<p>I have seen many parents on here say they sent their S/D to a state school because they could not afford a top school. This is usually followed up by a statement that top schools are not worth it. I know cost is the issue, but if the amount of loans was not extremely high let's say $20,000 to $30,000 in loans after 4 years, which is about the price of a new car which lots of people buy without hesitation (not me)? Would you send your kid to the top school?</p>
<p>Some state schools ARE top schools.</p>
<p>I don’t think most people would say that. Top schools often give the best merit aid. For those of us who won’t get FA, but just barely, it does make a difference if the top schools offer something that the flagship school doesn’t have. </p>
<p>For my son, in a STEM field, it was worth it send him to Caltech, MIT, or CMU’s SCS. If I had a child in MT, I would also consider the benefit for his/her future. </p>
<p>Then again, if I lived in a state with a top flagship, the decision would be harder.</p>
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<p>Yes, I would.</p>
<p>One cannot answer this question without looking at the financial aid calculator. Compare the following situations:
- The state flagship UC Berkeley financial aid calculator:
Parents’ AGI income: $90,000
Parents’ Income tax paid: $10,000
Parents’ Assets: $20,000
Number in household: 4
Result:
Cost of attendance: $32,706
Estimated Net Cost: $20,457
Grant award: $12,249
Student loan and work study: $8,500
Parent loan: $11,957
[Financial</a> Aid Estimator - UC Berkeley Financial Aid and Scholarships Office](<a href=“Financial Aid Estimator - UC Berkeley Financial Aid and Scholarships Office”>Financial Aid Estimator - UC Berkeley Financial Aid and Scholarships Office) - MIT net price calculator:
Parents’ gross income: $110,000
Parents’ house value: $600,000
Parents owe on house: $200,000
Parents’ assets: $20,000
Sibling tuition: $5000
Result:
Cost of attendance: $57,000
Grants: $35,279
Loan and work: $6,000
Self Help: $6,000
Estimated Net Price: $21,731
Estimated Remaining Cost: $15,731
<a href=“Net Price Calculator”>Net Price Calculator;
<p>Any school whose cost of attendance makes you break out in hives or flop sweat is not worth it. </p>
<p>The “Flop Sweat Point” varies from family to family.</p>
<p>^Best answer. LOL.</p>
<p>H and I drive older cars with high mileage. It won’t be forever. Our children, and their education, are our first priority. Always. Our state school is great and has a fabulous honors program, but our kids went (one still there) to private colleges. It was right for them. So it was right for us. We are not wealthy but we consider ourselves blessed in many ways. And yes, we have borrowed some money… and our kids have loans, too. It will all be okay.</p>
<p>“Flop Point Sweat”–yes!</p>
<p>This is so true.
My D was accepted at several top-tier LACs. Based on our EFC, I honestly thought there would be a shot of some grant aid–our EFC was under COA at those schools, but I didn’t know then (as I do now) that having a (very small) business would radically change the picture at those schools.</p>
<p>In the end, the COA of the top LACs ended up being essentially EFC +student loans +hefty parent plus. With a kid headed into humanities, a state flagship honors program and NO loans for anyone was her/our decision.</p>
<p>She’s blissfully happy, doing really great at flagship. I can sleep. We can afford to send the next kid to college.</p>
<p>Oh, and we drive old cars (average age: 9years)…we had the budget lean anyway because we were saving so we would not have to take loans.</p>
<p>It’s such an individual decision. I don’t think there’s really a right or wrong answer! It depends on you/your kid/your finances/their future goals. Personally, I’m VERY debt adverse! But not everyone is.</p>
<p>I would take on the expense you mention for a top private school. There aren’t too many cars I couldn’t buy every year for what I pay on two top private school tuitions and yet I drive an 8 year old car. I am fortunate to have saved enough to know that I will have adequate retirement savings so I look at this as giving money to my kids now that if saved, would go to them later. I prefer to give them the legacy of that top education now rather than ensure they will inherit the funds for a second home some day.</p>
<p>I really wish the moderators would compile a handy guide to the 546 or so threads that address this question and its many variants. That said, it could be fun to see how many pages this one can go before it gets shut down.</p>
<p>YaleGradandDad makes another good point–those who DON’T have their retirement funds where they need to be really should think hard about taking on debt for college expenses, if there are other viable options that avoid debt.</p>
<p>I suppose we could’ve maybe swung top LAC IF we had entirely stopped contributing to retirement. But our taxes would have increased…and retirement is not too far off…again, sweat factor here. </p>
<p>Couldn’t do it. Know people who do go that route. Don’t judge them at all–it may absolutely be the right decision for them. I just knew I wouldn’t sleep at night. </p>
<p>Hypothetically, if taking 20-30k in loans had been the only way we could’ve sent D to college, we would have done it. </p>
<p>Our choices were between: no debt for mid-range LACs w/ merit, no debt for OOS flagship w/ merit vs $80-100,000 in debt for top LACs, so the decision was pretty clear cut. But now D says she’s glad that she’s where she is & wouldn’t change a thing if she could go back and choose again. So we’re all happy.</p>
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<p>We are all going to rationalize our choices, because we’re human. 
Parents who spent a great deal of money or went into debt are going to talk about the wonderful opportunities their child had at Expensive U. Parents who spent within more limited means or without debt are going to talk about how their child received an education just as wonderful at Affordable U as that of their more expensively educated post-graduation coworkers. </p>
<p>In the end: do you pass the flop sweat test? By age 35, are your kids managing on their own? Then it’s all good.</p>
<p>Per post #11, I don’t think these threads generally get shut down… they don’t usually veer into politics, it is all personal decisions. So much depends on your (and your student’s) appetite for debt, what you have already saved for college, how much you make now and how stable your job it, how many kids you have to put through college, and how much you have already saved for retirement. For us, first one went off to college during the recession, and LOVED her safety (LAC, not state school) that offered good merit aid. It was a no brainer, honestly, and she graduated Phi Beta Kappa into an excellent job with benefits (with a humanities major). D2 is looking at more full price schools, and I think we can afford it with this one without jeapardizing retirement. So she may go that route (no flop sweat, we have saved a lot, and ex-H apparently will provide some financial support for D2 that he didn’t for D1).</p>
<p>So for some families it even varies from kid to kid.</p>
<p>I will say that the “not worth it” can be a rationalization from parents who can’t or don’t want to spend the money for a top school. Whether they are correct depends some on the school they do pick, their kid’s ambitions/future plans, and how much their kid will wring out of a “not top” school.</p>
<p>20K-30K in loans…sure, I’d do it, given our financial situation. 80K in loans…no. I don’t know where the flop sweat point for our family would have been between 30K-80K.</p>
<p>Okay, I am going to add one more comment… our flop sweat point is taking out ANY loans. It is hard enough to graduate into today’s job market and the competitive grad school admissions market with any extra debt. But I have saved my tail off over the years (and they have saved to pay for spending money and books) to be in a position to do this. We have ALWAYS done without expensive cars, expensive vacations, smart phones, cable, etc., and lived in way less housing than we could afford for many years, but we have ALWAYS funded the college savings accounts generously.</p>
<p>If sending your child to a prestigious college for the sake of saying your child went to a prestigious college is worth a lot of money to you, by all means do it. If your kid has a passion for investment banking or corporate law or certain medical fields, then attending a prestigious college may confer a modest career advantage. </p>
<p>But don’t delude yourself with the myth that attending a prestigious college means your kid will get a better education. Thirty years of research studies show conclusively that there is no statistically significant correlation between prestige and educational outcomes. A motivated student can get an excellent education at most colleges – and the research also shows that what students do when they get to college is much more important than is what college they attend. </p>
<p>(Now the normal pattern is for the defenders of the myth to attack me. I could care less; it just proves they have no answer to the voluminous data that destroys their myth.)</p>
<p>30K in total debt = totally worth it. 30K in annual debt = no way in the world for any college.</p>
<p>I like the flop sweat point idea. Ours is far closer to the 30K total than the 30K annually.</p>
<p>I also wouldn’t pay full price if money were no object when there are great schools with merit aid out there.</p>
<p>ps Our primary vehicle is 20 years old and our secondary is 15 years old. I see no need to replace either just yet as they are running just fine.</p>
<p>In our area the top private schools usually end up being less expensive then the state schools for above average students and better. Parents new to the college process don’t always know that and we hear similar comments as the OP. Heck, even some parents that have put a few kids through college but never considered private schools don’t realize the amount of merit aid available. For us the state schools are the more expensive choice so our kids’ list is almost all private schools. Now, if you have an average or below average student where merit aid isn’t going to be an option, state schools are more “affordable”.</p>
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