I am trying to get some opinions on whether or not it is worth paying almost twice the amount for an undergraduate dgree from a
Sorry computer glitch!
I am trying to get opinions on whether or not a more expensive private education is worth paying for over an undergrad CSU or UC. I had heard that privates have better opportunities for job fairs with internships and jobs. This is assuming full tutiton on states and about 50K per year on privates.
Rarely!
What is your major and career goal? What private schools are you considering? Which UCs and CSUs are you considering?
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My daughter has been accepted to Santa Clara University and Loyola Marymount on the privates and San Diego State for now. Waiting for Cal Poly Slo and UC decisions. Also got accepted to Cal Lutheran with a generous merit scholarship.
Business/Communications major depending on the school.
What is her major and career goal??
Can you easily pay for the privates and not really miss the money? Is your retirement fund healthy?
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The answer to the question is really very student specific. Everyone will have their own opinion, but without knowing your daughter, it’s all just noise in the wind. Besides, what does “paying more” mean? One dollar more? One thousand? Ten thousand? Is a degree from MIT in Environmental Science (I don’t even know if they offer that major) worth $1,000 more than a degree in the same major from Cal Poly SLO? My answer: it depends on the student (among other things).
Money is always a consideration but also academic and social fit are important when selecting a college. I agree with @BelknapPoint, it really depends upon the student and your pocket book.
Paying more roughly meaning States at about 25K, UC’s at about 35K, privates at about 50K. Where I am going with this is that with the States and UC’s we are able to help her with a masters when that time comes. Someone had told me that the advantages for a private make it worthwhile to not worry about a graduate degree at this time because most likely the job opportunities will be strong enough right out of school that she could work, earn money and slowly get a graduate degree on her own later.
@mom2collegekids we have been saving since the day they were born. We CAN pay but 200K would be it. But initially thought the graduate degree would be in that.
Blanket statements like this are worthless. It is so dependent on the individual student and situation.
I think privates have a lot to offer, smaller class sizes, more individualized attention, internships, job placement, etc… That being said, I wouldn’t pay full sticker for LMU or Santa Clara… I would for say Stanford, Ivies, and other top tier if my child was at that level. I went to SDSU and thought I got a fine education, but it’s an enormous and very impacted school. Our deal with our daughter was that if she got scholarships to bring privates down to UC level she could go. So far the 5 she’s been accepted at have come in with enough merit money.
@BelknapPoint @Gumbymom I do know what you are saying. Of course she needs to be the type of student that reaches out to opportunities at any school and in life. She would be one to do that. With a student like that do you feel employers really care where the undergraduate comes from? Do they reach out more to Private universities than other schools with job fairs and internship opportunities?
@socalmom007 It is the smaller class size that is so nice and something she wants! Neither LMU or Santa Clara came down to UC levels both gave her roughly 15K off sticker which makes them both about 50Kish. However, Cal Lutheran did bring it down to UC level. Will be seeking info on that private on another thread but I don’t believe it is as well known as the other two which may or may not matter. This is what I am trying to get a feel for.
Neither of my son’s attend a private university: (1 at SDSU and other at UCD), both have internship opportunities available to them through the career center, job fairs, alumni network etc… but it is up to each student to take advantage of these opportunities. If they do not, a private vs a public school will not make a difference. Bottom line is up to you as a parent and your student to make that decision. No one can tell which is better and which school is worth your hard earned money. Both my son’s made their choices based on affordability, academics and social fit and both will not be burdened with any undergrad debt so there is not the pressure to try a get that high paying job right out of college.
I will say it again: it all depends on the individual student and situation. You cannot make generalized statements about this stuff that will have any applicability to your student and her situation. It would be nice if life could be packaged up and defined like this, but that’s just not how it works. (On second thought, it wouldn’t be nice. It would just be easier. And boring.)
it was for us. One of our kids is a Santa Clara grad. We were basically full pay (she got a $6000 a year scholarship). The school is very expensive, but it absolutely was the right place for our kid. One big plus…no teaching assistants. All classes taught by faculty. We and she also loved the Jesuit philosophy of community service.
Our other kid went to Boston University. His scholarship,was much more generous…plus the school was under $40,000 a year when he started. He was a music performance major, and it was all about the instrument teacher. BU had what he wanted.
Only you can decide if you want to spend this amount of money. In our house …we didn’t let our kids apply to any colleges we wouldn’t fund. Did you discuss finances with your kiddo before applications were sent? R are you having second thoughts about the costs now?
I want to add…both of our kids have acceptance options that were FAR less costly.
So…if you have $200,000…you have $50,000 a year…saved. Your kiddo can borrow $5500 freshman year. So now you are up to $55,500. Oh and I see she got a $15,000 scholarship. Excellent.
So it sounds like SCU is affordable.
How much additional can she earn by working…and how much are you able to contribute out of current earnings?