<p>When it becomes possible for someone to get an education for free, why would paying for college ever be worth it?</p>
<p><a href=“Consortium of Colleges Takes Online Education to New Level - The New York Times”>Consortium of Colleges Takes Online Education to New Level - The New York Times;
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[The</a> Future of Colleges: 9 Inevitable Changes](<a href=“http://education.gsu.edu/ctl/Programs/Future_Colleges.htm]The”>http://education.gsu.edu/ctl/Programs/Future_Colleges.htm)</p>
<p>The decision should be made the same way you’d decide whether to buy any luxury item. Of course, there will always be people who will tell you that the luxury item is not better than an ordinary item, and there is some truth to that–a cheap watch from the drug store will tell time just as well as a Rolex. But people don’t buy Rolexes just because they tell time accurately.</p>
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<p>We did, too (well, almost; we do have cable). As a result, we were able to pay for a top school for the kid who was qualified for one. The other kid was not a candidate for top schools; he went to a state university. We paid full sticker price for both. And we didn’t break a sweat.</p>
<p>One kid is planning to get a professional degree and will need to take out loans for that. But their undergraduate indebtedness is zero, which is a pretty good starting point for adulthood.</p>
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<p>I got into the top-25 college I got into, even though the high school I went to was very poor, espcially compared to the top math and science magnets like TJ, IMSA, etc. That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t have been better prepared for college if I did go to those math and science magnets however.</p>
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<p>This is the way it worked for us too. My older two are both going to private schools.</p>
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<p>I agree. And it never fails to amuse me that people buy Rolexes considering their costs. 
But to each our own. We all help keep the world turning.</p>
<p>What’s wrong with buying a Rolex/taking a vacation to Europe first class/having fresh flowers delivered weekly/eating at nice restaurants/buying a nice handbag/whatever other luxury you can think of? Let’s not pretend that purchases should only be about the minimum of food, shelter, clothing since no one here lives like that (else they wouldn’t have a computer or be online).</p>
<p>Nothing is wrong with that if you can afford it. If you have to borrow $20K/year to maintain this lifestyle, IMHO it is a bad financial decision.</p>
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While I sort of agree with this, I’m bemused by people who borrow money to buy cars but think it’s a terrible idea to borrow money to buy a college education. Which one lasts longer?</p>
<p>Hunt–We will not borrow money for our children’s college education–THEY might, we WON’T. Yes, we’ve borrowed money for cars in the past but usually that is a financial decision. Our latest car purchase we got 0% financing, why wouldn’t we take advantage of that–and no, the cost of the car wasn’t more, the numbers all worked out just fine so we can leave that money in our investments which are earning money right now actually. </p>
<p>We both graduated with a lot of loan debt and paid it off in short order, under 4 years. We won’t do that again :D.</p>
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<p>Nothing is wrong with it. That’s why I wrote this:</p>
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<p>As long as we all have what we will and won’t spend our money on - our own personal luxuries - then our world (economy) will keep on trucking. It’s when we all choose the exact same thing (or stop spending altogether) that the economy will crumble. Each year 4000+ colleges have a freshman class because there’s a right place for everyone. Each year both Rolex and Timex keep employing people to make watches. We could come up with oodles more examples.</p>
<p>But when that sweat flop point hits (whether schools or watches or whatever) one ought to be wary.</p>
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<p>Should I mention we haven’t had a car loan in years - many years. I can’t see why I would want one.</p>
<p>But I’m still ok with my boys having roughly 30K in loans when they graduate (they’ll acutally have less, but that was the OP’s figure). I’m just not ok with a whole lot more - esp for undergrad U.</p>
<p>I’m not sure what top schools leave you with only 20-30k of total debt after 4 years. We didn’t qualify for any need based aid…cost of these schools, which Ds got into, would have been more like 200k…maybe not actual loans, but money pulled out of investments earmarked for retirement. Merit aid is not a given, even if child has perfect scores/grades.</p>
<p>scmom12-you are assuming the OP is full-pay and not eligible for need-based aid. Our family would have almost the same amount of student loan debt from top schools after need and merit-based aid is exhausted.</p>
<p>If students are not qualified for need base aid at top private colleges then they also have to pay full price at state colleges. State colleges are not free for high income families.</p>
<p>Furthermore, there are thousands of parents who pay full price to many private colleges that are below state flagship colleges in quality and they are very happy. No one complains about this.</p>
<p>Everyone needs to keep an open mind and consider net price. In many cases, a student will have to choose between $50K of debt to attend a school that is their first choice or $20K of debt to attend a school that is their second choice. The question then becomes, is one college worth $X more a month in debt payments for Y years?</p>
<p>The problem is that $50K of debt will probably cost 3 to 4 times as much as $20K of debt because only the first $21K or so of debt is typically federally subsidized for a 4 year degree. There are a few opportunities to reduce your federally subsidized debt (such as working in certain educational fields in selected locations or joining the military reserves), but it is almost impossible to get out of private college loans.</p>
<p>In my son’s case, I told him that if he picked the most expensive school, he would have to work during each school year vs. if he picked another school, he only needed to work during the summer. That helped him make up his mind.</p>
<p>Another danger is that a family loads up on PLUS loans or home equity loans and makes it much more difficult for the parents to retire at 65 or 67. Or, parents may get overly committed to an expensive college for their first child, and then have to limit the college options for their other kids.</p>
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Since $20-$30K is an actual range of amounts, rather than a relative range, it might be more insightful to ask something along the lines of: </p>
<p>If the amount of loans was not extremely high, say about the price you would spend on a replacement family car, would you send your kid to the top school? </p>
<p>That way you are indexing it to something else that the family sees as “affordable” whether they would choose a $50K car or a $5K car.</p>
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Yes, but the full price at state colleges is typically less, and the state college or other private schools may give significant merit which the “top” private colleges do not.</p>
<p>But the top private schools have a much higher threshold for financial aid as well and a full pay at a state school could very well come in under the threshold and end up paying say $15,000 at Harvard vs $26,000 at State U. Like we have told our kids from day one, all schools cost the same until you get your final aid package. We were aware of costs, they know how much we have to contribute to those costs, they researched merit aid available but in the end they know that if one school is significantly higher price, it will come off the list.</p>
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Only if he/she gets a better-paying job because of the top school.</p>
<p>$20,000-$30,000 is a manageable amount for the student to pay back. If you are confident your child will indeed graduate from this “top school” and possess marketable skills, I would leave that decision to the student.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, many families are looking at loans in the $200,000 range. I have learned my lesson with my first child. None of the top-15 schools she got in gave her any financial aid. My second child did not bother with these schools at all. He targeted the merit scholarships at schools in the 30-90 range. Depending on the major, there are lots of “top-10 departments” out there.</p>