<p>Thank goodness the acceptance rate is 5% for non-athletes!</p>
<p>"@spancha, you should probably start a new thread in the Financial Aid & Scholarships Forum. There will be people who will help, particularly with your son’s interest in Engineering."
-Try Case Western. Great for Engineering, awesome with Merit awards. My onw D. got about $27k / year (out of $33K tuition at that time) but choose another school.</p>
<p>"momsrockVA - I can tell you for a fact that if you are in Virginia and fullpay at Stanford, you will need to allocate about 62-65k per year. "
-And then, if your kid decided to go to Med. School, please, allocate another 75k/year if you decided to support him. It will work for ANY average family…ear to ear, do not know how to put smily face, again lack of Ivy education here!</p>
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<p>He is unlikely to be able to borrow that much by himself for undergraduate.</p>
<p>In the past, that might have been possible… but there are plenty of stories out there of graduates with huge debt but no job, or a job that does not pay enough to pay down the debt (just search the web).</p>
<p>[NYU</a> Students: Debt and Debtor - Page 1 - News - New York - Village Voice](<a href=“News & Politics - The Village Voice”>News & Politics - The Village Voice)</p>
<p>momsrock,Virginia is tough for high stats kids in a way. We have such great schools(UVa, William and Mary, Virginia Tech) that it is hard to justify paying for an expensive private. Even though UVa is a tough admit for instate kids, many high stats kids want to/need to feel more special. It’s a teenage/prestige thing-UVa is a tough admit but a Princeton, Duke, Stanford admit,etc. is REALLY special and peer pressure does sometimes seem to come into play. We did what you are doing-we indicated what we would pay and the rest was up to our kids. Good luck to your son!
And yes, merit aid at out of state schools is also very appealing.</p>
<p>Sad thing is … Stanford doesn’t even offer the ideal program he’s considering. Again, it’s the “prestige” thing overriding the “value” thing. I’m hopeful he’ll look at Auburn’s offer as he moves forward.<br>
I know others have commented on the ROI, but he wants to study architecture. His earning potential is very low to justify the Ivy’s or Stanford. As a parent, I want my child to find the path to understanding the impact of choices. It’s going to become very real for him within a few months.</p>
<p>Thanks sevmom - you and I are on the same page. My son doesn’t like the geographical location of Tech (even though they have a top 10 arch school) and he thinks UVA is too uptight with preppy kids. He loves big cities and has big dreams. So hard when reality has to come into play. Thanks for your comments. They have given me new insight into the discussions I need to have with him.</p>
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<p>That’s their prerogative, of course. If that’s how they wish to manage their money, then so be it. Just like it’s someone’s prerogative to say “choose a cheaper school and I’ll give you $X for a downpayment for a house.” It’s usually best if I don’t count anyone’s money other than my own.</p>
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<p>How did that work? If she was not eligible for FA for undergrad, how was she able to get grants for Ivy league law school?</p>
<p>I’m curious…of those who feel strongly that prestige (or pick your favorite word) is of importance when it comes to College…how many of you sent your kids to a private K-12?</p>
<p>^There are Merit awards at Grad. level, less of them than UGs, but they exist.</p>
<p>^Ah, so Ivy league law schools offer merit grants? They do not do that for undergrad.</p>
<p>"I’m curious…of those who feel strongly that prestige (or pick your favorite word) is of importance when it comes to College…how many of you sent your kids to a private K-12? "
-I am on completely other side of the spectrum, so I am not part of statistics that you are looking for. My D. and we as a family did not care at all about prestige of her UG. And this is after she has graduated #1 from the most expansive private prep in area (including some kids driving from another state). Well, she was in k -12 at the most expansive private schools, but HS part of it was covered 1/3 by Merit award that was given based on D’s placement test results. She still thanks us for sending her to this specific HS (that was the time when I actually pushed a bit, she wanted to go to another school). Her HS class had 33 kids, in whole history of HS, they always send 100% of kids to 4 year colleges, with several tops usually going to Harvard and some other Ivy/Elite. Well, D. said NO, she did not care and we knew that she will do just as well anywhere that she decided to attend and that was precisely what happened. Now at Med. School and looking back, again and again, recognition for outstanding HS education (in comparison to others) and appreciation for her state public UG where she had a chance to be with the great variety of people in various activities. Again, comparing herself to some coming from Ivy’s (many in her Med. School class), she see that she had better opportunities to develop as a person, which is extremely important skill in her chosen field.</p>
<p>Interesting thread this! As a new comer to CC, I read through the 140+ posts with interest as the the topic is timely, and deserves attention since we are at the start of a new college admissions cycle. There are plenty of parents who are making potentially finacially jeopardizing decisions (requiring unaffordable loans) which affect the family and/or the kid(s). </p>
<p>Well heeled are well well-heeled! With the full-tution premise, lower-income smart kids have limited but easier choices. Majority middle class is where the problem is most acute. It may also be prevalent in the Asian and new immigrant communties (I am both) with their’s excessive cultural emphasis on education (healthy) from top-ranked-schools (unhealthy). </p>
<p>I wish that the OP (a CC veteran no less, argh!) had framed the discussion a little bit better to start with (responses by OP imply as such). It is evident from the numerous reactionary posts that OP should have excluded parents who “have assets/money/finacial-acumen, planned for debt-free child-education, prefer-education-expense over discretanory-life-style-gifts”, and conceded that the opinion/advice are meant only for “top-students capable of obtaining viable-merit-scholarships in-state or out-of-state”.</p>
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<p>I don’t think lay prestige is of importance. Not sure what you mean by “pick your favorite word,” but I think that fit, caliber of peers, quality of faculty, quality/choice of program offerings, and overall environment are all important and worth paying for. I don’t believe that colleges are interchangeable. </p>
<p>My D went to a county public magnet school. If she had not gotten into that school, she would have gone to the local public high school. We chose where to buy a house so that either way, it would be fine.</p>
<p>“It may also be prevalent in the Asian” - ??? Do you know what ORM, I hope so. Do you know the stats for ORM at the very top Grad., Med. and other similar schools? I hope so…and some of thme have parents who practically do not speak English, some do not drive (yes, they cannot drive the car). I met many of them, I hope that more people realize what these families sacrifice for the sake of education. As my S. said, Chinese family will starve for whole month to pay for class to prepare for HS entrance exam (huge thing in NYC). I am not saying, they are right or wrong, but they definitely do not listen to others, they are affording themselves something that is completely not affordable for them and it is strictly their decision. No need to look down on them, you will meet more and more of them at you next doc’s appointment, they are coming in hords…</p>
<p>I agree withNJSue in #155. My kids attended the local public high school - which I would term good but not one of the super-public schools (New Trier, etc.).</p>
<p>Update to Post#154</p>
<p>It may be best I elaborate my personal situation, as a caveat pre-emptor.</p>
<p>I am asian, 1st-generation immigrant, and belong to the vocal majority here. Dear W and I both funded 529’s/401K’s to the max every year; was hard during the early fresh-out-of-grad-school years living on <50% take home pay by choice. DD (HS senior now) probably won’t get any FA anywhere, simply based on the assets on her name (compounded-529’s, summer jobs, gifts from relatives, etc.). We continued funding the 529 during the last few years against the advice of professional tax planners and financial advisors. Reason is simple: kid knows, it is targeted education money, and she can’t touch it.</p>
<p>Very capable DD is now getting full-ride/tution-merit offers from multiple OOS public-schools, and is applying to top-tier BS/MD programs and ivy-caliber-schools. At the end, we may end-up paying full-fares for UG and Professional school (med, law, etc) if she so chooses. We unabashedly planned for grad-school-level-education for her, and she expects nothing more from her parents financially. As immigrant parents, we set out to give her unencumbered choices for education, and make something of herself in this great new country.</p>
<p>No regrets!</p>
<p>Last point, our flag-ship state school UNC-CH is very highly ranked, and is inexpensive for in-state students. DD loves it, but does not want to go there as it will be HS experience all-over (75+ from her HS matriculate every year). And, yes it is not a private school. D went to inner-city public magnet schools starting with KG, and continued in MS and HS (parental choices, for sure).</p>
<p>If you have plenty of money, do whatever you want with it: private schools, mansions, yachts, big weddings, who cares? If you are middle-class but full-pay (like us) then the difference between the private school tuition and public school (a total difference of over $120,000) is significant, especially if the private schools that accept your kid are not the HPYS level. My D is about to finish (early) at her UC and already has a job, due to the strong alumni network of her soon-to-be alma mater, and she has had an absolutely great college experience with no student loan debt. She’s not going to be a cardiologist or investment banker, but she is a confident, accomplished young woman ready for a career. I think that is the purpose of college, right?</p>
<p>ripplmedad,I did in post one note that those with a lot of money or who have overriding other conisderations such as special majors, learning disabilities etc. , were not the target of my post. </p>
<p>However, even those who are well off but not necessarily multi, multi millionaires might be better off saving the tuition and giving the savings to their kids.
I also noted in post one that I was talking to a Harvard educated person who felt that others like him could get a free ride or almost free ride at some state universities such as at our main flagship university: Maryland.</p>