Santa Clara vs Villanova vs UW vs UMich for Business

Thoughts on the following undergrad acceptances:
Santa Clara Leavey $38K annual tuition (business)
Villanova Business School $60K annual tuition (business)
U Washington Foster $11K annual tuition (direct business admit)
U Michigan $55K annual tuition (not in Ross yet, accepted in LSA, will hear about Ross in two weeks)

Thank you for any thoughts on the best way to go, I realize they are all very different. As parents we are looking at cost and academic fit but our child is thinking more about social, distance from home, you get the picture. Any advice is appreciated and we can work together to see what is best for all.

Will you need to take loans to fund the net costs for any of these options?

Surely a business major should begin to learn about how total costs and loans affect like in general.

These are all fine programs. Congratulations on the acceptances.

ETA, we are proud parents of a Santa Clara grad. Ours was engineering, but the roommate was business. Their program is highly regarded. We think the school is terrific and we were basically full pay (minus $6500 of merit aid a year).

Thank you for your response! No loans needed, but I guess it’s the question always asked - just because we can, does it mean we should?

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That you are asking suggests that you do not have plutocrat wealth that would mean that the price differences are pocket change.

Would paying for the more expensive college impact your retirement or funding for any younger kids’ college costs?

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I can’t speak for what others should do…but we did. We vetted the application list before the applications were sent. And we agreed at that time that all of the schools were on the table. Neither of our kids chose the least expensive option, but they both chose the college we felt worked well for both.

All of these schools are great. I’m assuming you live on the west coast and your student wants to travel east. We live in the east, and our kid traveled to CA. We were able to afford the college without loans…and no issues with retirement or how we lived. We were very lucky…and it sounds like you are similarly lucky.

Do I sometimes wish I had the extra money? Well…sure. But really…the decisions were the right ones for our kids. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have allowed them to apply.

ETA…if this kid is sure about business, I would wait until the Michigan offer comes…or not.

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What will the student study ? If general business then UW is a no brainer.

But if they have a discipline…marketing, finance, supply chain etc perhaps the answer is different.

Obviously you have two mid size religious and two large flagships…so right there, which is better for the student ?

As a parent, no matter what I can afford, from a value POV UW is cheap, direct admit, and well respected.

Maybe UM will lead to a better outcome depending on the discipline. Maybe. But there’s no justification for Ross vs Foster at 20% of the tuition.

That’s enough for me.

Ps those are tuition costs so your actual costs are $13-15k more.

Ps many on the cc have written about being local get away from home.

Save the $$ for grad school, a car, wedding or otherwise.

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If your kid gets into Ross, please send them there. The $$$ won’t matter and Ross is outstanding in a way none of the others are, although they are all good options.
Signed
A very satisfied Ross alum.

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