Rice would be amazing, but I’m skeptical it will come in anywhere near the cost of UT unless they give non-need-based money based on musical talent. This is assuming my student would even be admitted, which isn’t a given.
I can’t speak to prestige. I’ve never been wealthy enough to spend money on prestige as opposed to other things.
As far as future income, the optimization is clear. The variation in initial income from selection of college, all other things equal, is what? 30%? 20%? 50%? The variation in net cost is what? A factor of five? Ten?
No matter what the details, the optimum point for ROI will be close to “as inexpensive a college as possible”.
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I don’t plan to take on any debt whatsoever, hence my question here. I’m mainly looking for potential opportunities at schools that are “in the same ballpark” as UT w.r.t. reputation and would cost “about the same” or less, or schools that are not quite as highly regarded but would cost significantly less. Just in case my student decides they’re not interested in UT for some reason.
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I recently ran into the mother of a kid in one of my kid’s elementary school classes.
Kid was not a student in his early years. Modest troublemaker by middle school (no law breaking but sassing teachers, detention, refused to do homework). Did not distinguish himself in HS.
Kid was probably the poster child for CC and then State U,ROI, cheapest possible, yadda yadda yadda. Parents wouldn’t go there. He ended up at a pricey private, third tier type college (basically- if you can pay, we let you in kind of deal). Parents told people they wanted to give their kid “the benefit of the doubt” that he could handle college, and that finding a place with small classes was high on their priority list.
Kid is now at a top teaching hospital for his residency in an ULTRA competitive and eventually, highly lucrative specialty, already has a fellowship lined up, awards out the wazoo. I am not close enough to the family to know exactly what transpired at “third tier private college” but man, I’m impressed. If you had told me in HS that the kid was interested in medicine (have no idea if he was at that point) I’d have predicted Caribbean, chiropractic, maybe BSN although his grades never suggested that any of these were remote possibilities.
I don’t know the ROI for a life-altering experience- y’all are much smarter than I am. But boy, gotta hand it to the parents who decided that an AA degree in “something” wasn’t going to get their kid where he could go, and found a small (yes, expensive) college that would help this kid meet his potential!
Only child- that helped. Nobody in line after him who also needed a college education.
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UT costs approximately $35K in state so that’s the comparison.
Was using the data from UT and only considering tuition + room + board, which comes to about $26k.
Tulane is definitely a thought. I doubt student would be interested in SMU. Not sure about W&L, but maybe? Mostly because of vibe/culture; not really into the Greek scene. At USC there are 10 Mork and 100 Trustee’s, so about 7% of the incoming class. I’m well aware it’s a huge long shot considering the profile of the median USC admit.
OK. With NMF status you would get some significant merit at public schools that are ranked lower than UT Austin but are nonetheless quite good, especially if you factor their Honors Colleges.
You can find a list of such schools at Class of 2022 National Merit Discussion - Scores Release - Financial Aid & Scholarships / National Merit Scholarships - College Confidential Forums
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Seems like the kid was lucky to have parents able and willing to pay for the expensive college where he turned it around to far exceed expectations… or maybe he was just a late bloomer who would have done that at any reasonable college?
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I would suggest Texas A&M. They’re the other flagship school in Texas.
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Texas A&M is indeed a good deal for NMF
We’ll never know! Late bloomer, just bored in school, who knows? I’m always tickled when I learn about a kid who defied expectations!
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There are plenty of examples of that kind of thing, especially with boys. My younger kid was a mediocre high school student and ended up graduating Magna Cum Laude in engineering from a large instate university, Virginia Tech. Sometimes kids just wake up all of a sudden. Just saying, it does not only happen at small, pricey privates. The kid has to want it, regardless of the size or price of the school.
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Which is why any Economist will tell you that ROI is an inappropriate measure to make this decision.
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My stats were for W&L but yes, all of those full rides will be for 1500+ SAT leaders with great academics who show lots of interest. At least Tulane is big on that. Maybe not USC or Emory.
I missed that your kid is already a NMSF. Going for $$, Boston University offers a pretty big NMF scholarship. A friend’s kid from Plano was a NMF and is attending USC on a big scholarship. Not sure if it’s half or full ride.
I hope your kiddo likes UT. A&M doesn’t seem in the decision set due to some desire for music and lack of interest in engineering.
I went to buy a car and asked how many prestige tokens it would cost. Shockingly, they didn’t know what I was talking about. 
Do tell. I understand that there very important experiential factors that come into this decision, but economists don’t typically deal in squishy things like that.
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That’s because they sell prestige, not buy it. 
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It is a utility maximization problem, not a ROI. For example, you are given two choices. College A has a cost of $1 and gets you a job making $30k/year. College B costs $35,000. For college B you get a job earning $250k/year. What do you pick? ROI says College A.
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Don’t forget the all important measure of ROH. Return on Happiness. 
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Agreed, but we’re really debating semantics. Prestige isn’t factorable either way. 
EDIT: PayScale lists a 20 yr. ROI not as a percentage, but in dollars.
Boston University says the following about NM.
“ High school seniors who have been chosen as National Merit finalists, and are offered admission to Boston University, will be considered for a four-year, $25,000 tuition BU Presidential Scholarship.”
This is not an automatic award. You will be considered for this. $25,000 a year is about 1/2 tuition. The net balance after this award will be a LOT more than $35,000 a year.
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Economists. Bah!
If you lined all the economists in the country end to end, they still wouldn’t reach a conclusion.
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