Interviewing OOS at Hawaii?

[woogle1]

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I have been invited to interview at Hawaii.

The OOS tuition is REALLY HIGH. 45k and increasing by an additional 5k each year to 60k. That compares to 25k a year in-state.

Since 1600 people apply, and only 60 people are interviewed, it seems like a real opportunity.

At some point i would like to buy a house and all that normal real life stuff . . . would anybody care to comment on going over 200k in debt going to an unranked school but getting to live on a tropical island year round that most people only visit for a week?

 

[Mobius1985]

To put things in perpective, one of my in-state public schools charges $72,000 for OOS (UIC). To me $45,000 seems like a bargain to live in paradise, about the same as Rush in Chicago, where the winters are cold, long, and nasty.

Personally, I'd go to my cheaper state school, unless I didn't have that option. A down coat only costs $150.

 

[woogle1]

To put things in perpective, one of my in-state public schools charges $72,000 for OOS (UIC). To me $45,000 seems like a bargain to live in paradise, about the same as Rush in Chicago, where the winters are cold, long, and nasty.

Personally, I'd go to my cheaper state school, unless I didn't have that option. A down coat only costs $150.

$45K is the just the tuition without the cost of living. So it is actually more like $65 thousand, and increasing by 5 thousand each year.

To put it another way - I could go to a state school where i have residency, and save $80,000 plus interest which I believe makes it more like $200,000+.

Anybody care to weigh in on this one? I would really appreciate any advice.

 

[WaterBird]

it's hard to respond without knowing what your in-state option is.

my opinion is that it's probably worth going to the interview, if only so that you can feel confident that it isn't sufficiently more awesome than your in-state option to go into that much debt. i've felt much more confident in my decisions after seeing places. (while some people will say you should be able to turn it down now due to money, this obviously doesn't convince you yet or you would not have written the post).

 

[bluesmd]

woogle. i think you should go check it out regardless. a couple hundred bucks now will make very little difference down the road (i know it seems like a lot now). you do not want to think ... what if. just go check it out, you might love it, you might hate it. but that way you can see the school and discover things you cannot learn from websites, books, talking to people etc. i'm pretty set on going to my first acceptance, but i am going to interviews just to see what it's like. good luck