<p>I had a typo in post #55.</p>
<p>This line
Owe $50,001 - $75,000 (16%):</p>
<p>should read as
Owe $25,001 - $50,000 (16%):</p>
<p>"“Most” students? This isn’t true for many elite private colleges and universities. At Duke, for example, 54.8% of the students pay full sticker price. At Brown, 55.6% are full-pays. At WashU (WUSTL), 60.1% are full-pays. At a number of Ivies it’s about 50-50 full-pays v. FA. HYP are exceptions because their FA policies are more generous at the top end, but a very large fraction of the students attending expensive private colleges are paying full sticker price; half or more is pretty much the norm."</p>
<p>No one has to pay full sticker. The full pay kids at Brown or Duke would easily be big merit scholarship kids at, say, USC.</p>
<p>If you choose a school, however, that doesn’t do merit and where you don’t qualify for need aid, then obviously it’s gonna be full sticker. I agree that the band of schools like Duke, Brown, Georgetown, etc. can be very pricey for upper midde class families. Buying a Mercedes is expensive too.</p>
<p>Dont know if I would call him a Guru. IMO he is a motivational speaker who tells people things in a way they want to hear it. His advice is just as much spiritual and emotional as it is practical. </p>
<p>I’ve been to a couple seminars held by college consultants and they tend to be just the opposite, very positive about private LACs while complaining about the lack of FA at publics. </p>
<p>I think I get where both perspectives are coming from. Ramsey is dealing with people who have gotten themselves into problems which he is telling you to avoid. The consultants deal with success stores of kids they have placed with good packages.</p>
<p>northwesty–Duke is not stupid. They NEED that 55% full pay target to be met to balance the books. If a bunch of students decide to go down a level for more aid they will take more full pays from the other apps. These numbers are not accidents. They are planned.</p>
<p>Sure. Duke doesn’t give discounts (which is what a merit scholarship is) because with its brand it feels comfortable that it can get the quantity/quality of students and also the net revenue that it wants without giving discounts.</p>
<p>But any family paying full sticker at Duke CHOSE to do that. They could have picked multiple other private schools (very good but not quite as fancy as Duke) where they would have paid a much lower price. </p>
<p>Life’s about choices. Full sticker at Duke or 50% off at USC? Mercedes or Honda?</p>
<p>"It is so easy to research the colleges that are under your kid radar of interest, why listen to anybody for second hand opinion </p>
<p>This is a bizarre statement for someone who has posted his/her “second hand opinion” on colleges almost 8,000 times. "</p>
<p>-I was sharing my kid experience, while saying over and over and over again (that is why I have so many posts) that it is very important to researh and decide YOURSELF and NOT listen too much to others. Thank you for confirming this to others (since they are blind and do not see the number of posts under my name)</p>
<p>"Life’s about choices. Full sticker at Duke or 50% off at USC? Mercedes or Honda? "
-This may work two ways for 2 different students. What is Mercedes for one is a Honda for another and the other way. I am very glad that your kid has found his/her Mercedes. One more point is that every school has Merit awards. Some have more than others. Even some privates are given much more than other privates. The same is true for Publics. Some in the same state give much more in Merit awards than others. Seems to be a ridiculous statement. However, Publics (as well as Privates) have private scholsrships and some simply have more than others.</p>
<p>Did I miss what parent debt amounts to for their college kids?</p>
<p>Parents do not go into debt (most). They either pay out of paycheck or dip into their pension money. If parents are going into debt, then they clearly sent a kid to school that they cannot afford. However, it goes back to a choice. Some have mortgages, others car loans, third group have student loans and yet another group have none of the above. Hopefully, they are paying for a Mercedes and not a percieved Mercedes because somebody else said that this school is “Mercedes” for their kid. Again, UG should match to a personality of student and a wide range of interests. Happy student will produce a happy result. Misery will not accomplish this.</p>
<p>Who says parents don’t go into debt? Who says they have extra pension money to draw or current income available? If it were that easy, the kids wouldn’t need those amounts of loans. There’s a whole thread (currently quiet, don’t wake the baby) that started with the premise parents should take on debt for a prestige name.</p>
<p>Dave Ramsey’s “talent” is convincing people to pay him enough to make him very wealthy while dispensing nothing but common sense. Financial “guru” is a term he uses is describe himself.</p>
<p>Just more proof that “common” sense, is anything but.</p>
<p>^^One area where I see Dave as different and his advice not so “common” is that he doesn’t just tell you what you need, $1000 in emergency savings, no debt, long term emergency fund, retirement etc., he tells you how to prioritize your needs and actionable steps as to where to put your resources. Until I went through his program I spent a long time attempting everything and always feeling like I was financially stressed and not accomplishing any of my goals. After 4 years, perhaps “financial peace” is a strong term but I do feel much more secure than I did 4 years ago. I’m self employed so my income really hasn’t increased in this economy either.</p>
<p>No matter how simple the advice is, some of us needed to hear it, to get it. </p>
<p>I only listened on the radio, but it sunk in, to put as much into debt reduction as we could. When the college loan got paid off, I did have a little moment when his refrain danced though my head: I’m debt free. Not entirely debt free, there is some more to go, plus the mortgage. But I felt pretty good.</p>
<p>Most good advice iS quite simple. What is hard is following it. Most of us have 1000 excuses handy.</p>
<p>It is also worth noting that Dave lives by the advice that he preaches. Despite his prosperity, he only buys used cars, pays cash for his real estate investments, does not own a credit card and paid cash for his kids’ public college education.</p>
<p>And at least two of his kids work for him, so their employment is covered, as long as his business can support it.</p>
<p>Op,
Ramsey whole concept is to reduce or eliminate debt.
For college selection , he more likely meant to say to pick to college option that gives you the lowest (or no) amount of debt</p>
<p>It is a common sense, one does not need to hear this from somebody else, we are all adults here.</p>
<p>miami - I think you may give people too much credit for knowledge they never quite absorbed. Since I handle payroll I can tell you people end up getting garnishments of wages for not being able to make minimum payments on student loans. The word wouldn’t exist if there were people out there who won’t/can’t pay their bills.</p>
<p>rmldad:I bet his used cars are nicer than my used cars!:)</p>