I am stuck deciding between UIUC and Rutgers Honors College.
For my majors, I will be pursuing CS at both places and maybe a math double major with stat minor.
I’m in-state for Rutgers and OOS for UIUC:
UIUC - ~$60k
Rutgers - ~$5k
I didn’t get much from FAFSA since my family income was pretty high, and my family will provide me with 40k/year for my time at any college, and I would have to repay them back the rest (if I go to UIUC).
My aim post-grad is mainly to go for Masters and then Phd hopefully.
A master’s degree is usually full pay. I don’t see how you will afford this if you go to UIUC. If you go to Rutgers, it looks to me as if you will save a total amount which is at least a large chunk if not all of the cost of a master’s degree.
The first three Rutgers students who I met were graduate students (in a subfield of applied math at Stanford). They all made Rutgers look very good. So have several other Rutgers graduates who I have met more recently.
Academically I do not think that there is much difference between UIUC and Rutgers. They are both very good. They will both set you up well for a career or for graduate school, or both.
You can do everything at Rutgers that you could do at UIUC, plus Honors College.
Why would you spend an additional $140K of your parents’ savings, plus owe them another $80K of your future earnings?
I know UIUC has a great CS reputation, and going out of state can be more exciting than attending your own flagship. But Rutgers CS is excellent, and Honors offers strength that UIUC isn’t offering you.
Turning down that amazing Rutgers offer to put yourself in a financial hole would be an unforced error. Why?
Programmer here. If your parents are contributing 40k, then you would still need to take out at least 80k worth of co-signed loans to afford the rest. That’s a bad idea.
In CS, you’re in an industry where prestige doesn’t matter. In fact after about 3 years experience, employers don’t even ask where you went to school. Virtually every credential you earn will be done on the job from hands-on experience. Plus you’re in an honors program. Graduating from a program like that is worth its weight in gold when you’re ready to apply for jobs. Rutgers is a heavily recruited school.
UIUC is not worth the debt. Go to Rutgers and free yourself. Your older self will thank you later.
At that low cost you could choose to live on campus for the full college experience (that’s what I would do, live in the Honors housing, at least for the first year) and it would still be affordable.