What amuses me most regarding tuition these says is this: as an Illinois resident the full retail price of
UCLA (or any public Ivies) = Ivies = U of Chicago/MIT/Caltech = Kenyon College (smaller LAC)
So if my kid goes to any school out of state and we have to do full pay, the price tag is $65,000 (+/-$2,000) across the board no matter where she goes. That is $260,000 total to pay for out of my AFTER tax income.
Back in my days of applying for college, Ivies were still the most expensive but the public Ivies were far more affordable. There was a whole range of prices for different colleges. Heck I have a relative that went to Caltech for $3,000 a year.
No idea what 85 bears stats are, but Kenyon only gives merit to the very top students it is trying to keep from going to other colleges. Not many will get merit there.
I agree @85bears46 . I was a bit shocked to discover that almost every private college my son considered here on the East Coast was $65K a year regardless of perceived value or prestige. I was a huge wake up call that put us in our place rather quickly.
@Lindagaf Thanks, that’s good to know. The kids I know who were accepted to Kenyon all got merit. I suppose they were all above the 75th percentile. Just checked Naviance and they all had 35 or 36 and weighted GPA was 5.65/5.0.
@Fishnlines29 I think there are probably OOS state schools that come in less. We are in Illinois and, while Michigan would be $65K, Wisconsin would be more like $48K.
@homerdog Paying full price to send my kid to heart of Packerland? No way! /s
My kid is still young but by the time she is ready to apply, I am going to tell her to apply as many colleges as she can manage. They all cost a bundle and if I have to pay a quarter of million bucks for her college cost, the $2,000 in application fee is really irrelevant.
I know this attitude sounds bad but maybe this explains why admission rate gets lower and lower for top schools. For full pay parents if every school cost the same, we may as well gamble on applying to more USNWR Top 25.
@homerdog , to elaborate, Kenyon offers scholarships to 12% of admitted students. By and large, the students offered scholarships are often Ivy-caliber, though some of the scholarships are designated for certain types of students. My D was accepted but not offered a scholarship there. Her SAT was equivalent to 1540 new, but her UW GPA was about 3.8.
For the purposes of this thread it’s probably safe to assume that the more selective the college, the less likely the chance of getting merit. Those highly selective colleges that do offer merit will be giving it to the exceptional students that they want to entice from even more selective colleges.
ETA: Some colleges that offered merit aid until recently no longer do so. Franklin & Marshall comes to mind. I have heard of others.
@85bears46 LOL. Yes, it is Packerland up there! I hear you about applying widely. I started making a list of schools and what they require in terms of essays. That might be a reason to narrow your list. You really cannot write “why X-school” essays for 20 schools. And some schools, like Wake Forest and University of Chicago, have VERY time consuming applications.
@85bears46 The thing is, many (even most) of the top 20 universities and liberal arts colleges offer need-based aid only, not merit awards. So, while specific schools might offer slightly different variations of financial aid package to a specific family, the Expected Family Contribution is not going to vary tremendously among different schools. Yes, Harvard, Princeton etc. give financial aid to families with higher income, and include fewer loans in package for families with less income, so there are variations. But for many of us, the award from Northwestern is going to look a lot like the award from Cornell or U Penn.
Experienced parents here say: run the Net Price Calculator at schools of interest to get a preliminary read on financial aid eligibility. Most of us were shocked to discover how large our EFC is, and it affected application strategies. To qualify for merit, most families discover their student has to look at schools a “tier” down from their reaches. Schools like Duke which do offer highly competitive merit awards, are no shoe-in for the super qualified student.
@Midwestmomofboys Thanks for the advice. I guess between work and planning college for my kid, I am going to age 10 years before she even matriculates at any college
@85bears46 We all do! But it’s also a lot of fun to watch our kids grow and explore, and figure out what they want! Some of my best parenting memories are from college visit road trips. Of course, some of my worst parenting moments are also from college trips-- it took me more than a few trips to learn that, when my kid says he is ready to go, it is time to get in the car and go and NOT time to just see one more spot on campus . . . …
Enjoying this thread - lots of different perspectives. Totally understand why a Yale or other top 20 may be a great private full pay choice, but it gets much more murky for me as you go further down the list. I like Filet Mignon but I am happy to buy it at Costco - will be looking for great choices for my D’s but relative value will be a factor for us. Live in CA so instate UC cost pretty much sets our upper bar for a quality education that meets our needs. Plenty of AP credit and some DE credit will be the insurance policy to make sure the undergrad degree is a 4 year journey.
The insurance policy on a 4 year journey is your kid, not AP credit. I know LOTS of kids with AP credit and DE out the wazoo who ended up with an extra semester, year, or two years plus a summer.
YOUR KID needs to own his/her schedule. It may mean taking that 9 am Friday lab that nobody else wants to take, since the 1 pm Wednesday version is completely booked. It may mean a 6 pm Thursday section (when his or her friends are already partying) to stay on track with pre-req’s and make sure that by the time sophomore year rolls around, he/she is taking the next set of classes and not just amassing more Gen Ed credits.
And-- dare I say it- it means not dropping a class on the drop date because he/she is behind and rather than work like a dog to catch up, it’s just easier to drop and figure “I’ll have a hard semester next year”. That hard semester may become excruciating- so again- the class gets dropped.
Ask any of your friends whose kids have done the 5 or 6 year plan. It’s always a surprise; it’s always a nasty one; the financial consequences are usually terrible. AP credit doesn’t get your kid Organic Chemistry or Econometrics or that tough statistics with programming class that social science majors need.
D had an interview with one of the top tier schools. (She is one of the kids who cast a wide net.) The alumni (a successful eye doc) quoted a study of people who got into both Penn State and U Penn, and some chose Penn State and others picked UPenn. Years later, they are roughly the same point in salaries and careers. While telling D that he is going to write her a glowing review, he also cautioned D to look at the fit and his main point that the student determines her own success instead of the school she goes to. D appreciated the advice greatly. I thought it was interesting and probably the rationale for his own son going to UVA (which he shared with D during the interview)
“I was a bit shocked to discover that almost every private college my son considered here on the East Coast was $65K a year regardless of perceived value or prestige.”
“Huge wake up call for us too, every school = 65K give or take. Crazy.”
Not crazy at all. Sure all schools all have the same sticker price. But they compete on the basis of net price, which is quite different. You just need to figure out how to shop. Which is what CC is for.
No one has to pay anywhere close to sticker price. Unless you chose to do so.
Right now my kid is in at four schools:
$65k sticker; $65k net price.
$58k sticker; $58k net price.
$65k sticker; $33k net price.
$65k sticker; $15k net price.
Those results were completely predictable. Regardless of what your kid’s qualifications are, it is pretty easy to replicate those kind of results.
