<p>Schools build fancy athletic facilities because students want those facilities and the schools are in competition for those students, especially for the top students—but they all want lots of applicants so they can pick and choose among them and be considered really “selective.”</p>
<p>Schools build fancy research facilities because professors want them and the schools are in competition for the top professors, because the more nationally recognized faculty they have, the higher their prestige ratings and the more attractive they become to the students for whom they are also competing.</p>
<p>College costs keep escalating because they need to pay competitive salaries to recruit and retain the faculty they want, and they need to continuously invest in new facilities to keep both the students and the faculty happy and wanting to be there. Basically, that’s the bulk of a college’s expenses: payroll, bricks-and-mortar, research facilities, and maintenance. Unlike many industries, however, these rising payroll, capital, and operating costs can’t be balanced off by productivity gains because neither top students nor top faculty will be satisfied with rising student-faculty ratios, bigger class sizes, and increased teaching loads.</p>
<p>What I’ve just described is true for elite schools. It is less true the farther down the pecking order you go. Of course, a school might decide to forego the competition for top students, and consequently skimp on facilities. It might decide to forego the competition for top faculty, and consequently skimp on research facilities and faculty salaries while insisting on bigger class sizes, higher student-faculty ratios, and heavier teaching loads. Such a school might indeed succeed in keeping tuition costs down, and it might be a great bargain for many students who are just looking for a basic college education without all the bells and whistles. Such a school already exists. It’s your local community college. For many it’s a great deal and a great opportunity. But you get what you pay for.</p>
<p>Friedpasta I feel your pain trust me. Despite what the govt says my husband and I can pay, we simply wont be able to do that. My husband and I have worked our fingers to the bone all our lives and we have been unable to save bc everytime we think we are going to get ahead, something else happens like gas prices shoot to $4.50 a gallon, or my car insurance goes from 2K to 4K per year bc my daughter is a teenager etc…we can NEVER get ahead and I dont care what the fafsa says…I live in a twin house, and have modest vehicles. my husband drives a 2004 dodge neon and i have a toyota minivan that is 3 years old. we are by far not living in the lap of luxury. We make good money by most standards but again, the taxes and all the bills kill us…we pay almost every dime we make out in bills every month. nothing left over…I dont know what we will do and am getting extremely worried…My D may have to go to a state school and live at home whether she likes it or not…it may be her only option…at least she has been accepted into 3 local state schools as of now so she has somewhere to go. 2 are within an hours drive from my house and the other is within an hours drive from my brothers who I am sure she could stay with should she choose that school…Other than that i dont know what else to do,. I dont know how people are affording these private schools…who has 40K a year???</p>
<p>I dont know how people are affording these private schools…who has 40K a year???</p>
<p>Well I do know some who do- but for instance when my older daughter was applying to colleges ,her list was a couple instate schools- an out of state public and a expensive private which nonetheless met 100% of need.
The out of state public was
the only one that had merit ( ok one of the instate schools had small merit award- might have covered books)
Our EFC was roughly same cost as what instate tuition- housing , etc. would run.( at the time- it has since gone up)
So regardless that was what we would have to pay barring a huge outside scholarship ( which wasn’t in the cards)
The private school met need- so what we paid for the private school, was what it would have cost to pay out of pocket for an instate public university.
However- in my experience- EFC is about 1/3 to 1/4 of before tax income.
EFC is not just what you can pay from current income, but from past and future income as well.</p>
<p>College immediately after high school is something that some families have planned and budgeted for- those families generally had a good idea, that they wanted their kids to attend college- they may have even attended college themselves.</p>
<p>However, there are still young people ( and older) who either because they didn’t have the academic focus &/or the money, did other things right after high school, it isn’t end of the world, and there are lots of options.</p>
<p>I also wouldn’t brush off community college as being unworthy of your academic interests, I know two young people personally, who took the first two years of classes in community college- they then transferred to other schools for their degrees.</p>
<p>One diploma is from the University of Chicago, one is from Oberlin.</p>
<p>Since one student is now in law school and the other in a ph.d program, it is probably smart that they saved a bit on tuition.</p>
<p>Yes although the two students took community college course work while they were in high school and so the district paid for it-the cost per qtr is about $12,000 ( although they each graduated a few years ago, so a little cheaper).</p>
<p>However when you consider that 4 years of an instate school is roughly comparable to paying $20,000 a year, $80,000 for a degree from a top admittedly " name brand" school, doesn’t seem like so much.</p>
<p>Students are also able to contribute by taking school year jobs, through summer earnings, and finding outside scholarships and taking loans, just as they would have had to do if they had attended the UW, which they would have been comfortable doing.</p>
<p>I agree that colleges are adding lots$$ of perks to campus, that ultimately have to be paid for, but seem to be what people want.
I know that we were attracted by nice dorms, with yummy food & star faculty- just as my mother is moving into a facility where she thinks the food is good ( she hates to cook), their fee for a studio, is equal to our per month take home.</p>
<p>Compared to what people spend for other things ( $200 for jeans, $3. for a cup of coffee, $40,000 for a car), I don’t think, $80,000 for a college education is out of line- after all your education lasts you your whole life, as opposed to a pair of jeans or a Honda Accord.</p>
<p>urmomgoes2colege ~ Your comments show a serious misunderstanding of the “real world”… there are many, many families who do not qualify for FA who are sacrificing to pay top-dollar for an education and if you have been paying attention to the news, the financial crisis is affecting everyone to some degree. My “spoiled brats” have suggested no Christmas presents this year and are offering many other suggestions to help out so that we don’t have to sell our house to pay their tuition.</p>
<p>I have a car and jeans that were made in 1991
(and they still fit and run, respectively)</p>
<p>Totally agree on 80K being a great investment !
My outlay for my son will be slightly below that and he will have <30K in debt and the rest of his 200K+ education is paid for by scholarship from his school.</p>
<p>I have a car and jeans that were made in 1991
(and they still fit and run, respectively)</p>
<p>Well my point wasn’t that things still work - but we need to replace them if used frequently. For instance, yesterday I was out all day & wore a down jacket that is 30 years old- it didn’t keep me warm. :(</p>
<p>I don’t wear jeans that are 30 years old ( yuck- too fashiony, now I wear 501s for work), but even my H who has worn the same size jeans ( and kind) since high school ( 501s) has to get new jeans every year- they wear out!</p>
<p>I buy classic styles and don’t tuck The jeans might actually ‘only’ be 10-12 years old. I have newer ones too (but none that cost more than $20). My job has me sitting on my butt, which is easy on your clothes. </p>
<p>Oh, I have an Eastern Mountain sports down coat from 1987, not worn all that often. Really warm. I’m easy on my clothes. </p>
<p>And stuff that was made a while back actually wears better than some of the new (read cheaply made) stuff. Maybe $200 jeans will last a while, I don’t know, I’ll never own a pair.</p>
<p>My winter boots are hand me ups from my son from when he was about 10. Yes, he feet are big. </p>
<p>I’m not arguing with you, btw, I’m just making a point to the OP that yes, college is expensive and parents can be creative in ways to save money for it.</p>
<p>And stuff that was made a while back actually wears better than some of the new (read cheaply made) stuff. Maybe $200 jeans will last a while, I don’t know, I’ll never own a pair.</p>
<p>Very true- I had a pr of doc martens I dearly loved that were made in UK- however, with age & needing thicker socks, I needed a bit more room so I gave them to my oldest daughter- who has tiny feet.
However-they then switched production to Asia and they don’t feel quite the same.</p>
<p>I also think ( since we are off topic anyway) that expensive jeans aren’t going to last that long. ( think expensive shoes- dress pumps don’t last as long as work boots- given same conditions )
they are chemically & mechanically processed to break down the fibers so they are more comfortable and soft.
( sorry if that was a rhetorical question- I take things literally)</p>
<p>But there are some connections with college- because what we drive and what we wear can be driven by how others perceive our choices, same with college.
US News sells a lot of copies of the rankings, so does Newsweeks issue high school AP rankings.
We don’t just trust our own judgement, we want validation from others.</p>
<p>When a school is well known, because of their football team, of how much the president makes or because of their medical school, more people are interested & more can be charged for the privilege</p>
<p>and where the college is can impact cost as well. My son’s school is in Manhattan, just the room and board can be more than the tuition at some state colleges. </p>
<p>One thing I think that possibly all schools are guilty of is having expensive books. I’ve tried to find some of the required books for my son online/used and haven’t had much luck. It is not uncommon for his books to cost $500+ per semester (at least that $200 french book is good for 2 semesters of classes)</p>
<p>Yes books are really expensive- and there are so many publishers and editions.
Some classes use original sources & they are books that you would like to keep, so that is a little easier, but other books that you are never going to open again & you can’t even sell it because the prof is now using something else- is a PITA.</p>
<p>When I was first going back to school, there was a van that would buy books back in the university district- and apparently had a big warehouse someplace where they would collect them until they found a school someplace else that was still using the books and sell them.
Haven’t seen them for years though, however, I have sold books through Amazon-</p>
<p>D’s science books with all the color plates and such are very expensive , although we were lucky to find good prices- one $180 book we found for $30.</p>
<p>In my current class, I had one required book ( which I already owned) and two other books we use the prof actually had donated, so we can use it for the qtr and then we give it back. <B He also uses an online bulletin board to post articles and links for info rather than buying texts.
which theoretically saves paper as well as money. …If * you don’t print out the pdf’s and * if your printer isn’t gummed up and you have to run the cleaning utility so many times that you run out of ink.</p>
<p>If you apply to the right school, your hard work may get you a free ride.</p>
<p>There’s another post in this thread that you should read. Look for schools at which you are in the top 25% of applicants, and that give out merit aid. Lots of great suggestions in that post, and I also went through the college book and have identified about a dozen schools that might meet that criteria for my son, we will see how it goes.</p>
)