For Which Elite Colleges and Universities Would You Pay Full Price ?

[Anonymous]

Assuming that paying full price included taking out a total of $30,000 in loans over 4 years (average of $7,500 per year), for which elite colleges and universities would you pay full price ? (I specify the loan amounts to depict one who must sacrifice to attend an elite school at full sticker price.)

Assume that the student is undecided regarding major and career.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Assuming that paying full price included taking out a total of $30,000 in loans over 4 years (average of $7,500 per year), for which elite colleges and universities would you pay full price ? (I specify the loan amounts to depict one who must sacrifice to attend an elite school at full sticker price.)

Assume that the student is undecided regarding major and career.

Nope. Not gonna play. It’s a silly game until you know where you’re accepted to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Assuming that paying full price included taking out a total of $30,000 in loans over 4 years (average of $7,500 per year), for which elite colleges and universities would you pay full price ? (I specify the loan amounts to depict one who must sacrifice to attend an elite school at full sticker price.)

Assume that the student is undecided regarding major and career.

I would say none if your kid is undecided regarding major and career. I think elite schools pay off for kids that have a good understanding of what they want to study and what they want to get out of the school in terms of a career and network. They are not a great place for a MC kid that really doesn't know what they want to study or what they want to do after college...these are the parents/kids that come on to DCUM and lament how the elite school was a bust for their kid.

[Anonymous]

https://usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities

https://usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-liberal-arts-colleges

(OP here)

I was surprised at how many National Universities for which I would be willing to pay full price and at how few National LACs that I would be willing to pay full price.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Assuming that paying full price included taking out a total of $30,000 in loans over 4 years (average of $7,500 per year), for which elite colleges and universities would you pay full price ? (I specify the loan amounts to depict one who must sacrifice to attend an elite school at full sticker price.)

Assume that the student is undecided regarding major and career.

Nope. Not gonna play. It’s a silly game until you know where you’re accepted to.

However, by responding, you just did play.

[Anonymous]

While $7500 per year seems a relatively small amount, we went into the whole college savings game with the intention to Fully Pay for private college for 4 years, which is what we did. I said Zero Loans, and so we're not doing any loans. So my answer would be, none of them, and look for merit or public that you Can afford. BC if you need to borrow 7500, that means your budget is really stretched thin.

[Anonymous]

I started this thread after reading another current DCUM thread which asked how many readers do not want their kid to attend an Ivy League school. To me, the better question is as posed by this thread. I realized that I would sacrifice to pay full sticker for an Ivy League school or any of the top 25 National Universities if total loans were limited to $30,000 for one's undergraduate degree, but that I would only do the same for a few LACs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While $7500 per year seems a relatively small amount, we went into the whole college savings game with the intention to Fully Pay for private college for 4 years, which is what we did. I said Zero Loans, and so we're not doing any loans. So my answer would be, none of them, and look for merit or public that you Can afford. BC if you need to borrow 7500, that means your budget is really stretched thin.

Yes, that is the point of this thread. Stretching resources to an extent that required a 4 year total of $30,000 in student loans.

[Anonymous]

Easy. Any Ivy, MIT, Stanford, Cal Tech, Northwestern, Chicago, Duke, Hopkins. Preference for any Ivy. Out of State, probably Berkley, maybe Michigan. We are in state Virginia so that would not be full price.

Easiest question ever on DCUM.

[Anonymous]

There are no colleges in the world I would send my child to that required them to take loans. Period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Easy. Any Ivy, MIT, Stanford, Cal Tech, Northwestern, Chicago, Duke, Hopkins. Preference for any Ivy. Out of State, probably Berkley, maybe Michigan. We are in state Virginia so that would not be full price.

Easiest question ever on DCUM.

Um, it’s spelled “Berkeley.”

[Anonymous]

(OP again)

Among LACs, my list would be limited to Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, Claremont McKenna College, and Middlebury College.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are no colleges in the world I would send my child to that required them to take loans. Period.

Thank you for responding. Valid & insightful answer.

[Anonymous]

HPSM, Penn, Duke, Yale, Caltech.

[Anonymous]

What about Rice?