Is any undergrad college/university worth $55,000+?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It's now more realistically $62,000 per year and that must be paid with pre-tax money which makes it $124,000 per year per child, which allowing for two children requires you to make $228,000 more per child per year and allowing for the now average of five years per child per SLAC means you have to $1,143,000 to send two kids to your SLAC - which, personally, I don't think mine is worth it. So we are going state and then sayving for grad school. Maybe I'd do it for HYP (I went to grad school at one of them ) but for my SLAC? hell no.

While I agree that it is a huge amount of money to send your kids to private colleges regardless, and a lot of upper middle class folks on this board won't qualify for financial aid, I do think there are a few nuances missed from this calculation. First of all, the difference between the sticker price and the actual price. If you have several dependents in your family, particularly if you have two kids in college at the same time, even at higher incomes there might be some financial aid. Second of all, most high income families who really value education start 529s when their kids are small, taking advantage of compound interest, and tax-defferment, so it's not like you are paying it all out of a single year's salary.

Yes but the problem for many upper middle class families is that when the kids were little they were not making what they are now and then you get hit with the high cost of housing and now you are playing catch up for college. Let's see. A few hundred bucks a month when kids are small does not add up to $240000.

Exactly. We set up a college fund. Have three kids. Won't cover all three.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. Grad school, maybe. But for grad school, if you are a top candidate you should be getting a fellowship or something. If you're not a top candidate, you ought to rethink going to grad school.

Wow, what a stupid generalization. Totally depends on the grad program as to whether or not fellowships are common.

Perhaps it is a generalization but it has some validity - at least in some fields. As a manager who has hired a fair number of applicants with a MBA, I can tell you categorically that a MBA from a school that is not within the top fifteen has limited value in terms of it being a selling point. Now there may be other factors such as the individual's experience pre-MBA that may offer an edge.

I do advise those who work for me to think long and hard about whether they want to expend the time and resources towards a MBA from a lesser known school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. Grad school, maybe. But for grad school, if you are a top candidate you should be getting a fellowship or something. If you're not a top candidate, you ought to rethink going to grad school.

Wow, what a stupid generalization. Totally depends on the grad program as to whether or not fellowships are common.

Perhaps it is a generalization but it has some validity - at least in some fields. As a manager who has hired a fair number of applicants with a MBA, I can tell you categorically that a MBA from a school that is not within the top fifteen has limited value in terms of it being a selling point. Now there may be other factors such as the individual's experience pre-MBA that may offer an edge.

I do advise those who work for me to think long and hard about whether they want to expend the time and resources towards a MBA from a lesser known school.

So should all other MBA programs close their doors since they are "worthless" degrees? Have you ever sat in on a class at a lower ranked MBA program. Not all good professors can teach at these "top" schools. You have have fallen into the "ranking" mindset.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Going through the whole application process right now with my senior and feeling like there is really no college worth this kind of tuition. Am I wrong? Is there a place out there that would make it worth paying approx. $240K for four years?

No. But of course, we will pay it.