<p>So, I'm going to be applying to college next year, and I have been looking at colleges like Harvey Mudd, and Reed, both over 60K a year. My mom and I have put in the financial calculator at both these schools, and likely I would get 0 from either. Would it be worth it to attend one of these schools, given my family would end up with 240+k poorer? All thoughts/ feedback welcome.</p>
<p>The people you need to ask are your parents. If they can comfortably afford $60K/year then great. If your family needs to go into hock for the entire amount then no. If you can get a comparable education for less money why wouldn’t you?</p>
<p>Agreed. Your family are the only ones who can answer this question - you’ve got to make a financial plan and weigh the pros and cons together. If you’re looking at that much money, I would suggest looking elsewhere: I don’t know much about the US, but I know that Canada has very high quality education for less than that. UBC, U of T and McGill are among the top 50 universities in the world and would cost less than that…</p>
<p>there’s a wealth of info on CC and in the press that suggests that debt greater than 15-25K for four years is something strongly to be avoided. A little searching will demonstrate this. And, just to be clear, you realize that you yourself can only borrow $5500 your first year and about $27K over four years; any other borrowing requires a family member’s signature and that introduces all kinds of problems for family dynamics, family credit scores, family future borrowing ability (upcoming sibling college applicants?), etc.; effectively, the family member is signing on to assume your debt if you should fail to make payments for any reason, including work disability or death. It would be very wise for that family member to put a term life insurance policy on you to the amount of the borrowing, an add’l expense for the co-signer. Stark stuff.</p>
<p>^^important points. The big question is how much of that would be debt? </p>
<p>I know of a family who had 250,000 in the bank for each of their kids. One used it for a full pay top notch college and the other opted to go tuition free on merit and used the money for post grad studies. No loans involved. Both parents work at high paying jobs and retirement was secure. That family decided they had enough money and saving that the kids could decide to go to the most expensive school or keep the money… </p>
<p>But most people are not so nicely set up and have to make more sacrifices out of current income and take some debt. It just matter how important an expensive private is to the family. Some parents don’t see the value in it, much to the dismay of the student. Usually the debt money is ‘funny money’ to the student and they don’t really get it what life is like paying big loan payments, Going into a little debt for a great private is one thing. Going into debt that hurts your future like some people do 100k is just not worth it imo. It is a luxury, and not really necessary.</p>
<p>If I remember correctly, Harvey Mudd has more ROI than any other college in the US.</p>
<p>I never trusted those ROI calculations. Any service academy would have an infinite ROI - no cost, get paid, have a good paying job after - and yet they never show up.</p>
<p>Plus, those schools topping the ROI rankings are either heavy with engineering and/or CS majors, or are among the (relatively few) consulting and/or Wall Street recruiting targets. For most students, choice of major has a much bigger effect on ROI than choice of school.</p>
<p>If your family can comfortably afford it,then its worth it…if not, then look for more cost effective choices.</p>
<p>Not sure if it would be a consideration for you, but HM does have some merit scholarships. One is automatic, based on scores for $10,000. When we visited last year, they said that about a quarter of the class got that award. They also had a few full scholarships for individuals underrepresented in engineering, and that could include women or URM.</p>
<p>The fact that u are even asking this question suggests that 240+k is not chump change to your family. </p>
<p>240+k/yr schools don’t have a monopoly on a good education nor have a monopoly on springboards for a good career. U cd get an excellent education (& have fun, too) for half the cost and have a happy life. </p>
<p>A number of senior VPs at my company have engineering degrees from public US universities. Even though these execs could easily afford 240+k college for their kids, they’re also questioning the reasonableness of it.</p>
<p>Hey, so my grandmother made a college fund when I was younger and we do have the money to spend. I would not end up in debt. But yeah like GMTplus7 said, “240+k is not chump change to your family.” This money very well could be spent on something else, like further studies, or a downpayment on a house. </p>
<p>@Erin’s Dad hey I know 
I just wanted CC’s opinion </p>
<p>@jscmom it’s a stretch for me to be accepted lol. I do not believe I would get any scholarship money from Harvey Mudd – though of course yes I would still submit the financial aid papers.</p>
<p>of course, you’re always better off saving as much of grandmom’s fund as you can if you have the understanding that it can be used for education or a house. Depending on your family’s income, you might go to a very reputable college, it sounds like, for somewhere between 15 and 45K. The school that would have cost us the most was Pomona but one of the cheaper ones was Penn, whereas Tulane was 33K and Colgate 41K, so you just don’t know till you run the npcs and, really, get the FA package.</p>
<p>Just to throw one more thing into the mix, please keep in mind that your major makes a difference. Going to an extremely expensive school to become a lowly paid high school teacher is probably a questionable decision. You would be just as much of a teacher going to ‘Ol’ State U’ as going to ‘Big Bucks Private U’. </p>
<p>Unlike the last poster, I believe that you, a high school student, should go to the best college with the best program mix that you can afford irrespective of what your major may be initially and even what your post-graduation plans may be. </p>
<p>I get a little tired of people denigrating high school teaching and other positions that supposedly can be done adequately with a college education priced a certain way or through a certain type of college. For goodness sake, what does a high school student know about his/her potential to become a great teacher, inspire others, become a vital member of a community, and how he/she will get there when all we are talking about is getting a great education?! </p>
<p>And by the way, a high school student has 50 or so years of employment ahead of him/her, and during that time that life will open up any number of directions, turns, opportunities, challenges of a personal and professional nature, including advanced degrees- which many teachers have achieved, by the way, through sheer love of learning. And someone who really should only be speaking for/about him/herself is talking about placing deliberate limitations?</p>
<p>So… My advice is that you should go where the financial package suits your needs. Distinguish yourself academically and in your extra-curriculars and take a part time job to ensure success across the board. Be sure you are getting the best financial aid package at the best college you can get- ask lots of questions of the Financial Aid Department if you find alternative packages elsewhere more attractive- and see what you can work out. </p>
<p>And don’t settle easily just because someone else thinks he/she knows your future possibilities better than you do.</p>
<p>Good luck with your college seach!</p>
<p>Hear hear Markham! People complain about the equality of public school education and the, yep, quality of the teachers. Hopefully these are not the same people who tell students “don’t bother going to a good private university, if you’re just (!) going to be a high school teacher”</p>
<p>Don’t go into a lot of debt, no matter the career choice. Seek out colleges that fit your learning style, offers your fields of interest and that your parents can afford or are willing to pay. You or your parents may decide $60,000 a year is okay or outrageous. </p>
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<p>It really comes down to what you are looking to get out of college. If you are simply looking to get in, get a degree, and get out, then it’s probably not worth it. If you’re looking for a unique or premium experience while getting a degree, then it may be worth the extra cost. That said, affordability is always top priority. If it isn’t realistically affordable for you, then it’s not worth it… if it is affordable for you, but you are curious if the extra cost is worth it, then it may behoove you to consider the more expensive school if it’s a place that really interests you.</p>
<p>It’s sort of like asking: Is it worth paying $2000 for a nice Apple computer when I could get a generic computer at Walmart for $300? Both computers will likely get the job done, but the Apple sure is a lot nicer to use!</p>
<p>Best answer^</p>
<p>Big question: are you planning to pursue a graduate or professional degree? If so, don’t overspend for undergrad.</p>
<p>Another big question: which college has better employer recruiting?</p>
<p>While on vacation recently in Montreal, we couldn’t get out of the college tour habit, so we went to see McGill University, just to see what a prestigious school like that looks like, even though D would be headed to her $60k NESCAC school in a few weeks. It is considered one of the top schools in the world and D could have probably gotten in and it would be cheaper, about 50% cheaper. Ten minutes into the tour my wife whispers to me, “Now I know why we’re paying for (the NESCAC}” The fact that freshmen are in lectures of up to 500 and a class of 50-75 is considered “small” for some upper level classes, often taught by grad students was more than enough to convince us that despite the prestige factor, you sometimes get what you pay for.</p>