Another way to put it: it’s brutal. My best friend in school (UW) was an ECE major, and he hardly ever left his desk. If someone doesn’t love Engineering, I can’t imagine the sacrifice necessary to stick with it.
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It sounds like you’ve laid it on the line to her about the money she has to work with and it is comparable to her older sibling’s money for college? I would maybe back off some and let her decide for herself where she wants to go. Hopefully, she does consider all the angles. But, sounds like she was allowed to apply to some expensive schools with no restrictions? If so, not sure how you could change the game now . And doesn’t
sound like you’re doing that. Good luck!
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Thank you.
Great to hear about your kid in the PC – I hope they had a good experience.
I was a PC Volunteer, and later a staff member. It was great for me. But my daughter doesn’t like bugs … so we’ll see. She’s already been accepted, so we’ll see if she keeps going.
Re a wonderful gift … it is. I’m just trying to get the story that convinces me of the value of this particular gift vs a degree from another program plus a $100K check at the end (not literally, but $ available for grad school).
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I can see how you’d connect econ to IB/finance, but in my daughter’s case she would be interested in perhaps doing public policy analysis, focused on environmental issues. Who knows if that would last if she were surrounded by people excited about investment banking (which she knows nothing about).
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Yeah in many ways wrong school abd even maybe wrong major if it was econ.
@kelsmom didn’t one of the recent legislative acts allow for leftover 529 money to be used for things other than education? Could you explain?
@bioart right now…put grad school on the back burner. It might never happen. PC also has some programs that can help fund grad school for selected returned PCVs. Not everyone gets these but some do. So…the 529 money for kid one might never need to be used for grad school and can be diverted to child 2.
But you can’t predict the future about grad school. For now…think about undergrad. It’s a great gift that you can fund that.
As mentioned above…there are a number of us who fully funded undergrad schools at exoensive places, because (like you) we could. And as you have read, a number of us were clear that undergrad was what we were funding. In the Thumper family, we told our kids we would help with grad living expenses if we could. We were able to so we did. BUT all tuition and fee costs were on our kids for grad and professional schools.
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I think we’re ok. The discussion began early about whether this school was worth this much more than that. It’s been good. I began the discussion here to see what I could learn from others and/or consider points we’d perhaps overlooked as we made the decision.
I’ve not been disappointed, but hope it hasn’t caused too much frustration among folks.
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In surveys done over and over, the number hovers at 80%. That means lots loved their safety, and a few didn’t like their “dream school.”
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May pay less than engg. Harder to justify 350k.
Unless law school is involved in the mix at some point.
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What’s wrong with anthropology? Especially if it includes a rigorous course in statistics and one in data gathering/analysis?
Bill Gates gave a wonderful interview after one of the successful new product launches where he credited the anthropologists and sociologists on the development team for their “breakthrough” insights.
An anthropology undergrad interested in environmental issues is going to have a LOT of potential issues to study. Climatologists believe that Human Migration is going to be a bigger catastrophe than anyone realizes- people moving from arid to wet. The UN, World Bank, etc. are already dealing with food insecurity in the aftermath of natural disasters- which are likely to get worse with a rising sea level. Nobody can predict (but some have theories) on what will happen to birth rates in climate-vulnerable regions-- the field of anthropology has a lot to contribute in terms what happened during other periods of rapid environmental change/
So what’s wrong with anthropology again?
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I met a guy once who had belabored over his daughter’s career prospects because she majored in geography. She’s a cartographer for Apple. 
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Thank you for coming back and clarifying the situation. (And don’t worry about stirring up the pot here…it has happened many times before and will undoubtedly happen many more times in the future.)
Once upon a time, long, long ago (but not as long ago as some other parents who post here ), I was a senior in high school. Among my options were my in-state flagship and an out-of-state flagship. Both schools were about the same size and had lots of school spirit, particularly surrounding athletics. If I recall correctly, after-scholarships, my in-state option was about $5-6k/year while the out-of-state school was about 3x as much, around $17k (and boy, I wish those were today’s numbers). Over the course of four years. that was a difference of about $45k. There was nothing wrong with my in-state flagship, but it did not make my heart sing. My family was gracious enough to let me go to the out-of-state flagship, and I had a ball. I met “my” people whom I had never been able to find in high school and my college years remain cherished memories. I doubt that the name on the diploma has done much to change my career trajectory, but those years greatly influenced my personal trajectory.
As an adult and parent, I can mentally acknowledge that I had much better odds of finding “my” people at the in-state flagship than at my high school. But I feared having a situation similar to another frequent poster’s second son is having where the academics are fine, but the school just doesn’t feel like a good fit. And I am ever so glad that my parents bestowed that gift on me. Had they not been financially able to do so, I am sure I would have done fine coming out of the in-state flagship. Whether I would have thrived as much as I did, however, is unknowable.
It appears that ND is your D’s first choice. I can’t tell if she doesn’t feel her other schools are a good fit, or if she thinks they’d all be a good fit but would still prefer ND. If she doesn’t feel like they’re a good fit (especially if she’s done visits), then I would let her go where there’s a fit. If there’s a good fit at multiple schools, then I’d bring money back into the discussion, as having a nice amount to spend toward grad school or other life expenses is also a great boon in and of itself.
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I think there is a change starting in 2028 that 529b funds can be converted into a Roth IRA if they have been in the 529 at least 15 years. Someone correct me if I am wrong.
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I was simply stating we don’t know if OP will end up in engineering, Econ or at 17 - who knows. I could have thrown in any major.
Many/most even might determine a different value dynamic based on a different major.
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We have had very similar discussions over the past few months. Each family situation is very different and so many factors come into play. At the start of the process, we aligned on the schools we would be willing to pay $80k+ if we did not get any financial aid. We have saved over the years to support educational costs, but it has not been without tradeoffs (& future tradeoffs) in our lives.
We did not receive any financial aid for Notre Dame. Our daughter received fairly significant merit scholarships from two other good schools, but left the Notre Dame Admit Weekend with a positive energy any parent would hope for. We are fortunate in that she will not have to incur any debt. If she had to take on loans, I would certainly be considering the other merit scholarships with a very different lens.
As a family, we truly view Notre Dame as a very special community, not easily found elsewhere. Far beyond the academics, we believe she will thrive in the environment. It is hard to justify the cost of education these days, but we believe that Notre Dame is one of those schools for which we are willing to make other tradeoffs. Your daughter got into some amazing schools. If you can see her thriving in one of those less expensive schools, and it takes some stress out of the equation, then I would certainly consider.
Good luck in this process!
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So many students change their majors, because they don’t really know what they want to do. My view is that a student who isn’t certain (some are certain, or at least pretty darn confident) should be at a school where they have lots of options, and where changing majors won’t necessarily add an extra year to their college career. Both of my kids changed their minds about what they thought they wanted to do, and both were able to finish in four years.
I would not be looking ahead beyond undergrad when you make this decision. I would simply evaluate the current schools and determine if ND is the best place for your child for her undergrad experience. Is ND the school where your D believes she will best thrive compared to her other choices? If so, you might want to seriously consider that fact as important. If she is not actually sold on it being the one clear best school for her, then the question becomes whether the extra money is worth it.
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I suspected that would get a reaction … neglected to include the wink. It is a fine area of study, but also frequently makes list of majors who end up in poor paying positions. College shouldn’t be a purely vocational pursuit, but I still tend to hope for my kids that it ends in a position where they can support themselves and provides some of a return on its cost.
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I seem to have heard something like that in past.
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Hmmm … I think that if they all costed the same, there’d be no opportunity cost of one vs. another, and therefore no question.
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Good points. I tend to think engineering programs are similar in terms of rigor. The differentiator is the quality of the broader undergraduate program and campus culture/student mix/faculty/student support/career opportunities that make the difference, as well as the relative quality of other options should she decide to change majors.