I got accepted to both of these universities and CU Boulder offered a small scholarship a 6k while USC offered 16k but that school’s estimated cost of attendance is 103k per year.
I wonder if its better to let go of USC because of the insane cost. If we’re talking about the engineering rankings, CU Boulder is #18 in engineering USC’s Viterbi is #21 so they’re both relatively close. For post-graduation outcomes, both have good ROIs but I wonder if going to USC matters more in the long term.
No !!
Engineering, for the most part - outcomes are based on the job, location and not where you go. My kid turned down Purdue for a no name and his outcome was no different. Once you have a job, where you went is unlikely to ever matter again.
USC will be nearly but not quite double CU. x4 years can you even afford SC ? Or CU for that matter ?
Interestingly you ask the question after showing CU is ranked higher (although are many rankings and they show many outcomes).
Net price at each?
Number of semesters remaining after transfer to bachelor’s degree?
What can you actually afford without loans?
Both schools can get you where you want to go. Is either option affordable (no hardship, no or minimal loans)?
The answer to this is a very easy “no”. Attending USC versus CU Boulder will not have any advantage in the long run, or in your career.
You have been accepted to two universities that are very good for engineering, and overall.
And the difference between #18 and #21 will not matter either.
My understanding from reading your original post is that UC Boulder is significantly more affordable. If this is correct, then assuming that the difference in cost matters to your family when I would be headed off to UC Boulder.
I will admit that I have not been in Boulder for quite a while. I did like it when I visited, and I have been to Colorado way, way more recently and liked the parts that I visited more recently also. Congratulations on these two acceptances. Plan to work hard when you arrive on campus in September and take advantage of this opportunity. Best wishes.
In-state tuition + room and board for Boulder I would be paying 32k but my parents are helping me out a lot and I still need to borrow loans. For USC, I would about 90k after financial aid from the university and my parents have refused to contribute because they don’t think its worth the sacrifice.
How much would you have to borrow for Boulder?
You would not realistically be able to self-fund $90k per year for USC with no parent contribution.
So it is either Boulder if the loans needed are small enough, or look for something less expensive.
Your parents are correct. It is not worth $90,000 per year for USC particularly when you have an alternative that is every bit as good for engineering and is only about 1/3 the cost.
If your parents are not going to pay for it, then you cannot afford to go there. Without a cosigner, no one is going to loan you this much money. This is a good thing because that much debt would be catastrophic.
UC Boulder is a very good university. Do you have any other alternative that would be no more expensive compared to UC Boulder?
I was also accepted to Colorado School of Mines (no financial aid) but their tuition is even higher than Boulder’s. There is also CSU Fort Collins but their engineering program is not in the same league as Boulder/Mines in Colorado. For Boulder, I would just need to borrow 12k.
I’m happy that I got accepted to the “Big 3” in Colorado. Originally Boulder Engineering rejected my application senior year and deferred me to “Exploratory Studies” so I had to go to CC where I racked up a 3.84. I thought that USC was going to be generous with financial aid because its well known private school but didn’t factor in the glamor fits reality. USC is in the middle of LA and its got a big social scene.
You 100% cannot afford USC – take that out of consideration.
If CU would be a total of $12k in loans then I’d take out the federal loans and try to work to cover the remaining amount. I believe CSU has an ABET accredited program so consider that as well if it is more affordable.
Oh I thought CU was out of state. Such a no brainer. You couldn’t get loans for USC anyway. There’s no actual question here. Thank goodness your parents have good sense.
Btw it’s very easy to from from Exploratory to engineering. But you saved some $$ this way. So congrats.
But if CSU is loan free I’d go there. It won’t matter. All are ABET. Amd if some WUE schools were less like SD School of Mines or Wyoming, I’d go to them. Loans = bad. Any amount.
But CU in state vs USC - that delays for each year is huge and with no parental support, even if you said USC, you’d have zero way to go. Your parents would need to borrow and they weren’t going to. My kind of parents years from now, you’ll look back wondering - what was I thinking even applying there and you’ll regret taking loans for CU. I assume $12k is total and not one year of loans. Your parents would need to co-sign $12k a year and it’s too much. I’d find cheaper if that’s the case.
Good luck.
Is this total or per year? If per year, how many years would you have left before getting your bachelor’s degree?
Colorado State University is ABET accredited for at least some forms of engineering (I have not checked every form of engineering that I could think of). It is of course superb for veterinary medicine, but that is a very different and somewhat unrelated field.
At least to me, if you are borrowing a total of $12,000 for a bachelor’s degree in engineering, that seems like a reasonable amount, and UC Boulder is very good.
Total, or per year, and how many years would you be there?