<p>cheers... I believe the comment was made as a comical statement. I seriously doubt my parents would ever buy me a car like that. I think it was made to emphasize the point of how much money a cheaper school would save and all the other things that could be done with it. I have heard comments before about how if I go to a more expensive school forget about any more vacations... I think I can deal with a reduced number of vacations and no car for a while... :)</p>
<p>jym626... I don't think their intentions are to hurt me but I think they truely believe that there is no value in the smaller LAC type schools There has been alot of talk about inderlying intentions and I'm not quite sure I agree with those. </p>
<p>I honestly think that their favoring of state/cheaper schools lies in the idea that they provide just as good of an education as any other school and that they don't want me to be put into a situation where money ever becomes a problem... ie don't spend extra money when you don't have to because you never know when you'll need it. Like I've said before, they have said that they will pay for whatever college I choose but strongly discourage a high dollar choice. </p>
<p>We will see what happens during this next month or two as I receive the rest of my acceptances(confident, aren't I? :) ) and maybe things will change. This whole thread has given me some great ideas in not only unlocking my parents minds but in making my decision. </p>
<p>anovice, you need to realize that there is an underlying passive/aggressive situation here. We'll pay for any college you choose, but we think you'll be employing bad judgement if you don't choose the low cost option. There is no way you can win if you don't tackle their assumptions head on-nicely of course. </p>
<p>As others have said, you need to explain why you value what you do.</p>
<p>There's something that I don't think anyone addressed here and if they have, it's worth reiterating. Just because you start off at one college doesn't mean you'll graduate from that college. Maybe you can make an arrangement with your parents that you will start at UMD (which is a great school and as big or as small as you want it to be) and if you are really unhappy you can switch after a year.</p>
<p>anovice, my husband and I are both working engineers who feel the same way as your parents. I used to paid $69/quarter for my in-state education and I have been working for 23 years next to some of the PhDs from Yale, CMU, MIT, Cal Tech, Stanford, UC Berkeley, etc.. but I never do feel inferior about my education from state school (BS.) I graduated from BU for my MS and it was a lot easier than in state undergraduate experience( because I whizzed through in one year while working full time). My husband and I are earning good money now but still prefer state school for our D(freshman now).I like the idea that she does go far away because it's her chance to grow up. However, I dislike the idea that an adcom can manipulate the admission process and my home equity(sweat equity) is fair game for these so call good/top notch colleges. May be your parents feel that engineers can be easily outsourced so they may feel vulnerable therefore don't linke paying big bucks.</p>