Wash Post Michelle Singletary Cost of College

<p>Kiplinger’s rates UNC-CH no. 2 for out-of-state value, so maybe that’s why Ms. Singletary let her daughter apply there, even though she knew it was likely to be too pricey even if Olivia had been admitted. </p>

<p>[Kiplinger’s</a> Best Values in Public Colleges-Kiplinger](<a href=“http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-public-colleges/index.php]Kiplinger’s”>Best College Values, 2019 | Kiplinger)</p>

<p>Also UNC-CH was the young woman’s dream school. I don’t plan on “forbidding” my son from applying to any of his “dream schools,” but he WILL know that his dream of attending may be as farfetched as our dream of being able to pay for it. ;-)</p>

<p>Well, the way I interpreted it was that these were the schools her D had already heard from. It’s only February. It would indeed be surprising if they weren’t waiting to hear from a few more schools.</p>

<p>The real question, I think, is what she will do if this is the end of the line for her and for her D? Will she opt for community college? Or, will she climb down her high horse and borrow the money? Inquiring people want to know.</p>

<p>Her DD will probably go to UMD-College Park Honors like many other students in our area. You guys are a tough crowd.</p>

<p>circuitrider –</p>

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<p>It doesn’t appear that you read the article very carefully. She said that her D applied to 4 colleges. She is not waiting to hear from other schools.</p>

<p>Why would this be the end of the line for her D? She was accepted at 3 out of the 4 colleges that she applied to. What’s this about climbing off her high horse and borrowing money? She said in her article that she has saved enough money to pay for her D to attend 4 years at the 3 schools where she was accepted. This is probably about at least $80K. If she gets any scholarships, then the money that is left over can be used for grad school. How many of you have saved $80K to send your child to college? One of the primary focuses of her column is saving money and reducing debt.</p>

<p>I agree with 4CookieMonster, you guys are vicious! It was up to her D to decide where she wanted to apply for college. Who are you to judge her decisions?</p>

<p>aquamarinesea wrote:

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<p>I didn’t think I was being particularly vicious; I was actually trying to give her the benefit of the doubt. Maybe she has real reasons for the overall tone of hand-wringing she has adopted for her article. Right now - and if your interpretation is correct - it isn’t clear what her point is; she’s playing misery poker with an ace up her sleeve (the putative $80,000 which btw won’t go very far if she intends to use it both as a replacement for u/g loans AND for graduate school). </p>

<p>If she’s happy with her choices, then she should say so. But, I guess that would be a different article.</p>

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<p>Nope, you can’t make that assumption. She did not say that her D applied to ONLY four colleges. Perhaps she did only apply to four. Perhaps she applied for more, but that discussion ended up on the ‘cutting room floor’ due to editing. Regardless, we don’t know one way or another, and thus we cannot assume one way or another.</p>

<p>All valid points by bluebayou. So here’s hoping that there is a follow-on article or two in the Color of Money column.</p>