Let's analyze the options:
Military
Pros: They essentially pay for your education and a monthly stipend for living expenses
Cons: The military controls your life and you have little input into where you live. Financially, this is a great option, but the actual military lifestyle is not for everyone and doesn't really give you the opportunity to enjoy your late 20's/early 30's all that much.
WICHE
Pros: Greatly reduced tuition (though not completely paid for like military)
Cons: You will still have to make up the rest in student loans and, again, your options post-graduation are extremely limited as a New Mexico state resident. Do you really want to go back to NM for 3-5 years AND not really have any input into where you're living? Seriously, how much would somebody have to pay you to live in Artesia?
Student Loans
Pros: You will be able to live wherever you want, practice wherever you want, and actually have the life that you want to live. Additionally, if Colorado allows you to become an in-state resident after a year or so, you will benefit from in-state tuition
Cons: Larger loans (but the government will essentially "right-size" your loans, meaning that they will adjust your payments to what you can afford based on your income)
What's important to you? Only you can answer that question. For me, I'd just take the loans and be able to do whatever I want with my life afterward. Think about how long you have to pay the loans back. It's tough to conceive of in the short term because the amount is so large, but is it really worth sacrificing some of the best years of your life and giving them to the military and/or some barely inhabited town in Nowhere, NM? Easy choice for me, but then again it's not my decision.
Oh, and congrats to all that have been accepted!!!
Time to celebrate!!!!
