College Decision Questions

Bodhisattva_

Bodhisattva_

Active member
So, I'm currently a junior and I live in WA, and I'm deciding between Montana State and Western Washington. My tuition in WA would be payed for by the state but I went to visit MSU and really digged it there, but if I went I would come out with about $40,000 in student loans to pay off vs none at Western. I'm pretty sure I want to go to business school but then again I'm only a junior in HS so idk yet. I'm just gathering as much possible data on both so I thought I'd see what sort of input NS has to offer.
 
Wait till you apply. A lot of my friends with not great grades applied to msu and got tons of scholarships, so wait to see what happens before you count it out. Bu western is a sick school too
 
You are not deciding between a community college and (insert name of Ivy League school of choice here). The two schools you are considering are relatively equal across the board. Going to MSU will not magically get you a better job than if you attend WW. Just because you "felt" MSU slightly more does not mean it is worth a $40K burden.

Ultimately you have plenty of time to figure things out. I would strongly recommend you start at WW. If you decide it is not for you, transferring is always an option. Your parents are also an important consideration. What do they have to say about this?
 
Well my parents figured out the finance aspect of it and it basically comes down to them paying the same amount at both schools and me taking out a student loan to pay for MSU so they pretty much left the decision up to me. But yeah it seems like the schools are fairly similar I'm just looking for any insight into either that might help with my decision. I went to Big Sky when I visited MSU and it was dope as fuck but then again the skiing isn't the deciding factor.
 
Apply to both, see if you receive any scholarships from MSU. Chances are you'll receive WUE. Debt is a real bitch and you certainly don't want to come out of college with debt if possible. I'd recommend WWU, but if MSU gives you some good scholarship money you should really look into it.
 
I'm a high school junior who lives in Bellingham, 5ish miles from Western Washington University. I know I haven't attended classes there, but I do often go on their campus and it's really nice. Plus Bellingham as a town is really cool. Good Mtn biking at galbraith, good skiing at Baker, very outdoorsy. You are on the ocean and have access to two lakes nearby. And close to the border if you're gonna run for it.
 
I would say take the free college. However, earning that 40k with a job while in college would be no problem if you could find a good paying summer job (i.e. at least $10/hr, hopefully with a good amount of overtime involved)
 
Really? REALLY? Summer spans from June to August, and perhaps part of May. Call it 14 weeks. Full time is 40 hours a week. Over four years this amount to $22,400. Tack on a "good amount of overtime" and perhaps we are at $30K. This is before taxes. Cut that down to $20K now. The school loans for $40K will continually increase. By the time he has paid them off they are likely to amount to $50K or $60K.

He should be expected to work summers anyway, to pay for various expenses. If he is going to ski, that can eat up an entire summer's salary on its own.

At no point in your life will $40K ever be insignificant, regardless of how successful a career you have. Having a debt like that hanging over your head upon graduation complicates everything. It truly surprises me that your parents are so blase in their attitude concerning student loans.
 
I'd go to western. Choosing between a slightly worse fit and massive student loan debt is an obvious choice. Wouldn't hurt to apply to both though, just to see if you get scholarships. When you get out of school, the last thing you will want is debt.
 
Seriously youre still a junior and you're striving for the bottom of the 4 year barrel?

Between the two though go to western, come out debt free, study hard for your gmats and go to a good bschool which will look at a western GPA and a MSU GPA as the same thing.
 
go to the one in state since its free. Its not like your deciding between harvard and something. If both schools have comparable degree selection and one isn't amazingly better its not worht the 40k in debt. Even though 40k isnt a lot, when you graduate, 40k is a lot. Plus that monthly payment you have every single monty for however long really adds up, and is just an annoyance for other neccesities that you might need
 
Don't let money control your choices, go to where you ACTUALLY think you will substantially enjoy more, I could've gone to LockHaven for free, but decided on CU, and I'm already paying back 30K in student loans but it's worth it.
 
Another option I'm considering is moving to Montana and getting residency, it's not that difficult. But I would have to put off school for a year so idk.
 
iFlip FTW

I don't have much to add except that...remember that 40k will grow and grow, and you will pay a lot more than 40k in the end. I did some number crunching for you using a student loan payment calculator, as I feel this was not done with me in HS and is probably not being done with many other young people in HS.

-40k Loan with 120 month payoff (10 years).

-Interest rate of 6.5 percent (can be variable, mine is at 4.5% currently), aim high to be safe.

Your monthly payment will be around 450 dollars. The total amount of interest will be around 15k (meaning you end up paying 55k total). And according to recommendations that your student loan be no more than 8% of your total salary then you must be making a minimum of 70k a year to comfortably pay back your loan. No easy feat, believe me. Obviously you can stretch your loan out, or make smaller payments, but financially this is not a sound way to plan.

Don't join the masses of those in student loan debt for no reason other than everyone is doing it. I'm not going to make a choice for you, but the two colleges are probably functionally identical and are both in nice locales. I would think the decision would make itself.

I can speak for the older ones here and believe me, budgeting in a few hundred bucks a month for student loans can really put a dent into buying a house, retirement, vacations, etc etc.

 
find more schools

apply to like 5 or 6

go from there

also, once you get accepted, visit your specific department so you can see which will actually be better for you
 
If I were you I would go to WW. Personally I don't think I could stand the weather out there being from colorado (Friend went out there and she was back the next year, hated the rain) but you live there so you obviously can deal.

$40,000 is a LOT of money. And, as has already been stated, as far as education goes, they are very comparable. Western may even be better.
 
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