<p>No way. $250,000 is way too much for a degree in engineering. Get a degree from the cheapest in-state university you can attend, do well, get internship or co-op experience, and put the $250,000 in a CD or something and buy a house when you graduate.</p>
<p>The difference in starting salary between a job from Podunk U. and MIT, for the same student, might be $25,000 per annum, maybe, if you’re lucky. It will take 10 years for you to catch up, and by then your experience will be worth more than your schooling anyway. If you stay at jobs for 5 years - not a terribly bad tenure nowadays - that’s two new jobs along the way. There’s no easier way to get a promotion or raise than to get some experience and then put yourself back on the market.</p>
<p>You should consider carefully whether $250,000 is worth spending on a nice house that you like that you could inhabit for the rest of your life, or that you might be able to sell for a profit in the future. Spending that much on an investment that, at best, won’t do much better than much cheaper options is a luxury. Only you can decide what you want to spend money on, but $250,000 for school is filet mignon from a cow that only ever ate Skittles.</p>