What is reasonable to pay for a college education?

Paying for College
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<p>If my kid were in the HS class of 2013 and had, say, a 4.0 / 32 ACT, and our income level were upper-middle class (meaning no financial aid beyond loans), I would do this, although it would take some time to put it all together:</p>

<p>I would take maybe the top 50 schools in the USN&WR public U. poll, and the same for the top 50 privates, and rank them from lowest cost to highest, figuring ‘out the door’ total costs. Then I’d take the ‘cheapest’ 10 from each list, give it to my kid & tell him/her to focus on these 20. Let’s go visit some, investigate their alumni networks, let’s find out what kind of merit aid you can get for your stats, and we’ll see what’s what. Let’s get some bang for your buck.</p>

<p>I would attack it this way because in this economy, the name definitely means something, beyond that it’s pretty hard to quantify. But at the same time, who’s to say that Bates or Princeton gets you in the door any quicker than Illinois or Wisconsin? I’d rather try & determine value for my kid’s education than assume that #15 on the list is a quicker road to gainful employment than #55.</p>

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<p>In-state universities can provide excellent educations but not necessarily the “connections” helpful for future employment. (Yes, eventually the “name” degree matters less and we all know of exceptions.) My question is how far down on the US News college rankings is a university worth paying for, assuming no debt is amassed. Yes, Harvard, Stanford, Yale, and Princeton but beyond that?</p>

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<p>I think the whole point of the discussion boards are to look beyond the UsNews ranking system.</p>

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<p>Go to the school that sets your heart alight - runs the advice. Well, make sure you or your family can pay for it directly or with financial aid, or at least have a reasonable expectation that you can repay loans. </p>

<p>It might also be helpful to pick a school where you have relatives or friends.</p>

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<p>If universities provide education + reputation, and the top universities’ educations are similar, isn’t reputation important?</p>

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<p>These boards?! Unless I’m reading this terribly wrong here, from the vast majority of comments on these threads, these boards JUSTIFY the USN&WR lists. Absolutely, there are some excellent schools that rank #100, #150, even farther down the list–and as we all know, it depends on the kid & the fit. But you hardly ever hear about them on the threads here, do you?</p>

<p>Still…this forum is the best place online to winnow through the you-know-what & FIND that best fit at the best price for your kid. :)</p>

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<p>This is similar to the strategy we used for our older child. However, the HUGE piece that is missing in this plan is that the school offer your major or areas of interest–if the student has any. DD was limited because at the time she was completing applications, she wanted a school with majors in German, Japanese, Russian, and physics. There aren’t too many schools out there that offer all four.</p>

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<p>Students also have to be flexible. Since D could not major in all four subjects, wouldn’t it be enough that a school offer coursework in all four (w/ possibility of majoring in one or two)?</p>

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<p>Yeah, MD Mom, I didn’t say my plan was perfect… :slight_smile: And seeing that I’ve already gone through the process twice, and made mistakes twice, I’ll have to wait for the grandchildren!</p>

<p>But to address your point, boy, it’s playing with fire to narrow potential majors down TOO much, because early undergrads have been known to change their majors–a LOT. So maybe the best strategy is to expand it a little more a few more schools–still keeping cost on the front burner–but maybe skewing a little towards schools with a wide variety of majors.</p>

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<p>jnm123–DD definitely chose the larger university over the LAC because of options available. She’s a junior now who worked toward a dual major in physics and Japanese her first year or so. She has now shifted to applied math/minor in physics and a certificate in East Asian studies. It worked. I also have a son with very little idea about what he wants to do.</p>

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<p>From my study of things I gather this. 4 years of undergrad in an IVY league rounds up to about 200,000 dollars. BUT you have to face it, the alumni network that opens up for you is pretty great. Is it worth it? Possibly, but only if you apply the network abilities. There are other ways you can discount the value of your dept. If you join the peace corps after you graduate, or work in a field that will do loan forgiveness. </p>

<p>So… putting my “education” to use. Lol.
To answer the OP what is the going rate for “education” (the average is…)
Example. Let’s say your education (4 year B.A./B.S) costs 50,000 dollars. Let’s take a similar (But a simple scenario of the current state of things)
The Department of Education gives you the principle balance with no interest rate. Taking account inflation variables and the future value of money, you can arrive to a simple conclusion:
$50,000 today is not the same as 50,000 4 years from now. It is going to be worth less. </p>

<p>Example:
What cost(t) $50000 in 2006 would cost on average $53990 in 2010.
Also, if you were to buy exactly the same “products” (loan-package) in 2010 and 2006,
they would cost you $50000 and $45898.27 respectively.</p>

<p>This is what subsidized loans are made for. They are at a low-fixed interest rate and getting a subsidized government loan gives you VERY LOW interest. </p>

<p>For me personally, (I am planning to work in the private / business sector) It’s different when you take account other fields I am sure. So I am only speaking from a SUBJECTIVE point now.
My parents don’t pay for anything. I have been on my own since 18 (Rocky relationships) I am putting myself through school, paying my own rent, my own car. With NO help from mommy or daddy. (I have paid-off my own car) Everything I own is through the wonderful system of “Credit”.
I am doing work-study and going to school full-time. I am currently 21. I have a chronic health condition, I pay my own health insurance. (The only thing that I benefit from my family is being dependent. But that benefits them more for their 1080 form)</p>

<p>I send my mother money every now and then or buy her something for the house. Also My father is just… unbearable (He had other values since he grew up in Russia)
I wish I had wealthy parents to support me like a lot of my other friends do. (My parents are very poor) You can tell there is slight jealously, but I had to grow up at a young age. I think that it will benefit me in the future. </p>

<p>After I graduate I will be around $25,000 in dept. Which isn’t “too bad” this the value of a decent new car. In an a capital economy dealing with interest rates, fees, and other things. The importance is knowing how to budget.
I have to emphasize the importance of knowing how to FINANCE your money. This is something we tend to forget. Basic financial skills is all it takes. It’s all about financial decision making.</p>

<p>If I get a job offer for 51,000 dollars in Consulting for example. (Which is the going price for an average economics degree at my school) 5000 +/-.*I can pay off all my debt in 1 year if I wanted to.</p>

<p>To say there are not jobs available to undergrads is not true. I go to the University of Arizona which is an okay school. UCLA, University of Michigan, UCSD are better.
I know people from my classes that have gotten $50,000 job offers with 2.2 GPA’s and moving to big cities. The jobs are out there, for undergrads. It’s just you have to look harder for them. Network, network, network. </p>

<p>It’s all about networking in the end. You sell yourself as a product, if you sell yourself good enough you can get a few good job offers. People make excuses a lot. I have had hardships in life. It takes hard work to succeed. The winners are those who don’t complain. People will always find excuses. No matter how good the economy is, or how bad it is. In the end it’s all about YOU. How bad you want something. If you have the motivation. You will succeed. (I am a personal example of that, considering many odds have been NOT in my favor. Brute Luck is not something I have experienced yet)</p>

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<p>Pay as little as possible, very few employers differentiate between a reasonably inexpensive school and a very expensive school. I mean of course if your going to be going to an IVY league school and plan on working very hard for 4-6 years to be in the top of your class that is one thing, but other than that, get a education that will provide you with the opportunity to repay your college debt quickly. I think that if 20% of your starting salary over 3-4 years will not pay off your loans your spending too much.</p>

<p>We have far to many people either defaulting on student loans, working 2-3 jobs to pay the loans off or living at near poverty levels trying to pay off their college debt.</p>

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Unless you are going into an extremely competitive industry like Investment Banking this is absolutely not true. Where do you think the majority of employers in the state go - to the large state Us or the local Us.</p>

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<p>Unless you are going into an extremely competitive industry like Investment Banking this is absolutely not true.</p>

<p>That’s a bit overstated. Well, perhaps “absolutely” overstated.</p>

<p>There’s truth on both sides here; let’s try not to speak from on high.</p>

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<p>Good discussion here. It’s pretty well established that there are darn few jobs out there in most if not all fields and a surplus of candidates for each of those jobs. And graduates are doing multiple sets of interviews for each of these gigs with the decisions as to who is chosen based on hair-splitting at times. Thus, if the most important qualification is strength of personality/confidence during the interview process, a close second has to be the application stats, which include work/research experience during the undergrad years and the institution at which this was done.</p>

<p>Maybe HYPS and a few others are in a strata by themselves in that regard, but I have to think that beyond that, any in the top 50-75 public or private U’s would probably suffice. Throw in the strength of the alum network from that particular undergrad institution–which might get an applicant in the door or to a second interview–then you can pretty much gauge its importance. IMO fairly necessary but not crucial–a name school cannot hurt, and might be the chit that gets the job in the end.</p>

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<p>I am going to graduate high school next year, and i wanna share some thoughts on this subject. My Mom graduated from fairly unknown school for her MBA (Fraleigh Dickinson Uni) with 0 debt, she got a job about 1 month after graduation at Shearing Plow, at 90k i think, now after 4 years later she works at Fannie Mae as a project manager for around 130k. My Uncle recently graduated from Dartmouth Tuck School of Business an ivy league school works for amazon for around 100k starting. So there is no big difference between going to a ivy league school and a unknown school, it just depends on you skill i guess</p>

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<p>^Same thing here. Some of my relatives went to very unkown schools but still came out with a good life. Some took a couple of years while others got in instantly. In the end they are doing well financially. Whenever my parents stress about college, I know its important but Im thinking skills also play a huge role. Maybe even a bigger factor based on my relatives. In the end, I guess its about what you do. I could be wrong but im just saying off what ive seen.</p>

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<p>Let’s be realistic here. More than 93% of the applicants to HPYSM are not going to get in. So all their fantastic financial aid programs are also out of reach. Maybe those are great options for the 7% (or 6 or 5 or whatever the admit rate is this year). The rest of our kids have to choose between other options: mostly public in-state or private, not HYPSM-level institutions. If your kid gets grants and scholarships, great. If not, then the family shouldn’t pay more than they can afford. Bottom line. Makes sense.</p>

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<p>Pay for the best school you can afford, a very simple way of looking at this…</p>

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<p>im upper middle class. income about 150k. </p>

<p>AT University of Illinois’s engineering program, I was looking at paying 32k a year. zero financial aid. </p>

<p>At rice,vanderbilt, and wash u., i was quoted between 26k and 30k. </p>

<p>At princeton however, I was quoted for 15k. Lucky for me, I got in. Now, I understand not everyone is this lucky. But the assumption that your state school is the cheapest option is horribly naive, especially for science programs.</p>