CMU decision time

[Anonymous]

my son is admitted to CMU this fall and he wants to study CS. We save about 350K for his education. He talked over with is uncle who also graduated from CMU and his uncle, my younger brother, advised him to go to GMU and stay home to save money. The uncle graduated from CMU ten years ago and he is still paying off his massive student loans, about 120K. His uncle advised him that CS is pretty much the same at both CMU and GMU. His uncle advised to stay home while attending GMU and it will cost less than 50K for a 4 year degree. He will have 300K left in the bank to get a head start. Btw, my younger brother graduated in CS from CMU and he is a GS-12 government worker so it will take him a while to pay off his student debt.

My wife loves the idea that he will stay home while attending GMU. She already bought him a brand new Lexus 2019 IS350 should he decide to attend GMU and staying home to commute to GMU. We can get him a waiver to stay off campus due to food allergy and some medical issues. My son has not decided yet but he is leaning towards to staying home. he has to make the decision in the next few days.

I am interested to know opinions of folks in this forum to decline CMU in favor of GMU. TIA.

[Anonymous]

I'm a CMU grad so I'm biased but...

CMU. Better overall school for CS by far, and better university overall too (look at the rankings). Your wife shouldn't entice an 18 year old with a new car as a bribe to stay close to home.

There's much more action at CMU -- the top companies recruit there, etc.

If you younger brother graduate from CMU and is a GS-12, they must be doing it for their love of the job. Any decent software developer around here can earn $90k+ right out of college in private industry,a nd should be at $150k within 5 years.

Also I'd recommend staying on-campus at CMU. I learned a huge amount from my peers just hanging around in social situations. At least half my friends from my dorm times have since started successful companies.

[Anonymous]

CMU is #25 in national rankings, GMU is #136 (US news rankings).

Why pick the inferior school? It would be one thing if it's about money, but it sounds you have $350k saved up so that should just about cover it. Sell the Lexus if you need to fund it more.

Also at CMU, he'll have paying internships from sophomoe year onwards, and they pay decently.

[Anonymous]

If you have the money, CMU!!!!

[Anonymous]

I would be seriously embarrassed to drive a lexus at that age.

Your wife seems to understand nothing about what college should mean.

[Anonymous]

Oh my goodness, NOOOO! Carnegie Mellon all the way. CMU School of Computer Science has a 5% admit rate, so congrats to your son. CMU is light years better than George Mason. Like not even in the same conversation. If money was an issue, I could see this being a tougher call. But given the money you have saved, he should run to Carnegie Mellon.

Average starting CS grad salary is $113,630.
PDF with career info: https://www.cmu.edu/career/documents/2018_one_pagers/scs/1-Pager_SCS%20BS%202018%20rev%202.1.19.kc.pdf

[Anonymous]

I was admitted to CMU in the 80s and chose a different unknown liberal arts school that gave me more money.

Yeah, I missed the tech boom.

If it were my kid faced with the choice, I'd push CMU.

[Anonymous]

Not even a question, CMU.

[Anonymous]

Even if your kid were going to go in-state to save money, he shouldn't be living at home, given that you have the finances to fund something else. That is a huge part of the experience. Really, why did you save all that money if not to spend it on this very thing - an amazing college experience. For me, it's not just how much money he will make when he comes out, it's the intellectual and emotional journey. Again, why else did I save the money for my kid, if not for that? And given that your wife wants to bribe him to stay home with a Lexus, that seems very wrong. This is a time for him to leave the nest. Congrats on his success. If you had a better in-state option, non-commuter school, maybe it makes sense to save money, but to me this is a no-brainer -- off to CMU.

[Anonymous]

Cmu opens doors that are unimaginable.
I have personal experience. That said, are you worried about the pressure?
If not, there’s no question....

[Anonymous]

Agree with others CMU no question, especially given the cachet of that CS program. (If he decides for some reason it is not worth it, he could always transfer back to GMU!!). I also want to point out too that the pattern of trying to "bribe" a college age student to stay at home is NOT a healthy dynamic. In several families where I have seen that pattern, the kid ends up never really separating emotionally and in some cases physically from the family and it is not a recipe for lifelong success. (It is different if there is some practical reason to stay at home, but here there is a new Lexus involved!!). Try to keep your wife and brother from stunting your kid's ability to grow up (this is even more important if the kid is a little nervous about going away. He needs a push and encouragement, not to be pulled back into his safe place).

[Anonymous]

CMU is tops in CS, with MIT.

Call the placement offices of both colleges and ask what companies come there to recruit and interview, and how many are hired.

That will make your decision easy.

Strong performance at CMU = big $$$.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you have the money, CMU!!!!

They do have the money.

OP, CMU will cost about $73,000/year starting with 2019-20. That's everything--tuition, room, board, fees, books, estimated travel, etc. Your $350,000 is more than enough to cover undergrad and leave about $50,000 in the bank too. I'd invest that $50,000 right now in something high-yield -- get some good financial advice pronto -- and send son to CMU.

You also will have four years of apron-string issues if he goes to GMU. Your wife is being sentimental (I say that as a mom who is also very sentimental and frankly sad about my kid when kid heading to college this fall, six hours away. So, not dodging your wife--I get how she feels but she's making it about her, not about your son's independence.)

She also apparently does not know that unless you happen to live RIGHT by the GMU campus, you son would be required to live on campus in a dorm his freshman year--look it up online. GMU started requiring it in the fall of 2016. My DC's friend lives off campus but the family home is, no exaggeration, one block off campus, and there were other circumstances too that made an exemption OK. But your son won't be at home like mom thinks, Lexus or not. Mom needs to support his going to the best possible school that has the program he wants and needs to drop the fantasy that college (even if he's at GMU) will be high school all over again. Sorry to sound harsh because I do feel for her.

Uncle is not thinking straight to say get the 50K degree and have a huge nest egg. There can still be a very considerable nest egg with good financial planning AND there'll still be a degree from CMU.

How long ago did uncle go to CMU? Did he have reasons other than cost to try to steer son away? His experience there really doesn't mean your son would have the same experience. At all.

What does SON most want? And how hard is mom pressuring him to "stay home"?

[Anonymous]

PP from above. OK, I see you could get him a waiver to live at home if he goes to GMU. Unless his medical issues are ones that truly mean he MUST be at home--CMU is the way to go. If he's like my friend's son, who had Type 1 diabetes and refused to handle it like an adult and ended up repeatedly crashing, bring hospitalized, etc., then sure he should stay home. But if he's mature enough to handle his medical and allergy issues when away from home, it would be kind of infantilizing to keep him home for that reason plus a Lexus bribe.

[Anonymous]

This is something that only your DS can answer but one choice creates more options than the other.

It would be almost impossible for your DS to do poorly enough at CMU to not be able to transfer back to GMU.

On the other hand, once he says no to CMU, it would be almost impossible for him to do well enough at GMU to transfer to CMU.

Since you have the money, he should start at CMU to keep his options open.

- Happy I saw both sides and transferred out of CMU during the 80s