<p>I agree completely!
I had a vague idea of what college cost–I knew it was a lot more than when I attended ($45K for my entire four years at private college, tuition/room/board), but somehow had in my head that private college would be $30K/year and public would be $15 K/year. Maybe that is how much it was when I looked into it when my kids were much smaller, I don’t know. So, indeed, I was shocked when I looked into it when my oldest was a sophomore in high school. I had NO IDEA.</p>
<p>Moreover, from listening to the people around me talk, I also got the impression that everyone gets need-based aid. You could certainly draw that conclusion from going to the “college night” at the local high school (eastcoascrazy, I think your kids and mine attended the same one). And I didn’t think we were by any means the most affluent of my neighbors, so it seemed like households with two incomes of three-figures were discussing need-based aid, how to position assets for favorable effect on the EFC, etc. And yet, when I found an online calculator that estimated EFC, I could see that at a certain income level, assets and where they were positioned didn’t matter…the family was on the hook for the whole thing. I would hazard a guess that quite a few families at the local high school are in that window and don’t realize it until they do the paperwork.</p>
<p>I think the most valuable thing I’ve been able to take away from the process is to give a heads-up to my friends with kids in middle school, so they can begin either adjusting their expectations or seeking other solutions before they’ve got the kid mentally enrolled in a private college.</p>
<p>I guess I must be an outlier. I never researched college prices, but it just seemed like it was in the news media frequently enough, that I was aware of what prices were doing from the time my kids were little. Maybe I was more attuned to the prices because I knew that by the time my kids were college age our income would be high enough to be full pay, so we would need to have substantial college funds. I do agree that trying to figure how much financial aid your kid will get is challenging. Most of the people I know with kids in the 3-10 age range seem to know how much tuition is now, so maybe people are becoming more aware as prices rise? I guess whenever possible/appropriate, those of us with older kids should be letting parents of younger kids know how much tuition is and how limited financial aid can be.</p>
<p>I don’t see how you could know how much ‘college’ costs as they are all different. Even things you think should be the same or close, like room and board, are thousands of dollars different. One of my kids is going to a school where R&B will be about $8200/yr, and the other D’s is $13,200. Neither is in a high cost area, but one school allows you to pick a cheaper meal plan and the dorms are traditional 2-in-a-room and the more expensive school has fancy suite dorms with single rooms and no meal plan options. </p>
<p>Other things change without notice. Bright Futures in Florida used to cover tuition and a good number of students received the award. Then it was cut to about half of tuition. This year they increased the requirements and now it’s much harder to get even the lower award. Parents who have counted on that suddenly need to come up with an additional $2500-3000.</p>
<p>A thousand here, five thousand there, suddenly we’re talking real money.</p>
<p>It is. But there are other state schools in PA, one that offers some good merit to students it wants and one that guarantees some great merit for stats. As this is the first admissions cycle for the latter, I am curious to see how many high-stats instate kids they can siphon off from the flagship.</p>
<p>Another question that more families are probably asking today is,
“Is an undergraduate degree at <name> worth the asking price?”.</name></p>
<p>I’m inclined to think that for in-state public options (or comparably priced OOS schools), the answer is still ‘Yes’ (tho’ for how much longer is anyone’s guess). </p>
<p>For Ivies, the answer probably depends on family finances and the student’s major. From what I’ve read on these boards, increasingly students are opting for full/partial rides at less ‘prestigious’ schools.</p>
<p>Speaking of which, for those (still excellent) schools, I’m inclined to think that, increasingly, the answer is ‘No.’ (and, indeed, I advised expatSon that none of the private colleges he was/is considering are worth the list price – ability to attend is dependent on the discount (i.e. - ‘scholarship’) he receives.</p>
<p>I’m not saying that these schools don’t provide truly excellent educations (nor do I think that Ivies even come close to having the market cornered on providing the ‘best’ education). But given our socioeconomic status, there’s no school out there providing an undergraduate degree that’s worth $200,000+.</p>
Many of the Ivies and other similar top schools have in the last few years, had their highest yields in decades. From CC you’d think that every top student goes to U Alabama but that’s not the case at all.</p>
<p>"…It would also be nice if we lived in a world where all kids had the same opportunities to become prepared to get to those colleges. Obviously, a lot of the kids who “work hard enough” to be admitted are in the fortunate position of having support others lack, whether from parents, better teachers and schools, or not having to work/take care of siblings/whatever. " Sally</p>
<p>Sally: Are referring to college admissions or variable tuition?</p>
<p>I want to add to the anecdotal evidence - I know a lot of upper middle class people who probably make 250k to 400k who are opting out of the meritless upper echelon of colleges. Our oldest probably has half a dozen full pay EFC friends who could get into some top notch school with a 60 grand price tag - at the very least, schools like Penn, Cornell, Duke, etc. Only one of her friends is really trying - and if she doesn’t get into Stanford, she’ll be going to some out of state public. </p>
<p>There’s also a lot of anger out there among these parents that I don’t ever see reflected here on CC. More and more I’m hearing upper middle class parents “refusing to pay for other people’s kids” to go to college. It makes me think that for all but the most elite colleges, “the more you earn, the more you pay” is a dying model.</p>
<p>Just an aside: Here’s a trend - colleges are not offering increased financial aid to admitted students they feel more sure will attend. Instead, they’re offering it to the admitted students less likely to attend. So, if you’re “burning” for a school and show it, financially it could bite you in the butt. FWIW.</p>
<p>Sally, the choice is very rarely between Alabama and a top 20 USNWR, but judging by the College Search and Selection board it seems as though it often is. </p>
<p>And yes, more schools are accepting more students ED, but that doesn’t change the fact that the number of RD accepted students Ivies and peer institutions lose to schools which have a much worse reputation (eg, Alabama and Oklahoma, not Emory or USC) is trivial.</p>
<p>We are at the lower end of the $200-400k range, and during the years when we had two in college at the same time, the thought of two full-pay kids paying $60,000 each per year at the same time would have been the source of some major flop sweat!</p>
<p>It’s only middle class in the minds of the people in the 250,000 - 400,000 range that rare 2% of the entire population of the United States… but yes quite humorous.</p>
that rare 2% of the entire population of the United States… but yes quite humorous.</p>