Has Anyone Else Decided to Pay Full Tuition?

<p>Here we go again, we confused education and school. I think you can get a great education at a state school which is different than not going to college at all. But I don't think I'm a bad mom if I don't want to pay for expensive college, I''ll pay for some college but not 200K for 4 years. My husband also supports this thinking. College costs are outrageous nowadays, so to say if parents do not pay for top school is being selfish, etc.. is a bit crazy. Fortunately, my kids know this and they don't mind, eventhough they are great students and we do value education, truly. I come from 4-5 generations of college educated family and 2-3 generations of women who work outside the house, in professional jobs until retirement age(65) with full retirement benefits.</p>

<p>SusieQ,</p>

<p>You get what you pay for. Go ahead and pay for the state school, but we'll see whoose making more money out of college, the ivy grad or state grad</p>

<p>skier, if the state grad has a 4.0 and the ivy grad has a 3.0, then the state grad. or if the state grad did an internship with a big company and gets a job because of it, again, the state grad. or if the state grad just gets lucky, then the state grad.</p>

<p>though generally top private school grads make more, its not a rule</p>

<p>skierdude1000, I'm not so sure that is the case, if I thought that the probability were even 60%, I would pay for an ivy school. There are too many factors that influence how much money a person make. Maybe initially the ivy league get a little bit more, but not always the case, and not over the long run.
I don't know if you believe this but there are studies that show good looking people get hired easily and get paid more as well as tall people. There are slew of factors I can cite but I don't have the time to go into detail.</p>

<p>Skierdude1000</p>

<p>US News has done very large research reports on this subject,</p>

<pre><code> There is VERY LITTLE if any evidence to suggest that going to an ivy league school means you'll make more money. The education you choose really doesn't correlate to income at all. The study conducted researched students that were accepted to top universities and then chose far less distinguished schools (often second or even third tier) for either financial or familial reasons. They tracked these students and found that their income was equivalent to those that attended ivy schools. The researchers found after repeating the study that it's the type of person you are not the school you ultimately choose. If you're a Harvard person, it doesn't matter if you go to a tiny state school you'll probably earn comparable to other abled Harvard grads.

The main reason for income inflation is obviously income passed from family. Son takes over company, inherits, or close friend of the family hooks someone up with a job. Students with similarly wealthy families and connections often don't even attend college and wind up just as wealthy, but they're not mentioned because they didn't seek formal education. So really it's perfectly viable that SusieQ will possibly earn far more money and pay far less for school, depending on the type of student. If you google or use searchlight for educational journals you'll find that there really isn't any causation and very little correlation.
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<p>Red&Gold, I'm done with school years ago. I'm debating this subject for a daughter in hs. I paid very little for school and got ten times over what I paid, so I do believe in what I'm saying here.
You actually get more money if you become an entrepreneur than go to an Ivy league and work for other people. The only career that might matter is professorship, where college/university wants professor to come from top notch school, etc.. Recently the local UC turned down a well known physicist because he did not belong to some prestigious society for physics(sorry I can't think of it on top of my head).
Think of all the billionaires of USA, the Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Paul Allen, etc.. Where do they go to school? Not all are from Ivy, even Bill Gates is a Ivy drop out.
Locallly I heard Paul Mirage, the billionaire that sold hot pockets to Nestle, he graduated from UC Berkeley.
In fact, the reason these people are rich because they are non-conformists, strike out on their own, not the type of people that spend time worry whether or not they go to top notch school to get top notch education to earn a good salary so they can climb the corporate ladder(oh so boring,imo).
However, I'm not saying education has no purpose, it does serve as a good foundation, it can help you to succeed, but it's not a guarantee.</p>

<p>
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You get what you pay for. Go ahead and pay for the state school, but we'll see whoose making more money out of college, the ivy grad or state grad

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<p>I must respectfully disagree with you skierdude. My adult experience has been absolutely contrary to this because I know many financially and professionally successful people who attended state schools. On top of the education factor, a graduate who is in debt for possibly over $100K will take a very long time to gain equal footing with a grad who received substantial scholarship to a state school.</p>

<p>When I was in high school, as you are, our guidance counselors tended to encourage ivy league applications because it made the top ranked high school look even better. But trust me, the "brag value" of ivy will be greatly diminished as soon as commencement is over. And at your ten year reunion, you won't be able to discern who went to what type of school.</p>