Reply to Few days to decide: U of Virginia or U of Chicago?

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "Few days to decide: U of Virginia or U of Chicago?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I don't think there is any question.  Univ of Chicago is now $76,000 a year.  UVA instate's tuition is $14,710.  (our DS lives off campus so doesn't have dorm, food service, health service fees). He has no car so only expenses are shared apartment and food.  Our total outlay was probably $22K this year.  Even using UVA's cost calculator for a student living on campus at $32,000, you are still looking at a difference of $44K a year which is in after-tax dollars.  We would have to make $70K to pay the difference.  [b]Multiply that by four or five years and you have enough to pay for grad school, which is exactly what we are doing.[/b]  Go to UVA and bank the difference, if you have it.  If you don't have it, you should be going to UVA anyhow.  DS has had a wonderful four years.  Chicago is full of smart kids but it is cold and dark and fun indeed goes there to die. [/quote]
[b]
No, absolutely not. Nobody should pay to go to grad school (professional school like law and medicine are the exception).

Grad students should be offered a teaching or research assistantship which comes with tuition waiver. If you are paying for it, they don't really want you and don't think you will succeed, and they are probably right.[/quote][/b]

Wrong.  Many grad schools do require payment and lots of it.  First, DS is going into an M.P.P. (Master's of public policy) program at UVA's Batten School of Public Policy and Leadership.   Guess what?  [b]In-state perks for all intents and purposes stop at graduation.[/b][b]  DS's tuition for the Batten School will jump from current tuition of $14,000 a year to over $43,000 a year.   Second, MBA programs also cost a lot of money.  Third, after the Master's program, DS wants to attend law school.  The tuition for my law school is now almost $100K a year x 3 years.  I am VERY grateful that DS had the wisdom to pick UVA over other privates where since we were then looking at a delta of more than $43,000 x 4 years.  We've been able to bank the money that would have been spent at an OOS or private so can now provide for DS at the Master's and Professional school levels.[/quote]

Not necessarily. UVA Graduate assistants get full in-state tuition and fees remission, as well as health insurance subsidy if they make a minimum of $5000/year -- and it's hard not to. Batten is affiliated with GA and RA positions, and in fact gives out yearly awards for good work in assistantships of various kinds.

Either you are saying "DS is going into" Batten without yet being at the stage of applying -- kind of jumping the gun there, no? -- or he isn't being offered a standard graduate student package. Which is fine, if that is what you want, I suppose.

I take it he did not get into the combined MPP/JD program, so he has to do these separately. As I said, professional schools such as law and medicine are a different category.

[quote]
Aid Eligibility

Qualified graduate assistantships include tuition remission and the health insurance subsidy.  They may also include tuition adjustment.  A graduate assistantship is ‘qualified’ if it is at least half of a full assistantship (a quarter-time appointment, roughly equivalent to 10 hours per week).

Tuition Remission – The in-state tuition portion and all required fees (comprehensive fees, activity fees and, where applicable, the international student fee) paid on behalf of a student serving in a qualified graduate assistantship.

Tuition Adjustment – The amount of tuition above in-state tuition paid on behalf of an out-of-state student serving in a qualified graduate assistantship.

Health Insurance Subsidy – A subsidy funded centrally by the University and provided on behalf of a qualified graduate student. A qualified graduate student must be offered the health insurance subsidy if he or she earns at least $5,000 in wages as a GTA or GRA over the course of the fiscal year.

https://sfs.virginia.edu/grad/assistantships[/quote]
[/quote]

Wrong on all fronts.  DS is accepted via the accelerated Master's program so will finish both undergrad and grad. in five years, not six.  Tuition for the fourth/combined year of undergrad and starting at Batten is at the in-state rate.  Then it jumps for the fifth year.  Yes, Batten has T.A. positions but you have to get them in order to take advantage of them.  Not everyone gets to be a T.A. right?  Students in the accelerated program are coming in from their third year at UVA so don't qualify for T.A. positions.  Yes, he plans to apply sometime next year for a T.A. position the fifth year but who knows?  Those often go to international students or others who have demonstrated financial nees. Then he hopes to study aboard and maybe go to law schools.  Most law schools now want to see a two year break before applying.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics