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

[Anonymous]

I don’t care a whole lot about prestige but I wouldn’t pay for a school at risk of closing down within the next 50 years

[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
At least pick a school with some regional recognition

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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
At least pick a school with some regional recognition

What about best fit for the student?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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
At least pick a school with some regional recognition

What about best fit for the student?

There are hundreds of good colleges to choose from and you’re not trying to find Cinderella’s slipper

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also UVA has produced 55 Rhodes Scholars. ND only 20. Same with the Marshall .

This Rhodes Scholarship thing on DCUM is too much. Rhodes was pro-British imperialist. This led to a pro-Protestant, Church of England bias. There were almost no Rhodes Scholarships awarded to graduates of Catholic schools in the U.S. until the 1960s. All scholarships went to males until the 1970s. All-male, not Catholic affiliated UVA probably had over half of its current total before Notre Dame even got started. The Rhodes also has historical biases. Schools with a history of producing Rhodes Scholars (Eastern with an all male history) generally continued success, which makes them appear better by this measure than a school like Stanford.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

+1000

DOn't understand the "I'll pay for an ivy or Stanford/MIT but after that, I'm not paying $80K". If you can afford to pay, why would you not want your kid to attend the best college of THEIR choice?

And if you would need to take loans for the IVY/S/M I don't call that affording it. I'd ask, why would you take $40-50K/year just for that. Ivies are great school, but really not that much better (or even better at all) than many of the other T50 schools. For me it's more about major and fit. But I wouldn't go into debt for any school if I had other choices I could afford (but it's a mute point as I have saved and can/am sending my kids to full pay expensive schools)

Because paying 80k "after that" is just plain stupid, that's why, and most 18 year olds aren't sophisticated enough financially to realize that. So you have to step in. Why is it that folks don't think twice about denying a kid anything but a college education on the ground that the thing they want just isn't worth the money.

We had one kid get into UVA and Notre Dame. Yes, we could have afforded Notre Dame, but we can afford lots of things that we don't buy. Are we really just expected to pay double for Notre Dame just because our kid wants us to? Sorry, no.

We value education. So yes, I'd happily pay if that's where my kid wants to attend. You obviously are not required to do that. But I'd rather spend on a college education than a fancy car or vacation

Ridiculous. UVA in state is less than half of ND and the educations are very comparable. Next?

Not ridiculous at all, just in your opinion. I suspect you don't have $320K saved so ND just isn't affordable for your family so you are just stating they are "comparable".

If one is a better fit for your kid and their major and you can afford to pay, why wouldn't you?
ND vs UVA stats
10K vs 17K undergrads alone is a huge difference for many kids.
8.3:1 vs 14:1 student:faculty ratio
2.3% vs 6.5% of classes with 100+ students
7.9% vs 14.5% of classes with 50+ students

In less than 5 mins I found these key data points demonstrating key differences and ones that I'd argue make ND "a better school" More access to faculty, smaller class sizes makes for a better educational experience IMO.

So while both are great schools, ND definately has an edge.

I posted earlier that ND is a great school, but not for everyone. But I will add that in addition to all above, its biggest asset is the alumni network you have at your disposal, which is one of the best in the country. Everyone knows that. Its #13 on this list, which looks to be quite accurate based on the other schools on the list. https://www.collegeconsensus.com/rankings/best-college-alumni-networks/

The strong alumni network is not due to education, it’s due to Catholicism, just like how BYU grads help fellow Mormons. Did you happen to look further down the list ? All Catholic, until you hit UVA,a0ubliv, at 30 out of 4,000 institutions in the US. Try again

Schools like Princeton are Catholic? I don't think so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

+1000

DOn't understand the "I'll pay for an ivy or Stanford/MIT but after that, I'm not paying $80K". If you can afford to pay, why would you not want your kid to attend the best college of THEIR choice?

And if you would need to take loans for the IVY/S/M I don't call that affording it. I'd ask, why would you take $40-50K/year just for that. Ivies are great school, but really not that much better (or even better at all) than many of the other T50 schools. For me it's more about major and fit. But I wouldn't go into debt for any school if I had other choices I could afford (but it's a mute point as I have saved and can/am sending my kids to full pay expensive schools)

Because paying 80k "after that" is just plain stupid, that's why, and most 18 year olds aren't sophisticated enough financially to realize that. So you have to step in. Why is it that folks don't think twice about denying a kid anything but a college education on the ground that the thing they want just isn't worth the money.

We had one kid get into UVA and Notre Dame. Yes, we could have afforded Notre Dame, but we can afford lots of things that we don't buy. Are we really just expected to pay double for Notre Dame just because our kid wants us to? Sorry, no.

We value education. So yes, I'd happily pay if that's where my kid wants to attend. You obviously are not required to do that. But I'd rather spend on a college education than a fancy car or vacation

Ridiculous. UVA in state is less than half of ND and the educations are very comparable. Next?

Not ridiculous at all, just in your opinion. I suspect you don't have $320K saved so ND just isn't affordable for your family so you are just stating they are "comparable".

If one is a better fit for your kid and their major and you can afford to pay, why wouldn't you?
ND vs UVA stats
10K vs 17K undergrads alone is a huge difference for many kids.
8.3:1 vs 14:1 student:faculty ratio
2.3% vs 6.5% of classes with 100+ students
7.9% vs 14.5% of classes with 50+ students

In less than 5 mins I found these key data points demonstrating key differences and ones that I'd argue make ND "a better school" More access to faculty, smaller class sizes makes for a better educational experience IMO.

So while both are great schools, ND definately has an edge.

I posted earlier that ND is a great school, but not for everyone. But I will add that in addition to all above, its biggest asset is the alumni network you have at your disposal, which is one of the best in the country. Everyone knows that. Its #13 on this list, which looks to be quite accurate based on the other schools on the list. https://www.collegeconsensus.com/rankings/best-college-alumni-networks/

The strong alumni network is not due to education, it’s due to Catholicism, just like how BYU grads help fellow Mormons. Did you happen to look further down the list ? All Catholic, until you hit UVA,a0ubliv, at 30 out of 4,000 institutions in the US. Try again

Schools like Princeton are Catholic? I don't think so.

LOL exactly. Not sure what list the PP was looking at. The top 20:

1. Princeton
2. Stanford
3. Harvard
4. Amherst
5. Brown
6. Dartmouth
7. Rice
8. Duke
9. Smith
10. Columbia
11. Chicago
12. WashU
13. Notre Dame
14. Carleton
15. Cornell
16. Bates
17. Northwester
18. Middlebury
19. Hamilton
20. CalTech

[Anonymous]

We had enough money to send our kid anywhere but no so ultra wealthy that we wouldn't mind keeping it for ourselves to retire a year or two early. I 100% believed I was ok paying up to 85k a year even though my kid plans to go to grad school. Turns out he did not get into the top privates and his tuition where is picked is half what it would have been. I feel like I sobered up after a night of binge drinking when I think about paying 85K a year for undergrad now. It's crazy, with maybe 5 exceptions and in those cases your kid better be doing a lucrative major.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t have a strong opinion on the schools but the Notredame parents and UVA parents seem extremely annoying judging from this thread

Love this. They seem awful!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also UVA has produced 55 Rhodes Scholars. ND only 20. Same with the Marshall .

This Rhodes Scholarship thing on DCUM is too much. Rhodes was pro-British imperialist. This led to a pro-Protestant, Church of England bias. There were almost no Rhodes Scholarships awarded to graduates of Catholic schools in the U.S. until the 1960s. All scholarships went to males until the 1970s. All-male, not Catholic affiliated UVA probably had over half of its current total before Notre Dame even got started. The Rhodes also has historical biases. Schools with a history of producing Rhodes Scholars (Eastern with an all male history) generally continued success, which makes them appear better by this measure than a school like Stanford.

Most Rhodes Scholars:

Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Stanford
US Military Academy
Dartmouth
Brown
UVA
Chicago
US Naval Academy

So, you're wrong about Stanford. It's ranked 4th. And the "all male" thing is silly -- ND was all male until the 1970s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t have a strong opinion on the schools but the Notredame parents and UVA parents seem extremely annoying judging from this thread

Love this. They seem awful!

You seem judgmental and awful too so join their party, you all suck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t have a strong opinion on the schools but the Notredame parents and UVA parents seem extremely annoying judging from this thread

Love this. They seem awful!

You seem judgmental and awful too so join their party, you all suck.

Good one!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t have a strong opinion on the schools but the Notredame parents and UVA parents seem extremely annoying judging from this thread

Love this. They seem awful!

Especially the UVA contingent on this forum in general. Some how every thread turns into a thread about UVA. Pathetic crowd they are.

[Anonymous]

We have the money to pay for wherever they want to go. And we will pay for it. I don't really pay attention to costs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t have a strong opinion on the schools but the Notredame parents and UVA parents seem extremely annoying judging from this thread

Love this. They seem awful!

You seem judgmental and awful too so join their party, you all suck.

uh oh, looks like its a threesome! Pot, meet kettle!