<p>Same situation here too.... though mine might be slightly easier. I am choosing between Carolina (instate) and Univ. of Chicago or Emory. I'm looking into business so giving up Emory is pretty hard....</p>
<p>My daughter is looking at two private schools, NYU vs Syracuse, (both for Acting major), but the situation is the same. NYU is the bigger name for theater, and at one point was her top choice, but it is at least $7000 per year more than SU, and SU also gave her an $8000 scholarship. So over four years, it's at least $60,000 difference, and probably more, given the cost of being in NYC. We probably have enough saved for SU, but definitely not NYU.</p>
<p>Besides the debt, there's the question of how poor you want to be during college - not having any discretionary money to do extra things and have fun.</p>
<p>One thing people do not factor in when wrestling over this 'classic' debate is that the more prestigious, expensive dream school offers (most of the time) much more opportunity. With a more prestigious name, there is a higher chance to win prestigious scholarships and fellowships, get a better and high paying job, and in that school, there will be likely more successfull people who have come from there--resulting in a much more wide and powerful network. </p>
<p>If the more prestigious school has better job prospects, resources and education, and you have a plan to settle the debt, then take the more prestigious school. Take for example graduates of expensive business schools who work at bulge bracket firms; those firms have tuition reimbursement programs and the like.</p>
<p>Line909 -- In many cases, that's a big if.</p>
<p>I have the same problem--
I was totally shocked to get into Wellesley, but they didn't give me enough financial aid, and my parents don't want me to be in debt after undergraduate school.
My public school is UNC-CH, which definitely provides a great education, but I still picture myself at a LAC in Boston (where I've wanted to live since I was 9)..
:( sad</p>
<p>lrolfescin, what studio did your D get into for NYU?</p>
<p>Thanks, jaybee, for articulating my frustration. Eighteen years ago I was hearing that it would cost 100k to send a child to college for 4 years when they became 18. So that's what we budgeted savings for, but lo and behold, the 100k is now 200k for D's dream school. Fortunately she has a good two good publics to choose from, but I's still feeling pretty bad.</p>
<p>smdur1970</p>
<p>I went "retirement-home-shopping" with my mom the other day. At this point, they like to see $1 million in assets for entry. So when we get to that point, do we need $2 million? Or is it just colleges that have decided to double their prices?</p>
<p>I just don't intend to go much over my budgeted plan, no matter how much the college thinks that I should remortgage my house and retire when I'm 80.</p>
<p>smdur1970: I hear where you're comin from! Everyone told us to encourage our daughter to apply to the private schools as they would make it comparable to the public...she has 95 UW avg, and 2160 SAT...we thought that would be enough to offer maybe 1/2 scholarship. But, even with 1/2 tuition, still ends up 30K a year... twice as much as public. Now I feel respnsible for encouraging her to apply to these schools...getting her hopes up...and having to see friends of her's whose parents are willing to mortgage their future to pay going to the privates.</p>
<p>Smdur1970 and Jaybee, I know what you mean. Since our daughters were born in the late '80s, my husband and I saved diligently for their college educations. We cut every corner, drove old high-mileage cars, took no fancy vacations, suffered through years of my miserable cooking skills, paid off the mortgage on a modest home, sent the girls to public schools, etc., etc. This was all done with the hope that eventually we'd have plenty of good college options and the finances to afford them. </p>
<p>Well, that time has come and we find ourselves in a depressing situation. Skyrocketing tuition costs have far outpaced our ability to save. Yet, because we were so financially responsible and frugal for all that time, the federal gov't and private LACs have rewarded us with an EFC that is bewildering and scary. Indeed, we could figure out a way to pay that astronomical EFC (with two in college at the same time)--perhaps, by selling or remortgaging our home, plundering our retirement accounts, and resigning ourselves to participate in the labor force to age 90 should we live so long. Our other choice, of course, would be to borrow, go into huge debt, and pass that on as a proud legacy to our children. Or, we could simply tell our daughters that despite our efforts (and theirs) over the years, a public state school is their only option. Oh, certainly--you can get a good education at a huge public institution. It's just sad, however, that this becomes the only reasonable choice for so many middle class kids.</p>
<p>vahevala, my sentiments exactly. My daughter has great stats too, and did get scholarship offers at two private safeties; one for full tuition but now she has no desire to go there for reasons I agree with, one for half tuition that still works out to way too much. Nothing at all from the two reaches that accepted her, and I had encouraged her applying to them because they have the resources to be a bit more generous than things turned out.</p>
<p>jaybee, it would be an interesting economic study to determine how much of the increase is due to inflation, what might be for real improvements, and what might be for other reasons. When I worked for the government, we were accountable for justifying every increased cost estimate in those kinds of terms. If publics, especially like UVA and W&M in my state, can provide a good education for so much less than privates, something else is going on; it's my understanding that the state picks up only about 10% of the cost, which varies among the different schools each year and would not account for the better prices even for OOS students. Maybe one of these days there'll be time to research this; maybe something like the Journal of Higher Ed, often cited here in CC, has some info. If not, an interesting topic for some enterprising investigative reporter.</p>
<p>I hear you, Hindoo (I was posting same time as you). I have a friend in the same boat, who keeps saying that at least we did the right thing by being responsible and prepared (we thought) to pay the freight. Small comfort.</p>
<p>Smdur1970--My younger daughter (a high school senior) this year, also has good stats. She's a NMF and Scholar, Presidential Scholar candidate, 35 ACT, 2290 SAT etc., and she did receive some merit money from a couple of good safeties. However, her top choice schools don't believe in merit money--just about everything they give is for need. Foolish me, I naively assumed we'd qualify for decent need-based aid based on our income and assets (or lack thereof). FAFSA said, not so much.</p>
<p>Save the money!!!</p>
<p>It is a catch-22. Most of the "top" schools are politically left wing institutions. Therefore, they will only pay poor people and "URMs" to attend. Families in the middle ($40,000-$150,000) cannot afford to send their kids, yes, family income of $150K is the middle, ie:2 parents working hard and paying 25-40% of their income in taxes, cannot afford top schools. You do the math. </p>
<p>The irony is that the other portion of the student population will be made up of "rich" students, or people desperate enough to mortgage their families' future. The rich students' families are part of the establishment that the schools believe are responsible for oppression, racism etc., and the desperate families are trying to get their children an education that will move them into the upper class, the very same class the school rails against.</p>
<p>Save your money and go to the best State or Private School that you can afford!</p>
<p>Good Luck to all</p>
<p>Ahh. I'm stuck as well. I got into NYU's GSP program and I want to major in Art History. But they will give no financial aid whatsoever.
I also got into Bard and Sarah Lawrence and both schools would give around $20,000 in aid per year. My dream is to live in the city and go to NYU, but I definitely think my parents will end up sending me to Rutgers. Not tha Rutgers is a bad school, but no kid from Jersey wants to go there. :(</p>
<p>As an adult I have friends who talk about the school they could've gone to...and some, frankly, never seem to get over it. Where you go to college will come up at times all throughout your life. If you will always regret not going to say, Harvard...then, GO! Some experiences are, shall we say, Priceless! You just need to decide how YOU feel about it. I guess I have always felt that when I hear people saying they could've gone somewhere...well, you didn't go...so get over it and move on! If you won't be able to move on...and, I am talking 55 year old people here...then, go! $80,000/year is a lot of $$ but it only ends up being $2,000/year for 40 years...I think that my friend would gladly pay $2,000/year to have had the experience. And, in his day, it would be only about $100/year. $80,000 will someday seem reasonable...hard to believe, but true. Good Luck!</p>
<p>Same issue here. We thought we had it covered, and scrimped over the years to put away $100K in each of the kids' accounts, but the cost is now $200K, and still going up 5-6% a year. </p>
<p>S is a NMF, 2340 SAT, 4.1 GPA, IB diploma candidate, and top 50 ranked athlete nationally in his sport, but merit aid is pretty non existent for those stats at the schools he would like. He was accepted at Chicago, Johns Hopkins and NYU along with UVA, William & Mary and Va Tech. The only scholarship in the bunch was NYU, and he decided after a long visit it is not the place for him (and I agree with his assessment). He is considering W&M, and may go that way, but I told him we would support wherever he feels a better fit. We offered to split the remaining $100K with him at the other schools, so that he would have to pay back $50K and we would pay off the rest over time.</p>
<p>I think this is harder for parents to accept since it has changed so much since our days in school. When I went to one of the schools on his accepted list, I was able to pay my way through with a number of small scholarships and working, but those types of scholarships are still $500-$1,000 each while the annual cost has gone from $6K per year in my day to $50K now, and merit does not seem to count anymore.</p>
<p>I would hate to regret not going to my dream school for the rest of my life. I say, try it for a year then transfer if you dont like it. Easier said than done, I know.</p>
<p>As far as I'm concerned, a college education is one of the last great gifts a parent can give a child (within financial reason). If it means working longer, scrimping more, and struggling to make ends meet, my husband and I will try to get it done for them. (However, I do NOT expect to pay for graduate school or any other gigantic future expense! They'll be on their own for those things.) College represents a potentially wonderful time in life, the last few years before stark realities over. I'd love for our girls to have the best possible experience, with few or no regrets.</p>
<p>yes ,your parents need to go in an plead there case, they will need to show all their expenses,housing,food,loans,ect. It never hurts to go in and talk to them.Let them know that you have been looking at our schools. Also ask questions. Like after I finish taking the generals along with the other 500 hundred kids how many are going to be accepted into the major. What is going to be the Gpa to allow me to be accepted 3.4, 3.6 or higher.</p>