I understand you fine.
If your daughter is as pragmatic as you are, that’s great, and you may easily arrive at a school choice that satisfies both of you. However, you’ve suggested that you don’t see eye-to-eye on everything (choice of major, e.g.). Even still, you may get lucky and find a school that is a fit for her and that you feel is worth the net price (and that meets your other criteria).
If they were replacing real grass, they could have put artificial turf in to reduce ongoing maintenance costs.
Every month we spend hundreds of dollars on car, home and life insurance. And the costs go up all the time.
Nobody wants “ROI” on those kinds of things.
We pay $500 a month on health insurance for the family. We might have a few lab tests and xrays total a year, which we pay for out of pocket because of a high deductible. Not $6,000 worth of expenses. But it’s good if you are healthy and we are required to have insurance so we have to pay it.
So you can figure out if a college education is a necessary expense for you or not. You might not get ROI, but it might enable your D to get a degree and a good job she enjoys.
I don’t think anyone is having a problem
understanding you @wppdf2 . You want what you want for a price that you want and it should be given to you because you want it and that’s how it should be. No one is telling you that you must spend huge amounts of money to send your child to school. What they are trying to tell you that what you are looking for in terms of prestige , class size, resources and cost is not available to you given your daughter’s stats.
My understanding of OPs posts is that he doesn’t think subsidizing college education is fair unless his family qualifies. Bare bones education should be the standard (for the masses) but upper income families such as his deserves a higher standard of education. However, they shouldn’t have to pay more for it.
It appears the class divide exists in his own home. Local state U is okay for eldest kiddo, but younger kiddo deserves more. (No word on how eldest feels about that. My in-laws had a favorite too (not DH) and it took more than 30 years for the siblings to heal the rift it created. I feel badly for those 2 young women.
I also think the OP has a ‘the grass is always greener’ view of college. He has ranked them, decided there are ‘name brands’, that what he has deemed the top tier is worth $60k but that the next tier isn’t, and that everything else is poor quality, and includes his own college in that group even though he’s done well in life - if measured by ROI.
Many are saying his daughter is just average. I think her scores and gpa are very good, but there really are a lot of students in her situation.
I’m not sure what the OP wants, perhaps something like Vassar for $30k.
Let’s be fair. OP says he can afford it. I believe him. You can afford it and still “feel it” as a loss to your future retirement fund, or nor being able to do something else with the $. That’s the position I am in. I can afford it, but it will hurt a little, and will likely cost me a few extra years working before retiring.
OP: I think you are right: it costs too much. But it seems like there are a few options that give you all the good things within your price range (ish). As long as you can find what you want at that price, it’s all good.
Whether the rest should cost $60 is another story that is endlessly debated between whether it has been grossly inflated or whether it is actually LESS that the amount the Uni spends on each kid, meaning we all get a discount to $60…gee thanks:)
I would love to hear from the OP’s younger D, to hear what she really wants. A pity we couldn’t have advised her a year ago.
So the OP has been a high earner and curiously didn’t save for college.
Is not going for merit aid schools. Will not qualify for financial aid.
Will not let daughter take out loans.
So yes hello Rutgers. Be proud…
^^He says he can write a check today for $250k.
^^but then implies otherwise
[quote]
she won’t be happy if her or I are in debt beyond what we can pay. /quote
He didn’t say he didn’t save, he said he doesn’t want to spend $250k on college. I think that’s the right choice for his family and for many families. I went to a flagship with many really wealthy kids who could have picked other schools but didn’t. Last year there was a Rhodes Scholar from U. of Wisconsin, Eau Claire. Sometimes the cheaper choice is the better choice.
Ridiculous to say Rutgers profs don’t give a hoot and get all in a tizzy about your D1 having to wait to see a prof. They do have office hours and you are just being crazy.
If the profs really didn’t give a hoot, how the heck is your D1 going to get that starting salary and a signing bonus (she could lend that to D2 so she can get away from … ). Are they perhaps teaching?
And I am sure they have some smaller classes and I know you can do research, so … D1 didn’t really try to have more interactions with her profs did she?
And it’s Busch campus by the way. Doesn’t she live and go to school there ? A large campus with D1 athletics can afford a field or two every few years. The Busch campus is actually very, very nice.
@twoinanddone I don’t think people are saying his daughter’s scores are average. What I am saying and what it seems others are saying is that for the schools he’s interested in and the amount of merit he wants, his daughter’s scores are not where they need to be .
OP, here you go, knock yourself out:
ROI on Miami U (Oxford)
http://www.collegefactual.com/colleges/miami-university-oxford/outcomes/return-on-investment/
It’s kind of interesting @labegg - the math that they do in this article isn’t quite right. They assume that the student who graduates doesn’t pay income taxes and has no expenses to live for those 3.7 years. Reality is that someone is paying that bill, it could be the student, it could be the parents or it could be the public (you and I). That money doesn’t come out of thin air. Thanks for the article!
Well you’re an engineer, you can calculate that add-in right? At least you now have access to all the basic numbers for just about every school you can think of…BTW my HS BFF went to Miami U largely unemployed most of her life. had to get a graduate degree in education to find work. Not very good ROI imo. ROI is largely dependant on the individual.
@labegg I agree with you on “largely dependent on the individual” but that also means the correct choice of major for what is in demand and some amount of ambition.
I went to Ohio U, married a chemical engineer, my parents would say that I had a fantastic ROI on my Mrs. Degree. Maybe you should try that angle with your DD?
(not worth posting)