225K/year is really lot of money for majority of people. But it involves a significant life style change for four years.
Let’s say 75K goes to uncle Sam. There will be 150K left for OP’s parent(s) to spend. If another 75K goes to college then it will have 75K for OP’s parent(s). It will almost reduce their consuming power by 50% per year for four years. Is it doable? Yes. Is it easy to do? Not likely. Someone has said it is a luxury, which is very true.
Education at private colleges is very expansive for non-poor and non-super rich people. Chicago’s COA has increased 4% every year for several years in a row. It is hardly sustainable. One good news at least for Chicago is that it offers merit-based scholarship. This year someone has reported to get 30K/year. That doubles the maximum amount from a few years back.
Lol, aka MAD BANK. The best kind of bank. No to low interest. No damage to credit rating. No late fees. Loan write-offs, flexible payment and much much more. I wish I had access to such a bank.
Right, not entirely from current income. Maybe majority for most of people.
Let’s say student borrows a loan of 10K/year - same as most public colleges. Then savings and Education IRA and others contribute another 20K/year. Then the rest (40K/year) will be picked up by income. Still very significant life stye change. Also the savings will not grow for four years since the supposed money will be gone.
It is an individual case. Someone thinks it is worth the money and others do not think the same way. Both way is fine since private college education may not be the most important thing in life.
Please don’t incur debt- go to UDub and make the most of the experience. There are very very bright kids there. Carve your own experience. The one thing all of my colleagues at work have told me is that they wish that they didn’t have debt. It’s crushing. Especially when you want to launch your life. And med/grad school is in your future so save for that.
In my opinion, in the end it won’t really matter what actual decision you make in the end. If you are a person with a positive attitude, you will look back at your decision and focus on all the reasons why that decision was the right one and be thrilled with the outcomes and your life. If you chose the private school, you will think about the great experiences there, the friendships, the class interactions, etc. If it UW, then you will think about the money you saved, the great friends you made, the great classes you had there etc
If on the other hand you are a person who is generally an “Eyore”, then you will always look back and wonder if you made the right decision and second guess it every time something challenging happens. So if class sizes are huge, you will wonder, if a professor is not giving you enough time, you will wonder, if you don’t get the right job after graduating from UChicago, you will look at the debt and wonder.
Don’t listen to anybody here, figure out what kind of person you are first. That should tell you how you will view this decision in 10-20 years, no matter what you decide. I know that is kind of philosophical, but most decisions in life are not binary.
I feel this way all the time. In fact, the astronomical increases in college tuition in the past 30 years is one of the factors why the current economic recovery is the worst since the end of World War Two.
Go to UW and don’t feed the beast by being full pay at UChicago.
Wait what ?
College Costs have skyrocketed in the past 15years or so, with a marked increase after the 2008 financial crisis. Not 30.
The current economy is doing quite well even if jobs, especially middle class jobs with middle class wages and especially benefits, have not.
@MYOS1634 - If you do a quick google search, you will find that the point that college tuition started to increase at a rate faster than inflation was the early 1980’s. There have been numerous articles and papers written about this issue in the 1990’s. The 2008 recession may have spiked tuition, but this has been a multi-generational trend.
The current economy is doing well in terms of unemployment rates, but in most other measures it is a very weak recovery with poor wage growth and lousy workforce participation rates, but given the economic policies we have in place, that is it not unexpected.