Which College to Attend?

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Important factors you didn't mention - is the track scholarship guaranteed for all four years for the same amount and if she is injured and cannot continue on the team, will the scholarship be withdrawn?

You should consider the very real possibility that just because your daughter wants to study engineering now, she may change her mind after she actually starts college. Also, she will need to go to graduate school to be really competitive as an engineer. That's more debt on top of undergraduate debt.

 

[danygirl]

At the state u where I work athletes register early for classes so they can get the classes that work around their practice. She will likely get the classes she needs

 

[Kriii]

I would say let her make the decision, though your input is certainly to be considered. Luckily, if it are only looking at 12-15K or so of loans, she could cover that herself. These decisions are hard, I know, so I wish your family the best as this important decision is made.

 

[Jaya]

My granddaughter narrowed her choices down to a large in-state university and a small private out-of-state D1 school. Both offered her a combination of athletic and academic scholarships. The in-state university had much lower tuition than the private college (over $40,000 a year), but the private college threw more money at her as they wanted her badly. She would have been a small fish at the big university or a star at the small one. She went for the small one. Carrying a heavy schedule and being an athlete is tough, but the professors at the small school have been more than accommodating to her schedule. A small campus means getting from morning practice to class to evening practice much easier. Her coach is in contact with all the team members' professors on a regular basis to see how they are doing academically, in order to head off any small academic problems before they become BIG academic problems. It's high unlikely that a coach at the big school would have been able to do that with the large team that they had there. Luckily, she'll be graduating this year with only about $20,000 in debts, which is pretty good for students today.