Then stupid, no.
If you have $120,000 a year in pension plus $2.5 million in other assets, then really, go for it.
Like I said earlier…even if you spend $100,000 a year on college…you will still have over $2 million in assets left…and that doesn’t take into account any interest these assets might earn.
And you also said you can work part time if you want or need to.
This sounds like a well planned out retirement, that will allow for college costs to be covered as well.
Congratulations!
^ and again, the potentially “crazy” aspect is not the total sticker price, it is only the difference between that and what any merit might be.
"They never complained that they had made the wrong choices in the process. "
That’s confirmation bias, most people won’t complain or criticize decisions they made, especially when it comes to something like college. I heard a NPR podcast on this and apparently this is subconscious so people don’t even know they have these biases.
Sounds to me like this represents what CC recommends in the search for a great fitting school. Criteria were developed and each school was considered based on the the individual students wants/needs/desires. To follow a process and be able to look back on it and not complain? Sounds like a good process to me.
$70k a year is more than most medical schools. I would call it a poor value. It’s like buying a $6,000 Intel Xeon Apple Mac Pro to check email and do spreadsheets. There’s nothing these school’s offer that a state university can’t already offer at a fraction of the cost.
There are some really bad advice on this forum.
A. Asking your child to factor in the cost of money when it comes to college choices is morally wrong (assuming there are no monetary constraint, which you do not have).
Adults struggle with the money trade-off issue; expecting a high school senior to weigh all the monetary implications and trade off and come up with a sensible, intelligent solution is reckless and irresponsible. I don’t care how smart you think your kid is; no kid can make a sound, thorough answer on a life-altering decision with money overhang. Case in point: would going to the more expensive school improve your kid’s chance of future employment and/or graduate school? If yes, would the economic benefit from better future employment offset the initial cost of the higher tuition bill? Who can reasonably answer a question like that? If you can’t, how likely is a high school senior?
B. This should never have been a question asked. If you have the means to do so, do it.
You and your husband are rich and extremely financially secure. You have but one children with no other obligations. Do you know how many families would die to have $120k pension, let alone $2.5M in assets? 120k is more than ample for two retirees. I don’t know when your SSN benefit and Medicare kicks in, but if they do kick in, the $120K pension might be enough to live well and still pay the 70k bill.
Since you have the means to send your kid to any school, the only decision should be which school fits the best. Inviting the “money question” into the decision tree is only going to result in guilt, resentment, and festering parent-children resentment down the line. It’s a lose-lose situation. Your kid will blame you if the lower-cost college doesn’t turn out nearly as well as he/she thought. Both of you, parents and kid, will always wonder if they made the right decision.
Not really seeing an issue here. Send her off.
“Asking your child to factor in the cost of money when it comes to college choices is morally wrong (assuming there are no monetary constraint, which you do not have).
Adults struggle with the money trade-off issue; expecting a high school senior to weigh all the monetary implications and trade off and come up with a sensible, intelligent solution is reckless and irresponsible. I don’t care how smart you think your kid is; no kid can make a sound, thorough answer on a life-altering decision with money overhang. Case in point: would going to the more expensive school improve your kid’s chance of future employment and/or graduate school? If yes, would the economic benefit from better future employment offset the initial cost of the higher tuition bill? Who can reasonably answer a question like that? If you can’t, how likely is a high school senior?“
Condemning other people’s decisions as “morally wrong” is ridiculous (as well as being wrong). And throwing up your hands at having to come up with a “reasonable answer” to financial questions about value for money is bizarre. How would you then ever be able to decide what car or house you should buy?
OP’s money would buy a Lamborghini or a Toyota, should they just buy the most expensive car on the market since they can afford it?
When choosing a house, would buying a more expensive home in a better school district improve your kids’ chances of getting into a top university? Who can reasonably answer a question like that? But that doesn’t mean you just buy the most expensive house.
OP may well decide that paying $300K for college is a worthwhile use of their money. But there’s no reason not to consider whether or not that’s the case depending on the options available. For example, given a choice between UCLA in-state at $30K per year and USC at $80K per year, my kids and I would both have no hesitation in picking UCLA (and I would be happy for them to keep the difference to help buy a house, pay for grad school, etc.).
Every parent has an obligation to teach their child to make good financial decisions. I believe OP has asked a very reasonable question. No one can place a value on a school with absolute certainty, but a parent can try to instill good decision-making in their child. Just because one can spend money on an more expensive school does not always mean one must or even should. It is the student that derives value from an education, not the education that creates value in the student.
You missed my point by a mile.
It is morally wrong because you’re shifting the responsibility to a high school senior, who do not have the experience nor the temperament, to make that decision. It’s an easy out for the parent to do so and partly shift the burden to the kid with unnecessary stress. Choosing a college is already emotionally stressful enough, adding the burden of money (when the family has more than the means to do so) is flat out wrong. Why would any parent do that?
In OP’s example, assuming they asked their kid for his/her input: They’re essentially asking the kid to weigh a $280K decision (the differential is probably closer to $80K, but that’s a separate topic) against his/her intangible preference for a certain school. No kid should be put in that uncomfortable position, if the parents have the financial means. A high school senior is still a baby when it comes to money. They do not have the life experience that a parent has. Nor do they have the temperament. You don’t think he/she will feel partly guilty if they decide to opt for the more expensive school? How does a kid respond to buyer remorse on a 80K investment when he/she probably makes close to minimum wage, assuming they even work? What happens if they picked the lower cost school and absolutely hate it?
Picking college is dissimilar to picking a car or a house, like you outlined. Your analogies are terrible. I agree teaching kid the value of money is important. But you are mixing the two together. Picking a college has far reaching implications that goes beyond just a material (house/car) decision. It is the most formative, developmental years of a young person life. Your social network, your future employment/post-grad prospect, etc are influenced by your college education. If I come across resumes at my work place, anyone that has a state school education that isn’t highly ranked gets a lower priority. I am not alone in this assessment, it just the way the world works. UCLA and USC are fine schools, but they both have their strength and weaknesses, not to mention two vastly different locations/culture. I would not pick between the two because of money. I would pick the school that fits best for my kid, culturally and setting, and what’s best for their job futures (certain USC programs are better than UCLA and vice versa).
Let me repeat: There are no analogies when it comes to picking colleges.
Most posters here understand that educating/including the student in the understanding of financial parameters, fiscal responsibility or good value is part of good parenting. The parent(s) here are not putting the financial decision-making on the student. Perhaps you misunderstand or misread.
Lots of advice in the thread for the OP to consider. In the absence of any other info from the OP I think it’s time to close.