Is It Really Gonna Cost $280K? OMG

[Anonymous]

But there are those of use who have the disposable income to spend on college...$280 sitting in 529 waiting to go. My kid does not want a state college. He has had his eyes set on one particular school (not an ivy) for his whole life...a school that would do him well and is a great fit. We are going to give him his dream. He is an excellent student, hard worker, very smart. He got scholarships elsewhere, but we are going to give him his dream. I didn't have that. My husband went to ivies, was successful in his career and consequently he can afford to provide this to our kids. Those ivies opened doors for him. We can only hope that as a result our kid will be able to do the same for his kids some day. State colleges are great for those who can't afford otherwise and for those who are hard workers willing to go above and beyond. You see, that's the thing. To be successful at lower level schools, you have to put that much more into it, whereas at an elite school, you still work hard (you have to in order to get good grades), but you have that added bonus of the name recognition which opens bigger doors.

[Anonymous]

Here's a thing I notice about these threads:

Those that are full pay often say something like "it sucks but we saved and it was the right decision for us" (similar to OP).

Those that choose to NOT be fully pay and choose schools accordingly often say "it's not worth it to anyone".

I think both of those statements come from internal conflict and doubt about the decision they have made. However, only one of them attacks the other's decision. Why do you think that is the case?

[Anonymous]

Are any private schools worth the price? Or are all, including Top 20, just enrolling suckers or the poors (who get FA)? How long will this last. Seriously trying to understand the business model.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Congrats to your kid. I don’t want to diminish that with my next discouraging paragraph about the money.

I want to remind you that while your kid is in college, life goes on and things still go wrong. I am about to do some unexpected and expensive maintenance on my house that cannot wait any longer. Price of a decent car.

I would be in a tougher situation if my child were at a private school full fees. I urge you to consider what it will feel like living o; the edge for the next bunch of years. Some people are comfortable with this, but I wouldn’t be.

So, yes, that's you. I would do the same in your position. I am frugal like that. But because we are fortunate with a large bucket of money sitting in our 529, we will send our kid to a school in the top 20. Even if our roof fell through, we would still be fine. We could even go out and buy a Tesla tomorrow and still send our kid to that school. (But we won't...we drive 7 year old cars). We are a balanced family with good fortune of high income and lots of investments, and we will use some of that money to give our kid the best possible opportunity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Congrats to your kid. I don’t want to diminish that with my next discouraging paragraph about the money.

I want to remind you that while your kid is in college, life goes on and things still go wrong. I am about to do some unexpected and expensive maintenance on my house that cannot wait any longer. Price of a decent car.

I would be in a tougher situation if my child were at a private school full fees. I urge you to consider what it will feel like living o; the edge for the next bunch of years. Some people are comfortable with this, but I wouldn’t be.

So, yes, that's you. I would do the same in your position. I am frugal like that. But because we are fortunate with a large bucket of money sitting in our 529, we will send our kid to a school in the top 20. Even if our roof fell through, we would still be fine. We could even go out and buy a Tesla tomorrow and still send our kid to that school. (But we won't...we drive 7 year old cars). We are a balanced family with good fortune of high income and lots of investments, and we will use some of that money to give our kid the best possible opportunity.

You know, you could go be a bit less indignant about a different choice. The OP in this case was expressing legitimate concern about HER ability to come up with this money, and at least in the original post she sounds like someone who would not enjoy having no cushion.

It is not interesting at all to discuss when people of means are willing to spend money on their child. Good luck to you and your kid. I hope college teaches him to be more open-minded than his parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

It is not interesting at all to discuss when people of means are willing to spend money on their child. Good luck to you and your kid. I hope college teaches him to be more open-minded than his parent.

I am not the PP, but I respectfully suggest you judge your own comments similarly. Not sure why you get to decide what is interesting and what is not. It seems to be inline with the earlier post about some being hyper-defensive.

How about we go with: "Comment and judge your own choices, not those of others"? Seems fair both ways, no?

[Anonymous]

Instead of judging people's choices of HOW they will be paying for college...

How about we all ask the question, WHY does college cost $280K????

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Instead of judging people's choices of HOW they will be paying for college...

How about we all ask the question, WHY does college cost $280K????

Because it is and people are still willing to pay!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Congrats to your kid. I don’t want to diminish that with my next discouraging paragraph about the money.

I want to remind you that while your kid is in college, life goes on and things still go wrong. I am about to do some unexpected and expensive maintenance on my house that cannot wait any longer. Price of a decent car.

I would be in a tougher situation if my child were at a private school full fees. I urge you to consider what it will feel like living o; the edge for the next bunch of years. Some people are comfortable with this, but I wouldn’t be.

So, yes, that's you. I would do the same in your position. I am frugal like that. But because we are fortunate with a large bucket of money sitting in our 529, we will send our kid to a school in the top 20. Even if our roof fell through, we would still be fine. We could even go out and buy a Tesla tomorrow and still send our kid to that school. (But we won't...we drive 7 year old cars). We are a balanced family with good fortune of high income and lots of investments, and we will use some of that money to give our kid the best possible opportunity.

You know, you could go be a bit less indignant about a different choice. The OP in this case was expressing legitimate concern about HER ability to come up with this money, and at least in the original post she sounds like someone who would not enjoy having no cushion.

It is not interesting at all to discuss when people of means are willing to spend money on their child. Good luck to you and your kid. I hope college teaches him to be more open-minded than his parent.

Hi there. I am the PP. Not sure where you think I am not open minded. Please see the bolded comments I made, where I agreed that the PP did the right thing by not going for the expensive private. Everyone has different financial situations. Mine happens to be very healthy, which is why we chose our route. I said I would do the same thing if I were in that situation. So here do you consider I was being indignant or not open minded?

I think part of my post was also in defense of MY decision, where people basically say we are "wasting our money" and "state school just as good as top private." That is simply not true. It all depends on the kid and what the right fit is for the family academically and financially. For us, it was the expensive private and I am confident it will serve our DC well for the rest of his life.

I did not go to an ivy like my husband. I went to a regional business school. Upon graduation, I had to take the low level positions in the no name companies. It took several years until I could take a position at the better paying well known company. I found myself surrounded with recent Harvard grads making more than me in higher or equal positions, while I already had 6 yeasr experience. I did OK, but know I would have done better if I had that better education and had the chance to start at the good company sooner. It's just the reality of the situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Congrats to your kid. I don’t want to diminish that with my next discouraging paragraph about the money.

I want to remind you that while your kid is in college, life goes on and things still go wrong. I am about to do some unexpected and expensive maintenance on my house that cannot wait any longer. Price of a decent car.

I would be in a tougher situation if my child were at a private school full fees. I urge you to consider what it will feel like living o; the edge for the next bunch of years. Some people are comfortable with this, but I wouldn’t be.

So, yes, that's you. I would do the same in your position. I am frugal like that. But because we are fortunate with a large bucket of money sitting in our 529, we will send our kid to a school in the top 20. Even if our roof fell through, we would still be fine. We could even go out and buy a Tesla tomorrow and still send our kid to that school. (But we won't...we drive 7 year old cars). We are a balanced family with good fortune of high income and lots of investments, and we will use some of that money to give our kid the best possible opportunity.

You know, you could go be a bit less indignant about a different choice. The OP in this case was expressing legitimate concern about HER ability to come up with this money, and at least in the original post she sounds like someone who would not enjoy having no cushion.

It is not interesting at all to discuss when people of means are willing to spend money on their child. Good luck to you and your kid. I hope college teaches him to be more open-minded than his parent.

Hi there. I am the PP. Not sure where you think I am not open minded. Please see the bolded comments I made, where I agreed that the PP did the right thing by not going for the expensive private. Everyone has different financial situations. Mine happens to be very healthy, which is why we chose our route. I said I would do the same thing if I were in that situation. So here do you consider I was being indignant or not open minded?

I think part of my post was also in defense of MY decision, where people basically say we are "wasting our money" and "state school just as good as top private." That is simply not true. It all depends on the kid and what the right fit is for the family academically and financially. For us, it was the expensive private and I am confident it will serve our DC well for the rest of his life.

I did not go to an ivy like my husband. I went to a regional business school. Upon graduation, I had to take the low level positions in the no name companies. It took several years until I could take a position at the better paying well known company. I found myself surrounded with recent Harvard grads making more than me in higher or equal positions, while I already had 6 yeasr experience. I did OK, but know I would have done better if I had that better education and had the chance to start at the good company sooner. It's just the reality of the situation.

PP here...sorry for the typos.

[Anonymous]

Starting my 3 kids at MC. unless they get scholarships.

No way I have those dollars, nor will I let them go into debt and be instant debt slaves upon a graduation.

Will report results when they are 40....stand by

[Anonymous]

If your kid can get into Northwestern, they can get a scholarship from the flagship state school, or if in VA/CA, at least get into the premier flagship schools at a much lower cost. Save your $ for an Ivy-level grad program!

[Anonymous]

Again, WHY are people second-guessing other parents' choices. That is NOT the purpose of this thread. Stop judging/interfering.

If you have valuable insights or answers to the posters' questions, then be helpful and share them. If your information differs from another poster's, you can respectfully post opposing information.

Is this how you people walk around the real world???? Why lose all civility and humility in the virtual world?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your kid can get into Northwestern, they can get a scholarship from the flagship state school, or if in VA/CA, at least get into the premier flagship schools at a much lower cost. Save your $ for an Ivy-level grad program!

Many experienced grad school folks will tell you that any good Ph D program should be fully funded. Not saying that means you shouldn't save on undergrad but IMHO it is more important to save on grad school.

Medical, Dental, Law, and MBA are exceptions of course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Instead of judging people's choices of HOW they will be paying for college...

How about we all ask the question, WHY does college cost $280K????

Because it is and people are still willing to pay!

And because the student loan industry gives schools every incentive to keep jacking up tuition at a rate that far outpaces inflation.





Source: David Stockman

This is a very telling chart. First, let us look at the biggest line item with housing. A new home today costs $270,200. That 1975 home adjusting for inflation would cost $209,417. This is a “real” increase of 29 percent. A new car costs $31,252 while that 1975 car adjusting for inflation would cost $16,578. This is a true doubling of cost here. Public college costs are up over 150% while private college costs are up over 160%. And you wonder why we have over $1.3 trillion in student debt outstanding.

What is more affordable relative to inflation? Milk, eggs, and a postage stamp. Unfortunately these are tiny line items on your household budget.

What you need to look at is the median income here. US households overall are simply poorer. They have less to spend relative to the cost of goods and services. Money is only as good as what it can purchase. You can’t eat hundred dollar bills. This is part of the reason why many people feel like they are poorer. It is also a big reason as to why the homeownership rate continues to fall.