Will I pay back 300k in Columbia tuition?

Never take on that much debt for an undergraduate degree. Go to the school with the scholarship 

Are you interested in IB and in the lifestyle going with it ? if Yes, go for it / if No, don't.

Do not force yourself into a path which is not yours, life is not about chasing debt in a shitty daily routine hating your life so you might better aim for a great work/life balance, wife, kids and doggos. Cannot really answer for you but if you are certain that you are willing to work in MM/EB/BB, Columbia it is.

You do not have a guarantee of a job in IB, and as an international you will need sponsorship. All very uncertain. Also, your parents will need to sign for a loan that size-are they willing to guarantee repayment,?

I'm surprised you did the math and are still considering it.  

There are just too many variables at play here - whether you secure an IB job in the first place, getting sponsorship to work in the US, whether you secure any other job that would help you pay this down

And would you really want to give away what's likely a second big city rent payment for 5 years (that's aggressive - it will take you closer to 7-8 assuming you do normal things like buy a car and travel), plus what sort of interest rate does an international get on a loan that size?   I'm not particularly debt averse but I would hate to give most of my hard earned money away each month to a creditor.   Those are some painful checks to write every month even if you do secure a high paying gig.  

Think long and hard about it and see if there's any way you could set aside a significant portion to attack it - either parental support, an inheritance, etc. 

The answer to your question differs from person to person. Ultimately, it depends on how ambitious you are, coupled with how intelligent, hard working and socially competent you are. If you believe that you have what it takes to start a successful company or be a F500 CEO, PE partner, HF manager, IB MD, etc. then go for it. Columbia will provide you with the branding and network to be successful. There have been countless people from the school with countless more to come.

If you’re someone who just wants to be comfortable, then absolutely do not take on the debt. You’ll get crushed by that amount of debt as an average or even above average person.

Congrats on your acceptance! I'm an international at an Ivy rn and I'll go against the grain a lil based on the responses here. My situation is a bit different in that the school and my parents pay for everything so I don't have as much stress as you obviously. In terms of job placement, all my international friends who wanted finance got jobs across quant and IBD; some went to EBs, the rest BBs. The ones who are doing consulting are going to MBB and tier 2 consulting. I think if you hit the ground running like starting to intern in Freshman year, you will get a decent job for sure. On the cultural fit part when interviewing, sometimes internationals sort of self-sort into more quantitative roles and study more quantitative subjects as well so make sure you have an apptitude for that; you will have to study something designated as STEM by Columbia to get the OPT extension. When you apply to jobs its basically go big or go home because it's mostly the most estabilished firms that will sponsor for your Visa. Also did you apply for aid when you applied to Columbia or did you elect not to apply for aid? If you did, you can always appeal and ask for more; makes a big difference in my experience.

The biggest concern here i think is rather if you are really dead set on finance in general or one of these higher pay white collar careers cus being this much in debt will really limit your options in what you pursue. Good luck. 

I feel uniquely qualified to weigh in here. In short, my view is that Columbia is higher-risk, much higher upside potential. UofMinnesota is a good school, and you can absolutely have a lucrative career in finance or elsewhere if you go that route.

- I went to Columbia for undegrad, Midwest non-target for grad school, similar to the Mpls-based school you mention. Have several friends that when to the U of Minnesota.
- Currently a senior banker at a top EB

Here's what it boils down to:
- IF you are prepared to take advantage of what Columbia offers (which means working extremely hard and diligently, both in class and networking / out of class), GO TO COLUMBIA.

If you put in the effort, you will have opportunities at Columbia that 99.9% of other schools do not provide. Part of this is being in Manhattan/part of Columbia. A large part of this is that you will meet billionaires kids, people in powerful political positions, etc <== this is the extreme potential upside value of an Ivy / Columbia, ONLY IF you take advantage of it (not many do), and are talented (generally this means people skills - everyone at Columbia is book smart).

The Columbia degree stays with you for life, and (justified or not) will open doors for decades to come, no questions asked.

Clearly, you should not take on the significant debt involved with a CU degree to pursue a career outside of finance/tech/medicine - You need to be motivated by $.

- You can absolutely have a lucrative career in finance or otherwise going to the University of Minnesota. Is it harder to break-in? Yes. Would it reduce your chances of an extreme upside career? Probably. Is it as good of an education as Columbia? Not even close - I've lived both. Is it the safer choice? Absolutely.

I will disagree with posters here; I think many of them are in the US and US citizens as said. First off, any international discussing debt must not come from a well-off family and want to just go party and experience life in the USA. So very likely this is a life changing opportunity for you and your family. You got accepted to a world reknown university that will let you work in Canada/UK/Europe/Asia etc.. You take the debt and understand the day you land in the USA is the day to get to work and while others can enjoy college more so for now you have to work. 

Going to a target school was a huge benefit to my personal branding and the network especially coming from a small town regular high school. Even then, $300k debt sounds absolutely terrible. If you make it into IB and stay on the track then sure you can pay it off. What if you don't get the internship, or don't convert FT, or get laid off at some point, or realize you don't want to stay long-term, or realize you want to do something else in finance (or not in finance at all)? In all of these (cumulatively very likely scenarios) it is absolutely not worth it. Its not even about if you can grind hard enough to get in, there's plenty of reasons, sometimes out of people's control, on why they end up not getting into this track. Anyone saying otherwise has massive survivorship bias. 300k would be >$3k payments for 10 years. Even if you get into IB, that would kill your analyst years base salaries. 

Do NOT take on 300k of debt. Are you crazy? Go do the full ride, enjoy life a little, live a little.

Every dumbass here telling you to take the debt for the "brand" is out of their mind. 300k for what? So that you get your ass fucked by the moneyman before you even start working? So that you "network" with billionaire's kids? With what money? You don't really think them kids are just going to sit around in their dorms chilling? No motherfucker they got shit to do, money to blow. Are you going to take a bus to go on the ski strip with them? Are you going to sew your own tuxedo for the formals motherfucker? 

Do NOT take the debt. You WILL hate your life. You WILL NOT pay it back in 5 years. 

300k of debt to work the arguably most ungratifying job one could possibly work (after biglaw that is, lawyers are even more miserable). Don't do it man.

I make almost 500k a year and feel like I cam barely live in this overpriced chithole.

You want to be a fully indebted college student in nyc without a work visa?  Are you insane?

Wouldn't do this for Columbia.  Brand is not THAT strong.  

HYP maybe......(still dumb but I could understand).

Putting aside the question of whether you should take the debt or not.

Where's the money coming from? Can you find a US co signer? Will a bank from your home country give you a loan for 300k?

Depends on your risk appetite. You could find an online coding job and work remotely to pay off your debt.... something that I couldn't do when I was younger. 

300k is going to be peanuts in the grand scheme if you hit it big. 

You live one life, go for it.

You're doing calculations wrong. Gotta calculate difference in your life-time income by year between 1) if you take Columbia offer, 2) if you take Minneapolis offer. Then discount this difference using student loan interest rate and compare NPV to $300k. I guarantee you NPV will be > than $300k.

If you take Columbia offer, you'll be making like $300k in 3-5 years after graduation growing in the future (even if you don't make it in IB). If you take Minneapolis non-target, as an international, expect to go back home. Depending on your country, assuming it's not UK/Canada/etc., you'll be making like $30-60k in 3-5 years after graduation. So, like $250k difference per year.

P.S. I took $200k in student debt. Still have $100k to pay back, but it was absolutely the right choice. I wouldn't be making nearly as much if I didn't take the debt.

If it's a loan from your parents then what's the matter? Whatever you pay them, it's part of your eventual future inheritance. I just wanted to get this out of the discussion because there's a difference between the consequences of not paying your loans and accumulating interest or even risking personal bankruptcy vs a family loan. Also, would this loan have a significant impact on your parents' lifestyle? That's definitely a question that will help me decide between Columbia or a full scholarship above everything else.

Another concern should be how this financial decision could impact your future lifestyle (or your parents if applicable). If you're concerned with WLB or you'd want to experience more things out of life besides work, then you may end up questioning your decision down the road (so if you come from an affluent family, first try to see how you do only with ramen and without going out).

If everything is in your favor: No impact on your parents' lifestyle, you see yourself as a workaholic (especially when saving to repay the loan), you really believe you can make it in the US considering some challenges (especially culture fit), and you're aim is to achieve some type of extraordinary professional accomplishments that wouldn't be possible without going to an acceptable school then Columbia may be a good option.