<p>Wow I am glad I don’t live in California. In Texas you can live in a nice suburb for about 200K. How do people in California manage to live?</p>
<p>I know about Texas, I actually looked at the Dallas area at one time. Teacher pay is about the same as here and the houses were A LOT cheaper. </p>
<p>Most people get help from family or purchased long ago.</p>
<p>This makes me certain that I would never want to live in California. I don’t fully understand real estate appraisal, but is California really that desirable a location to warrant the cost of living being be so high? </p>
<p>Could someone please explain to an ignorant freshman why it is so much more expensive to live in say San Fransisco or New York as opposed to Houston or St. Louis?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Btw I think it is very admirable that people all across America choose to become teachers despite the low pay. I know that without my amazing teachers I could never have attended the school I do. Had it not been for the encouragement of biology teacher I would have never even applied to Yale. That is why on the last day of school I wrote letters to the four most influential teachers I had throughout high school to let them know how much I appreciated it. I would like to do the same to you. Thank you for being a teacher, coming from the student side, I see how unappreciated teachers are in our society and I think it is absolutely sad.</p>
<p>^^ for your last paragraph, AMEEN [amen =]</p>
<p>20 years ago, I moved away from So Cal, thinking I’d NEVER be able to afford to buy a house. And husband and I are physicians! Ditto about teachers.</p>
<p>Back to the original question, I was involved because I value higher education. I want to give my children opportunities. The process is much more complex and colleges are much more expensive than when I went to college in the 1970’s.</p>
<p>It happened that D had a dream school from the time that she was a freshman in high school.We researched the school, went to information sessions, visited that school and others and it always came back to being the one she really loved. Sadly, she did not receive much support in the school system (one person even laughed at her), but she always had someone who believed in her and in her dream, and that person is me.</p>
<p>Dartmouth and Harvard were never a choice. It was really important to my S to go to a school with specific qualities. My passion was driven by his passion to get where he wanted to go and limited time to pursue the exploration during senior year. I thought that getting where he wanted to be would free him and give him the best opportunity to become the person he wants to become. If it had not been so important to him he would have gone to a state school and that would have been fine with me. Finding what is best for your child is what it is about. Seeing the smile on his face now that he is on break after first semester, I think we accomplished what we were going for.</p>