<p>Is it better to take the full ride to a private school ranked somewhere in the 50's or pay full price at Stanford?</p>
<p>Can you afford full price? What does it mean for your family finances? What does your student want to do after undergrad, what are their interests? What is the other school?</p>
<p>If the student is a future CompSci or Engineering major, and you CAN afford to pay ,without saddling him or you with student loans, which you cant get out of no matter what- then send him to Stanford.
If he is a liberal arts major- i.e. History, or English, etc, etc, then I would go for the full ride. </p>
<p>Second that, Menlo.</p>
<p>Plenty of other schools do have good CS and engineering majors. But some are rather limited.</p>
<p>This question cannot really be answered without the OP specifying:</p>
<ul>
<li>Intended or possible major(s).</li>
<li>What the other school is.</li>
<li>How big a deal the price difference is in terms of family finances, and how much debt would be involved.</li>
</ul>
<p>"“Is it better to take the full ride to a private school ranked somewhere in the 50’s or pay full price at Stanford?”"</p>
<p>What major? What career goal? how would S get paid for? easily from savings and wont be missed? loans?</p>
<p>S isn’t worth full pay compared to a top 50 school for free unless you are so affluent that the money wont be missed.</p>
<p>I’d break my back trying to pay for Stanford for my kids, but you know, I doubt they’d let me do so. </p>