Hello, to set some facts straight: I am 18; graduating high school this month; I will be solely responsible for college debt; I 100% want to go to into business, but whether I am absolutely set on doing only finance I am not one hundred percent sure; I receive no financial aid but still come from a position where I have to shoulder the debt so that my parents can retire any time soon.
At the moment, as late as it is in the college admissions process, I am still deciding between two schools. One school is Vanderbilt, where I would major economics-- this school is in the South, has an amazing campus, great professors, and the happiest students (really anything that you can ask for from a top a school). As many people have made the mistake of doing, I have fallen in love with this school. The problem is that my debt would be 280k.
Why am I not crazy for considering this option? Taking out a public loan at 6% rate would mean I have monthly payments of 2000 which I can definitely meet with a job, then I can refinance (not sure what the correct term is) the loan and pay it a 2.7% rate with a private company (SOFI), paying around 20k total a year in loans and 500k overall (loan+interest).
Some other factors that I am thinking about are: I am only 18-22 once, as someone who is really into business I understand that big risks CAN payoff greatly, I want to be surrounded by people smarter and better than me, and of course, the big, ego-stroking factor of prestige. I have heard the argument thousands of times, but I still cannot deny that prestige sells.
My other option, is a business/engineering school which will end up costing me around 70k (total). This school is top 400 in the nation, private, and at this school I would be right across from Wall Street and focused on finance. Somethings about this school: it is only 40 minutes away (which I hate), it is 30/70 girls/boys (which you might find stupid but the ratios are important to me), an okay campus, and the professors are completely average. That being said, it is still a good school which provides really good opportunities for people looking to work directly in finance.
If you have read this far, thank you. I would love to hear some input from you guys and would truly appreciate any advice whatsoever on my decision.
THANK YOU
TD;LR
Deciding between a 280k top university and a 70k decent finance school extremely close to home, for both of which the debt would be absolutely mine.
Submitted June 25, 2018 at 09:02AM by TheEsotericRunner https://ift.tt/2yF9POt
