UMBC and $25K when she graduates to start a business/down payment on a house.

I think St. Marys would be a better option than UMBC. It might be tough getting into a good grad school from UMBC. Why not UMD?

OK -- can I say how offensive the above remark is!!!! I guess you are lumping all Asians together as Chinese so it fits the UMBC letters -- how about the Koreans, Japanese etc. Wow -- totally racist!

UMBC was featured on 60 minutes as an up and coming school. Go to the school you can afford.

I can't stand to hear adults whine about their student loan debt nor do I want to hear about parents taking out loans for their kids education and ruining their retirement.

For those suggesting the more expensive option, I don't think you will be making those payments for years to come!!

As someone who hires kids fresh out of college, I can tell you that the college only matters (or is a factor at all) if it is very top tier or very bottom of the barrel. What matters in terms of getting a job is work experience during college (summers = jobs/internships; and volunteer work/interning during the school year). Obviously grades matter when applying to grad school.

No way in hell I would let my kid accrue debt for grinnell over umbc. And I certainly wouldn't spend $100k on that degree.

PS - my kids are going to umcp....we tell them thus every time we are on campus for games. The oldest is 9....we started drilling this into them early.

My college aged kid calls UMBC U Must Be Chinese
or University of Maryland Bejing China.

It's a total commuter school.

Most kids who are there do NOT want to be there.

St. Marys.

why not UMD-CP?

If your child has medical school or graduate school in the future, do not go into debt for the undergraduate degree. Do not rack up thousands of dollars for the undergrad then rack up thousands of dollars for the graduate degree. Take the scholarship $$$ and yes, the graduate school matters.

Gtown is heads and tells better than the rest. If he gets in, he shld strongly consider going.

Same situation here, UMBC scholarship vs. U of Richmond. DS is also in at St. Mary's College of MD, Gettysburg, Villanova, Duquesne, U of Scranton and waiting on Lehigh and Georgetown...except St. Mary's and UMBC the estimator said it would end up being $60-120K for most of these since his scholarships to the lower tier schools gobble up any FA we qualify for anyway.... DS plans to study Biochemistry go straight to Phd. program because it is flexible major, good salaries but not because it is a love. History is his love, strong interest in sciences but loves politics, history and philosophy. Advised him double major, don't want him in debt and without a viable career path after undergrad. Advice on these would also be appreciated.
UMBC is an easy answer and if he is headed for PhD. I have been told it only matters where you get your grad or PhD...but how hard is it to get into those programs? I am guessing it would be pretty tough. UMBC teachers and department heads have been very helpful, responding in less than 24 hours--basically amazing, making it feel like he would have good access to profs. Your thoughts/experiences would be much appreciated.

this is 22:25, who has worked as a college professor, student affairs professional, and now runs a non-profit that focuses on career development for college students.

St. Mary's hands down. Has a reputation as an honors college to those who know and a SLAC to those who don't know (whereas UMBC may be an honors college, but can seem to some more like a regional univ. to those unfamiliar); will give her the small, elite school experience; and will not saddle her with debt.

She's what, 18? Yes she wants to study stats now and that's pretty practical, but what if she falls in love with philosophy and decides she wants to be a school teacher? That's a lovely career path that will be a great life if she leaves college and you give her a gift of 10k for graduation that she opens a retirement account with and will suck if she graduates with 100k of debt.

Trust me, DH and I had 200k of debt (both had loans for PhDs). We pay 3.5K per month on debt and 2k on our mortgage. If we didn't have that debt, we'd have a house with another bedroom, we'd take annual vacations, I'd go buy jeans that fit rather than squeezing into Old Navy mom jeans....

St Mary's might be a better option than UMBC. does it have good STEM? 10,000 a year is worth it if it is a better fit.

Why does she think grinnell is all that?

i 2nd St. Mary's.

Weird collection of schools. But I'd go with St Mary's. selective liberal arts but at in state rates. Probably a better investment than Grinnell, especially if she is going to stay in this area.

Anonymous wrote:Grinnell is not saks. It is more like Macy's. I don't thi k it is worth the debt. But UMBC isn't that great. Is there a middle ground/ other option?

Her choices are St. Mary's, UMBC (full ride), DePauw (same scenerio as Grinnel), Widener, and George Mason.

She chose which schools we would visit and which she'd apply to. She's a straight A student, accepted into each school she applied to. St. Mary's offered several scholarships which makes our out of pocket closer to $10k per year.

The entire college application process, beginning with SATs, visits, fees for this & that, transcripts, essays, deadlines, and now tuition/financial aid is making my hair turn gray. When I was a senior I applied to school, got in, graduated, went away to college. The process was not this crazy-making.

I'd say no way to Grinnell. It's just not worth it. I'm not sure UMBC has the brand or experience she wants--where else did she get in? Sounds like she wants somewhere small, selective and nurturing--and needs that without a huge pricetag and with good STEM. She could also do a gap year which would give her a sense of how hard it is to save money and how much worse it is to pay down debt and not even be able to save.