College Choices/Aspirations and the Financial Aspect

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hey everyone,</p>

<p>So I'm a few years away from college, but I have aspirations of top schools and have top grades. I'm already faced with a dilemma, however, and I was hoping some of you could share your thoughts on this. </p>

<p>My dad is a professor at USC, and I am offered free undergraduate tuition there, if accepted. </p>

<p>I'm very fortunate to have this opportunity, and I know this fully. At the same time, I really want to attend Harvard or Stanford, the former because of quality of education in the humanities majors, some family ties [grandma attended] and location [Boston is a wonderful city], and the latter because of quality of education, climate, and proximity to "home". In addition, my father has some contacts at Stanford [professors]. </p>

<p>The caveat is, evidently, that the tuition at all these schools is very high, and since my family's income is relatively high (I'm not sure, but I'd guess in the 200-250k range), I am unlikely to receive financial aid. In addition, my parents say that they cannot afford $50k a year (tuition + room and board) for college and that USC is a great school and that I'm ungrateful...we have many expenses to relatives (medical, other education expenses internationally, etc.). Also, my parents haven't been saving up for my tuition nor have they saved for their retirement very much because they only recently moved to the US (1990s) and began making enough money to have some left over. </p>

<p>Thus, if I get accepted into one of the two "dream schools" and USC (and this is a big "if", and I'm not pretending I will, since it is unlikely for anyone), I have to make a choice:</p>

<p>(a) USC for free, being close to home, and having the top education in southern California, </p>

<p>or </p>

<p>(b) Harvard/Stanford for an unknown but probably high cost, having THE top education, and living somewhere where I would really want to live - Boston, (or Palo Alto, although that is less of a plus). </p>

<p>Finally, a more general question: </p>

<p>How do I compare the education at USC honors, for example, to education at Stanford or Harvard or other Ivy League schools? If I move to the East Coast, would USC have less value? Or, if I stay in so. cal, would USC be the best choice? </p>

<p>Thanks a lot! </p>

<p>dtartakovsky</p>

2

<p>I think the question has already been answered.</p>

<p>you don’t qualify for aid at Harvard, and your parents won’t pay.</p>

<p>So, why is there still a question?</p>

3

<p>^ That and you shouldn’t be asking this question unless you have the option of choosing between the aforementioned schools already.</p>

4

<p>USC’s Thematic Option honors program provides an amazing education. Ask if you can sit in on some TO classes - your dad can probably arrange it.</p>

<p>I don’t have any help for you with the other two schools you mention, but I do know of a tuition exchange program that USC participates in - if you want to explore other options that would get you away from home, consider some of the over 600 member schools: <a href=“https://www.tuitionexchange.org/partinst.cfm[/url]”>https://www.tuitionexchange.org/partinst.cfm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>It is a program specifically for children of faculty members of the participating institutions and offers steep discounts on the tuition. It works like a scholarship competition, so nothing is guaranteed, but if you apply to a few member schools and have a USC-Stanford-Harvard-level application, you will be in good shape. Read the requirements carefully and completely. Start here: <a href=“https://www.tuitionexchange.org/whatiste.cfm#2[/url]”>https://www.tuitionexchange.org/whatiste.cfm#2&lt;/a&gt; Good luck!</p>

5

<p>You can’t ask your parents to pay for Harvard or Stanford. You’re right, you won’t get any financial aid. They are not just being selfish here, they haven’t saved anything for your tuition and they NEED to save for retirement. Don’t do this to them. You want them to be able to retire comfortably when they are 65.</p>

6

<p>It sounds like USC is your best option. Maybe your only realistic option. Free tuition is hard to beat if your parents make that much money but have no savings.</p>

<p>You could look at other good schools that offer merit scholarships. Chicago, Hopkins, Duke, Rice, and Emory all offer them. However, you’d need more than top grades to have a shot at full tuition from these schools.</p>

7

<p>Let me summarize what I think this means: I can go to one of the top colleges in the country for free, or I can have my parents pay >$200K to attend a school that is a little better. What do you think?</p>

8

<p>Gosh! USC is a great option, but certainly not the OP’s only option! If he has the stats to believe he may be admitted to USC, Stanford and Harvard, he has LOTS of merit potential at many, many schools. Not to mention the tuition exchange program I linked above that gives him options of over 600 schools with steeply discounted tuition - an 80% discount in most cases. USC is a dream school for many applicants, but if it means staying at home and living with your parents, it may not look quite so dream-like to the OP.</p>

9

<p>Another thought would be, if you truly are a legit applicant to Harvard/Stanford, to consider some of the highly ranked colleges that offer merit aid. </p>

<p>One that comes to mind is Stanford’s eastern lookalike—Duke. Another is Vanderbilt. A third might be Wash U. All are known to offer generous merit aid, all would be a step up from USC, and all would expose you to a different experience from what you know you’ll get at USC.</p>

10

<p>Thanks for all of the replies. </p>

<p>I noticed that Harvard offers aid if one makes under $180,000 so that you pay up to 10% of your income. </p>

<p>I talked with my parents and they said they could not take salary that year, and instead leave it in the company (corporation) and would still basically be ours, just not revealed to any colleges. (We own a corp., so it’s technically our money but not really.) </p>

<p>That would change things, no? </p>

<p>Thanks again.</p>

<p>EDIT:</p>

<p>@ Pea:</p>

<p>I understand that they are not being selfish. I don’t think I mentioned anything of the sort; on the contrary, I think that the difference in caliber of university is much less important than my parents’ retirement.</p>

<p>@ Everyone:</p>

<p>What about the difference in quality of education? Is it worth the ton of money? If I end up getting financial aid, say the aforementioned 10% payment at $180,000…the cost would be $30k including room and board, a huge sum by any measure…is Stanford worth $120k in debt/payment? </p>

<p>I understand that all of this is up in the air as it is incredibly difficult to get into these colleges anyway…</p>

11

<p>Maybe they are being just a little selfish by being willing to lie to colleges about their income. Hope USC won’t participate in fraud.</p>

12

<p>I talked with my parents and they said they could not take salary that year, or take less, so that it goes to their company (corporation) and would still basically be ours, just not revealed to any colleges.</p>

<p>???</p>

<p>You won’t be going to college for only one year. They’d have to cut their salary for 4 years, including your senior year of high school and part of your junior year of high school. EVERY year you’ll have to qualify for aid…not just one year.</p>

<p>this sounds very scammy and dishonest.</p>

<p>And, Harvard won’t just consider income, they will consider ASSETS and that company is an asset. Your parents may have other assets, too.</p>

13

<p>@ hawkette:</p>

<p>Are Vanderbilt and Wash U. really a step up? How so? I just don’t know anything about these two schools, can I get some more info (comparing them to USC)? Thank you very much.</p>

14

<p>

</p>

<p>They have to do this the year before you head off to school and for the next three years. Besides, hiding your money is unethical if not illegal. Would it really be right for a true need student to be denied aid so that you could “cheat” the system? (though I do applaud you for your creativity)</p>

<p>As for the debt load you are considering…my niece just starting paying her loans and I must say that $700 per month is killing her.</p>

<p>Go to the college board website or google college data and then the name of the school. You will find a ton of stats for comparison.</p>

15

<p>@ mom2collegekids:</p>

<p>Okay, thanks, I just didn’t know how to financial aid process works. I fail to see how that’s scammy, since they can’t use the money for anything. </p>

<p>Is the process about assets? How is it calculated? Thanks.</p>

<p>EDIT:</p>

<p>Okay, I guess the salary-cutting isn’t a very good idea. But if Harvard is considering assets, would the fact that we pay $4k a month to a sick relative abroad to pay for her medical care be taken into account? What about aid to other poor relatives in other countries? Thanks.</p>

16

<p>Similar situation for my brother, so I’ve been looking for merit aid options. </p>

<p>According to collegedata.com, % without need receiving merit-based grants:</p>

<p>Caltech - 2.1% - average of 30,200 (my dad got full scholarship here back in the day)
Duke: 1.6% of freshman - 46,000, 4.6% of all students - 27,700.
Chicago: 12% - unspecified amount
Rice: 11.8% - 9,600
Harvey Mudd - 27.2% - 10,000
WUSTL: 15.5% - 7,400
Vanderbilt: 13% - 18,000
Emory: 13% - 13,000
Carnegie Mellon: 7.7% - 11,400</p>

17

<p>

The corp. would be an asset that would be considered in calculating aid. High medical bills are sometimes considered, but even then - with your parents’ income and assets (including the corp.), you would not qualify for need-based aid.</p>

<p>You are a rising sophomore, so your best bet is to be sure you put together the best academic record you can to put yourself in position for merit aid at school sthat offer merit. You don’t really need to know the exact schools you will apply to at this point.</p>

<p>As far as your question about is a Harvard education “worth” more. You would have a very hard time finding someone to tell you it would be worth it to go more than $200,000 into debt for Harvard vs. **FREE **at USC. Go to Harvard for graduate school.</p>

18

<p>

</p>

<p>Okay, that makes sense. I’m definitely relying on myself, not others for college. </p>

<p>Wouldn’t I run into similar problems for graduate school, though? $200,000 in debt?</p>

19

<p>@ RedRoses</p>

<p>You don’t have to be offensive. </p>

<p>How is it fraud? They’re simply not taking a salary that they could have taken from their company, but the USC salary obviously still applies. What exactly is wrong with this? </p>

<p>Especially since it’s clear now that that doesn’t work anyway, it’s still an asset, if I’m understanding things correctly.</p>

20

<p>

Possibly, but not necessarily. Depending on your field, there are opportunities for teaching assistantships, research positions, fellowships, etc… as a graduate student - some of which include tuition remission. Even if you do have to pay full cost, at that point you are a college graduate with a better idea of your career prospects and whether that debt would be manageable.</p>

<p>P.S. My grad school cost $0 out of pocket - the only cost was the opportunity cost of what I might have been doing while I was in grad school.</p>