<p>I asked this question because on various threads when people do the “Help should I choose X school or Y school” most of the comments suggest attending the cheaper option even sometimes if it is HYPPS. But there are the kids that choose to attend the more expensive option for various reasons and I wanted to know what those were. Additionally, I wanted to know how parents (who reap the consequences of paying for an expensive school much sooner than the student) justify in paying that amount especially if there are other children currently or will be attending college.</p>
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<p>You mentioned NYU…let’s face it, a lot of kids apply to NYU because they’ve “always wanted to live in New York!” or because they learned about it from Gossip Girl.</p>
<p>GoldenState, glad you got the answers you wanted. :)</p>
<p>But it depends largely on what resources the parents have. Oldfort is happy to pay for the “best”, whether it is a college or a handbag. I assume that Oldfort probably has a 6-figure income and 7 figure (or better) net worth – I might be mistaken, but I think that Oldfort would be foolish if the Gucci bag was affordable only by carrying a balance on the family Mastercard, or if the “best” college meant taking out the max in parent PLUS loans. I think Oldfort is spending money that is available to spend. (Which makes sense: what’s the point of having a lot of money if you don’t use it to buy the things you want? )</p>
<p>So question one for you is: what can your parents reasonably afford? If your family has a beat up old Toyota in the driveway… the Mercedes equivalent of a college might not be workable for you. </p>
<p><a href=“Colleges and Universities in New York City”>http://www.ny.com/academia/colleges.html</a>
There are 35 colleges in NYC. If the location is the main factor then all of them should be ranked a lot higher.</p>
<p>^Only one of them is called “New York University.” Trust me, outside the east coast NYU is a dream school for a lot of kids…and not for any reason other than the name. Yes, a few of its programs are outstanding, but a lot of students want to go just because of the name recognition. </p>
<p>Hard for me to believe that NYU is so popular because it is called “New York University.” </p>
<p>I think a lot of things are hard for you to believe, oldfort. 
You might also not believe that where some of us live a Tory Burch or Michael Kors handbag (let alone Gucci or Prada) would be seen as incredibly conspicuous consumption and be interpreted as a sign of superficiality in the wearer.</p>
<p>Ahhh, interesting that’s all you picked up on my posts. Sally - you are from the midwest? I lived there the first few years when I was right off the boat (plane), so I kind of get you.</p>
<p>Not from but have lived in the midwest a long time. Originally from NYC…and no, I didn’t go to NYU. :)</p>
<p>Wow, oldfort, that post ^^ just reaffirmed what is bothering me about this thread, and I’ve been struggling with putting my finger on it.</p>
<p>The sense of smugness I get here is pretty off-putting. Of course those of us posting on this website value education. We wouldn’t be here if that weren’t the case. My grandmother got a college degree in an era when most women did not do that. She raised 10 kids by herself when her husband died young - and all of those children got college degrees. Every single one of them. But they didn’t do that with money from their parents - they did it on their own through scholarships and work and loans. That’s how I was brought up. That’s how I got through school too. So the thought that success only comes through an education at a highly-ranked school just doesn’t ring true with me.</p>
<p>The most successful people in my company - multi-national, publicly traded corporation - are not all coming from Ivy institutions. They just aren’t. In fact, many are coming out of public schools. I know that’s anecdotal, but it’s a fact. The most successful people I know took very circuitous routes to get where they are, and I think that the emphasis placed on name-brand schools is, for the most part, misplaced.</p>
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This is what a lot of older people think (grandparents). I also put myself through college by myself - loans, scholarship and work. But when I was in college I was able to take out 2500/year student loans when the college tuition was around 5000. Today, college tuition is around 45K and students can only take out 5K in student loans. There is no way any student could go to college today without a lot of parental help.</p>
<p>The smugness you detect here is that some of us have decided to spend our money on our children’s education rather than on other nice to haves, including a lot more Birkin bags. </p>
<p>(Anecdotal, so take it with a grain of salt.) </p>
<p>My high school’s valedictorian last year went to a T5 liberal arts college last year, and now they’re taking a year off for financial reasons. If your parents make this investment, make sure that your life is as stable as it can be. That was my reasoning when I decided between some prestigious(ish) schools/programs vs. my state U. My options were (extremely high EFC although parents can’t afford it due to high CoL, so no aid): Carnegie Mellon (60k/year), UVA Echols Scholar (OOS; 43k/year), UNC Honors Carolina (OOS’ 44k/year), Wake/W&M/some other schools vs. UMD Honors Program (13k/year). My parents had me strike CMU off the list, but had me keep UVA and UNC in the running until April 31st. I loved both UVA and UNC more than UMD, and definitely fit in better at those institutions. However, I decided on UMD as I didn’t want to pose a financial burden. My family’s upper middle class, but we can’t spring for a >30k/year education, especially when I’m planning on law school (and ls’ don’t care if you went to Cornell or Podunk). </p>
<p>Thankfully, I chose UMD. Two days after the decision date, my parents became separated and many other personal problems ensued. Had I chosen UVA/UNC over UMD and decided to work through the debt…my family would be in some terrible, terrible financial trouble. I think I made the right call. I’m not filled with school spirit or anything, but undergrad’s just a stepping stone to bigger things. No sense in paying a huge amount of money for a smoother stone. </p>
<p>TL;DR: Make sure everything is as stable as it will be before you spring for a fancy-schmancy, expensive school. </p>
<p>nice anecdote Vctory^^
I myself was in a similar situation but chose the semi expensive option. For me it was all about feel. I walked on campus and knew that was exactly where I wanted to go. Getting excited and loving a school was enough of a reason for me to choose a more expensive school over my financial safety</p>
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<p>Students where I live do it all the time… but they choosing their colleges off of the US News & World report. They go to the local community college for 2 years, then transfer to the local CSU. </p>
<p>As noted above, my son ran up some costs for his first 2 years… but he paid his own way for his last two years-- and he graduated without debt. </p>
<p>I’m not saying its easy… but that is the best option for may students. They qualify for Pell grants, they get loans and they get jobs. </p>
<p>Attending a college with $45000 tuition is a choice, not the only option. Our sr is our 4th child out of many. Not including our disabled adult child, our college costs for our older 2 kids has not been overwhelming. I get the impression that their choices would not pass snuff for most of the posters in this thread. But, their decisions have absolutely been great options. Our oldest ds, a chemE, works alongside engineers with degrees from top universities with top price tags while he graduated with no debt from Podunk U. There is zero difference between his career and theirs. He worked part time, had scholarships, eventually did UG research and co-oped. Our costs were $3500/yr. He had $0 in student loans. (He graduated from college in 2011.) Similar situation with dd who graduates with her degree this yr.) Our 12th grader will be attending an equally “less than top” college on full scholarship.</p>
<p>We don’t value our children’s education any less bc we can’t afford to pay for them to attend high price-tag schools. I actually find that concept humorous considering I have dedicated my life to ensuring they receive the best K12 education possible–I homeschool(ed) them. That has allowed things like extremely gifted math kid completing alg 1 at age 10 and linguistic loving kid studying multiple foreign languages at a high school level well before high school (and only a yr behind in math compared to gifted math kid.)</p>
<p>Not having the finances for expensive schools also does not mean it is due to frivolous spending or lack of budgeting. In our case, I guess we could have opted to have a smaller family so that we had more disposable income and then our sr wouldn’t be facing the serious injustice of attending a lower tier school. Of course, the alternative of not even existing is probably slightly less appealing. 
Or wishing for the non-existence of adorable little sisters who adore him—that would never even cross his mind. Of course, dh and I would be empty-nesters and could actually be frivolous and spend money on ourselves instead of on the rest of our younger kids that are as equally or more gifted than their older siblings and face the equally awful injustice of either earning full or near full rides at top schools or attending Podunk Us. :). I can’t imagine changing a thing. College is simply another stage in life. Not the only one and certainly not one that needs to consume (literally) family or quality of life.</p>
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You may have described our situation. Our last little Toyota was worth $400 when we finally got rid of it. We also owned a very old Chevy Vega at one time.</p>
<p>This did not prevent the college from asking us to pay a “Mercedes” price for the college education.</p>
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<p>Smaller/local liberal arts colleges frequently give very, very generous scholarships (full rides) to top students. (They require an interview or two, but still.)</p>
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<p>I mean no disrespect, but the “smugness” might come from the assumption that those who don’t spend a fortune on education are making frivolous purchases. There’re quite a few families in (what I’ve heard referred to as) the donut hole, where they cannot afford a school without crippling themselves financially but are too “wealthy” to receive aid. I suppose that my parents could’ve taken different jobs in a lower cost of living area (we’re in the DC burbs), but that would have meant sacrificing long-term careers. Additionally, what about the students with parents going through costly separations/divorces or other personal travesties (such as disease of another family member and helping with the costs, family emergencies, etc. etc., and I reference that because it’s something that my parents have done, and many other families have done, among many other things to help their extended families)? They’re not bad parents or terrible spenders like you paint them to be–or I could be completely misreading what you wrote, because it’s impossible to make a generalization re: a certain type of parent through their child’s college options. </p>
<p>The sense of smugness isn’t from any veil of prestige, it’s from the immediate assumption that every parent making the decision to send their child to a cheaper institution is killing their children’s education and blowing their money on superfluous things like bags.</p>
<p>The phrase “some of us” comes off a tad smug in that it makes the generalization that all parents who can send their children to prestigious schools are doing something right, while the rest are terrible people and frivolous spenders. </p>
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<p>Actually, if the family has an old Toyota, they may have the unspent money, while if they buy a new Mercedes every few years, that may be where they have spent the money, leaving none for kids’ college.</p>
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<p>These days, even that can be hard to manage financially if the parents are not subsidizing the student’s living costs at the parents’ house.</p>