My D21 has decided to join MIT. Final decision revolved between MIT, CalTech, UCLA, UIUC, Georgia Tech and UT Austin.
Finally narrowed down to two choices between MIT and CalTech. She is planning to do a double major in EECS and Math. The Under research opportunities sealed the deal. With the virtual CP* events she decided to take the leap to MIT.
It has been an amazing journey and with the the help from you the CC community the navigation was so much easier.
Yes, this is the case. Thereās been a lot written about this.
Thatās not going to happen. Funds seem to be shifting more toward need-based than merit. Without that you would end up even more stratified between the haves and have nots attending public institutions.
Average college discount rate (public and private) is now over 50% (51.2% for 2018/19, the most recent data), so many, many schools are offering discounts (generally under the guise of merit aid) to many students.
Itās true that some āhighly rejectiveā colleges (a term coined by either Jon Boeckenstedt or Akil Bello AFAIK) like Tulane are shifting to more need based aid, but in the big picture large discounts are the norm. Bottom line, no one has to pay full price, but they might have to step it down in terms of college selectivity.
Here you can search 2018 discount rate by private college:
Also, the smaller less selective privates seem to use this as their pricing strategy. Set price high, give deep discounts, and make people think they are getting a great value. There are still a lot of people who automatically think a private college education is better than public (which I personally donāt understand, but thatās the mentality), so it reels them in.
Is it really the education that āpeopleā think is better at a private college? Or is it a more supportive environment. Both in terms of access to advisors and professors and housing situations.
Just to point out- for any of my kids to go to our state flagship, UIUC or Michigan or Wisconsin (the other public schools that our kids apply)it would have actually cost MORE then any of the private schools that they were accepted to with merit. We were willing to pay but all decided to go to a top 50 private and save money for grad school. Yes itās a game but Iām more then happy we played. Great education at many privates and no issues with grad school selection or job placement.
There are small publics, and there are large privates. Iām talking about private vs. public perception and how privates use that in their pricing strategy.
Iām not questioning anyoneās choices, to each their own. Iām talking about how many private colleges (and Iāve noticed this particularly with the less selective ones) use a strategy called Prestige Pricing. They price high to denote quality/prestige/status/etc., but then they discount it for many applicants so that people can afford it but feel like they are getting some kind of deal.
The only reason D21 considered smaller privates was because they were small. I wish they would stop giving away big scholarships and just lower tuition for everyone. Most of our public universities have become so big, that private is pretty much all that is left if you want the small school environment.
Not keen on the pricing models, but I do feel they know what they are doing. One of mine is deciding between much cheaper slightly-lower-ranked private (which is not to say low, but he is nearly 300 pts above their average SAT, 200 pts over their 75th percentile) and a top-30-ish private at full price (did not get around to applying before the scholarship priority deadline, bummer, full pay). Price isnāt an important factor for us, but itās always nice to spend less. Itās attractive.
Trying hard to stop reminding myself that time is ticking away! I think he is going to choose the cheaper one for reasons unrelated to price, but he is really torn, as am I. Wish we had a crystal ball that would show āghosts of college futureā under each scenario.
Same with my kid as far as the winter coat and we live in Chicago, so the best comment last week from him ever was that he will finally have to get a real winter coat. I said back that he has a real winter coat (he must not remember he actually owns one)!! I guess heās finally looking for a new one and Iām all for it!!
This seems directly correlated to size of school. Not surprising.
Based on some of what weāve seen and heard, and from multiple college counselors as well, yields at some schools are actually very high and they now do not expect to see a lot of waitlist movement. Purdue about a month ago (a little more) actually commented that their CS enrollment was higher than expected and they were probably not going to be able to take transfers into their program next year. That is obviously not the Ivies and most elite schools, but I think that is whatās happening among schools like Michigan, Texas, Wisconsin, GaTech, UIUC, and the like at least for Engineering related. I have been hearing from a lot of people I know that top kids at their schools were completely shut out of the Ivies perhaps due to TO, diversity reasons, or just not desirable by these schools, same with our school. Hence I think these schools were the beneficiaries this year in addition to the kids that applied to these schools as reaches and got in.
So, the question is where will there be movement? If you ask me, if any, it may only be at the Ivy and top top levels. Also GaT where my son was WL sent an email that 4900 were WL and to let them know if youāre still interested. He really isnāt, so not sure if he is staying on. The other school that sent a follow up is Northwestern and they too want you to advise if you want to stay on it but that nothing will happen until after May 3 and that you should commit somewhere before then. We know about 8 people at least (who knows how many others there are) from our school waitlisted there, so they must also have a huge list. So there will be some movement, but not sure the domino effect to the extent people expected. I think it was much easier for schools to just have huge waiting lists than to reject this year as evidenced by the huge number of waitlists our kids were put on.
Personally, I am so happy he committed and weāve started to make our plans. Move in hotel, parent weekend, access to course schedules, times, housing, able to research a lot as opposed to rushing to do it or waiting 2 more weeks. If he decides to switch, at this point it would only be NU which I donāt expect as their Engineering is not even close to UM it is in our backyard and the hotel stuff is insignificant, but already housing is booked up for parent weekend with people whining about prices and availability in AA. Itās ridiculous but thatās just how it goes. Also, the amount of emails received is insane once committed, so for most of you still waiting, I would seriously just have your kid pay the couple hundred bucks and start the process so they donāt miss out on what is happening and can start engaging and getting to know other kids.
Btw in other potential good news, my son heard today in patio at UM that theyāre going to announce next week if they will be mandating the vaccine. I sure as hell hope so!!
I guess weāll know soon enough what happens.
I donāt know what it is about Saturday mornings, but if I start to think about moving logistics I am going to lose. my. mind.
And then the WL angle (insert exasperated words of choice). On the bright side, at least that would bring added excitement, a sense of adventure.
Loans wonāt factor into tuition costs. People shouldnāt take out loans period. The reason theyāre getting out of that market is the default rate and itās not a money maker for them. Smart move. Not to mention with inflation and rates increasing, even less of a money maker as no doubt a risk of more defaults.
College is expensive. Top professors are expensive and if schools want to retain those professors the schools will continue to be expensive. Capital projects are expensive, housing and dining is expensive. If there are less loans to give then there will just be more wealthy people willing to pay for their students to attend and the income gap continues to widen.
Never got this either. THere are clearly some public schools that are a million times better than many privates, and some privates a million times better than many publics out there.
Weāre debating this too - very similar. Iām weighing scenario of above average performer/more research from small private vs. average graduate from better ranked, large private with v strong alum network. Trying to do this without thinking of cost! Need to work on that spreadsheet with a weighted analysisā¦before May 1.
Extensive spreadsheets here. But teenage boys weight factors differently. Sun, extensive Greek, girlsā¦ how much does that weigh against academics.
Are you assuming grade inflation at the private and that would lead to better performance? If itās the small environment, that would help everyone equally, so maybe wouldnāt necessarily lead to āabove averageā. Of course some kids desire smaller classes, etc.