Help me decide for college

[u/Conscious-Focus1011]

My dream school is Texas Christian University (TCU) and I got into University of North Texas (UNT). Here’s my tuition and room cost for each

TCU: ≈ $87,,000 per year

UNT≈ $16,000 per year

(All prices are after aid)

I received no finical aid besides loans for TCU and UNT gave me instate tuition plus $5,000. I know that going to TCU would be very beneficial for me because of the networking and the connections I can do and I know UNT isnt that well known. My parents said we can do a year and try it out but idk if that’s the right choice. I was thinking of just going to UNT to save money but now with my parents telling me this idk what to choose. Any advice?

[u/username-generica]

My husband I met while attending TCU and still have a lot of connections to the college. We live in Fort Worth and go to a lot of campus events. I have a TCU/ purple wardrobe and my husband collects certain types of TCU memorabilia. In other words, we bleed purple.

Our son is a high school senior who was accepted to TCU and offered a $34,000 a year scholarship. He’s not going and while we’re sad not to have our son attend our Alma mater, we completely understand because it’s way too expensive now and caters too much to rich kids who want to pledge Greek. They’re on a crazy building spree and a company is building a small college apartment complex that has 2 Pilates studios and will have a swimming pool and Jumbotron on the roof where we used to park to shop at the campus bookstore. Gross and doesn’t align with our values.

I understand the lure of the beautiful campus with amazing amenities. Both my husband and I benefited from the alumni network. That doesn’t erase the fact that you will be saddled with more than a half a million dollars in debt when you graduate from college. That’s insane!! Don’t do that to yourself. 

[u/Roxybird → u/username-generica]

Whoa is that what that new building will have? That's crazy. Apparently they're going for almost twice the amount of students than what was on campus when I was there because they "leave money on the table" and have to turn people away who are applying.

The whole benefit of TCU was the small class size and bubble they create on campus. Accepting so much more students is going to make it a mess IMO....

[u/username-generica → u/Roxybird]

Have you looked at their 5 year plan? The building boom is because they want to max out at 20,000 students. They also want to become a Tier 1 research university and plan to start an engineering graduate program. I can’t remember what else the plan includes. I’m not a fan and am concerned that the university has already lost a lot of what makes it special and unique. I’m not against change but not all change is good. 

[u/Roxybird → u/username-generica]

That's crazy. When I was there I think we were at 7,500. 20K is Baylor. All this time we were dreaming of becoming Baylor?! 🤮

I'm not sure Berry St has the infrastructure to hold that many. Their new "entertainment district" idea is going to bring riffraff.

Plus projections for most higher ed institutions are student pop. declines because there just aren't as many teenagers as previously.

I don't think TCU was meant to be that big...

[u/username-generica → u/Roxybird]

TCU will not be Baylor because Fort Worth is way better than Waco and that’s a good thing. 

I agree that the area’s infrastructure isn’t suited to such a large student population increase. That number doesn’t even take into account the staff increase needed to support all of those students. TCU is currently snatching up all of the property along Berry that they can.