But again. The question is not which school is better ?
They know which is better regardless of major. Not sure finance as a major was mentioned but that’s neither here nor there.
The question or the discomfort is the price tag.
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According to IPEDS Econometrics and quantitative economics accounts for almost 2% of the undergraduate population. That would put roughly in the middle of their engineering majors, more than BME, Materials and Nuclear.
I don’t know more than that, but maybe @momofboiler1 does.
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Totally agree! It’s a personal call. But, the OP was asking for opinions. Mine is that ND is worth the cost if not insurmountable because I believe the outcome is worth the expense. These kids suffered so much during Covid. Why not give them an unforgettable, life changing college experience if one can afford to do so?
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Yikes! In my opinion that’s a hard number to accept/justify for an undergraduate degree. (We balked at $250K and we could comfortably afford it without any loans.) The main problem I see is it’s a little late in the college process if you have cost reservations and haven’t expressed it at all during the application process.
First I think you and your spouse have to decide together whether you are willing or unwilling to green light ND.
If it’s yes, we’ll fund the ND education, the next step is to discuss the consequences of that path going forward. I would make an outline of the possible negative impact to your family.
If no, then discuss how to soften the anticipated disappointment and how you can address the perceived and real inequity between your children.
In either case I would share your decision with your kids. I’d probably talk with the younger one first and listen to her reaction, thoughts and suggestions. In my opinion some point after that I would have a family discussion about it. Because if you choose to fund ND it sounds like it will impact future family financial planning. If you do not choose to fund a ND education, I personally would make an attempt to level future financial assistance.
Lastly, I shared that we balked at $250K. (Our comparison was instate flagship at around $125K.) Our kids were considering consulting and we could’ve bought into chasing prestige. DH and I came from very modest households and believe aptitude and hard work can get one very far in life. We believe in our kids’ intelligence, work ethic and perseverance.
So while we value education, we ruminated over the difference in cost. Oddly, one thing that probably affected us the most was my kids’ older cousins who attended Notre Dame. These cousins are smart and were full pay. They graduated in 4 yrs but graduated in a bad job market and pivoted to Teach for America for two years each. Fortunately things worked out for them. One is now a lawyer after attending a T20 law school. The other is currently doing her surgical residency. In hindsight we couldn’t help but wonder if ND was worth it. The financial stress negatively impacted the family, but the cousins seem to be happy and are doing well. However there’s no way to know what would’ve been if an alternate path was taken.
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I can say with 100% certainty that my D has gotten an unforgettable, life changing college experience at Purdue. She’s had a much richer experience than I did at Cornell. A lower cost school does not mean a lower experience. It just doesn’t.
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That’s fair. My opinion is no school is worth $80k. Well maybe Princeton or MIT and solely for what the name gets you.
But no school outside of a handful and UND wouldn’t be close to being in the handful.
College is 30, 32 weeks a year. My god it’s expensive.
The output - education - is a commodity. For the kids who want the extras, they are there but most just go to class. The extras are there at most every school.
I want to plan for retirement or help my kids buy a home. Or stabilize for a stock market crash.
I appreciate your opinion but it also assumes that same or a similar experience couldn’t be had for less and I think in almost all cases it could.
So I’m playing from the other side. But we also set up a max - $45 or $50k - I can’t remember b4 we started.
I even cringe at paying those amounts for what my kids are consuming. Fortunately I didn’t have to pay near that much.
We talk about these dollars like they’re just what they are but my goodness I worked long and hard to earn them to just see them disappear where there are other like choices.
So that’s the other, opposite side.
And you’re right, they did ask for your opinion!!
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OP mentioned econ. that usually implies finance.
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We can disagree.
We’ll it is the CC so you might be right. 
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I suspect it may be hard to go from Purdue to a banking job if that’s what the OP’s daughter wants. But also most kids that age have no idea how brutal an ib job is.
ND is a target for IB Investment Banking Target Schools: Full List & Guide
Top Schools for Investment Banking | Bankingprep
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I think you’re a bit premature.
Student wants engineering. Maybe Econ.
The student is 17.
May end up in anthropology.
Don’t think they are looking to write their ticket to Wall Street or selling cars (like me) althiugh an ex colleague from my last company does that and was a proud UND graduate that went home to a small city in Southern Texas. Still lives there and is in my fantasy football league for the past 20 years or so.
back to OP - it’s just a value for the education worth it question.
The fact that it’s even asked tells me to OP - it’s not. Others think it is.
I mentioned not considering RHIT because it’s likely this student won’t be an engineer. But I don’t think anything else can be ascertained even with an Econ major and the other choice of schools would all meet the need of the major….maybe not a career choice but I’m confident there is no alternative career choice at this time.
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Dayton and ND are not comparable schools, imo. And neither school is Jesuit.
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According to the ASU - W.P. Carey School of Business world ranking of finance research programs, ND and Purdue are tied at #34.
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World research rankings don’t matter. What percentage of their econ/business class do they place in banking or comparable jobs?
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Seems that if you are paying a similar price for the first kid, it may make family relations more difficult if you impose a much smaller price limit for the second kid.
A pretty decent selection for engineering, although watch out for the secondary admission requirements at Purdue and tOSU, and the progression (weed-out) requirements at Wisconsin.
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Again it was just a Hail Mary attempt at a compromise of another catholic school if it evens matter.
Back to OP question though - they are asking - so you pay full freight or do you decide, nope not worth it.
Where do you stand and why ?
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My kid was a 27 month Peace Corps volunteer following her expensive private school (which actually had hours set aside at their health center for PC physicals). Let’s just say…it’s sort of a job. It’s really volunteer work (thus the name Peace Corps Volunteer) with a stipend. It’s not exactly a high paying job. But any federally funded loans are in forbearance, and when my kid did it, a %age of Perkins Loans were cancelled (but I believe those no longer exist).
Having said all that…it’s a fabulous experience that is very favorable on one’s resume.
Good luck to your DD1…hope she is selected for a PC appointment!
Now back to the main topic. I think each family needs to decide whether cost is something they want to pay. There is no right or wrong. If you want to pay for Notre Dame and you can, that would be a wonderful gift to your daughter.
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Not sure where banking came from. The OP said she may switch to economics, nothing more.
In anycase, this thread, like all threads of this ilk, devolved into the same argument, is an undergraduate degree worth $X. Predictably, those who paid full bore defend their position and those who didn’t/wouldn’t defend theirs just as vehemently.
OP, the bottom line is this…do you want to spent over 1/3 of a million dollars on an undergraduate degree? We can argue 'till we’re blue in the face, but only you can answer that.
I will part by echoing @momofboiler1, there is zero evidence supporting the notion that the most expensive school always offers the best opportunities for academic enrichment.
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I mentioned banking, or more broadly finance, because that is what people mean when they mention econ. They don’t usually mean becoming an economist or going to grad school. I could be wrong. Whether something is worth X or Y depends on what it is being used for.
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The real complicating issues seem to be:
- The OP may be paying a similar amount for an older kid’s college, so reducing the price limit for the second kid would not be good for family relations.
- The money talk should have been done before the application list was made, not after admission and visit that has gotten the student excited about the expensive college.
Setting a price limit and talking money before any kids apply to college would be a relatively simple matter compared to the corner that the OP may have painted themselves into.
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I wish we could make your post the “read this first” when signing up for the site! 
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