<p>weskid - I would make the same argument for any of the unique, branded, self-selected, American college experiences. One can go to Harvard as a fifty-year old post-grad and still “get” the essential Harvard experience; part of what makes these other colleges – many of them LACs – special, is that they can’t be duplicated later in one’s life. Among them, in no particular order, I would include: Wesleyan, Williams, Swarthmore, Amherst, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, Brown, Wellesley, Bryn Mawr, Haverford, Bates, Colorado College, Davidson, Washington & Lee, Connecticut College, Trinity College (CT), Oberlin, Carleton, Colgate, Middlebury, Bowdoin, Colby, and Reed.</p>
<p>You can always go to graduate school if you decide you need a fancy terminal degree (which is why so few universities make my list.) But, you’re only a tween once in your life.</p>
<p>Well, my son has decided that Wesleyan is where he would like to attend even though he will carry a personal debt of $65,000 for his undergraduate degree (parents 75%/child 25%). His decision leaves a full 4 year (tuition and room/board) scholarship to University of Maryland unused.</p>
<p>We found ourselves in a difficult situation. We are too well off ($200,000/year combined salary) to comfortably tell him that there is NO way for us to pay for college, but not well off enough to write a $200,000 check for each kid.</p>
<p>I have very mixed emotions.</p>
<p>Im happy that he is pleased with his future college experience, yet concerned that we will be significantly financially challenged to find a way to pay the expense of two private school educational experiences and still find a way to finance the future expense of my third child 4 years from now.</p>
<p>The dust has settled. All the funds (30K)that were saved up for child #2 (over 18 years of saving) was spent within 6 months and now we are planning to fund the additional cost with a home equity line of credit (.25% below prime). We are not going into retirement funds.</p>
<p>On the plus side, my oldest child will be graduating from NYU in the Fall (1 semester early) thus saving 25K.</p>
<p>My Wes kid is happy, doing wonderfully. He avoided problematic professors using the website: ratemyprofessor.com. and was very pleased with his classes, professors and fellow students. It is clearly a very stimulating environment. He was accepted into difficult major (CSS) which only accepts a small number of students from each class.</p>
<p>When you ask him what he wants to study he would say, “I want to learn as much as I can about as much I can”</p>
<p>Wow. I’m a huge fan of liberal arts colleges, and I think Wesleyan is great. But that would be way, way too much debt for me. $150K already for your first and now you’re into new home equity for the second?</p>
<p>In that situation I think my kid would have chosen St. Mary’s College of Maryland (which is actually a nicer campus than Wesleyan and attracts many top students who might well have attended schools like Wes.) Good luck, though, and keep us posted!</p>
<p>For families facing similar choices, another option would be one of the excellent midwestern LACs that offer merit scholarships. Any kid who could get into Wesleyan probably would have a good shot at merit money from colleges like Oberlin, Macalester, Colorado College, or Grinnell. All these schools (or a public honors college like St. Mary’s College of Maryland at about $25K in state) offer a very similar classroom and campus experience. The midwestern colleges tend to have a little less cache, and usually are a little less selective, than the top New England LACs. However,the out-of-pocket costs can be substantially less for some middle income families. </p>
<p>Grinnell’s 75th percentile SAT scores (M+CR) are within about 20 points of Wesleyan’s (a statistically insignificant difference, I suspect). The full price (even before merit aid comes into play) is nearly $6k/year cheaper. Its endowment per student in 2005 was $900K (more than Pomona’s, Swarthmore’s, or Williams’) so they have some cash to toss around. Wesleyan’s in the same year was $187K.
[Endowment</a> per Student](<a href=“http://www.data360.org/dsg.aspx?Data_Set_Group_Id=992]Endowment”>http://www.data360.org/dsg.aspx?Data_Set_Group_Id=992)</p>
<p>I suspect the lower admit rates at schools like Wesleyan, Bowdoin or Middlebury (compared to Oberlin, Grinnell or Macalester) will translate to student bodies with more HS team captains, class presidents and newspaper editors. And yes, the New England schools may attract more celebrities. I doubt there is a noticeable difference in the intellectual caliber of the students. </p>
<p>So in my opinion, if you are in that upper middle income zone of agony, you shouldn’t let a bias against “flyover land” overly affect your judgment about costs and value.</p>
<p>My oldest son graduated a semester early from NYU.</p>
<p>My wife and I have clearly made sacrifices for this decision, but we continue to feel that the Wesleyan decision for my second son was a sound. </p>
<p>He continues to have an excellent educational experience. He recently completed a semester abroad, living with a family in Argentina [6 months] and is now fluent in Spanish. </p>
<p>Other expenses – I did have to replace my car – a Toyota camry with 230,000 miles; and although I did buy a new car, the total cost was not extravagant – around 17K - [we continue to have good credit]. </p>
<p>My federal job [I work at a Veterans Hospital] has fortunately not been affected by the downturn in the economy.</p>
<p>My third child is a High School Junior – we are planning to visit schools this spring break.</p>
<p>Wesleyan son graduates next month, May of 2012 – has had a fantastic education at Wesleyan and will be starting a new job in Europe, July of this year. I did have to laugh/cry when he told me a couple of months ago that he probably could have also gotten a good education at UMD. </p>
<p>Ouch. In spite of that, we are please with what he has gotten from the experience.</p>
<p>My third child graduates from High School in June but is planning a ‘gap year’ to work, take a few classes at the local community College, travel, volunteer and then plan to begin college in the Fall of 2013.</p>