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<p>Sure. Or I could buy stock, or remodel my kitchen and put new windows in, or blow it on a trip around the world. But I don’t want to. I don’t want to be a landlord, for one thing. Too much hassle and work for the return. I already work a full-time job and I don’t want to be called out in the middle of the night because the water heater broke in the tenants’ unit. And anyway, 150K won’t buy any property within a 50-mile radius of where we live, even in these post-bubble times.</p>
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<p>Except that in their Congratulations, You’re Admitted letter to the Class of 2015, Cal recommended budgeting for five years in case you had trouble getting degree requirement courses in sequence.</p>
<p>Has there ever been a CC-derived marriage??</p>
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<p>To swap anecdotes with cobrat: everyone that I knew in a STEM field at Berkeley in the early to mid 80’s finished in four years. One friend (a physics major) finished in 3 1/2 and then spent a semester travelling before starting grad school. </p>
<p>I agree entirely with the point made upthread about how the $100k+ saved if a student takes a cheaper option could be used in other ways like helping to start a business, paying for professional/grad school, and so forth. Families that can afford this handle it in different ways. Some give the option to the student; some simply set a budget for undergrad while planning on paying for other expenses later. Different solutions for different people/circumstances.</p>
<p>TXArtemis - That’s interesting that they warn you. If 70% graduate rate still holds, I maintain it is not a huge issue, most kids graduate in 4 years.</p>
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…then there would have to be a subsequent discussion regarding the merits of spending X or 2X, 3X etc. on the experience and whether or not the venue had the correct prestige factor. ;)</p>
<p>I said…</p>
<p>Or…you could take the ‘saved’ 150K difference, invest in income producing property for D. Then after graduation D would have a source of passive income to support any next effort. Just a thought</p>
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<p>Interesting options…a trip around the world is an ‘experience’ and …upgrading a kitchen or windows has an ROI which can be determined from past sales. Stock…well, I’d say that many folks don’t really understand the nuances of what is their own portfolio’s (and I am one of those). </p>
<p>Just by simply discussing the OPTION of spending 250K on an education (whether from chump change in the checkbook or loans to be paid until the holder of the debt is old and grey)…makes the contributors here far and above standard or the norm. My thought on ONE possible other use for these funds was not meant in a derogatory fashion (seems it was taken that way). It was presented simply because this is a self selected, out of standard range set of individuals.</p>
<p>It seems that no one wants to say it…yes it sounds crass…but what is being discussed is simply ROI. How that is defined is an individual matter.</p>
<p>D graduated her Long Island high school at the top 5% of her class. Many students from her high school attend the SUNY’s…but they are not students in that range. To be honest if you were going to rank students in the top 5%, D was at the lower end of those top 20 students. D wanted an environment where she would be challenged–either academically or talent-wise or preferrably both. She chose NYU. When I researched what colleges those top students from our hs attended from 4 other graduating classes, I think only 1 student in about 80 attended a SUNY.</p>
<p>That is not to say that other states don’t have top state schools with tippy top students, but I would say that from our neck of the woods, the SUNY’s are not drawing these top students.</p>
<p>Our S’s HS val went to state flagship. Many of the other top students with NMFs and/or other high stats went to Us offering significant merit awards. Most seem pretty satisfied with their choices and most got their degrees in 4 years. The val had a full-ride, plus outside scholarships. She got into a med school that paid full-tuition for her 1st year–not sure if it will continue to pay all her tuition, but her folks are VERY happy!</p>
<p>FWIW, she also got into all the schools she applied to, including tippy-top LACs & others but didn’t get enough merit aid to make attractive to the family.</p>
<p>My neighbor has a beautiful home, but she dislikes her 20 year old formica counters. When her son got into Princeton, she said “so much for the new granite counters!”</p>
<p>Really, a mid level granite counter top doesn’t cost more them 2k,should be able to do both. ;)</p>
<p>Uskoolfish said “but I would say that from our neck of the woods, the SUNY’s are not drawing these top students.”</p>
<p>You are talking about Long Island, I am talking about NYC, which are essentially the same thing, in reference what I’m going to say: I have a kid at a great NYC public high, another in a great private school (currently middle school, but also high school). Not one kid at the private will be talking SUNY. The top kids will be looking at Yale, Dartmouth, or Middlebury. The middle kids Kenyon. The bottom kids Skidmore and Northeastern, and that’s as low as it goes, and they will all get in somewhere like that. Maybe one kid will go to SUNY. That’s not because SUNY is bad, that’s because of class, snobbery, and expectations, as well as grandpa’s inheritence. I am sure it is exactly the same in Long Island. Ok, maybe not all places, but many. Just because the kids aren’t going doesn’t make SUNYs less worthy of going. </p>
<p>Honestly, I don’t know how it will play out at the public. The kids there aren’t snobs. It’s incredibly diverse. Kids from all over the world. It will be interesting to see.</p>
<p>Dietz: “Just by simply discussing the OPTION of spending 250K on an education (whether from chump change in the checkbook or loans to be paid until the holder of the debt is old and grey)…makes the contributors here far and above standard or the norm.”</p>
<p>Exactly!</p>
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<p>Wasn’t my experience at the same general time frame. I was able to easily take more than the minimum number of courses to graduate in eight semesters (both in-major and out-of-major courses). The only semester that I had trouble getting all of the desired courses was first semester of freshman year (when I did not know the registration priorities as well as in later semesters), but that did not delay progress in my major or to graduation.</p>
<p>On the other hand, 4 year graduation rate back then was pretty low, but due to other reasons:</p>
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<li>Voluntarily taking an average of fewer than 15 credits per semester (sometimes because of working their way through college, but other times because they felt that a normal 15 credit load was too hard and in-state tuition was cheap enough back then that they could afford the extra semester(s) – though even then, Berkeley had the unit cap on those who took more than 8 semesters to keep people from being permanent students).</li>
<li>Needed to take remedial courses which were given lesser credit then (more than half of the entering freshmen then needed remedial English, and remedial math had a big enrollment then also).</li>
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<p>^At D’s Med. School (private in Midwest), Berkeley is the most represented. I have no idea how it happened to be and why CA pre-meds choosing such a different environement for themselves. Did they have choices? I imagine that they did. Just an observation.</p>
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<p>Given how difficult getting into medical school is (half of applicants get into none), it is likely that some students only got into one medical school, so their only choice is that one or not go to medical school at all.</p>
<p>But also, Berkeley is a bigger than many schools which have a lot of students who have a chance to get into medical school.</p>