What is the obsession with expensive colleges?!

Alright, College Confidential, I signed up just to get this answered by hopefully a lot of you; why is everybody so freaking obsessed with expensive colleges? Why do people even consider colleges above 25,000 dollars a year? I really cannot comprehend why anyone would spend this much money just to get a degree that may not even be worth it? Please tell me, because I have not an iota of a clue.

Consider:

You’ve already decided that the thing a lot of people here care about is invalid. It’s not very gracious to ask people to convince you otherwise. If you don’t care about “expensive colleges,” that’s just fine, but don’t expect to get good-faith, thoughtful answers when you frame your question in such a sneering way.

Almost all the ~50 most selective, most prestigious colleges do have high sticker prices ($60K or more in some cases). However, at the same schools, about half the students receive need-based aid. For many of those students, the net price to attend those schools is competitive with (or even cheaper than) the price to attend an in-state public university.

Regardless of price, one of those selective colleges may offer smaller classes, more distinguished professors, and better facilities than the in-state public alternative. It very likely will offer a higher concentration of top students drawn from many states. There is at least a perception among many people that those colleges (especially the tip-top schools such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford and MIT) lead to better academic and career outcomes. In reality, to the extent that is true, it may be due largely to the talent and motivation of the students they enroll (not to any extra academic quality of the school). However, in some high-paying career fields (notably, investment banking) a degree from one of those tip-top colleges seems to be a significant competitive advantage in the job market.

For prices below $25K, if financial aid isn’t in the cards, one usually is limited to in-state public universities. The quality (or at least the perceived quality) of these schools varies from state to state. Out of state public universities can be nearly as expensive as private schools; they usually don’t give very good need-based aid to OOS students.

Because we’re in the top 1% and money is no issue. (Snarky answer to snarky question)

$25k per year is quite cheap. Expensive is $60k per year. Many of us don’t have a choice because all prestigious colleges are about that expensive

It’s not to get a degree. As we can see, just about anyone can do that.

It’s to get an education.

You can get a good education anywhere, including through MOOCs and the public library.

It’s for the social contacts. Socializing with others who can afford these schools will help pave your way into a lucrative career on wall street or Capitol Hill down the road(or so some think).

Well why does prestige really matter? If you get the degree you need then there’s no point if you can impress co workers at the water cooler with a degree from a fancy ivy league school. Too expensive, therefore not my type. But I’m just wondering why everybody else feels so willy nilly about their money?

And I apologize for the snarkiness I am just extremely flustered by this obsession and it is one of my greatest nagging questions, so sorry for being an asshole.

For some fields, employers recruit specifically from those elite schools. There are reasons for any choice one might make. If you want cheap, why doesn’t everyone go to community college?

  1. Nobody should presume to tell others how to spend their money. 2) Many of the top schools fall into your higher price range. These schools can offer smaller classes, top level prof.s, outstanding facilities etc. that less expensive schools can’t always provide 3) There are people who can afford these schools without hardship/debt and nobody should fault them for choosing to spend money on their children’s education rather than buying a new car etc. 4) A number of these schools give generous scholarships making the end cost cheaper than State U’s 5) I have nothing at all against State U’s - many provide an excellent education at a lower in-state price. But that doesn’t mean that they are right for everyone.

I like clever people and freethinkers. They are like dinner-table clocks, or spinning wheels.

Sometimes you get what you pay for in life,…and a return on investment isn’t always measured in dollars and cents…

This website is devoted to selective college admissions because non-selective college admissions isn’t as interesting to talk about. Selective colleges tend to have high sticker prices, but you shouldn’t underestimate their grants and scholarships.

I’m just wondering as well why prestige necessarily matters as long as you go to a school with a high job placement rate. For example South Dakota School of Mines and Technology is currently 19,900 a year for everything and they have a 98℅ placement rate.

While SD Mines is a good bargain for a good school, it is not for everyone, particularly those who are not engineering or physical science majors.

Well I shouldn’t be as pretentious to talk crap about other majors as a prospective engineering major, but the point still stands; I would think there would be an SD Mines equivalent for lots of majors ( cheap with high placement).

And by the way I just want to say you guys’s response time is phenomenal.

I believe that SD School of Mines is an exception rather than the rule – you are pointing to one small school (looks like it has about 2,400 students) that provides an engineering/science based education. I’m fairly well versed in the colleges that are out there and as far as I know there are not similar schools for a lot of majors. Most schools with a sticker price range you pointed to would be in-state universities which are often huge, community colleges, etc.

Yeah I guess so. I’ve just been so locked in on SD Mines for such a long time that I thought maybe there was something similar for majors other than engineering. If that’s the case then I apologize for making such quick assumptions about ridiculous college prices and why people go to those schools. If that’s the case then that’s kind of a bitch to non STEM majors.