<p>Only you can make the decision - if the student doesn't have a trust fund or wealthy grandparents, it is the parents who have to determine how much they can afford. Like being on a sailboat when it starts to heel - as the angle becomes more acute, there is a point where you just get scared! The fear threshold for college costs is different for everyone. You need to apply rational prudence that is not based on fear, by evalutating the entire spectrum of your personal and financial situation and your informed projections about it relative to the economy in future years, as well as allow your optimism/faith instincts to weigh in, i.e. "we can make it work, everything will turn out well."</p>
<p>If your son is focused on a career in a prestige-sensitive field, such as investment banking or law or politics, the networking resources of an Ivy might be worth it for a direct boost to lifetime earnings potential. If the direction is a field like engineering, computer science, or non-college teaching, a less expensive, less prestigious college can be just fine. </p>
<p>And if your son, with your input, decides to look at options that are less expensive, then pay careful attention to comparing the factors that contribute to his Total College Experience (TCE - I have to add this to the abbreviation thread). Factors such as EC strength, pleasant location, good residence situations, student assessments of the degree of professor involvement, and most important, your judgements about that quality that is ranked in Princeton Review - 'Happy Students.'</p>
<p>Agonize between now and the end of April if you must (I did, even though I kept repeating the mantra 'Don't worry, be happy.' CC will be full of similar threads, all received by a very sympathetic audience) then make the decision and find your path to genuinely feeling good about it. I ended up signing up for more than I initially felt comfortable paying, and while I'd prefer not to do that hefty wire transfer in the fall, I'm delighted with the educational value my son is receiving. For me, and for the rest of his family who are contributing, it has been well worth it.</p>
<p>I was accepted to Brown University, and although it was my dream school, it simply isn't worth asking my family for $120,000+. I think it's ridiculous that they considered my prepaid trust fund for Maryland schools (which can be applied to other schools) as SEPARATE from our EFC! So it's the trust fund PLUS our EFC, which means my parents may as well not have saved for my education at all.</p>
<p>I know that I will be happy (probably just as happy!) at St. Mary's College of Maryland so I am going there instead. I really think we'd be paying mostly for the name if I went to Brown...and I have a little brother to think about. My parents didn't force me to go to St. Mary's. I decided on my own.</p>
<p>Now that I've been accepted, actually going doesn't seem so important anymore. I'd get into a great grad school at either place, and I love both...so why cough up so much extra money when St. Mary's is already covered?</p>
<p>On the plus side, one of the Ivies seems to have triggered a financial aid arms-race of sorts, and every week I read that Harvard/Yale/Penn/Stanford/Princeton has just upped their financial aid policies.</p>
<p>I am lucky enough to go to the Ivy where my dad works (perhaps why i got in as well)...and my tuition is waived as one of his work benefits. But if not, I would definitely taken out loans and/or scoured the planet for scholarships. Ivy is a gift that pays dividends for life--far greater than their cost. I've visited friends in schools public and private, and there is truly nothing quite like it (though some come close).</p>
<p>Brown also awards the Frank Scholarship to students coming from families with income of less than $45,000 per year. Basically, it gets rid of loans and helps pay for room & board as well.</p>