn, Canisius, FIU, Montclair State, Kansas and so so so many more that don’t have the “pedigree” of either of the two you mentioned (which are both top shelf).

So the questions in my my mind - as others have asked:

  1. Can you afford Georgetown? Reading from your previous, the answer appears to be no. So case closed.

  2. If the answer were yes - and taking loans for the entirety of an education is not affordable - but if it were yes - then the question would be - do you want to afford it?

Think about - where will I get the other $300K I need for law school after undergrad is covered?

Also - what if my student doesn’t eat well at Georgetown, who will pay for all the meals out? I bring this up because we’ve read this many times from frustrated parents (on various websites) - the food at Gtown is rated very low. Unless they’ve fixed it, it seems like more expense may come your way as many kids seem to regularly eat out while paying for a plan.

Finally - I go back to the thought I’ve read and stated many times - there are no dream schools.

All schools have issues - whether bad food, roommates, profs, etc. or in this case - financial strangulation (which taking $60K of loans a year and then heading into more schooling) would most certainly cause.

The dream school is the one you can afford and leave in four years able to pursue your next step - which for now is law school. It doesn’t matter if it’s your local low cost public or a school that is giving you free tuition.

If you are truly taking out $60K yearly or even over four years in loans for any school - then that is not a dream school in my opinion, it’s a nightmare.

Now - I might ask - if Georgetown meets need, why are you having to take out $60K yearly in loans? Is it that their definition of need and yours don’t match up? Or you just prefer not to pay out of pocket?

Either way - if you take emotion out of it (i.e. Gtown was my dream school), I don’t think there’s any scenario you can justify Gtown as $60K a year “better” than Tulane.

But adding on loans loan fees (which reduce the principal you are getting), interest, and the uncertainty of a legal or especially academic career you also mentioned - well I understand why you asked the question - you love your child.

But I don’t really understand why you asked the question - because if it wasn’t your child - if it was a third person’s that you didn’t know - I don’t think you could look at this scenario as you presented and even think that Georgetown is a possibility.

Wonderful news that your student got into Tulane - which for all intents and purposes - is near equal to Georgetown in many ways - including acceptance rate.

And wonderful news that you’ll hopefully be able to fund what’s an affordable education and still help for what comes next!!

Best of luck to you.

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54

Good point regarding switching major. Do you know if switching to B School in Freshman/Sophomore year is likely at either or both Tulane/Georgetown? Flexibility on major program, especially business, should be considered.

55

Interesting thread and comments. I can’t find any school worth this difference. Being an active participant on campus /clubs /activities will net her internships and job offers. That is at any school.

A good friends daughter is currently at Tulane and got in EA and loves her experience. She’s a freshman.

Also remember, kids change majors. Yes, they do. So is GT still worth it if she changes majors into a lower compensated field?

If taking loans, second mortgage, selling retirement funds is the answer then the answer is no. Plain and simple. My kids wouldn’t let me do that anyway. My kids did go OOS and we paid the difference. It was worth it to us but we had 529 money plus current income. My kids had some small loans but basically are debt free. Lots of their friends are not as fortunate.

Also as @blossom stated, Life happens. No one plans on a heart attack etc that could change your employment and possibility to pay off the loans. Using your house as collateral I assume, could be costly.

We had the “what we could afford to pay” discussion in Junior year of high school. My daughter couldn’t go to her #1 school. But she had a great time at #2 with merit then transfered to #3 with Presidential scholarship and changing majors along the way
 Lol.

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56

At Tulane you don’t even declare your major until the end of your Sophomore year. Everyone enters as “undeclared”. I’ve never heard chatter on the parent board that “kid X couldn’t get his major” so I assume it’s a pretty simple process.

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57

Curricular flexibility and interdisciplinary education are emphasized at Tulane. All students are accepted into Newcomb-Tulane College, then declare a major in the spring of sophomore year and affiliate with one of the five undergraduate schools (Architecture, Business, Liberal Arts, Public Health and Science and Engineering). In addition, you can double or triple major across the five schools. My D received both a B.A. (Political Science, School of Liberal Arts) and a B.S. (Public Health, School of Public Health).Tulane places very few curricular limitations upon its students and encourages them to explore varied fields of study.

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58

What did you tell your daughter your budget was, what you were willing to pay, when applications went out and before these acceptances came in? $180,000 in loans for Georgetown sounds like something you/she may regret down the line. If you could fairly comfortably afford Georgetown, that would be different. But, if you are having to take out $180,000 in loans, Georgetown is clearly not affordable. You may just have to say no to your daughter. She may thank you later.

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59

Wouldn’t it be more important for her to attend G’Town Law?
Tulane is a prestigious, sought-after school BTW.
However, with 160k loans (when undergrads aren’t supposed to take more than 30k for all 4 years because that’s how much they can reasonably expect to repay over 10 years, ie., being in your 30s) she would not be able to attend law school, she’d have to take any job that helps her pay the loans. And not all good jobs would be open because an employee starting with that amount in debt is seen as a potential risk/liabilty (bad decision-making, corruption
)
The downsides are much higher than the upsides. In fact I don’t see many upsides because Tulane has such a strong reputation, such a good quality of life/campus, internship support, and a semester in DC to boot.

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60

Plenty of thoughtful comments here. I’ll just add one. Anyone thinking of taking on large loans for undergraduate education should pay a visit to the r/studentloans subreddit and type “regret” in the search bar. I’ve seen lots of heartbreaking stories, usually involving a young person who around 23-25 suddenly realizes the full weight of the burden they’ve taken on and they feel trapped and despairing.

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