<p>It depends on how much you want to pay to make sure she never relies on you in the future</p>
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</p>
<p>Savings are a surplus. The ability to build a surplus depends on a lot of factors, not least of which is good luck or “blessings” if you’re religious. It doesn’t take away from anyone’s accomplishment to acknowledge the role that luck plays in prosperity. </p>
<p>People are lucky/blessed if they can work; if they live in a place where they have opportunity to make and keep money; that they haven’t been brought low by poor health or other unexpected misfortune (a sick child, a needy older parent).</p>
<p>Well said, NJSue.</p>
<p>“In addition to the above comments, I think it really depends on how you define “second tier.” Those stats sound a lot lower than that.” - WordWorld.</p>
<p>Yup - that’s exactly what I was thinkin’.</p>
<p>How did she figure it fell into tier two? I looked it up on US News site its not ranked at all. You may have just insulted! tiers 3 and 4! joking aside. I’m glad you came to your senses!</p>
<p>S1 is a HRP scholar and as such has been offered very inexpensive (full/almost full rides) at schools such as UT Dallas and University of Arizona. He has applied to two ivies and a few “most selective” LACS. I am having the same trouble–wrapping my head around paying even a reduced tuition (which is doable but tight for us) when he could go to ug and come out debt free. </p>
<p>This is a very troubling dilemma for lower middle-class parents that have no college savings and are in the doughnut hole of being too poor and not poor enough. S1 is very academic/intellectual type so we are truly struggling with this one.</p>
<p>D laughed and said “there is no way on earth I would go there” LOL. DW tried to explain why it might be a good idea and was shot down quicker than a Cessna against an F-18.</p>
<p>I love it! Give your daughter a hug!</p>
<p>enonimouse: state flagships such as U of Arizona are good educational bargains and will offer a top student many opportunities. See what comes out in the wash but if your S already has a big scholarship at Arizona, he will be fine regardless.</p>
<p>
I selected 3 Barry faculty members at random and their CV’s looked perfectly reasonable to me, unless of course you are demanding a HYPSYM-educated faculty. So it would seem that this barometer is a potentially limited measuring stick.</p>
<p>Ordinarylives - I just wanted to say that I agree with much of what you wrote in your last post and I share some of your uneasiness. I also caught that “2nd-tier-schools-are-fine-for-2nd-tier-occupations” vibe, but I thought that maybe I was just being thin-skinned. After all, DD is studying accounting, and I think she’s definietly a first-tier kid!</p>
<p>Re: #146</p>
<p>Note that University of Arizona has a good reputation in some subjects, such as geology and philosophy. So if the student intends to study such a subject, that school may be a good academic fit.</p>
<p>Also, big state flagships in small states may have low entrance selectivity, but collect students from the entire range of ability and motivation. A student of high ability and motivation is likely to find a sufficiently large peer group of other such students at such a big state flagship like University of Arizona, but may have a tougher time doing so at a much smaller school of similar entrance selectivity.</p>
<p>So we’re all in agreement now that this thread should have been titled “Would you send your kid to a bottom tier college?”</p>
<p>Actually, HV51, imho its more “Would you send your kid to a small private bottom tier college?”, becuase even my local community college has an honors program that gets enough kids to be serious students.</p>
<p>“big state flagships in small states may have low entrance selectivity, but collect students from the entire range of ability and motivation.”</p>
<p>I agree, and it may be true in bigger states as well. Even if the overall stats for the school are unimpressive, a big public school is likely to have a decent population of smart, committed kids. I would be MUCH more worried about a UVA admit finding a peer community at an LAC than at a big public school with the same SAT range.</p>
<p>Hanna – I don’t think a UVA admit would have too much trouble at finding a peer group at Swarthmore, Williams, Pomona or Middlebury.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Agree with Hanna and others. That is why I never hear the kids and parents of NMF’s and other outstanding students that go to Iowa State complain and say…‘it is too easy’, etc, etc ; despite the fact that Iowa State has pretty easy admission requirements especially for instate kids. They find the majors that are challenging and peers that are engaged. And they find quite a few of them.</p>
<p>Swarthmore, Williams, Pomona or Middlebury aren’t under discussion here. The thread turned to big publics with low admissions requirements (Arizona was mentioned as an example), and both ucbalumnus and I explained that we think they are much better choices for a top student when compared to LACs with the same SAT range. To put it mildly, that category doesn’t include AWS & co.</p>
<p>I’ll say this again everyone here didn’t attend an Ivy,and I’d be curious to find out if the originator of this site was an Ivy graduate because he he/she isn’t than they have just proved that people can be left spellbound by some second tier educated and innovative genius.</p>
<p>Schoolhouse</p>
<p>There is a difference between a 2nd tier college and the college the OP discussed. The college op question is imo the college of last resort.</p>
<p>ETA: </p>
<p>Barry
Average GPA 2.0
Average CR(474)+M(465)= 939/1600 na/2400</p>
<p>Money Matters
Cost of Attendance</p>
<p>$41,660</p>
<p>Tuition and Fees </p>
<p>$28,160</p>
<p>Room and Board </p>
<p>$9,300</p>
<p>Average Percent of Need Met</p>
<p>71%</p>
<p>Average Freshman Award</p>
<p>$26,371</p>
<p>Average Indebtedness of
2010 Graduates</p>
<p>$35,880</p>
<p>Interestingly the school is being advertised on the top of this parent’s forum right now.</p>
<p>Kat</p>