<p>I posted this on the Parents web site (so neutral forum).</p>
<p>Votes are:</p>
<p>Michigan 14</p>
<p>Duke 0</p>
<p>(sounds like a football score after the first quarter)</p>
<p>It depends on how much of that $123,000 is loans and how you value a smaller school. Michigan is just too big for my tastes, personally, but that’s up to you. However, considering all this, I would still only choose Duke if I were able to graduate with less than $20,000 in loans. I love being at Duke, but with any more loans than that, you should probably choose Michigan</p>
<p>not really neutral, parents usually want to pay less hence they choose the cheaper option. On the other hand if you were going to get 100+k in loans I would also vote UM, but if you have the cash (most people don’t) then use it. Duke has much better pre-med advising. It all comes down to cost (because you mentioned the money).</p>
<p>I go with the parents. Everyone I know who has gone to U. Mich has loved it. Especially with med school bills to pay, andall thoseyears before you’ll be earning, I’d take the money.</p>
<p>Duke is a great school and I am going. But I wouldn’t be going if I had gotten big money somewhere else like Michigan that’s a really good school. </p>
<p>By the way, I don’t think parents always choose the cheaper school. I think a lot of parents are too concerned about whether their kids go to a “name” school rather than a good fit. But Michigan is a very good school.</p>
<p>I assume you’re in-state at Michigan? Because Michigan and Duke have almost identical tuition fees for out-of-state. In fact, Duke was SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than Umich for me due to financial aid. Michigan’s financial aid is terrible (it is a state school after all). Or perhaps your child (or maybe it’s you) got a HUGE scholarship at Michigan. Because even if you’re in-state, Duke should “only” be about $88k more over the four years according to my findings at least. So, you’re leaving out something. Anyways, both are GREAT schools so you can’t go wrong. I chose Duke over Michigan, but Michigan would have been more expensive for me. If it causes significant financial hardship to go to Duke, then Michigan is a clear choice. From your original post, it is clear you just want everybody to confirm your findings that Michigan is the better option, so that should tell you something about what you want…</p>
<p>with us being Mi in-state, and my son having some small amount of merit scholarships for U of M ,but no FA to either Duke or Mi, yes, the difference is a staggering $123,000 over 4 years…this is factoring in 4% increases per year.</p>
<p>Love Duke to death but it seems like a U Mich no brainer. Then Duke for med school :)</p>
<p>fyi, we just sent into U of Michigan the $200 deposit for my s to attend. GO BLUE!</p>
<p>Pham27 wrote:</p>
<h2>“if you have the cash (most people don’t)”</h2>
<p>‘most’ is not really a helpful word here… It can mean anything form 55% to about 80% is my gut feel on the word. But that is really, really inaccurate.</p>
<p>My guess is than less than 1% of families in this country have that kind of disposable cash. Probably another 10% have it but only if they cut severely back on their cashflow during retirement years.</p>
<p>Oh, and you’d have to have your head examined to pay another $122,000 over Michigan to attend Duke, or Brown, or JHU, or Notre Dame, or Penn, or x, or y , or z.</p>
<p>thanks everyone…it is interesting that these top private college always seem to hit is so that 1/2 of the kids are fullpay. i just can’t see how people can pay $220,000 dollars</p>
<p>Yea, i’m turning down Cornell/Rice for Berkeley with in-state tuition for the exact same reason, and I don’t feel bad at all. OP, you should choose Michigan.</p>