Undergraduate Loans

[vanillabear55]

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I'm trying to make a decision for college, but I was just curious, what would you say I should limit my undergraduate spending to (as far as tuition/board etc.)? I know med school loans are inevitable, but where should I cut off loans for undergrad. and what do you plan on spending in loans? Thanks.

Also. Anyone have any opinions on Pace University, Hofstra University, or Wagner College for Pre-med?

 

[El Nino]

My $0.2

Go to the cheapest college.

From the knowledge I have acquired through the search function, your undergrad does not matter. You should focus on the schools that have your major and a decent science department.

 

[broken tibula]

I plan to come out of undergrad debt-free. I'm going to a rather expensive four-year liberal arts college, but I got a very nice scholarship from the school and will be able to pay off the remainder by working over the summers, and using the money that I've saved so far.

Don't let price limit you in your decision. If you love a college, and it's 50k a year, apply anyway. But also apply to your state schools, community colleges, etc. When you get your acceptance/rejection letters, pull out the financial aid page from each of your acceptances. This is what you should use to determine your final choice.

Loans suck.

 

[Eisley]

Go to whatever college fits you best; whether you judge this by price, prestige, location, or atmosphere is your choice.

 

[vanillabear55]

Go to whatever college fits you best; whether you judge this by price, prestige, location, or atmosphere is your choice.

That's just the problem lol. I'm trying to decide which factor outweighs the other.
If I went by price, it would be Binghamton; Prestige - Fordham; Location- Pace; and Atmosphere- Hofstra....

 

[EyEnStein 07]

Remember, you don't want to settle for a "cheap school" just because its cheap. What if the education is bad? I know people will say .."it depends on how much effort you put into it", but it also matters on the way the school prepares you. You always want to go somewhere with a better education. The trick in my opinion, is picking schools with decent to high caliber and from those, choosing the ones that is of your best financial interest.

Most importantly you dont want to go somewhere you are not happy.

 

[vanillabear55]

Remember, you don't want to settle for a "cheap school" just because its cheap. What if the education is bad? I know people will say .."it depends on how much effort you put into it", but it also matters on the way the school prepares you. You always want to go somewhere with a better education. The trick in my opinion, is picking schools with decent to high caliber and from those, choosing the ones that is of your best financial interest.

Most importantly you dont want to go somewhere you are not happy.

yeah, well I'm pretty set on Hofstra at the moment, it looked like a good school and just a generally happy place to be. but right now it would cost me around...$60k in loans alone after four years.

I like wagner and all, but its in my hometown, and I really want to go away. But it'd only cost me $6k in loans....1/10th of the price....

 

[EyEnStein 07]

yeah, well I'm pretty set on Hofstra at the moment, it looked like a good school and just a generally happy place to be. but right now it would cost me around...$60k in loans alone after four years.

I like wagner and all, but its in my hometown, and I really want to go away. But it'd only cost me $6k in loans....1/10th of the price....

wow...did i not read your post? or did you edit something? we are in the SAME situation. im from NYC (queens). Here was my story. I got into bing (too far), stony (waste..kind of), when i was talking about prestige i ment Fordham (my number 1 really wanted to go, but 38k tuition, and with scholarships, i just cant afford 17k per semester), NYU (forget about this schools price), and 2 others (both in NJ, stevens and rugers NB), however they were outof state, tuition, so same story.

I had to sadly, settle for CUNY. and it bothers me everyday. My best advice to you....apply to CUNY honors ...i assume ur from SI, apply to Honors college CSI, its cuny. You will get the best benefits there and the good honors classes instead of the dumb ones all the other cuny students have to take. However......what i say might very well be biased....but fordham is an very good school IMO. its ranked 61 in the country nationally, and i feel if you took the risk there, and had ur dedication / motivation, they WILL prepare you for med school...but i mean i didnt take the risk because of my parents and at that time i was still 17 and could not take out my own loan.....so i had to settle for the dumps. Good luck to you, if you have any other questions specifically (because i feel we relate), feel free to PM me, or ill check by here later to see how things progress.

Edit: something i forgot to add, i dont think you should go to pace...because its not that great of a school and its comparable to Cuny's. Hofstra is one tier higher (2nd), and wagner is i suppose a tier 2 school also. Schools like Binghamton and Fordham would be considered Tier 1, though Binghamton is public.

 

[vanillabear55]

wow...did i not read your post? or did you edit something? we are in the SAME situation. im from NYC (queens). Here was my story. I got into bing (too far), stony (waste..kind of), when i was talking about prestige i ment Fordham (my number 1 really wanted to go, but 38k tuition, and with scholarships, i just cant afford 17k per semester), NYU (forget about this schools price), and 2 others (both in NJ, stevens and rugers NB), however they were outof state, tuition, so same story.

I had to sadly, settle for CUNY. and it bothers me everyday. My best advice to you....apply to CUNY honors ...i assume ur from SI, apply to Honors college CSI, its cuny. You will get the best benefits there and the good honors classes instead of the dumb ones all the other cuny students have to take. However......what i say might very well be biased....but fordham is an very good school IMO. its ranked 61 in the country nationally, and i feel if you took the risk there, and had ur dedication / motivation, they WILL prepare you for med school...but i mean i didnt take the risk because of my parents and at that time i was still 17 and could not take out my own loan.....so i had to settle for the dumps. Good luck to you, if you have any other questions specifically (because i feel we relate), feel free to PM me, or ill check by here later to see how things progress.

Edit: something i forgot to add, i dont think you should go to pace...because its not that great of a school and its comparable to Cuny's. Hofstra is one tier higher (2nd), and wagner is i suppose a tier 2 school also. Schools like Binghamton and Fordham would be considered Tier 1, though Binghamton is public.

Haha,*. I think its too late to apply to the Honors Program at CSI. I really wanted to go away so I didn't really want to bother with any local schools, I only did Wagner as a safety really.
Just out of curiousity, which CUNY are you at?
Also, I haven't ruled out Fordham yet, they haven't sent me their financial aid/scholarship info yet. I got a full scholarship to St. Peters in Jersey City so I'm trying to barter with Hofstra, they gave me $16,500 a year, which is ironically the lowest scholarship I've gotten, and it had to be from the school I want to go to most. lol

 

[EyEnStein 07]

Haha, yes I'm from Staten Island. I think its too late to apply to the Honors Program at CSI. I really wanted to go away so I didn't really want to bother with any local schools, I only did Wagner as a safety really.
Just out of curiousity, which CUNY are you at?
Also, I haven't ruled out Fordham yet, they haven't sent me their financial aid/scholarship info yet. I got a full scholarship to St. Peters in Jersey City so I'm trying to barter with Hofstra, they gave me $16,500 a year, which is ironically the lowest scholarship I've gotten, and it had to be from the school I want to go to most. lol

I see you made the same mistake i made. I was so sure i was going to get into top schools that i didnt bother applying to cuny honors, just cuny by requirement from my high school. Then reality hit me when i left out the financial aspect, and whereas my parents were misleading me with "yeah, we'll cover it just get into the schools"....could they have covered my 30k a year tuition for 4 years? I think they can, but after that...wouldnt leave me with much to do anything and would probably have hit my parents hard, because we probably would go bankrupt.

Dont go to St.Peters just because they gave you a full scholarship, research the school (i dont knwo anything about it). Hofstra is not bad, most cases if you show a school like Fordham gave you 20k in aid, and hofstra see this, what happens is more than likely they will try to match this offer. Fordham is a fine institution, i attended a lecture, as well as during orientation and open house. I think both Bronx campus and Lincoln Center are just great. Wagner for safety though is fine i think, your close to home and they will probably give you a lot of money.