<p>What a great accomplishment. There are many many students and families who wish they had such problems. Nice work. I don’t think you can make a mistake with these choices.</p>
<p>Great choices… 1) Tufts, 2) UVA and BC (tie), 3) W&M</p>
<p>Great choices. The way you feel is the way a lot of parents do. They would have no hesitation in coming up with the $60K+ for HPY, maybe any of the ivies to buy some of that lustre. As one moves down the prestige list, one becomes more hesitant Our headmaster’s daughter loved BC and it was her top choice all the way, until Providence College offered her a full ride. She agonized, and then decided to take it. Graduated at the top of her class there, took every advantage she could and went on to a prestigious grad school (can’t remember now which). </p>
<p>In our case, we offered up the difference between what we could pay and what a school cost to our kids. They still took the most expensive school, but now my college son has matured enough to see that having 6 figures in the bank upon graduation would have been great and he did not put enough though or onus in that. Some kids would get it.</p>
<p>It so depends upon the feel of the school and what the student wants. Tufts did not make the list for my kids but they all loved UVA, WM and BC, So with most of my kids, the list would be UVA, WM, BC. </p>
<p>I know my dear friend agonized when her son was accepted at Holy Cross which he loved, Tufts, which he was not crazy about, Brandeis, did not like at all, and Fordham with a discount, as well as the SUNYs. After much back and forth, he decided, that as much as he so felt that HC was the best fit for him he could do well at Binghamton, from which he graduated this year, and enjoyed it ever so much. A lot of his peer (Catholoic School boy here ) did have similar choices and did go to HC and BC, and those whose parents could afford it easily well and good, BUt for some, it meant loans and a lot of pain, that exuded for the family those years to make those crazy payments. IT’ is over a quarter million dollars to send a kid to those top cost schools. </p>
<p>Good luck on the decision.</p>
<p>@LizfromNY I realize this is an old thread… but you said, “We plan to have our son take out some minimal loans and may repay them for him, but are not telling him this!” and I want to say PLEASE don’t do this without telling him. My parents took out federal student loans in my name. They may have mentioned it to me in passing when I was 17 but I did not grasp it at all at the time. They also may have intended to “maybe” pay them off for me. In any case, it was never mentioned again during all my time in college. It was not until I graduated that I found out I had $16,000 of debt (a lot at the time!) I was shocked! Who knows what different decisions I might have made had I known that!</p>