<p>Wesleyan Full Price vs University Maryland $0</p>
<p>Depends upon factors not shared in your original post. What do you intend to study? How important are finances to you and your family? Are you in the honors program at Maryland? Interests?</p>
<p>Lol ummmm definitely the $0…its not necessarily where you went to school as much as the debt. Wesleyan I wouldn’t believe is worth $200,000 in debt and trying to pay it off over many years, vs. starting off with no debt and working your way up with no tuition haunting you</p>
<p>(That’s going off of full price listed on Wesleyan’s site including room and board…room and board usually gets cheaper as you make friends I.E. soph year +)</p>
<p>Well, how much of a burden will paying for Wes be on your family/how much debt will it leave you with? I love Wes. It’s great. But no school, IMO, is worth going into serious debt for, because it will make your life much harder. OTOH, if your family could pay for a significant amount of the Wes education without taking out loans, then other considerations come into play.</p>
<p>If you were admitted to the HONORS College at Maryland, go Maryland. (Can’t imagine you’d get full scholarship without being admitted to Honors College).</p>
<p>After 2 years, you can always transfer to Wesleyan and get the piece of paper from them.</p>
<p>Maryland hands down. First, it is a great school and you will get a full experience. Secondly, you can’t turn down a full ride for a school that at the end of the day won’t give you that much more.</p>
<p>I think it would be crazy to pay that much for Wesleyan, unless your family is extremely well-off. Take a year abroad and summer in Paris with the money you are saving. Seriously.</p>
<p>Your post implies that with all things being equal you would prefer going to Wesleyan. Given that, I think your decision’s actually fairly easy; go to Wesleyan. While you might be able to distill a college education down to its pure financial worth, the experience you get in college is, without a doubt, priceless. No amount of money can replace those four years. You will cherish the memories and experiences you have at college for the rest of your life. So, while from a purely financial perspective, MD might be a marginally better bet (although not by the margin described in this post), the primary benefit of college is not financial, but rather, how it aids you grow as a person. If you really believe that Wes is a better fit for you, go to Wes.</p>
<p>For full disclosure’s-sake, I grew up in MD and went to college in the northeast, but attended neither U-MD nor Wes.</p>
<p>If you have rich parents, pick the one that you like best. I would imagine that Wesleyan has a number of advantages over Maryland. HOWEVER, unless you have really rich parents or you will need to incur substantial debt if you go to Wesleyan, go to University of Maryland…hands down and NEVER LOOK BACK. In my opinion, no school is worth $200,000 more plus cost of living increases over a good state school.</p>
<p>Also for disclosure purposes, I am a Maryland resident and taught at University of Maryland.</p>
<p>I would just like to piggy-back on what abl said above.</p>
<p>Yea, before we all get carried away with the full-ride at state u bandwagon, let’s consider the fact that at Wesleyan, 1) you will be rubbing shoulders with kids from all over the United States, 2) some of them will be coming from very well-connected families (I know of at least one Wesleyan alum who got his Wes originated script produced on Broadway, in part, because he met Norman Mailer’s son while on campus), 3) if, “90% of college is what goes on outside of class”, then you and your family will be purchasing one of America’s truly unique college experiences, 4) ask yourself how many state universities have a full time career counseling office available with a nationwide network of alum in a variety of professions? </p>
<p>that being said, I know nothing about your financial situation; it’s really your decision.</p>
<p>abl, I could not agree with you less. You seem to think in terms of ones and zeros, black and white, off and on. You write as though UM is worth zero, and Wes is priceless.</p>
<p>Wait until you have to balance a budget for a family. You’ll find in life there are nice gradations in value from little, to a lot, and lots in between. </p>
<p>OP has not stated the impact on the family. The $200,000 for Wes might mean the parents put off retirement for 5-7 years beyond the original plan. They may privately worry about this, but want the best for their child, so won’t say anything about it. In such a case, should OP take the gift with gratitude (and some guilt), or politely decline and make the most of the UM experience? The $200,000 to Wes might drain the coffers and graduate school becomes a pure student loan burden to OP. You imply that if Wes is slightly better for OP, that $200,000 is simply the necessary result.</p>
<p>For $200,000 OP could hire a personal eight hours per week tutor for the next ten years! OP could finance a couple of years travelling throughout the world!</p>
<p>The question isn’t “if Wes is preferred, it must be worth whatever it costs”, but what else could be done with those $200,000 that might be worth worlds more than the incremental difference between UM and Wes.</p>
<p>Yes, you may very well “rub shoulders” with kids from rich and well connected parents at Wesleyen to a greater exent than that found in Maryland. However, is it worth an extra $200,000 to MAYBE make better connections…I would HIGHLY doubt it. </p>
<p>Just for the record. If you invest $200,000 @ 8% for 40 years in an average performing mutual fund, you will have an extra: $4,344,904 at retirement. This is REALLY the true cost of of attending Wesleyan. Is it worth losing or not having an extra $4,344,000 at retirement? I would HIGHLY doubt it.</p>
<p>For reference, I used the future value calculator found here:<a href=“http://1040tools.com/html/wc.dll?cptest1~calc2~fv~my[/url]”>http://1040tools.com/html/wc.dll?cptest1~calc2~fv~my</a></p>
<p>taxguy, stop making sense. You will pierce the happy illusion of private education.</p>
<p>DunninLA,</p>
<p>You misinterpret my post. I believe that college should NOT be viewed in binary terms. Black and white terms would lead us to, more likely than not, a purely financial evaluation of the situation. </p>
<p>To begin with, $200,000 is a lot of money, but Wes is also fairly generous with financial aid. In other words, the OP’s family has some ability to pay for the cost of the college and it is highly unlikely that either the OP will leave with $200,000 or that the OP’s family will be overburdened by debt in paying for Wes. </p>
<p>Sure, there’s almost sure to be some amount of financial strain in paying for Wes, but it’s unlikely to be back-breaking. The fact that the OP asks this question implies that his family will be able afford Wesleyan (albeit, perhaps with difficulty).</p>
<p>My point was that there is no amount of money that will replace your college years. There will be later times in life to pay for a tutor or to travel the world (and it is highly unlikely that the OP would do either or, in fact, see any of the money if they attended MD). The difference between a prospective student going to their dream school or settling for a great discount is, well, enormous. Sure, it’s very possible to have a great experience at U-MD…it’s a respectable school. However, what this comes down to–I believe–is not so much a question of Wesleyan versus UMD, but a question of whether a student should settle for a second (or possibly lower) choice for money. </p>
<p>I feel strongly that the answer to that question is no. If the OP’s family is willing to foot the bill for Wesleyan and the OP prefers Wesleyan, the OP should go to Wesleyan. I know if I was a parent and had a child in this situation, I would be extremely disappointed (and even somewhat hurt) if they passed on such an opportunity out of concern for my pocketbook. I doubt that I will ever truly be able to afford for my kids to attend a place like Wesleyan, but you better believe that I will make it work if they want to go and are admitted.</p>
<p>abl, may I ask how have you developed these opinions? What life experience, of you and peole you are close to, have led you to these conclusions?</p>
<p>abl notes, " would be extremely disappointed (and even somewhat hurt) if they passed on such an opportunity out of concern for my pocketbook</p>
<p>Response: I don’t know. $4,300,000 in total lost assets sounds like a HUGE enough concern to me.</p>
<p>taxguy–that’s an absolutely ridiculous argument. The money that would have been spent on Wesleyan otherwise is unlikely to be given to the OP, and even if it were, it is unlikely that it would be invested. </p>
<p>Practically, the money for Wesleyan would likely mean that the OP’s parents would take smaller vacations for the next several years, buy a less expensive car next time (or couple of times) they needed one, give less extravagant gifts to friends and relatives, eat out at less expensive restaurants and less often, and just generally, keep a closer eye on their spending. All in all, it is unlikely that their quality of life would be significantly impacted by the cost (and even if it is, this is a sacrifice the OP’s parents evidently believe is very worthwhile). </p>
<p>According to your logic, we should never ever spend money on luxury goods; instead, we should always go for the deals and invest in retirement. However, I’m sure that we can all agree that it is important to live life now; money is for spending.</p>
<p>kenf1234–I graduated from college last year and I now teach high school (and, because my high school is very small, do a lot of college and career counseling). I have siblings in college and tons of friends who attended schools ranging from U-MD to Cornell to NESCAC schools like Wesleyan. I’ve seen so many of my friends justify, for financial reasons, going to a college they weren’t thrilled about, and end up unhappy. I also have a number of friends who justified, for financial reasons, going to a less prestigious college, and end up with noticeably fewer post-graduate opportunities than my friends who bit the bullet and went to the better, albeit more expensive, school.</p>
<p>able, all the belt tightening measures you list amount to less thatn $10,000 per year. It will hardly make the remaining $40,000 appear from the ether.</p>