<p>I think it is quite an assumption to think that children of every parent driving a luxury car with “State U. vanity tags” had an elite school acceptance to turn down in favor of their state U. </p>
<p>To continue this theme of superficial judgments, I know many students whose parents drive luxury cars whose State U acceptance was their “best” acceptance.</p>
<p>This statement is absurd when applied to most state universities: *Yes! This is exactly why the Ivy Leagues are filled with people who didn’t get into State U and why State U people only apply to Ivy Leagues as a backup safety school. *</p>
<p>Reading several of these posts reminds me that some people can’t be happy with their own choices, they also have to validate what they do by judging how other people spend their money or where they send their kids to college. Why would anyone give a hoot about what brand of car the guy at the red light is driving or what is in the driveway next door? I drive a very nice car because it’s well designed, good looking, fun to drive, handles well, comfortable, safe, etc., not because my neighbors will be impressed. </p>
<p>However, I don’t put my children’s elite college window stickers on it because I know that it may make some people angry/jealous/resentful, and I don’t want to get keyed…too bad, but that’s human nature, I guess.</p>
<p>I’d say one’s car can provide a very limited indication of one’s finances…and/or the degree of one’s financial imprudence depending on the individual car owner/driver.</p>
<p>While visiting Westchester U’s* campus in suburban PA, I saw two college-aged kids driving different shiny Lamborghinis. While it may be possible they’re coming from the nearby Main Line, I’ve also heard from my friend’s faculty neighbors in the area that Westchester U does draw some wealthy students who weren’t able to gain admittance to more elite universities, wanted to stay close to home at a local college, didn’t want an academically demanding undergrad experience they perceived more elite private colleges provided, etc. Plus, the campus was such it resembled those of many private LACs/small universities I’ve attended/visited. </p>
<p>On the flipside, the cousin who’s a co-owner of a successful tech startup who could easily afford a Mercedes, BMW, or other luxury car if he was so inclined happily drives/maintains a beater 10+ year old Honda Civic which has seen better days. For some, it’s due to frugality. For others, it’s that they have different spending priorities. </p>
<ul>
<li>Part of Pennsylvania’s state university system.</li>
</ul>
<p>It can also be a function of geography. Driving is a big part of life in most of CA, so nicer cars make sense when you have to spend a lot of time in them. Also, old cars can flunk the mandatory smog testing, removing them from our roads.</p>
<p>The startup co-owner cousin IS based in California. Never had a problem with passing smog/emission standards tests. Then again, he maintains his own car and worked has his way up to car mechanic during his high school years.</p>
<p>“Reading several of these posts reminds me that some people can’t be happy with their own choices, they also have to validate what they do by judging how other people spend their money or where they send their kids to college. Why would anyone give a hoot about what brand of car the guy at the red light is driving or what is in the driveway next door?”</p>
<p>Because status is hierarchical and zero sum.</p>
<p>In order to be high status, you need a lot of low status people to be better than.</p>
<p>Winning! requires a lot of other people to lose and fail.</p>
<p>"On my first day at Berkeley and in my first class was a kid who’d turned down Harvard.
But this kid apparently felt the need to inform complete strangers of this the first day s/he met them?</p>
<p>Right."</p>
<p>Had I been this kid, this would have been consistent with my behavior at age 18, particularly if your sense of your own value is derived from being inherently better and more than other people.</p>
<p>We recently hired two graduates from Princeton. I noticed when asked to introduce themselves at company meetings, both of them (at separate times) said they graduated from a school in NJ and didn’t mention Princeton specifically.</p>
Most likely the reason the kid turned down Harvard because the family can’t afford the sticker price. Read, Upper middle class that doesn’t have a lot of savings. On my D’s school last year several kids turned down Ivy because of this reason. One turned down MIT and went to UCSD.</p>
<p>“both of them (at separate times) said they graduated from a school in NJ and didn’t mention Princeton specifically.”</p>
<p>This concept of downplaying the elite aspect of the school is interesting. I know that I rarely broadcast where my kids go to school. I tell people they are away at college, and only mention the specific schools if asked about it.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I reluctantly put the stickers on my car. I put it off for a while to avoid looking like I was bragging. My kids resented it, and challenged me that I was “the most non-self-promoting person they knew.” I decided to put them on the car because I wanted to support them, AND because I am SO grateful to the schools, which provided such great financial aid. In that sense, I don’t mind “advertising” for the schools.</p>
<p>My coworker wears Stanford sweater every week although he did not go to Stanford. Another one wears Harvard T-shirt because she had a business trip in Boston.</p>
<p>I only wear my kids’ school sweater and T-shirt inside the house. They bought for me as Christmas gifts during their first semester.</p>
<p>When in college I saw several people wearing HYPS sweaters and I wondered they were transferred from there or wanted to go there.</p>
<p>It might be a sacrifice they are making to put their kids thru college. It is not that specific to CC. I see many people who I know put their kids through college do this.</p>
<p>FWIW, Sam Walton drove a pickup truck every day to work supposedly until he died.</p>
<p>Yes, that is usually the context in which the brag occurs. It is a funny statement about American values, I guess, when “sacrificing” a new car is the measure of martyrdom for sending kids to college.</p>
<p>I don’t know that it is an American value. I do know a lot of Asian Americans driving old cars well after their kids graduated to pay off the loans they have taken on for their kids.</p>
<p>It is interesting to see the curve. People are buying more and more expensive cars as they progress in life and when the kids hit college, they stop buying anything new and sometimes they are still driving 15 year old cars well after the kids started working.</p>
<p>Oldfort, you are spot on. It is the Americans who lease and mortgage. As for the millionaire next door, he drives a beater. The billionaire down the street has a stable of autos and a garage larger than my house. These folks do things like write bestsellers, manage other people’s money for a percentage, own oil and gas companies, or file mass tort suits. They are not doctors nor corporate lawyers, and most have nothing more than a bachelor’s degree from State U or Top 400 private U.</p>
<p>As with everyone else, other Asian-Americans like many in my family continue to drive old cars even though they have no loans/debts to pay off and are well in the black due to a mix of frugality and/or having other spending priorities. </p>
<p>Also, among some hardcore engineering/CS folks I know…including that startup co-owner cousin, maintaining a beater in top condition like he does…whether with cars or computers is a fun way to maintaining one’s techie cred for oneself. Especially if their careers are moving more into the managerial and less hands-on engineering/techie aspects.</p>