<p>I was hoping that somebody could give me some insight as to whether or not WashU is really worth it's 40K price tag? I completely love the school, but I have an offer to go to another school for only 10K a year thanks to various scholarships. My family is upper middle class, but my parents spend pretty conservatively, so I feel bad about them having to fork over so much money for an undergraduate education. Can anyone justify the cost?</p>
<p>You get a lot for your money, with a good academic reputation, excellent standard of living, and little perks such as free public transportation. That said, if you have a somewhat comparable option at a greatly reduced price, it’d probably be better to there, especially if you’d be looking into grad or professional school.</p>
<p>If your parents are offering to pay the whole cost, and you like Wash U more - go to Wash U. I think your parents probably really appreciate what you’re doing and thought process, but it’s your education and if they are offering… AND you like Wash U more - go there.</p>
<p>If you like the other school more - go there. I would only not recommend Wash U if you legitimately liked the other school more, or if you yourself would be going into substantial debt from loans. This is an amazing school, as would any other kid on here tell you, and if you like Wash U more then this is an easy call.</p>
<p>How do you still have this choice? Are you just off the waitlist? Honestly I would never want to put a 160k burden on my parents and would think that no school merits a fee like this. Especially when you say your parents are upper middle class which makes this seem a bit ridiculous.</p>
<p>Whether a ‘school’ is worth the price, is an impossible question to answer. If you get into Wash U, there’s a good chance that between state schools, merit scholarships, etc., you can get an excellent education elsewhere that’s cheaper. </p>
<p>Further, there’s little empirical evidence to support a conclusion that future earnings will make up for the extra tuition. This being it is deeply ingrained in many of us that education at a top school is ‘worth it’. Ultimately, you and your family have to decide whether to make the necessary sacrifices. Unfortunately, there’s no hard answer here.</p>
<p>Determine your utility curve. Plot your budget line. Create a bundle to maximize utility over budget. Win.</p>
<p>( Finished my econ major this semester)</p>