What's the Worth of Money?

[bots]

In making my own decisions about where to attend, and noticing other's assessments of school, I often find that the idea of money, or cost of living comes into play.

I'm not rich, and although my parents are wealthy enough to disqualify me for financial aid from anywhere, they won't be able to pay the expected parental contribution, so I'm going to be levering myself to the hilt.

I'm currently choosing between two schools, one of which would cost about 200,000$ total, and the other of which would cost 210,000$. The trick is that the more expensive school gave me a scholarship, which reduces its overall cost to around 150,000$. Is 50k a big enough deal to change what medical school one should go to?

I've been wrestling with this question for quite a while, and it has great implications. Since medical school is a commodity, would I be shooting myself in the foot by going to the more expensive one? What if the one that's more expensive has slightly more opprotunity that I may or may not take advantage of?

Even better, what if the cheaper one was UPenn and the more expensive one was Harvard? How do you choose then?

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[Jim Picotte]

Well to me, 50K isn't going to really influence my decision. Go to where you feel comfortable and you think you'd get the most support. It's a long 4 years and sometimes the only thing that gets you up in the morning is family or friends pushing you along.

 

[trout]

Happiness...

 

[watto]

Is the money you will be saving equal to or greater than the amount of value you attach to attending the more expensive school? You have to think about the opportunity cost involved in choosing the less expensive school. Try to attach a dollar value to the marginal amount of happiness you will attain by making the decision to pay more. You can do it. Is it worth $20,000 to you? $25,000? What would you do with the money you are "saving?" Would that equal out the values at all?

I am rambling. But I bet you can settle on a dollar amount above and beyond which this more expensive school would cease to be preferable to you.

 

[vyc]

i think a difference of $50K isn't that much.

some of us will have almost that much in loans PER YEAR. blech.

go to the school that will most help you fulfill your dreams/goals.

 

[Original]

Echoing the above quotes: Go with Happiness/Satisfaction. $50,000 isn't that much, especially if you don't mind "eating sardines for dinner...fussing when the landlord dissed us...wondering how christmas missed us...birthdays were the worst days...*[climax/turn of events]*...now we sip champagne when we thirsty...Damn right I like the life I live..cause I went from negative to positive...It's all good... ...Cause if you dont know, now you know"-- Notorious.