Just looking for opinions on when a college is considered “expensive”, or “not worth it”
For instance, on a scale of “community college” to “you are now legal property of a bank” where would you put $35k tuition a year?
That’s absolutely a matter of your family finances.
We’re both teachers in Catholic schools, with 2 younger kids to educate. That means that we’re keeping a close look at finances as my son looks at schools.
$35K, with another $10-12k for room and board, is beyond what we can afford. That doesn’t mean it’s too much for your family, simply that it’s not reasonable for ours.
Keep in mind, though, that you’ll want to keep any probable merit aid in the picture.
I think college in general is “worth it.” But some colleges are simply “not in our price range.” Fortunately, we’re finding a decent number that we should be able to afford without losing our retirement or forcing our family to eat pasta for the next 4 years.
$35K for tuition alone would be far out of reach for many families. For some, it would be a relative bargain.
A better benchmark is the Expected Family Contribution (EFC), which you can estimate by using any school’s online Net Price Calculator. Ideally, your family will be able to cover the entire EFC without debt, and without dipping into retirement savings or home equity. Ideally, your college then will grant sufficient financial aid to cover 100% of the balance (if any) between the EFC and the full Cost of Attendance (COA).Ideally, this aid will consist mostly of scholarship/grant aid, with loans not exceeding the federal student loan borrowing limits (https://studentaid.ed.gov/types/loans/subsidized-unsubsidized).
Those federal student loan limits establish a reasonable ceiling on how much you should borrow to cover any gaps on either side of that EFC line. If you need to borrow more than ~$27K over 4 years, it’s too much. If you need to dip into home equity or retirement, usually it’s too much. There may be exceptions, for example if you are many years from retirement and can realistically count on significant earnings increases, or if you can realistically count on an inheritance big enough to cover your exposure. You also have to consider your own tolerance for risk, as well as your kid’s earnings potential.
Many families have to contend with less than ideal options. They cannot cover nearly the EFC for their kid’s first choice college … or they can, but the college doesn’t cover nearly 100% of demonstrated need (which only about 60 colleges even claim to do). In those cases, the best recourse usually involves some combination of merit aid, a cheaper college, or something other than a 4 year residential plan (that is, a commuter school or part-time study).
I agree with @bjkmom. It depends on you and your situation, not anyone else.
I have a sibling who could easily afford HYPSM at full pay and it was definitely worth it for the child. OTOH, my husband and I have a top COA limit far below that. We simply can’t afford the price even eating pasta for four years (which I’m not so sure is a sacrifice for my family).
Try not to be freaked out by the sticker price of colleges. Many that accepted D offered a 30-45% discount and she was not in the running for any top merit awards.
We made the family decision to avoid any loans. You may decide some loans are fine. Avoiding any loans limited the pool significantly (we don’t qualify for any financial aid) but D found schools that fit her within our price range.
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For instance, on a scale of “community college” to “you are now legal property of a bank” where would you put $35k tuition a year?
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Do you mean “tuition alone” or “tuition, room, board, books, etc”
I’ve noticed that there seems to be mostly 3 different groups here on CC
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The group that has either saved a LOT for college or can afford to pay out of current income, and they often choose full-pay schools. This group would also include those who have grands that are paying.
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The group that is middle/upper-middle class that seems to be able to afford $5k-20k per year (maybe with a student loan add in another $5k
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The lowish income group that either can’t pay anything or can only pay less than $5k.
So, much depends on where you fall.
The good news is that only 1 or 2 careers (mostly Wall Street high goals), require or expect you to attend a few top schools. Nearly every other career can be achieved by attending a local school. And most people commute to college. Going away to school is a luxury.
It’s going by tuition alone, unfortunately I’m an international student so financial aid is often out of the question. I’m not exactly scholarship material either,largely due to a lack of ECs. I can’t say I’m particularly well off, but I was told not to worry about fees before picking schools. Nevertheless, $35k is hard to swallow from any angle, so I was looking for insights from the average college planner. As for local schools, the offerings are usually subpar, and what is decent is not worth the effort to get in.
Far more details are needed to judge whether 35k is “too much” for your family. How much money can your family contribute solely from liquid assets per year? How much can they contribute from their income per year? Will you be receiving any other type of contribution? If so, how much? How much is COA? How interested are you in the school?
And finally, what is the school and what is the program?
^^ So you don’t have any “local” options in the US system.
Let’s assume your budget llimit is $35K for the full COA, you do not qualify for any financial aid, and you have fairly high quality expectations. In that case, your best options probably fall among public “flagships” (University of [State]) and directional state universities. Many options are available between ~$20K and your ~$35K limit.
If we’re talking about absolute scales (regardless of family finances, savings, and financial aid), $35K is closer to the “the bank owns you forever” than “community college” on the scale. $35K of tuition would put a college up there with the more expensive colleges in the country.
I agree that it depends on family finances and circumstances. Borrowing $35K a year would definitely put you in unsustainable debt - debt that you can’t hope to repay without living a severely restricted life (and, even then, you might not be able to repay just given your income). You probably shouldn’t borrow much more than the Direct loan limits - which come out to a total of $27K over four years.
If you are international why are you only looking at tuition costs? You have room, board and fees to add as well. That can range from another $6K/year to >$12K/year. Look at the full Cost of Attendance.
Room, board and fees are not static, from a purely objective evaluation of a college’s “price”, I feel that pure tuition alone is a good way to look at it. The college in question is UVM. As for finding out how much cash my family has to spend, that’s something my parents would rather keep mum about. They insist I pick a school first and discuss about pricing later to keep my options open, though from what’s been posted in this thread, I could be leaning away from this decision.
At 17, you should have a fairly decent idea of you family’s finances. You know what kinds of cars you drive and how old they are. You know how often you vacation, and where.
@bjkmom, that’s not necessarily true. In many parts of the world, you can lead a very elite life (“owns a car at all” being one sign of that) and still not be able to afford a college in the US when you look at the dollar-to-whatever-currency comparison; or his parents might have valuable property they can sell to finance the education (a major source of funds for foreign education in some places) but not be inclined to talk about it; or, gosh, lots of things that make it non-obvious. @Presentface, what’s your country? I’m sorry your parents aren’t more forthcoming about what they’re willing to fund, but that’s not uncommon in a lot of cultures. Are you counting on being able to live off-campus for cheap? Have you mentioned any particular schools and their prices to your folks and gotten a sense of their reaction? Lots of variables here.
@bjkmom. That is not necessarily the truth in the US. We know plenty of families that drive nicer cars, live in nicer houses and go on nicer vacations than we do - who have NOTHING saved for college. We chose to fund the 529 instead of spending on extraordinary one time things. Our choice - but if I kid sees all that and assumes their parents can afford 60k a year -they may be disappointed.
My “too much” is when I am not able to save or currently earn for the costs as they arise. I have been adamant that I will not take out any loans. D is free to take out her student loans up the max amount of $28K if she so decides. I don’t believe there is an UG school out there worth going into debt for.
In countries where the average salary is $236 a month or less (=most), a family could be very wealthy and earn $12,000 a year. That’s nowhere near what a student can hope to see his parents invest in his education, and that’s nowhere near what an American college costs. In lower developed countries, where annual median income can be $8,000 to $12,000, the situation is as difficult wrt to American college costs.
Is this a hypothetical (you’re a junior thinking ahead) or an actual situation (you’ve been admitted)?
If it’s a real situation, many adults here can help you estimate “value”, ie., if one university that costs more is worth the cost compared to a university that costs less, and whether you’re likely to have a good return on investment (for example, if your family has to stretch to pay, SJSU CS full costs for a student with superb programming skills is worth the investment. CalArts full costs for most majors, isn’t, regardless of how wonderful Cal Arts is.)
Can you list university/tuition/any scholarship or grant you got (international students are eligible for merit aid at universities that have it, and are eligible for financial aid at some private universities but it’s usually very very difficult to have).
“Room, board and fees are not static, from a purely objective evaluation of a college’s “price”, I feel that pure tuition alone is a good way to look at it.”
Tuition and fees can also vary greatly from one major to another even within the same college/university, and are all but certain to increase over the four years you would be studying there.
Living expenses vary greatly from one location to another, as do your transportation costs.
Don’t forget the cost of any required medical insurance.
Look at the Estimated Cost of Attendance (COA) for international students for each place on your list - this will be on the website. Then adjust those for additional expenses that you can predict, and use that as your own best guess COA.