http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-04-16/how-children-0001-choose-their-college
It’s not as cushy as it sounds. Not all the catering outfits are willing to peel the grapes they put on board.
Lol. I guess that if I were that wealthy, I could see the allure of travelling that way both for comfort and to save the time and inconvenience of traveling like the 99%. Our college tours were conducted in our Subaru Outback (Claremont consortium, UCLA, USC, UCSD, Oxy), or tagging college visits onto pre-existing trips to a wedding (Northwestern) or family vacation (Georgetown). There were a few schools (Williams, Amherst) that D applied to that we hadn’t visited due to distance and cost. They were ones that we figured we would visit if she got into them and not her #1 or #2 LAC choice.
This reminds me of D3’s friend at our state flagship. They met as roommates for a 3 week session held before the start of freshman year. She was from NYC, a wealthy background (as in family owned an apartment in Manhattan and two other vacation homes), and was at midwest Big 10 school because, according to the student, her mother wanted her to experience a different world as she would be living the rest of her life in NYC.
She had a bit of an adjustment problem-first concern was the lack of a campus laundry service. She was disappointed D3 had never been cow-tipping as that’s what everyone in America’s heartland does for fun. When the semester started she was in a different dorm than D3 but they chatted from time to time. She met up with D3 and her friends for lunch one day and said she was having a hard time meeting people and making friends. She further remarked that she was too different from the other students at the school. When asked what she meant by that statement, she pointed out that when she came to visit her senior year of HS, she flew there in her family’s private jet. D3 said it was a bit embarrassing as she and her friends just looked at each other. How do you respond to a statement like that? Lol
She left before the end of the semester and later attended a private school in DC.
OP- Please put a brief snipit from the article or a few lines about what you would like to discuss, not just a link.
Perhaps the biggest luxury with respect to college that the top 0.001% income/wealth families have is that any financial constraints for their kids’ college costs are purely voluntary ones, since the cost of any college is pocket change for them.
While I agree that it’s a bit over the top, the truth is that the $150K they are dropping is less impactful to them than the $2,000 I just dropped to go see my son’s final 3 choices across the country last weekend.
The other thing that the super wealthy may be able to do is get the kid in with a huge donation.
Since legacy doesn’t count as much as it did in the past, you have to go out and visit some safety schools.
I don’t know. To each his own I guess. We took 3 different trips with our D and each was wonderful. The 1st exploratory trip we took with DH we did 7 in-state colleges in 8 days. Frankly, doing even 2 schools in a day can be taxing especially if your kid wants to take advantage of an interview opportunity. I really can’t imagine doing 5 or 6 in 2 or 3 days even with luxury jets. It’s so much to process. We could just have simple tastes but we loved the road-trip, hitting some favorite cities and some places we’d never been. We liked the down time between schools to actually talk about them. The other two trips were plane trips after acceptances and we couldn’t afford the full family to attend. Still, each parent got some fun alone time with D. Looking forward to this with S in a couple years. If we could afford 80K for a college tour, I’m still not sure we’d do it in the manner described in the article. I guess it sorta made me sad to think that perhaps 2 or 3 days is all some people have for stuff like this.
I don’t begrudge people money. They aren’t hurting anyone by taking this route and they are paying lots of people in the process. I just don’t see the appeal of this particular method.
My daughter knows a boy from one of the wealthiest families in the US. The father was interested in one of those crazy expensive flights. But the mom knew someone killed on a private plane and would do it. They ended up flying commercial ( though mostly first class)
My roommate last year is directly related to an incredibly wealthy man once discussed on this forum (he is financing her education). She chose the school because it was close to home and had a strong reputation within the state. I understand that she applied to one other school, Oral Roberts, but declined to go there because of how religiously oppressive it was.
This is not the 0.001%. I’d assume the 0.001% would either own a family jet, or already have a Netjets card and their own private college counselor.
http://www.airspacemag.com/flight-today/ride-sharing-with-the-rich-27330966/?c=y&page=1
http://biz.yahoo.com/special/luxury083106_article1.html
This reminds me of the periodic return of a story about a certain online escort service. It’s an advertisement for the jet company and the college advisors. They’re using a marketing technique designed to catch the aspirational customer–people who can’t afford the top of the line service, but will buy a less expensive version. Just in time to fill that college applications summer camp…
@turtletime , I hear you!
I have done two schools in one day, by car, and it went pretty well. If we had access to a private jet, I suppose it would be even better.
Fly to college #1
9am info session followed by 1 hour tour.
Department head meeting at 11am.
Back onto plane around noonish.
Lovely catered lunch and conversation while in route to college #2.
Arrive at college #2 around 1:30.
2pm info session followed by 1 hour tour.
Department head meeting at 4 and back onto plane at 5 for another catered meal for dinner.
Arrive back home by 7 (or to the Ritz Carlton/Four Seasons if we are seeing another school tomorrow).
S1’s prep school had some billionaire kids and merely 8-figure kids. There’s a lot of pressure on these kids to get into a ivy. Some got into harvard; one got off the WL at dartmouth when parents donated a bldg. Some lower-on-the-financial food chain kids whose parents have only 7-figure trust funds, still got into harvard on their political dynastic, celeb last name.
Then there was the development case kid who got gossiped about for being such a dud that even his parents’ wealth couldn’t grease his admission into UMich.
After spending $150K on a college tour trip visiting 8 colleges, I’m not sure if I would want 24 sweatshirts ( 8 x 3, 1 for mom, dad, and kid) cluttering up the plane.
“The deal includes varsity wear for the entire family emblazoned with the letters and emblems of each college — Princeton hoodies for everyone! — plus matching notebooks”
Once they decide on a college, what happens to the other 21 sweatshirts? Sorry, I couldn’t think of anything else to say about this silliness.
You give the other 21 sweatshirts to your domestic staff. One to each staff member.
I wonder if it was this guy, on a college trip to Yale, a former Microsoft executive piloting his own plane with his son on board missed the New Haven airport and crashed into a house, killing both himself and his son, and two children in the house. Sad. And he had survived a previous crash into the Columbia River.
D1 worked with a young woman whose father was very known in finance. As busy as he was,he always took her calls and tried to do father/daughter things with her. One time he flew to NYC from London to go to a concert with her then flew out to HKG after the concert. It would have been easier for him to just buy the tickets for all of her friends, treated them to a nice night out, but instead he gave his time. He wanted to share the moment with his daughter, and the only way for him to do that was to do it via private jet. I imagine for some of those very wealthy parents, time is probably more valuable for them. They want to visit schools with their kid, but had to do it as efficiently as possible. I actually applaud some of those parents for making the effort. Truth be told, once they arrive at a school, no one knows whether they got there via private jet or Subaru.