So would you pick Stanford over Harvard for undergrad given location?
- Alumni network is arguably stronger (or at least as strong).
- Much cheaper.
I’ll put it this way: If my family had 8 figures net worth, I’d pick Stanford. If 200K is actually real money to me, then I’d take the big scholarship to USC and invest that 200K.
Unfortuantely not the case… We don’t want the choice to be only about cost after working so hard to get the chance to go to some elite schools. But USC is a top school for business which makes this decision so difficult.
^What isn’t the case?
And your kid also worked very hard to earn that full-tuition scholarship to USC. It’s not like they hand those out like candy. Only a handful are given out by USC each year. Let me put it this way: There are fewer full-tuition merit scholarships given out by all the top 25 schools all added together than there are freshmen slots at any one of HYPSM.
Stanford does not have undergraduate business major. The closest one is MS & E. Some of the strongest kids switch to CS once they are in. And many will get internships at the top tech companies after 1st year.
If you initially planned or worked all the way to what you have now, maybe you should stay with your original plan.
Parents need to be able/willing/ready to pay to make it happen.
USC is elite. Honestly and politely I am not sure how much more needs to be said. 2.2 million students per year in US plus thousands of international student apply to us schools each year. If there are 40k spots in the top 25 for the US portion of the pool that’s means only the top 18 percent get in. And now take out legacies athletes and urm it’s even a smaller pool. USC is in that pool.
The other big names definitely rank higher and have higher prestige among the people in the pool with them. But very few people care but the other people in the pool with you.
USC is 70k per year times four years.
They are giving you a free house.
He has earned the great reward. Enjoy it.
There is only one chance to go to Stanford or Harvard for undergrad school. but if you can’t afford it then…
^ Yeah, but
- Life doesn’t end at undergrad. The fetishization of undergrad (vs. grad school or HS or anything else in life in your 20’s or later) by some on here is odd, to me.
- I'm far from convinced that undergrad at Harvard/Stanford beats undergrad at USC + $200K (which, even with a fairly conservative estimated growth rate of 5% a year becomes $1.5M in 40 years).
@PurpleTitan couldn’t agree more
I will mention again and for @CU123
USC has produced the 4th most billionaires of any US university I don’t think Stanford or Harvard would have been worth it for them. Not even considering the full ride. And their amount of alumni giving is mentioned in the press as astronomical compared to other schools
So if I was a football star and was offered a full ride I should say no and play football for Harvard or Stanford and pay them 73k a year after taxes for the privilege of doing so. Just so I could impress my boss neighbor or someone at s cocktail party
If it were revenue neutral I would pick h or s of course. But this whole conversation is silly.
He is smart enough to get s full ride and into h and s. He is smart enough to finish top of his class at usc and go to hbs or hms or Stanford law.
And can you think of a more pleasant climate
The OP said that at USC it is a full tuition scholarship , which translates into about $50,000/per year in saving…
Nothing pays 5% for 40 years and no gain is without being taxes. If this is true, OP, put another $200,000 aside on this investment and the problem is solved.
Your kid is smart enough to get this far, he/she should know what the right decision is.
@ewho, actually, the stock market (S&P 500) has averaged 10% annual returns over the past 90 years. And over every 40 year period in that timeframe, the average annual compounded returns for a 40 year period have ranged from 8.9% to 12.5%. I picked 5% to be extremely conservative. And sure, you’d have to pay taxes. You have to pay taxes on anything. That still doesn’t change the fact that if you take $200K and let it compound instead of spending it, you’re going to end up with a ton of money. Millions. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather have millions and pay taxes on that than not have millions.
And certainly, if the OP has so much wealth that they just have another $200K (or multiple $200K’s) lying around that they could let compound, then why not splurge? Like I said, if you have 8 figures in liquid assets, feel free to do whatever you like with that money.
^ if it is this simple, everyone should borrow $200,000 at current 1-2% and hold at stock market for the next 40 years. It is actually even cheaper than 1-2% if you sell options to against the underlying securities.
@ewho, please let me know who’s lending out for a 40Y term at 1-2% interest without need of collateral or other backing.
I would most definitely be interested in such an opportunity.
I’m not familiar with UICI, but I’m sure it’s an excellent school. That said, it’s been referred to as a “public ivy” in this thread. Previously I’ve only heard of schools like Michigan, Cal, UCLA, and UVA referred to as public ivies, and rarely at that. Perhaps I’m misunderstanding the term?
@USCWolverine, well, like any term like that (“Southern Ivy”, “Little Ivy”, etc.), the definition may vary, but at least one book lists UIUC as a public Ivy: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Ivy
They have a pretty expansive list, though.
I gotcha, PT. Mind, I’m one of those guys that literally cringes when I hear Marines, sailors, and/or airmen referred to as “soldiers.”
But as I recall, the Ivy League features only 8 schools, and the easiest one to get into is Cornell. What’s Cornell’s acceptance rate? 10%? For me, to call more than a handful of public universities “public ivies” would have no meaning whatsoever. Is San Diego St. (35% acceptance rate) often referred to as a public ivy? You get my drift 
Again, to be absolutely clear, I’m sure UIUC is an excellent school.
@Momof2022 - What does your son/daughter want? What criteria did you give him/her when applying to schools in terms of what you were willing/able to contribute? What are her social/intellectual/academic wants and needs?
Yes, conventional CC wisdom will tell you to take the money from USC and run. But conventional wisdom doesn’t always provide right answers in every case.
My daughter had to make the same choice last year: she was offered full tuition scholarships at USC, Vandy, and Wash U (and others) and had also gotten into HYPS and UChicago (UChicago gave a decent merit and FA combination; HYPS gave very little FA (under 10K) and, of course, no merit.
The most important criterion my D had was that she wanted to be around really, really bright kids. Brilliant minds that are intellectually curious and that want to make a difference in the world. She saw a qualitative difference between the kids at HYPSC and those at the other top schools.
USC was not a good fit for my D, despite thinking that it had some interesting programs and seemed like a very vibrant campus (just not for her – she would NOT have been happy there). Among her full tuition scholarship options, she liked Wash U. the best.
My D, with our unwavering support, chose Stanford and could NOT be happier. To us, it is worth every penny.
That said, she is our only child, so we don’t have any more tuitions to pay. We drive old cars and don’t take lavish vacations. My D is not seeking an education as a means to an end – the only return on investment she seeks (and that we hope for her) is greater knowledge. She will likely end up in a PhD program in the humanities. She loves what she is studying, has had some absolutely amazing and supportive professors, enjoys her fellow students, and finally feels like she has intellectual peers (something she did not have in HS).
She has truly found her tribe there and is absolutely, positively 100% certain that she made the right choice. My DH and I are too.
My sister went to Miami of Ohio, which was one of the original “Public Ivies.” My mother never lost an opportunity to mention that to friends and relatives. Now so many schools are tagged, “Public Ivy”, usually by alumni and parents of alumni, that the term doesn’t mean much anymore.
PT, I can do it in my trading account by selling options and then buy index fund to experience what you said. It is free of interest. You need some money to make more.
@ewho, 40Y term, as I said. To sell options, you already need capital. So again, say you have $280K that you spend all on college by emptying out your trading account. Where would you get more capital? Can you sell options if your trading account is empty?