College Choices: Prestige vs. Price

[IB Prodigy]

So, as I've been working on narrowing down lists of colleges that I might attend, I've noticed that more affordable colleges aren't generally thought of as being prestigious, and more prestigious colleges generally aren't as affordable.

Obviously, with the economy in the shape it's in, the price of college tuition is going to be important for lots of people. But, given that the people on this forum are involved in IB, I think it can be assumed that we're all pretty good students, so perhaps it would be nice to give ourselves a pat on the back in the form of a degree from a highly prestigious college.

So what are your thoughts on this? Which one is more important to you? I personally take both of them into consideration when looking at colleges...

[AxeluteZero]

I have to say, both the prestige of the college and money are important, but based on my financial situation...I would have to go with price being slightly more important.

And hello there Prodigy. See you in school tomorrow! lol

[sraja90]

id say prestige. Price matters, but then you cn always apply for grants and loans and merit based scholarships.

[IB Prodigy]

id say prestige. Price matters, but then you cn always apply for grants and loans and merit based scholarships.

That's a good point. As IB students, we'll probably all get some pretty nice merit-based scholarships to help offset the price.

[__inthemaking]

Prestige.

There's always scholarships.

I got pretty lucky though, I got into the university program of my choice and I'm currently paying less than $10 grand CAD for my first year.

[Forester]

price.

speaking from an international student's perspective.

[Cami]

price.

speaking from an international student's perspective.

Those universities in your list are mostly very pricey

[deissi]

Those universities in your list are mostly very pricey

Pricy, but need blind

[cereja]

I'm going to a local uni..... much cheaper and just happens to have an excellent engineering program

[uummmdonuts1]

prestige is pretty important but i cant afford to go anywhere overly expensive... so about the same. if i could get the money together, then i would think just about prestige

[Aquarius]

If you are good enough, there are even a lot of full scholarships for the whole course at top universities , therefore if your choices are not that limited, do balance with choices for PRICE and choices for PRESTIGE!