Looking back, do you wish your child attended the least expensive college?

[Anonymous]

My kid graduated from a SLAC (full pay) and is now going to medical school. While the SLAC was very helpful for medical school admissions (lots of faculty support and undergraduate research opportunities), my kid now says that he should have gone to our state flagship and saved the 529 plan money for the medical school costs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid graduated from a SLAC (full pay) and is now going to medical school. While the SLAC was very helpful for medical school admissions (lots of faculty support and undergraduate research opportunities), my kid now says that he should have gone to our state flagship and saved the 529 plan money for the medical school costs.

Do you think he would have gotten in though? Hard to know. Best not to look back when things have gone well. Congrats on the med school admissions!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:College professor here. Your undergrad degree in 90 percent of careers means nothing. Save your money now and get the most prestigious masters/doctorate/law/nursing/business degree you can get into.

I disagree. The most prestigious masters/doctorate/law etc. are going to look at where you got your undergrad education

^ if you do well at a highly regarded college you're more likely to get into a more prestigious masters/doctorate/law/ program than if you do well at alesser regarded school. This is just plain common sense. Go to the best undergrad school you can get into and afford.

Wrong. And that is clear from admissions profiles.

Lol nope. Look at the numbers of kids from certain schools in top grad and law/med/business schools. Not just the sheer list of what all schools they came from.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:College professor here. Your undergrad degree in 90 percent of careers means nothing. Save your money now and get the most prestigious masters/doctorate/law/nursing/business degree you can get into.

Understood, but do kids from better-ranked schools do better in the graduate school admission process? What do graduate schools look for in applicants?

I got into Ivy grad from a CTCL (I hear the shuddering starting). Graduated Phi Beta Kappa, had great teacher recs, and had some impressive one of a kind work experiences in the international arena. GPA and test scores really matter - so do the best one can! - and the rest helps grease it.

This is the legitimate answer. Of course it is possible but it takes a lot of hustle and success. You have to be at the top and stand out. Which frankly no one can count on (at any school).

[Anonymous]

My DD and I are in a similar boat.

She wants to go to school in a city and live in a city so networks will be important. We have enough in her 529 to fully pay for VCU; we would have belt-tighten to over Fordham. So she wouldn’t graduate with loans in either scenario, but we would be in a way better position to continue to help with grad school or home down payment if she went to VCU.

Basically would it be worth spending $140,000 over what we have saved in her 529 to give her more chances to connect with wider range of people?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD and I are in a similar boat.

She wants to go to school in a city and live in a city so networks will be important. We have enough in her 529 to fully pay for VCU; we would have belt-tighten to over Fordham. So she wouldn’t graduate with loans in either scenario, but we would be in a way better position to continue to help with grad school or home down payment if she went to VCU.

Basically would it be worth spending $140,000 over what we have saved in her 529 to give her more chances to connect with wider range of people?

what do you mean by this? I went to Fordham and liked it, but it's an $80k/year school in New York...and it shows in the students who go there. (Yes, I know not everyone pays $80k/year). You will have a much broader swath of people at VCU- racially, economically, rural vs urban vs suburban background, age, etc.

[Anonymous]

DD is waiting on a few more schools and will make her decision soon. While I want her to go to a school she loves, I also hope she chooses the least expensive one. Right now the range is between $30k (in state) and $45k (out of state) (including merit and room/board).

[Anonymous]

We have a contribution amount and I had a spreadsheet with campus job earnings, summer job earnings, and loans. if our contribution and their student earnings and merit didn’t cover the cost of the school, it was a no go. My child did pick the more expensive option that cost us more than in-state (within our budget still) but it also requires them to work and take at some loans. There is a part of me that would love the world of just focusing on school without needing to work or take out loans - for me that wasn’t an option as a student. My kid had that option but felt their school was a better fit and acknowledged the trade off/impact for any grad school.

[Anonymous]

As long as you do very well at your undergraduate school, it doesn't matter where you go. Top graduate schools will be fighting over you.

--law prof at top 10 law school

[Anonymous]

My kid picked her school (out if several options). She chose the least expensive school, which was not the highest ranked by any means. I think she felt a good fit at that school, but she was also influenced by cost. Fast forward to now: one year after her graduation. She has zero debt. She has just been admitted to grad school (her goal), but it took a year . So, she has earned virtually nothing in the interim (between graduating and trying to get into grad school—she worked at a few low paying internships in her desired field ). I am so glad that she will start grad school debtfree. She had a great experience in college (again her choice), and did not miss the higher ranked schools one bit. (In fact, I suspect, she shined more as a big fish in a small pond. For example, she won a few new scholarships her junior & senior years—which we did not expect. One was voted by faculty at her small college.)

Good luck to you and your child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid picked her school (out if several options). She chose the least expensive school, which was not the highest ranked by any means. I think she felt a good fit at that school, but she was also influenced by cost. Fast forward to now: one year after her graduation. She has zero debt. She has just been admitted to grad school (her goal), but it took a year . So, she has earned virtually nothing in the interim (between graduating and trying to get into grad school—she worked at a few low paying internships in her desired field ). I am so glad that she will start grad school debtfree. She had a great experience in college (again her choice), and did not miss the higher ranked schools one bit. (In fact, I suspect, she shined more as a big fish in a small pond. For example, she won a few new scholarships her junior & senior years—which we did not expect. One was voted by faculty at her small college.)

Good luck to you and your child.

PS-since it was mentioned above, I will add that my kid attended a CTCL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Excellent question.

I'll answer as the parent of a twice exceptional child (gifted with disabilities). DS will have lifelong issues, which might impact his professional and private life. With that in mind, we want to avoid closing doors for him, so we're ready to pay for an expensive, name-brand college, if it means that hiring managers will look at the diploma and be impressed. I am willing to pay for the brand, to compensate for whatever issues will come up in his working life.

My best friends have Ivy diplomas, and my husband has an MD/PhD. I've seen how their resumes automatically open doors for them that might not be as wide open had they gone to other schools, or had fewer terminal degrees. So... I can't actually solve my son's problems for him, but I try to work on the edges.

I wish I'd saved the link, but there was a mom with a very gifted autistic child. Academics came easily to him, in a way that little else did, so she supported him all the way through a top 10 PhD program, which he sailed through. And then he was unemployable. Maybe one or two postdoc positions that never went anywhere. Cognitive and social issues that could be worked around in an academic context made it impossible for him to have a career in his field. Or most other places. She thought, now, that he would be able to do well as a mechanic's assistant at an auto repair shop, if he went through technician training. But all the money had been spent, and he was older, and she was older, and she wasn't sure if she could make it happen.

I lie awake sometimes and think about this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Least expensive was a state u with full aid for 4 yrs. Declined and chose and ivy.

Aren't Ivies more generous with aid?

Not if you are upper middle class. We saved from the day our kids were born had nice 529s but didn’t have 300k in each account. We cash flow part of our kid’s private college tuition. The one who went in state has a nice balance left over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. My eldest went to Purdue. He would have gone to Tech if we had made it about money. We had purchased the prepaid tuition at a much lower cost. He did extremely well at Purdue and had a group of friends for the first time in his life. He is now working in a great job and has a great life. When we visited both campuses, there was something that made it seem a better place for him. It was such a positive experience.

+1. I am from Indiana originally. Purdue is a super place. So is Indiana University, for that matter. Good for you and your son. Terrific outcomes from Purdue. Glad you sent him there over VT. Good move

[Anonymous]

I know a lot of students who graduated from Ivies who are under employed. After graduating from the Ivies the students were working the following jobs: one as a tutor, one as an administrative asst (low level), one selling bikes in an inner city bike shop, and one working as a personal trainer.