<p>Conventional wisdom will tell you that a kid shouldn’t take on more than $20,000 - $30,000 of debt for any college. I think one could make an argument that Princeton was worth incurring $100,000 in debt for compared to lots of other colleges. But not Duke. There’s just no way, on a rational basis, one could justify paying three times as much for Princeton as for Duke, when the value Duke provides can’t possibly be less than, say, 90% of Princeton, and probably a good deal more than that.</p>
<p>The real issue is the one raised by sherpa: What if the discount at Duke is only one year or two years, and Duke would cost more after that because of loss of scholarship and less favorable need-based aid formulas?</p>