Is there a tipping point , full pay?

[Anonymous]

Full pay family

We will pay for all in state schools for four years or OOS/private with partial merit aid. Not for fancy private schools without merit aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are full pay, Would you pay full price for
Emory
BC
UMiami
Villanova
GWU
….going down the rankings list, LMU?
Is there a cutoff for private colleges? Where you tell your kid to just take merit elsewhere, or go in state? What is your cutoff, or are you full pay so you will full pay anyplace ?

(If you are not full pay, and need FA, instate, or merit, please don’t respond, your considerations are different)

No. We didn't. We would've for HYPSMCBD.

[Anonymous]

we are full pay with a HHI around 650k. we would only have paid slightly above in state, so merit is critical for private or OOS. our kid also is pre med and we plan on paying for medical school. He is at his first year at VCU. he also got in Vandy, Colgate, and UT Austin. He didn’t get merit from any of them. He did get the provost scholarship at VCU for 16k/yr so that 64k goes towards med school. He will not need to take out any loads for med school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:we are full pay with a HHI around 650k. we would only have paid slightly above in state, so merit is critical for private or OOS. our kid also is pre med and we plan on paying for medical school. He is at his first year at VCU. he also got in Vandy, Colgate, and UT Austin.

Got into Vandy, Colgate, Austin, went to VCU? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For everyone weighing what they can afford, please be careful that you have enough, to make it fair, for the younger kids in the family.

People with fully loaded 529s or otherwise truly full pay have more than enough for all their kids.

[Anonymous]

I'm seeing now where the "full pay" but donut hole families are at quite the disadvantage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:we are full pay with a HHI around 650k. we would only have paid slightly above in state, so merit is critical for private or OOS. our kid also is pre med and we plan on paying for medical school. He is at his first year at VCU. he also got in Vandy, Colgate, and UT Austin. He didn’t get merit from any of them. He did get the provost scholarship at VCU for 16k/yr so that 64k goes towards med school. He will not need to take out any loads for med school.

What if he decides he doesn't want to go to med school...which a ton of kids do? Why would you have him apply to a school like Vandy or UT Austin or Colgate, knowing they give almost zero merit aid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:we are full pay with a HHI around 650k. we would only have paid slightly above in state, so merit is critical for private or OOS. our kid also is pre med and we plan on paying for medical school. He is at his first year at VCU. he also got in Vandy, Colgate, and UT Austin.

Got into Vandy, Colgate, Austin, went to VCU? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.

I cannot believe that poster was real.

VCU - ugh

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are full pay, Would you pay full price for
Emory
BC
UMiami
Villanova
GWU
….going down the rankings list, LMU?
Is there a cutoff for private colleges? Where you tell your kid to just take merit elsewhere, or go in state? What is your cutoff, or are you full pay so you will full pay anyplace ?

(If you are not full pay, and need FA, instate, or merit, please don’t respond, your considerations are different)

We were full pay and actually kinda rich but we live in VA and there was no way in hell we’d full pay for any of those school after a UVA admit. It’s better than all of them. Decisions like that is how we stay rich.

Emory is a better school than UVA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are full pay, Would you pay full price for
Emory
BC
UMiami
Villanova
GWU
….going down the rankings list, LMU?
Is there a cutoff for private colleges? Where you tell your kid to just take merit elsewhere, or go in state? What is your cutoff, or are you full pay so you will full pay anyplace ?

(If you are not full pay, and need FA, instate, or merit, please don’t respond, your considerations are different)

We were full pay and actually kinda rich but we live in VA and there was no way in hell we’d full pay for any of those school after a UVA admit. It’s better than all of them. Decisions like that is how we stay rich.

UVA out of state vs Emory? Emory wins. Comparing instate prices to a private is not fair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:we are full pay with a HHI around 650k. we would only have paid slightly above in state, so merit is critical for private or OOS. our kid also is pre med and we plan on paying for medical school. He is at his first year at VCU. he also got in Vandy, Colgate, and UT Austin.

Got into Vandy, Colgate, Austin, went to VCU? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.

Because he is pre-med and that would be a colossal waste of money. He also got into a bunch of other schools, but all were similar in price to VCU (before the provost scolarship). My examples were real life comparisons as the poster was asking about private/expensive schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think that it's crazy to pay 400K for anything outside of the top 10 schools and it would be beneficial for everyone to think of college as more of a math problem now. We can afford to pay for our kids to go anywhere but 1 wants to get a Ph.D. eventually so they will look at schools where they have a chance to do research and where they get some merit aid and we can help pay for grad school.
2nd kid wants to be a nurse practitioner. I don't think it's worth 400K for an undergrad nursing degree, do you?

I recognize that there are circumstances where an individual kid needs to be in a specific environment but otherwise the price tag is just too high.

What if you’ve got plenty of money (think north of $25m)….

Kids educations are fully funded in 529s…
Then which of these would you pay for:

Wake
Tulane
Boulder
Indiana
Michigan
Wash U
Emory

The last 2.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are full pay, Would you pay full price for
Emory
BC
UMiami
Villanova
GWU
….going down the rankings list, LMU?
Is there a cutoff for private colleges? Where you tell your kid to just take merit elsewhere, or go in state? What is your cutoff, or are you full pay so you will full pay anyplace ?

(If you are not full pay, and need FA, instate, or merit, please don’t respond, your considerations are different)

I'm just going to say it: none of those schools impress me. They're fine schools, but aside from accepting a lot of ivy cast-offs, I don't see the appeal.

I would full-pay for Williams, Pomona, Amherst. Possibly Wesleyan, Haverford, Vassar, etc. It may just be that I expect different things from an undergraduate education.

You're entitled to your opinion but I'm not sure many would agree that Vassar and Haverford are substantially more impressive than Emory.

Depends on your values. We don't all want to be finance bros.

Vassar has a 20% acceptance rate, Wesleyan 19%, Haverford 18%. Emory is 10%. Emory being a permanent t25 (has never been ranked lower than this) means it's the same level as top5 LACs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:we are full pay with a HHI around 650k. we would only have paid slightly above in state, so merit is critical for private or OOS. our kid also is pre med and we plan on paying for medical school. He is at his first year at VCU. he also got in Vandy, Colgate, and UT Austin. He didn’t get merit from any of them. He did get the provost scholarship at VCU for 16k/yr so that 64k goes towards med school. He will not need to take out any loads for med school.

What if he decides he doesn't want to go to med school...which a ton of kids do? Why would you have him apply to a school like Vandy or UT Austin or Colgate, knowing they give almost zero merit aid?

I don't undestand? Then he does not go to med school, what do all those kids do? They do someting else LOL! I think his chances are high. His dad is a doctor, his grandfather is a doctor, his uncle is a doctor, he knows exactly what he is getting into.

we did not dictate where he applied, or where he chose to go. He does know exactly how much money he has for undergrad and med school and made his decision accordingly. He also knows that his GPA and MCAT and ECs/research are absoultly critical to getting into a good med school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I dont think anything beyond the top 5 are worth 400k.

I totally get the complaints of 30 year olds who say they will never be able to break into the housing market.

But .. I'm a lot less sympathetic if those same 30yo had basically a downpayment-and-a-half given to them at 18 and they spent it all on college.

If you have 5 million, fine. But for those of us who are full pay but not rich-rich, we need to have bigger conversations.

If we were talking about cars and not colleges, we'd all call you out on buying your kid a BMW "because it's what felt right to them". But because we've wrapped this other luxury product (college) in more esoteric clothes, we let it slide.

Again, if you're super rich, this doesn't apply to you. Buy the BMW (every year for 4 years). But if you think you may have a kid who will be 35 and locked out of home ownership, I'd make a more considered decision.

The problem with this is that most parents...I might say the vast majority...feel like giving their kid a college education with $0 debt is gift enough.

They are not giving their kid the difference between in-state vs. full pay private to purchase a home or any other purchase.

This is how I was raised. Lucky enough to have college paid for by parents and no loans. But no help after that. but I agree with PP that the math has changed. I'd much rather pay fully for college - but one of the many options that isn't 400k - and also help with a down payment.

+1 That is the much smarter choice, unless you can afford to help with both. Sort of like telling your kids "hey there is $Y for college. It's for undergrad and grad school. So if you think you want grad school, it might be good to plan accordingly and choose a place with merit/In-state that leaves you some extra for later". Then let the kid decide.