<p>MomofWildChild--
Had to laugh when I read your post --
if it's the same school we're thinking of (Western MA?) -- my son had the same reaction. I loved it, though probably most for its bucolic (and I never use words like bucolic!) setting. My first reaction on driving into that area was that I wished I could live there....</p>
<p>My in-laws live(d) in the Berkshires, so my kids are familiar with the area from multiple visits -- its beauty, its tranquility, its utter lack of things to do that interest them, and the location of several video rental stores. Neither one would even look at Purpleshirt College.</p>
<p>I REALLY liked purple shirt college , too and D's Great Aunt lives in Pittsfield now after selling her Berkshire farm in Washington, Mass.. I wanted to go there. But then again, I wanted to go to Midd, Hamilton, Colgate, Bowdoin, .......</p>
<p>We are in Western MA all the time for Tanglewood, and on one visit stopped by Purple College. They did have a great Thai restaurant, but DS's response, after walking up and down the "main street" was, "THIS is the whole town? I could never go to college here!"</p>
<p>Of course, he is quite smitten with another small town college, so go figure.</p>
<p>
[quote]
One in 31 college grads in the US is a PENN STATE graduate so the alumni networking opportunites are there no matter where you go.
[/quote]
I'm going to have to chew on that one for awhile ... so 1 in 25 (or some amazing number) is from THE Ohio State University. The big schools are really big and the lion's share of kids go to school locally ... it would be interesting to know, for example, what percentage of college residents living in Oregon went to either Oregon or Oregon State?</p>
<p>Poor purple shirt college . DD could not wait to say goodbye to the area as well. If not for family in the region, I don't know if we could have slowed down long enough to spend the night. End result, Boston here we come.</p>
<p>Yup, the "exotic orchid" idea does exist and can be obnoxious. Hope my earlier post didn't come across that way. But most people whose children aren't offered full rides are having to pay a heck of a lot of money for college these days and so the decision of where to send the check takes on more importance than it did when we attended college and costs were relatively lower. If you're going to spend between $80,000 and $200,000 on a purchase, the stakes are certainly high.</p>
<p>One good argument for the state U is that if the decision turns out to be a wrong one, you haven't "wasted" too much money! And actually, I've heard plenty of parents in the state U camp admit to being there because they really aren't so sure if their child will actually handle himself well away from home, put his nose to the grindstone, select a major and stick with it, and eventually graduate with a worthwhile degree. In some cases, the student is described as one or more of the following: unmotivated, undisciplined, immature, unsure of what he wants, not a strong student, or too interested in his social life/ a party-lover. If I had a student like that I would also want to be cautious in my investment and see some results first. Makes sense, right? Of course, THERE ARE MANY STATE SCHOOL STUDENTS FOR WHOM THOSE DESCRIPTIONS DO NOT APPLY, so please no flames. I'm just commenting that many parents I know claim to have pushed the local state school to manage risks and keep their children close enough to home that they can be monitored more easily.</p>
<p>But now if those of use with kids who are the total opposite--mature, motivated, disciplined, goal-oriented, academically strong, etc.--decide to send our children to a school more likely to be populated with similar personality types, doesn't that also make sense? Does it necessarily mean we're coddling them, or just seeking prestige, or think our kids are so special? No, we are also managing the risks and have decided our children are more likely to be happy and therefore are more likely to succeed in that kind of environment.</p>
<p>I was talking to a neighbor of mine. Her daughter-in-law has a law degree from a school in Massachusettes. She moved to Colorado and is having a hard time getting a job. She keeps losing out to people who have law degrees from the University of Colorado and the University of Denver. </p>
<p>I know this is law school and not undergrad, but maybe, local grads do win out occasionally.</p>
<p>"mature, motivated, disciplined, goal-oriented, academically strong,"</p>
<p>I don't know too many colleges that don't have these students in them.</p>
<p>Sigh. Despite a hot humid August day, I also loved the purple shirt college. DD very politely told us (after the drive from Boston, the > 90 degree humid day, the walk around the town) that it was just too small a town for her.</p>
<p>That is so funny. We need to have a CC Annual Meeting at the Purple Shirt College. We can gaze up at the hills (west of the Mississippi they call them mountains) and stroll along the paths.</p>
<p>Speaking of shirts (and off topic, sorry), I am so enamored by the beautiful orange of my new home state university's shirts that I sometimes wish S attended! I'm tired of the whole grey, navy and red thing. And Cur, this is REAL orange, not BURNT orange!</p>
<p>Law schools: The number of truly national law schools is quite limited. If you drop below the top 15-20 schools, the market gets regional very fast. But if your neighbor's daughter-in-law had a degree from THE law school in Massachusetts, she wouldn't be losing out to Colorado and Denver grads, even in Denver.</p>
<p>No, she doesn't have it from The Law School.</p>
<p>I'm really surprised at how many parents there are on here who are willing to go into deep, deep debt for their child to go to their dream school and have the "prestige" or whatnot. My parents made it pretty clear that I am NOT going to a private school unless they give me enough aid to make it about the price of a UC tuition/room&board, if not more affordable than that. Which is fine by me because I wouldn't want them to go completely broke. I'm just in a bit of a pickle here because the schools I'm applying to that would give me tons of aid are the ones where I have no idea if I'll get in, and the ones I'd be more likely to get into aren't that great with fin aid! And I've tried to find private schools that I could get in to that I like and would give me tons of merit aid, and I haven't found any. So yeah. But for whatever reason I think it'll work out okay. I wouldn't mind gonig to a UC, in fact I really like Berkeley/Santa Cruz, I would just prefer to get out of CA and do something different. </p>
<p>By the way, my sister went to Scripps, and the only reason she wound up there instead of UC Davis/Santa Cruz is because they gave her a full ride.</p>
<p>I'm always the voice on CC for "parents rights" - you know - the right to take a vacation, the right to not have to sell one's house, the right to retire someday (hopefully sooner rather than later)... but I always feel like am an extreme minority.</p>
<p>Oh well, like all big purchases, this is just a balancing act. You buy the best you can for the money you're willing or able to spend. </p>
<p>If people want to jeopardize all they've ever worked for, or if all they've ever worked for is to send their kid to some "dream" college, then good for them. Go for it. But for us it's much more of a combination of practical and happy.</p>
<p>Reality is usually somewhere in the middle. Both for us and the people I see in my office, EFC is higher than most can comfortably afford. That said some significant percentage of EFC is affordable with some lifestyle adjustment and student debt. Example might be I can afford half of EFC, DD can assume 1/4 of EFC as debt and spending adjustment, debt and lower cost due to one fewer in the household could absorb the rest. Easy? No but can be done.</p>
<p>True, the EFC isn't totally produced out of "thin air," as high as it seems. There are many that somehow make it work & still manage to have some life thru scaling back expenses & taking on some debt. Huge expenses like college expenses are definitely something the entire family needs to carefully consider to avoid nasty surprises (like having to transfer because things get too expensive before the student gets the degree).</p>
<p>It does seem like most people have a reasonable decision process that involves balancing different considerations.</p>
<p>On our own calculation - thought I should clarify: Tuition+Room+Board - Merit Aid = Final Cost so:</p>
<p>U of Portland = $34K - $14K = $20K
Willams (e.g.) = $43K - $0K = $43K</p>
<p>so that's (43-20)X4 = $92K. Hey, maybe I could still pass algebra! </p>
<p>While 'fit' may be an overused term, it certainly is not the same as coddling. There are many reasons to choose one school versus another - for some students I am sure that choosing either the 'full cost' school or the State school might be the right thing. In my daughter's instance, though, I ask:</p>
<p>Will she get a better education at Univ of Portland, with 3000 students, than at UC-Boulder, which would only cost a little bit less, with 25,000 students? My guess is ‘Yes’ .
Will she be able to participate in activities that have been an integral part of her life? You have to be a national class runner to make varsity XC at UC-Boulder - not so for a smaller school or, especially, a DIII school.</p>
<p>Quality of instruction has nothing to do with 'coddling'. I attended Illinois Wesleyan undergrad and had great instructors. I attended U of Illinois as a grad student and was an instructor myself and I was not good at it. I was 21 at the time and just out of undergrad and had never taught anything in my life - so Big U is probably more likely to have instructors that just aren't that good at the undergrad level.</p>
<p>I'm not entirely against State U - when my son gets to college age, he's much more likely to go to one than D, but he is a very different kid.</p>
<p>The helpful thing out here is some of the things that have gone into our 'Fit Decision' are points raised by folks like MomofWildChild and Curmudgeon. Understanding those decision points for your own kid, to me, is really the key.</p>
<p>Situation is similar in architecture school - there's a lot to be said for going to grad school (or your final degree you can also get a B. Arch.) in the city where you plan to be working. Not always easy to juggle though when you are also dealing with significant other's considerably more unpredictable future in academia.</p>
<p>my prefered school (i wantedto do nano tech) cost 30K a year. but since i wanted more than a BS degree i changed my prefered major and will now go to a state school that is ranked in the top ten for that major.</p>