<p>balletgirl-
The actual cost of a private school after financial aid grant money and work-study is probably more like $70K-$90K for most middle class families. The interest rates on PLUS loans are very low and you have a long time to pay them back. The difference in cost between public and private is not that great.</p>
<p>I don't believe this for one minute for families making over $150,000.</p>
<p>If you are an intelligent, capable individual, you sould be able to accomplish what you want to accomplish with a degree from a good public university over a school like Baylor or SMU.</p>
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The difference in cost between public and private is not that great.
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<p>It really depends. The majority of private schools can't pay all that much -- they rely on the students to pay. So for the most part, publics are going to be cheaper. But when it comes to top privates, they have to compete harder (i.e. work doubly harder on financial aid) in order to measure up well with publics. And yes, not always do publics have the best financial aid, but usually they're going to be, on the whole, cheaper to attend for the middle class.</p>
<p>I just ran a scenario for a family of 5 with an income of $150K using the EFC formula for private universities on the collegeboard website and came up with $15K per year, times four years = $60K.</p>
<p>It also depends on the quality of the state universities. We live in Virginia so have UVA and William and Mary as public universities at an instate cost of $15,000/year tuition, room, board and fees. It is hard to imagine going elsewhere when this is available. Older S is a theater/playwriting major at VCU in Richmond; middle S is at UVA (only applied there and W and M).</p>
<p>The average US college going family does not have 5 people. More like 3.5</p>
<p>I think, if you are planning on grad school, a high level public (UNC, UVA, Berkley, UofM etc) is the way to go.</p>
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Why this seeming flight to expensive private schools, when good in-state schools are as good (sometimes better) academically and always, always a better deal financially?
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<p>I think you are mistaken in your premise, there is no such flight. At our local h.s., 27 kids were accepted to the Southern California private school you alluded to, but only 7 chose to attend. The other 20 chose instead to attend one of the several outstanding public schools in our state.</p>
<p>Thought about this decision a lot for my son. He is applying to privates and publics. Toured UCLA and USC. USC is a nicer place in many ways. The USC freshman dorms are right next door to the library. The UCLA freshman dorms are way up on a hill - maybe a quarter to half mile walk. He can have a car with parking at USC. UCLA has no parking for freshmen. At USC the engineering school is more integrated with the rest of campus. At UCLA it's on a whole separate side of campus. USC allows you to take any classes outside of your major that you are interested in. UCLA has impacted classes. At USC over half of the undergraduates do research. At UCLA it's around 10%. UCLA has TA's for most of the freshman classes, not USC - they have smaller classes. USC has an incredible alumni network for getting a job after graduation. UCLA is so huge that the alums don't really help each other like that. USC has a variety of students from all over the world. UCLA has mostly Californians. The only advantage UCLA has is cost and neighborhood. Ultimately, he will have to choose if he gets into both, but if he chooses USC, I'm willing to pay for it. He is also applying out-of-state and would actually rather go to one of those schools just to experience something different even though that will add to the cost because of plane flights, etc.</p>
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I just ran a scenario for a family of 5 with an income of $150K using the EFC formula for private universities on the collegeboard website and came up with $15K per year, times four years = $60K.
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<p>Not true. Only if you have no savings and have been renting.</p>
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Toured UCLA and USC. USC is a nicer place in many ways. The USC freshman dorms are right next door to the library. The UCLA freshman dorms are way up on a hill - maybe a quarter to half mile walk. He can have a car with parking at USC. UCLA has no parking for freshmen. At USC the engineering school is more integrated with the rest of campus. At UCLA it's on a whole separate side of campus. USC allows you to take any classes outside of your major that you are interested in. UCLA has impacted classes. At USC over half of the undergraduates do research. At UCLA it's around 10%. UCLA has TA's for most of the freshman classes, not USC - they have smaller classes. USC has an incredible alumni network for getting a job after graduation. UCLA is so huge that the alums don't really help each other like that. USC has a variety of students from all over the world. UCLA has mostly Californians.
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<p>It depends on the kid. DD's preference was UCLA over USC after touring both schools within an hour. However, all of her friends like USC.</p>
<p>Balletgirl Wrote:</p>
<p>["NYU at $196,000 over SUNY, Binghamton at $64,000"]</p>
<p>Are you seriously saying that Suny Binghamton offers a comparable education to NYU? LOL... Your'e supposed to be comparing state schools with private universities that are somewhat EQUAL in educational standards... NYU VS Binghamton doesn't qualify....</p>
<p>You're comparing the 34th ranked school in the entire country (NYU), that has a 29% admit rate with an 84th ranked school that has a 50% admit rate...I know for business, liberal arts and the performing arts especially..NYU is far and away a better enviroment to be in, even considering the higher pricetag. The difference in prestige when you put "NYU" on a job application or "Suny Binghamton" is HUGE...</p>
<p>I don't want to sound elitist but I'm from NY and I am transferring into NYU for the Spring, I can tell you in NY, Suny Binghamton is preceived to be a school where the "not so smart" kids go to and attending NYU is thought to be a great accomplishment, second only to attending Cornell or Columbia..and like I said for the arts, getting into NYU's Tisch school or Stern for business is even on par with Cornell and Columbia....</p>
<p>Life stinks because unfortunately, sometimes you need to pay for an advantage but make no mistake, attending NYU over Binghamton is A BIG ADVANTAGE...one that justifies an extra 100k in cost IMO.</p>
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I don't want to sound elitist but I'm from NY and I am transferring into NYU for the Spring, I can tell you in NY, Suny Binghamton is preceived to be a school where the "not so smart" kids go to and attending NYU is thought to be a great accomplishment, second only to attending Cornell or Columbia..and like I said for the arts, getting into NYU's Tisch school or Stern for business is even on par with Cornell and Columbia....
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<p>I respectfully disagree. Unless you are actually attending Stern or Tisch (maybe Steinhardt because if you are looking to teach you will definitely be placed in some of the best public schools in the city), you are not better served attending NYU (gallatin/arts & sciences/ school of social work) and paying more $$ than you would be attending Binghamton or Stonybrook.</p>
<p>Agree with Sybbie. Track87, it all does depend on perspective; for many hs students in NY state, who are ONLY looking at state schools, Bing is considered a top choice, and NOT for the "not so smart" kids.</p>
<p>My D has UBuffalo as her safety, and likes it a lot. She also has one of those "higer priced privates" (where she might get a decent merit offer) as well as a couple of reach for the stars schools. Come April, we'll crunch some numbers, and think very hard about the cost/benefit ratio.</p>
<p>Yeah..if you are ONLY looking at state schools, Bing would be agood choice..we are talking in comparision to Top private schools or even highly rated publics...there just isn't any comparison between a SUNY school or NYU or Columbia or Cornell... I'm sorry if you think there is, but you're not living in reality.... Any High School senior I knew who had the ability to get accepted into a highly rated school, be it Public or Private and could find a way to pay for it considered a Suny school as a "last resort"....</p>
<p>Sybbie:</p>
<p>Well you named 3 schools at NYU that are "worth" the extra money..so you are partly making my point..as far as CAS (College of arts and sciences) , some departments such as English (I plan on an English Minor) are clearly far superior than Binghamton..as far as the rest.. a few majors may be equivalent in reality but perception is still important in the real world , if you don't know that Binghamton's perceived academic standards are far below NYU's than you are just fooling yourself or have been misinformed.</p>
<p>Notice, I said "Perception" ...I'll repeat myself...even if some Suny programs are on par with NYU, I don't know ANYONE who thinks attending Binghamton was anything more than their "last option".. in my high school, Binghamton or Stony Brook were the last places you wanted to attend unless there was absolutely no possible way to afford going to a higher ranked school or your grades weren't good enough, be it public or private...there just isn't a connect between the words "SUNY" and "High Quality Education" in New York... just don't ask any parents,lol... because if their kids goto a SUNY school, you'll get a skewed opinion... Don't get the wrong idea either...I believe you can definitely get a good education at Bing but the NYU/Bing comparision is just silly on many levels...</p>
<p>helenrez,</p>
<p>"going to the State school for free" is very often contingent on achieving high GPA while in college( merit scholarships and such) . Every year lots of students discover how much they actually need to work to keep the money. :-) Also I think any paying parent would not look kindly at the slacking-off student, no matter how large or how small the parent contribution is.</p>
<p>Track my dear, </p>
<p>The 3 schools (actually 2, I just threw in Steinhardt if you are looking to have a good student teaching/ internship experience because at the end of the day new teachers are paid the same amount of $$ no matter where you went to school) that I named as being "worth the money" all have specialized programs that you would be hard pressed to find other places. </p>
<p>I went to college during the time when you only went to NYU because you had money and you could not get into anywhere else, a masters from an Ivy a 2nd Masters (thanks to wonderful employer who paid full freight for me to attend) & am a Phd candidate at NYU along with more than 10 years working directly the various undergrad schools and admissions departments at NYU so I think am more than well aware of the strenghts and weaknesses at the individual schools. </p>
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just don't ask any parents,lol... because if their kids goto a SUNY school, you'll get a skewed opinion...
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<p>No skewed opinion or bitter rantings here as my child does not attend SUNY or NYU (did not apply to either) so I don't have a dog in this fight (however, she did actually take classes at NYU when she was in high school and was pulling A's without a breaking a sweat).</p>
<p>Hey..I have no problem with differing opinions...I'm glad you're aware of NYU's strengths and weaknesses but I still maintain the perception is there, whether it's justified or not.. Currently (not 20 years ago), comparing Bing and NYU doesn't not make sense...they are two institutions with completely different public reputations and unfortunately attending a Suny school tends to have a negative connotation attached to it in many peoples eyes. (not negative in the sense that Bing. is a bad place, only in the sense that a Binghamton student is not thought of generally as being "intellectual" .. not the reality in many cases but a common perception nontheless)</p>
<p>I know you have your own opinion, I know no one will change it, I respect that, I just don't happen to agree with Bing/NYU being a legitimate comparison.</p>
<p>Track87,</p>
<p>To put a somewhat finer point on it, I agree with Sybbie, unless you are going to one of its specialized schools like Tisch or pursuing a very specific degree like finance at Stern, most of NYU is no better academically for undergraduates than a good state school and thus, I think, one struggles for a reason to pay a premium there. </p>
<p>That is not to say, NYU is not a good university. It is. And it has some top ranked graduate programs; law, art history and philosophy most notably. </p>
<p>If you compare it with the likes of William & Mary, Universities of Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Vermont, Washington, Teaxas and yes even SUNY, Binghamton, it hard to find a justification for the price.</p>
<p>BTW, I think the quality of the education at NYU overall is closer to SUNY Binghamton than it is to Columbia or Cornell in Arts & Sciences and Engineering.</p>
<p>My mother's favorite tagline throughout the college admissions process was, "You might as well go to Binghamton." </p>
<p>My own sense of NYU and Binghamton (I considered both, so I can speak to both particularly) was that NYU wouldn't give me more of what I wanted-- indeed, I thought it might even give me less of what I wanted-- than Bing. I won't deny that NYU is worth the cost for some (as are some of the other schools that have been mentioned directly or indirectly, like GW, BU, etc.), but it wasn't worth it for me.</p>