Which college is worth $90k?

[Anonymous]

From your personal experience or colleges you toured, which are standouts that really impress you to be worth the full tuition? Less interested in HYPMS, rather ones that are not as prestigious but you think are comparable or even better.

[Anonymous]

None

[Anonymous]

For a donut hole family, you mean? 90k isn’t a problem for most of the families currently dropping 60k on private high school

[Anonymous]

I think it’s more a question of what does $90k mean to you. If you have to borrow the money, or if paying that much meaningfully impacts your retirement or life in some way, it’s not worth it no matter the school.

If you can pay that much a year and it doesn’t impact you, then yea, it can be worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s more a question of what does $90k mean to you. If you have to borrow the money, or if paying that much meaningfully impacts your retirement or life in some way, it’s not worth it no matter the school.

If you can pay that much a year and it doesn’t impact you, then yea, it can be worth it.

OP - yes we can comfortably afford it, but still want to still which is best combination of world class education and campus experience comparable to HYPMS if full tuition is not a barrier and elite prestige is not the goal.

[Anonymous]

Isn’t half of that room and board?

[Anonymous]

You can tell if a school is worth $90k from a tour? Like, nice guide, good bookstore, done?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can tell if a school is worth $90k from a tour? Like, nice guide, good bookstore, done?

OP: asking because frankly, they all look the same to me during tours. The biggest difference to me was the weather, not the school. Everyone had nice impressive buildings and talked about world class education whether it’s a T5 or T75 college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s more a question of what does $90k mean to you. If you have to borrow the money, or if paying that much meaningfully impacts your retirement or life in some way, it’s not worth it no matter the school.

If you can pay that much a year and it doesn’t impact you, then yea, it can be worth it.

OP - yes we can comfortably afford it, but still want to still which is best combination of world class education and campus experience comparable to HYPMS if full tuition is not a barrier and elite prestige is not the goal.

Pretty sure elite prestige is part of what makes the HYPMS cost worth it (at least for those who think it is).

I’m not sure any school is worth over $90k that doesn’t come with a brand name that wows.

[Anonymous]

I draw a line after about top 15.

I specifically remember walking around BC and thinking, nope! Not just the campus, just the general "okay, fine" name, experience, outcomes.

[Anonymous]

For something qualitatively different from large private universities and public flagships, look to purely-undergraduate focused colleges, at which the experience may be difficult to replicate at a lower cost.

When Forbes last considered such a question, for example, it included national universities, but placed Amherst first:

10 Expensive Colleges Worth Every Penny 2017 https://share.google/LrWh6s6XfLLGWqmB6

[Anonymous]

You are actually asking are like maybe 30 colleges worth paying $90k…because once you get beyond the top 5 nearly all the “$90k” schools provide merit aid to nearly everyone regardless of their rack rate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For something qualitatively different from large private universities and public flagships, look to purely-undergraduate focused colleges, at which the experience may be difficult to replicate at a lower cost.

When Forbes last considered such a question, for example, it included national universities, but placed Amherst first:

10 Expensive Colleges Worth Every Penny 2017 https://share.google/LrWh6s6XfLLGWqmB6

The article is misleading because it references how every school on the list is also a Best Value school.

I take that to mean it’s worth every penny of the average net price that students pay…not that it’s worth the full price (or at least, that’s not how they are looking at these schools).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are actually asking are like maybe 30 colleges worth paying $90k…because once you get beyond the top 5 nearly all the “$90k” schools provide merit aid to nearly everyone regardless of their rack rate.

Beyond the top 30 $90k schools they all give some merit aid.

[Anonymous]

Not every donut hole family is created equal.

If you can afford it and still have money left over, then it is worth it. Realistically most colleges are not going to be 90 unless they are top 50ish. Below that you will likely get merit.