<p>Marian and sevmom:</p>
<p>“UVA is pretty darned elite – much more so than most state flagships. Not quite HYPSM elite, but then, neither are most of the top private schools.”</p>
<p>I’d agree wholeheartedly, yes.</p>
<p>Very rare do i see someone bragging about their ‘pricey’ education…More likely are posts sayng paying that tuition is ridiculous or a waste of money…many of the secondary and tertiary schools are terrible,but if i were to post that, i’d be labeled an elitest… ;)</p>
<p>^ so glad you said that qdogpa…It’s about time someone finally gave the other side to what so many are thinking but just wouldn’t say.</p>
<p>I would do it all over again…It was worth every dollar, and the opportunities my kids have had as a result of studying with some of the brightest kids in the country and in the world made all the difference. These opportunities are not the kind that last only four years they will last for decades and could never have been duplicated. We are forever grateful and I thank God we were able to take loans to pay for it. There is far too much top school bashing on this forum…it wasn’t this way years ago so I guess the economy has people second guessing (or justifying) why they aren’t spending the money. We were lucky in that we only had one year with one kid in college, by the second year we jumped to three, and one year we had four. Financial aid did take that into account but still we had expences far out reaching what people pay for one kid in private college. If it could be done and your kid could gain admission, the value of a top ranked college can’t be beat. Our first son paid off loans already, and sons 2 and 3 will be finished by May or earlier. We on the other hand will be paying a little while longer but that was in great part because our daughter received the least amount of merit/aid at her private non top ranked school her first year.
I think a great education can be had at all schools but there are opportunities that top schools provide that can’t be had at most state schools or lower tier privates.</p>
<p>We paid full freight for S1 and are doing the same for S2 at two well known privates, and so far it has been worth every penny. The education S1 received continues to astound me; it is far beyond my expectations. He is well versed in physical and natural science, mathematics, social thought, Greek thought and literature, civilizations, and more, …and then there is his major. S2 is thrilled with his classes and has decided on philosophy as his major. Their friends have been very bright and interesting people. Their class sizes have typically been about 14 students and both have been taught primarily by respected professors who care as much about teaching as they do their research. Perhaps it is luck, but whatever it is I could not be happier, and could not think of a better way to spend our money.</p>
<p>I too have no regrets at having paid a significant part of S’s tuition and 3.5 years for D–full-freight at a well-known and expensive private U. Both have been exposed to wonderful opportunities and have no regrets. We are grateful that we were able to pay for the educations and feel they have grown and learned so much in the process. It is part of our legacy to them, helping them attend a top U.</p>
<p>Both of them have grown into amazingly confident and mature people, with fascinating depth and breath of knowledge. I can’t tease out what they would have been if they had gone elsewhere, but we are all thrilled that they have gained as much as they have and would do it again in a heartbeat! ;)</p>
<p>qdogpa, momma-three , idad, HImom</p>
<p>I too agree (so does the controversial study that was quoted to prove otherwise). Truly great colleges make a difference. How much of a difference may be debatable. Today these colleges are much more accessible as well given the amount of financial aid that is available.</p>
<p>Well, I am also very happy paying for D’s Med. School. I doubt though that I would if I had been paying tops for her UG. I strongly feel that not having loans makes my D. much more at peace in comparison to most (maybe all) of her current classmates many of who graduated from Ivy’s and other Elites.</p>
<p>Yes, the totality of “the plan” for each student has to be kept in mind to figure out the best way for the family resources to be used the most wisely. In our case, S was interested in engineering and it turned out he was NOT interested in grad school immediately after getting his BEE. Even better, his employer is willing to pay for his grad school, so we’re thrilled. D is still deciding what happens upon her graduation but knows she is in one of the best places in the world for her field of cinema. She and we are extremely grateful for the opportunity and glad we chose to only have 2 kids so we could give them options that appeal to them & us. :)</p>
<p>MiamiDap, what makes you think the current clasmates of your daughter have large debt loads? You’d be amazed how many people actually pay full freight and graduate without much debt, if any…</p>
<p>Med School debt–very serious numbers.</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/about-ama/our-people/member-groups-sections/medical-student-section/advocacy-policy/medical-student-debt/background.page?]Background[/url”>http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/about-ama/our-people/member-groups-sections/medical-student-section/advocacy-policy/medical-student-debt/background.page?]Background[/url</a>]</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Undergraduate debt load varies a lot by school (depending on COA, FA policies, and the demographics of its student body) and by individual (depending on individual financial circumstances and decisions about how much of undergrad education to finance through debt). </p>
<p>Here are the average total debt burdens of 2010 graduates from some top institutions, public and private. Note the wide variance. Private schools have some of the lowest and some of the highest averages. Public schools are more toward the middle of the range.</p>
<p>Private:
Princeton $4,385
Yale $9,254
Harvard $10,102
Stanford $14,058
MIT $15,228
Penn $17,013
Duke $21,884
Chicago $22,359
Brown $22,468
Johns Hopkins $24,307
Emory $26,311
Tufts $27,443
USC $30,090
Notre Dame $30,341
Carnegie Mellon $30,744
Lehigh $31,922
Wake Forest $32,247
Case Western $39,236
NYU $41,375</p>
<p>Public:
UC Berkeley $16,056
UCLA $18,203
UVA $19,384
William & Mary $21,367
Georgia Tech $24,468
Michigan $27,828
Penn State $31,135</p>
<p>Quick glance, it looks like many of those schools graduates don’t incur significant debt…20k is very manageable for new grads…you can’t buy a decent car for 20k</p>
<p>Somehow, I doubt it includes ALL debt, like HELOCs the family may have taken out, PLUS loans, and other resources expended. I think a lot of the debt being incurred may be under the radar & perhaps only include Perkins loans & similar. The other article cited with the serious debt that med students are graduating with sounds more like the picture I get when I speak with med students.</p>
<p>We paid full freight at a top private when ds was offered big merit at schools like vandy and emory. It ended up being less $ than we thoughtb because he graduated in 3 years. No regrets. It was worth it for the profs who usually seemed to have written the articles and books for the classes. Mostly it was valuable for letting him learn to swim in a sea where all the fish are brilliant.</p>
<p>sewhapppy, I would imagine there are plenty of brilliant fish at Vanderbilt or Emory or any number of schools.Sometimes it is just as valuable in the long run for the brilliant fish to learn how to swim with the masses.</p>
<p>Brilliant fish need to swim with the sharks,swimming with the guppies gets you no where. ;)</p>
<p>If the guppies can teach at least one shark to value them and not eat them, maybe it’s all worth it.</p>
<p>True, but if the shark is seen swimming with the guppies,god forbid, the other sharks might mistake him for a guppy and eat HIM. ;)</p>
<p>True dat. …</p>
<p>Guppies, sharks, great whites … The point is to keep swimming … And breathe.</p>