<p>Question: I’m sure this question is asked again and again, but I think it’s very common. I scored super high on the SAT and have a strong GPA. I have been award substantial scholarship money to so-so colleges, and some scholarship money to some big-name universities. If a college isn’t in, say, the top [...]</p>
<p>This is a very good question and thank you for the answer. My youngest daughter will clearly have to deal with this issue and I’ve come to the conclusion that it depends on the situation of the kid.</p>
<p>For example, my oldest doesn’t plan on getting a master’s degree so I’m willing to send her out-of-state to a college that will give her a great experience (and one that I can reasonably afford) … she’ll have zero to minimal debt coming out of school. My youngest though will need several years of further education and, though I fully expect that she could do an Ivy, we are probably not going that route because we will FOLLOW THE MONEY for the undergraduate and worry about prestige for her last stop in the education journey. That way she’ll have minimized her debt load when she is all done with school. Plus, I think the “prestige factor” will be more important in the later years of her education (masters or doc). </p>
<p>That is my current plan with two different daughters … it depends on each kid’s situation.</p>
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<p>Absolutely, CatnPhx … and, sometimes, on the parents’ “situation,” too. That is, I’ve known parents who are so invested in the brand-name of the college their children attend that they tend to make everyone around them miserable if Junior doesn’t enroll at a place that meets Mom’s or Dad’s exacting standards. This, of course, can get especially problematic if it’s the kids who end up saddled with the debt.</p>
<p>When I do training sessions for prospective college counselors, we spend some time focusing on the issue of prestige-monger parents and how to deal with them, especially when the child doesn’t have the stats for a highly selective school.</p>
<p>As noted in the “Ask the Dean” response, I’ve been asked this question countless times, and my response is almost always an unsatisfying, “It depends.” It sounds like a cop-out answer, but it really is the only right one.</p>
<p>Sounds like you’ve made some wise choices regarding your own daughters (but just be careful that the older one doesn’t feel some pressure NOT to pursue an advanced degree, should she change her mind about that along the way).</p>
<p>This is a great discussion. In our case, the private no-name schools our son likes will cost about the same (after merit aid) as the increasingly expensive UC’s. He (and we) still favor the small private schools because he wants small classes and attention from the faculty. It would be hard to give up four years of an ideal environment just for a name. Sally, your final sentence in the original response clarifies the decision for us: he wants to go to grad school, so he can get his name brand school then.</p>
<p>Great merit money wins in our case, hands down. We can’t afford “pricey,” period, whether prestigious or not. And, because we have retirement savings, we don’t qualify for much (or any) need-based aid. Therefore, we will gladly sell DS to the highest bidder. 
(Of course, we also care about fit, but DS applied to a number of places that award big merit money, and he says he would be happy at any of them.)</p>