help!! are loans worth it for an amazing school??

[cef26]

I got into my dream school (Columbia)... but will need to take out an insane amount of loans to pay for tuition & cost of living. 

vs. attending a state school which will be almost free with a few scholarships i got. 

I don't know if going to an ivy league will benefit myself and my career... or if it doesn't matter and the loans are not worth it.

They have an amazing program and offer a lot more than the state school especially for medical slp.

I want to become a professor possibly eventually and think maybe a masters from Columbia would make a difference. 

Some people say, the better school is worth it and others say go where you'll have the least amount of loans

If anyone has any advice would greatly appreciate it!!! Especially if you were in this position before :) 

[LaceySpeechie]

Maybe an unpopular opinion, but this is just my two cents, as I got into schools with amazing (tailored to my specific interests) programs vs. also-good-but-more-general programs, and I chose to attend the good, general, cheap program vs. my "dream school." Granted there were other factors for me (the cheaper school is only five hours from home vs. the opposite end of the country for the expensive school) but after thinking it over, I really don't want to be in a ton of debt when I graduate. Yes, job opportunities for SLPs are good, but in the end, you still have to pay off those loans, and it can take a lot of time if you're getting tens of thousands of dollars of debt. For me personally, I don't think that's worth $50k tuition when I could go to a school with $20k tuition. In the end, all the programs are ASHA certified and I'll get the experiences I need in order to be qualified to work in any setting as a SLP. (If it's worth anything, I would also love to become a professor, and I'll be honest, I'm a bit worried to be going to a school with less research opportunities, but... I want to avoid the debt, and I think on some level, it all comes down to the effort you put into it. I'm hoping to still get some research experience, and form strong relationships with my professors!)

[Desperate Clinical]

DO. NOT. DO IT.

No one cares where you went to school, especially for a career like SLP. It is not worth paying off all that student loan debt. I went to one of the lowest ranked schools in my country (Canada) and not one employer asked where I went to school or cared.

 

Just my two cents...

Edited April 25, 2019 by Desperate Clinical

[waffles19]

Our field is in desperate need of PhDs and professors so I doubt that you'd have trouble getting a professor position coming out of a state school. I was in a similar situation to you and after reading post after post after post on the reddit SLP page and other forums of SLPs saying to just go to the cheapest school, I chose the cheapest school. I realized that most schools have connections to hospitals and decent medical placements even if it's not that program's strong suite and have at least one professor doing some sort of medical research. Another thing that I learned from the forums is that SLP CFY/jobs aren't always as easy to get or as glamorous as people think they are and many SLPs get stuck with disappointing salaries. It would suck to be in 90K of student debt only to be paid around 50K for the first couple years. Or wanting a career change but having too much debt to make a switch. I personally don't think it's worth the stress and sacrifices. I feel like I'll be thanking myself for my choice when I'm 30 even though it was hard to turn down my dream school. Anyway, you do you! it always works out in the end! 

[Bmay80]

I would go to the cheaper school. I was told, ideally, your college loan debt should be no larger then your first year salary. Somewhere else, they advised no more then your salary, after working 5 years. My parents sat down with me a showed me an amortization chart with my loan amount, interest and years to pay back. It was eye opening for sure.

[Quickmick]

Agree with @Bmay80 in terms of looking at an amortization calc. like this https://studentloanhero.com/calculators/student-loan-deferment-calculator/

It is important to remember that you will be charged interest while you are in school, the only deferred part are the payments. So if you borrow 60k in three years you will owe 70k and will be on the hook for around 800$ a month for a decade. ouch. Also remember that at some point you might want to buy a house and your student loan debt counts against your DTI ratio so might be a deal breaker.

good luck!

[roxthespeechie]

I was in the same predicament, with attending Boston University (BU) and being 150-200k in debt or Brooklyn College, which is a cheap CUNY (20-25k). After getting a ton of different opinions on grad cafe and reddit, and knowing I want to come back to NYC to work and get my CF - I decided to go to the cheaper school option. It still pains me, as BU seemed amazing and had so many research opportunities! If the two schools were similar in price, or even if BU offered me financial aid or a scholarship, I would've gone to BU. But 200k in comparison to 25k was a HUGE difference.