elsie.emm16

well-said, ridofme. I’m wading in with my first post because this discussion is such a valuable one, that I’ve done a lot of thinking about, both with this personal choice, and during my stint working on higher ed policy. I'm a pretty financially risk averse person, and fortunate enough to have strong funding offers. More specifically I wouldn’t have felt comfortable with any more than probably 60-70k in debt (still more than an 8k bite out of an annual salary). . . like I said, I’m finanically pretty-averse, and fortunate to never have had a lifelong dream that would cost me six figures. To avoid this, I would have kept my debt down by waiting a couple more years and saving up money and/or working during school. Other professional programs (veterinary and law, to name a couple) have made headlines lately with the impacts of major supply-demand gaps that leave people under- and unemployed, and underwater with debt, and many grads never saw it coming, so thinking about this now is valuable. Unfortunately, schools have no major incentive to adjust their enrollment to take these things into account; it’s easier to print brochures. They risk damaging their brand a little, but there’s so little specific information on ROI out there, it’s not a substantial hit relative to tuition payments. Another issue at play is the fish-pond dynamic. Attending a lower-ranked school with more money may mean you will have an edge over the other students. You can rock your internships, earn competitive awards, keep a stellar GPA, get your hands dirty with some really substantive research, earn the endorsement and mentorship of influential professors, etc. What I’m saying is that I really believe that being a go-getter at a less-competitive school (big fish, smaller pond) can be made more valuable than being average or in the bottom third at Harvard (small fish, big pond). I also don’t feel comfortable banking on the loan forgiveness program. I’m getting this degree to be better able to serve the public in some way. In an era of tight enough budgets, that money has to come from somewhere, and expecting the public to pay, directly or indirectly for this doesn’t feel right if I can avoid it, especially if I’m not aspiring to a career quite as undervalued as a teacher or social worker. I realize the programs exist to help people serve, but I’m just a guilt magnet.