How important are college costs to you, even if you can afford any college?

[Anonymous]

We are in a weird situation with a lower middle class income but significant family assets in our name - no hope of financial aid, and we’ll have to sell assets to pay for college. We’d rather do that than take out loans.

So while we can “technically” afford a $77K a year SLAC, and having just finished touring them and larger universities, including our more affordable State U, I feel really uncomfortable at the idea of paying enormous prices for 4 years, especially considering my kids will likely want graduate degrees as well (law and vet school, perhaps).

Is a smaller private college really worth $50K more per year, meaning $200K more for undergrad, per child, than State U?
Are the sense of community, hand-holding, mentorship, internship and research opportunities really that much better?

What do you think?

[Anonymous]

I made more than enough money (just under 7 figures at my peak) to pay for any college whatsoever for each of my kids, but there was no way in hell I was going to pay for private school unless I was paying top tier. It's just not worth it.

You'll find a lot of posters on this board with money who will say that they'll happily pay for second tier schools that nobody's ever heard of -- including those silly "CTCL" schools. I think they're all nuts.

[Anonymous]

Do undergrad as cheaply as you can, if grad school is a possibility.

Even if you can full-pay tuition, should you? In most cases, no. You have to consider the return on your investment. Private college tuition can be the equivalent of setting a brand new BMW on fire each year until graduation.

Is it worth it? That depends on major, GPA, interview skills, geographic location, etc.

[Anonymous]

For us, we have the money, so I don’t care what it costs. (Since that what you asked). I want my child to go where they are comfortable. That’s it.

I would argue that if you have to sell assets then you can’t “afford” any college. That’s having to choose between your assets and college. I don’t think it’s worth 50,000 more a year, but I will pay it because I have it. You’re in a different situation.

[Anonymous]

It depends on the personality of your kid. Our oldest would shrink and be lost in a large state school. A SLAC was well worth the money for her. Our second daughter is thriving at UCLA (we’re CA residents) and would have been stifled in a small college. Our third daughter wants art school…. Which it s totally different discussion!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For us, we have the money, so I don’t care what it costs. (Since that what you asked). I want my child to go where they are comfortable. That’s it.

I would argue that if you have to sell assets then you can’t “afford” any college. That’s having to choose between your assets and college. I don’t think it’s worth 50,000 more a year, but I will pay it because I have it. You’re in a different situation.

You're not very smart if you have hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash just sitting there earning nothing. "Assets" include stocks, etc.

[Anonymous]

A fool and his money are soon parted.

You have to think about your personal finances, your child’s interests and abilities, and future prospects.

Colleges will lie like crazy about job prospects after graduation.

[Anonymous]

I won’t pay a lot for clothes or cars or alcohol or beauty treatments or jewelry or fine dining any of that stuff but yeah, I will pay tuition at whatever college my kid wants to go to. My kid goes to an $80k school, my pants are from Old Navy. Makes me happy. YMMV.

[Anonymous]

If my kids get into an IVY then I'm all for paying for that, but nothing much else other than say MIT or similar. We are looking to Canada and the UK (where we're from) as having excellent colleges at reasonable prices.

In the US college costs have just become another component of capitalism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For us, we have the money, so I don’t care what it costs. (Since that what you asked). I want my child to go where they are comfortable. That’s it.

I would argue that if you have to sell assets then you can’t “afford” any college. That’s having to choose between your assets and college. I don’t think it’s worth 50,000 more a year, but I will pay it because I have it. You’re in a different situation.

You're not very smart if you have hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash just sitting there earning nothing. "Assets" include stocks, etc.

lol ... why do you even care, it's not your money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For us, we have the money, so I don’t care what it costs. (Since that what you asked). I want my child to go where they are comfortable. That’s it.

I would argue that if you have to sell assets then you can’t “afford” any college. That’s having to choose between your assets and college. I don’t think it’s worth 50,000 more a year, but I will pay it because I have it. You’re in a different situation.

You're not very smart if you have hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash just sitting there earning nothing. "Assets" include stocks, etc.

lol ... why do you even care, it's not your money.

Because I wouldn't trust financial advice from anybody so stupid.

[Anonymous]

Even if you can afford anything, it's still stupid to overspend and waste money. You should look for the best "bang for the buck" in a college. There are a lot of colleges that are very expensive but still low in prestige and academic quality. Avoid those. But really just focus on what's best for your kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I made more than enough money (just under 7 figures at my peak) to pay for any college whatsoever for each of my kids, but there was no way in hell I was going to pay for private school unless I was paying top tier. It's just not worth it.

You'll find a lot of posters on this board with money who will say that they'll happily pay for second tier schools that nobody's ever heard of -- including those silly "CTCL" schools. I think they're all nuts.

+1 Luckily DC had the grades for top schools and significant merit at others so we never had to cross the bridge to having such a conversation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Even if you can afford anything, it's still stupid to overspend and waste money. You should look for the best "bang for the buck" in a college. There are a lot of colleges that are very expensive but still low in prestige and academic quality. Avoid those. But really just focus on what's best for your kid.

+1

[Anonymous]

Do you have the same concerns for private elementary and high schools?