<p>nre, congrats on doing a real world run through!</p>
<p>I believe when the world went mad with debt a couple of those issues also affected kids’ (and their families’) choices. One is that debt doesn’t matter, that you pay more and you’ll earn more and the future is so bright you have to wear shades. Another is that small differences somehow mean something, and by that I mean an obsession with ratings and prestige similar to the vogue for luxury cars, high-end kitchen appliances and other consumption badges. </p>
<p>I hate ratings, but for someone to take on $80 to $150k in extra debt would mean a belief - an irrational belief in most cases - that the degree from x versus y is worth $15k a year more, right out of the gate, with that $15k going toward your loans for a decade, meaning you’d need to earn that much more solely from the name on your degree to stay even with school y’s degree. Worst case, people figured, was they’d buy a condo or a house and then pull money out of that to pay off the student loans - which otherwise don’t even go away in bankruptcy. Kids and families don’t understand how debt distorts your career options and your choices about consumption and lifestyle - afford a car? a house? to live with no roommates? get married? have kids of your own? (BTW, I’ve noted elsewhere that data shows a kid who gets into a prestige school and doesn’t go - for whatever reason - makes the same as the kids who went to the prestige school. This shows it’s the kid, not the school. There are differences between schools of course, but the school isn’t a magic ticket if you don’t have the ability or motivation.)</p>
<p>The prestige and ratings issue meant that school ranked 35 is somehow worth $80k more than school ranked 47, which is nonsensical if you take apart how the ratings are compiled and see that with any allowance for error the ratings are essentially big lumps in which #30 could flip with #58 by adjusting a few small numbers and thus aren’t meaningful. Then if you look at the small amount of data available, it turns out that what most determines your income is first you, not your school, and where you live - meaning you’ll make more money in MA than in Arkansas, not adjusting for cost of living. And the differences again are slight from school to school to school, with a narrow overall spread. </p>
<p>Ever seen American Psycho? He’s obsessed with the smallest details, like the quality of a business card or the type of pen. The same kind of obsession spilled into college choices. I post on another forum here - where other kids of mine go - and I see people talking about school rankings of 5 places, which is kind of like saying my Kenmore Washer is better than yours because it was made two months later.</p>