<p>If your parents can pay your full in-state University why would you pay $50,000 per year for Harvard?</p>
<p>Example:
Why pay $50,000 for Harvard insted of paying $23,000 for UCB if your instate?
Is a name worth 27k more?</p>
<p>It’s more than just a name.</p>
<p>Okay, I am asking why it is worth it?</p>
<p>I picked Penn over a full ride at Ohio State for the education and environment, not the name…</p>
<p>My scenario is about $30K vs $0</p>
<p>Is the 120k debt when you graduate going to be worth it OSU is still a great school?</p>
<p>I think that largely depends on what you are looking for. For me, college is more about a “brand”. It’s about the experience.
Do you see yourself fitting in at the more prestigious school (liberal or conservative)? Is sports important to you? Is the location important to you (city or college town)?
Also, you need to factor in the quality of the particular major you are going into. Ivies are known for their liberal arts programs. They are not strong in say, engineering (except Cornell). Harvard engineering is a joke.</p>
<p>I’m curious about this too. How much of a difference in your future job prospects/grad school admissions/personal and intellectual growth does an Ivy League college make? The Ivy League school is ‘better’…but can we put a price tag on it? Is better worth $100,000 in debt?</p>
<p>Interesting question…I’'m curious to hear more!</p>
<p>Doesn’t this depend on which Ivy League school and which State University?</p>
<p>For instance is it HYP of the Ivy league schools</p>
<p>and</p>
<p>Is it UC Berkeley of the State Universities?</p>
<p>study after study has shown that people who turn down elite universities for others are just as successful as those who attend elite schools. Remember that there are also intangibles involved with success: charisma, creativity, etc. that have nothing to do with intelligence.</p>
<p>Recommend this article:</p>
<p>[The</a> Zen of Education](<a href=“http://magazine.uchicago.edu/0310/features/zen.shtml]The”>The University of Chicago Magazine: October 2003)</p>
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<p>PABank, is that $30K for Penn being paid entirely from debt? These public-to-Ivy comparisons often are set up as if the difference in cost amounts to loans exceeding $100K. Soccer102592 for instance refers to a $120K debt. Is that in fact typical? I doubt it. </p>
<p>Yes, the typical spread might be $25K-$30K per year if we are comparing full cost of attendance at an Ivy to a top public flagship (e.g. Harvard v. Berkeley in-state). But, at Harvard,
*Families with incomes up to $180,000 have an average expected parent contribution of 10 percent or less of their income and, as we continue to take individual circumstances into consideration in our assessment of financial need, many families in even higher income brackets also receive substantive financial aid.<a href=“%5Burl=http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/financial_aid/hfai/index.html]Harvard%20College%20Admissions%20§%20Financial%20Aid:%20Harvard%20Financial%20Aid%20Initiative[/url]”>/i</a></p>
<p>So in fact, the out of pocket costs to attend Harvard may be substantially less than the o-o-p to attend Berkeley (even for middle and upper middle income families). If, on the other hand, your family is expected to pay the full COA, it means you are in a pretty high income bracket. You probably have significant assets as well. If your family has been saving for college and living within its means, it should not be necessary to borrow anywhere near $100K to cover the difference. If it is, then I would say no, the difference is not worth such a huge debt. Even if the alternative is not Berkeley.</p>
<p>I suspect that in a typical scenario, if you are just affluent enough to barely disqualify for need-based aid, your family can cover the COA at your state school from savings and current income. Let’s say the difference to attend a private school is $80K over 4 years. Chances are, you won’t borrow that entire difference. Your parents will liquidate some assets. They’ll divert money from retirement contributions. You will take on more work hours. Your grandparents might chip in.</p>
<p>Is that worth it? Debt or no debt, it’s still a big difference. I would say that for many students, if the alternative is Berkeley, the answer is no. If the alternative is not Berkeley, or if the spread is much less than $80K (and not financed with debt), the question is harder. You have to consider “fit” in what you’re buying, even if it’s an Ivy. Will you be happier at, and will you take full advantage of the opportunities at, a more expensive school? I think it would be foolish to borrow $80K only because you think an Ivy League diploma would open more career and social doors. However, if you have what it takes to get into an Ivy, chances are you will take advantage of that environment, a place where many students are talented, energetic self-starters. That (not just better facilities, smaller classes, or a more distinguished faculty) is a big part of the difference.</p>
<p>Here is some data on average debt at graduation:
[College</a> Rankings - Home](<a href=“http://www.ordoludus.com/costs.php?sort=graddebt&dir=up#data]College”>http://www.ordoludus.com/costs.php?sort=graddebt&dir=up#data)</p>
<p>This appears to be a few years old. Maybe someone can find a more recent list.
Note that, if you exclude the service academies, only one public university (Mississippi) ranks in the top 10 for lowest average debt at graduation. Princeton, Harvard, and Amherst had the lowest average debt at graduation of all listed schools (even though all three enroll many students on financial aid).</p>
<p>According to the Yale University Common Data Set for 2008-2009, line H4, 33% of a recent graduating class “borrowed at any time” through various loan programs (Perkins etc.), excluding parent loans. Average per-borrower cumulative undergraduate indebtedness, line H5, was **$12,297<a href=“%7E$12K,%20not%20$120K”>/b</a>.</p>
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<p>It’s wise of you not to have based your college decision on “the name.” Because most people in Ohio (and elsewhere) probably can’t tell between Penn and THAT other Big Ten school.</p>
<p>I smell a heavy scent of sarcasm on this thread.
Prestige matters a lot whether you like it or not. Top employers would be more impressed with those graduates coming out of HYPSM, Ivies, elite privates and top publics.</p>
<p>Soccer, unless one’s parents are very well off, no university is worth paying an extra $100,000+ to attend over a school such as Cal. First of all, Cal is one of the top 10 or 15 undergraduate institutions in the nation, so no matter how great the much more expensive alternative is, it cannot be much better than Cal. Secondly, in most cases, the alternative is not even as good as Cal, so one would actually be wasting their money on an inferior product. Of course, should the alternative school offer a lot of merit money or Financial aid to narrow the gap in the cost of attendance entirely, then one may opt for the alternative, should it indeed be one of the handful of universities in the country that are only SLIGHTLY better, or, should the alternative be a much be a much better fit.</p>
<p>Schools like Princeton and Williams no longer offer loans.</p>
<p>A little surprised that UC Berkeley and UCLA would be that high on the list and MIT and some of the Ivies (Cornell, Penn) would be that low on the list</p>
<p>[College</a> Rankings - Home](<a href=“http://www.ordoludus.com/costs.php?sort=graddebt&dir=up#data]College”>http://www.ordoludus.com/costs.php?sort=graddebt&dir=up#data)</p>
<p>As others have said, this is a false dichotomy. Most kids going to Harvard are either not paying anywhere near 50k or the sort of people for whom 50k is not that big a burden–and not everyone has instate publics as good as the UCs.</p>
<p>Obviously taking on 100k of debt is never really worth it for undergrad…20-30k, on the other hand? I think that absolutely can be worth it, if you’re attending a better school that is better for you. It’s not just about the degree. And there are people who honestly would be miserable at a big state school.</p>
<p>If your instate for one of the “public ivies” like UVA or UCB, then I don’t see a reason to go to an Ivy league school unless your parents can pay for it.</p>
<p>
What is a “top employer”?</p>