Crazy to take big merit money at JMU over UVA full price?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. The 35k price for James Madison does include $5000 of personal expenses, travel, expenses, and loan fees. Without those it’s only 30,000, which is more realistic.
2. My husband went to JMU, studied business, and makes in the highest six figures. I went to UVA and still make five figures. Where you go to college does not matter.

Yea, major matters more.

[Anonymous]

Since neither school is top 25, go the cheapest route.

[Anonymous]

only you can answer this because we don't know your finances, personally i'd try to make UVA work as it's an excellent value instate. but we can't answer without knowing your full finanicials

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1. The 35k price for James Madison does include $5000 of personal expenses, travel, expenses, and loan fees. Without those it’s only 30,000, which is more realistic.
2. My husband went to JMU, studied business, and makes in the highest six figures. I went to UVA and still make five figures. Where you go to college does not matter.

Yea, major matters more.

Majors matter, obviously, but so do ambition, determination, focus, and a host of other character traits unrelated to SAT scores. All other things being equal, a UVA grad can reasonably be expected, based on the data, to earn more than a JMU grad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. The 35k price for James Madison does include $5000 of personal expenses, travel, expenses, and loan fees. Without those it’s only 30,000, which is more realistic.[b]
2. My husband went to JMU, studied business, and makes in the highest six figures. I went to UVA and still make five figures. Where you go to college does not matter.

Incorrect. Go back and read the link. The $5000 you cite for personal expenses, travel, books, supplies and travel are absolutely included in the $35,000. As are the approx same amounts down the same $62 loan fee in the UVA estimate of $40,000.

So UVA is oniy $5k more and OP has stated her child was offered only full tuition, not full freight which is only $13,762. So the total for her son to go to UVA would be $18,762.

Definitely UVA. Ranked 4 versus 151 USNR for public universities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1. The 35k price for James Madison does include $5000 of personal expenses, travel, expenses, and loan fees. Without those it’s only 30,000, which is more realistic.[b]
2. My husband went to JMU, studied business, and makes in the highest six figures. I went to UVA and still make five figures. Where you go to college does not matter.

Incorrect. Go back and read the link. The $5000 you cite for personal expenses, travel, books, supplies and travel are absolutely included in the $35,000. As are the approx same amounts down the same $62 loan fee in the UVA estimate of $40,000.

So UVA is oniy $5k more and OP has stated her child was offered only full tuition, not full freight which is only $13,762. So the total for her son to go to UVA would be $18,762.

Definitely UVA. Ranked 4 versus 151 USNR for public universities.

Please stop saying this; you're mixing up rankings.

Per USNWR's national university rankings, UVA is #26 and JMU is #151. In their public university rankings, UVA is #4 and JMU is #79.

So it's 26 vs 151 or 4 vs 79 but not 4 vs 151.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:no shade to JMU but it's a huge difference in the job market overall, no matter the major. My grads are always been told, "wow UVA!" when they interview and it definitely makes an impression. I know that's anecdotal
but UVA in state is not that expensive, and the reputational difference is a wide gulf.

As a hiring manager in a competitive field, I focus more on the individual, their internships, their activities, and their demeanor more than where they went to school. JMU allows a kid to stand out and have opportunities that they may not have at a hyper competitive school like UVA - I have one of each on my team and both are hard workers and really smart. If I didn't know, I could not tell you which person went to UVA and which one went to JMU.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1. The 35k price for James Madison does include $5000 of personal expenses, travel, expenses, and loan fees. Without those it’s only 30,000, which is more realistic.
2. My husband went to JMU, studied business, and makes in the highest six figures. I went to UVA and still make five figures. Where you go to college does not matter.

Yea, major matters more.

Majors matter, obviously, but so do ambition, determination, focus, and a host of other character traits unrelated to SAT scores. All other things being equal, a UVA grad can reasonably be expected, based on the data, to earn more than a JMU grad.

Hmm. I guess I'd better let my neighbors know, both JMU alum who are probably the wealthiest self-made people I personally know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1. The 35k price for James Madison does include $5000 of personal expenses, travel, expenses, and loan fees. Without those it’s only 30,000, which is more realistic.
2. My husband went to JMU, studied business, and makes in the highest six figures. I went to UVA and still make five figures. Where you go to college does not matter.

Incorrect. Go back and read the link. The $5000 you cite for personal expenses, travel, books, supplies and travel are absolutely included in the $35,000. As are the approx same amounts down the same $62 loan fee in the UVA estimate of $40,000.

So UVA is oniy $5k more and OP has stated her child was offered only full tuition, not full freight which is only $13,762. So the total for her son to go to UVA would be $18,762.

Definitely UVA. Ranked 4 versus 151 USNR for public universities.

Please stop saying this; you're mixing up rankings.

Per USNWR's national university rankings, UVA is #26 and JMU is #151. In their public university rankings, UVA is #4 and JMU is #79.

[b]So it's 26 vs 151 or 4 vs 79 but not 4 vs 151.

DP, does it really matter? It's a big difference no matter what ranking service or category you use.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:no shade to JMU but it's a huge difference in the job market overall, no matter the major. My grads are always been told, "wow UVA!" when they interview and it definitely makes an impression. I know that's anecdotal
but UVA in state is not that expensive, and the reputational difference is a wide gulf.

As a hiring manager in a competitive field, I focus more on the individual, their internships, their activities, and their demeanor more than where they went to school. JMU allows a kid to stand out and have opportunities that they may not have at a hyper competitive school like UVA - I have one of each on my team and both are hard workers and really smart. If I didn't know, I could not tell you which person went to UVA and which one went to JMU.

+1
It's almost comical seeing the UVA boosters - as usual - try and hype up their school past all recognition. No one can tell the difference between a JMU grad and a UVA grad. But I'm happy the PP has convinced herself otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1. The 35k price for James Madison does include $5000 of personal expenses, travel, expenses, and loan fees. Without those it’s only 30,000, which is more realistic.
2. My husband went to JMU, studied business, and makes in the highest six figures. I went to UVA and still make five figures. Where you go to college does not matter.

Incorrect. Go back and read the link. The $5000 you cite for personal expenses, travel, books, supplies and travel are absolutely included in the $35,000. As are the approx same amounts down the same $62 loan fee in the UVA estimate of $40,000.

So UVA is oniy $5k more and OP has stated her child was offered only full tuition, not full freight which is only $13,762. So the total for her son to go to UVA would be $18,762.

Definitely UVA. Ranked 4 versus 151 USNR for public universities.

Please stop saying this; you're mixing up rankings.

Per USNWR's national university rankings, UVA is #26 and JMU is #151. In their public university rankings, UVA is #4 and JMU is #79.

[b]So it's 26 vs 151 or 4 vs 79 but not 4 vs 151.

DP, does it really matter? It's a big difference no matter what ranking service or category you use.

DP. Does it matter to state facts accurately? Yes, yes it does. Clearly UVA didn't teach you this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:no shade to JMU but it's a huge difference in the job market overall, no matter the major. My grads are always been told, "wow UVA!" when they interview and it definitely makes an impression. I know that's anecdotal
but UVA in state is not that expensive, and the reputational difference is a wide gulf.

Except OP said their kid is interested in a profession that requires a grad degree and salaries top out at like $100K. Sounds like possibly social work or the equivalent.

Sounds like speech pathology to me.

I was thinking teaching

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, what would be the total cost of attendance at each school? (The PPs fixating on the "value" of the JMU scholarship are being distracted by a largely irrelevant number.)

OP here: Roughly $40k/yr at UVA and $20k/yr at JMU. Not night and day, but enough of a difference to pay for a masters.

At only this difference, UVA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1. The 35k price for James Madison does include $5000 of personal expenses, travel, expenses, and loan fees. Without those it’s only 30,000, which is more realistic.
2. My husband went to JMU, studied business, and makes in the highest six figures. I went to UVA and still make five figures. Where you go to college does not matter.

Incorrect. Go back and read the link. The $5000 you cite for personal expenses, travel, books, supplies and travel are absolutely included in the $35,000. As are the approx same amounts down the same $62 loan fee in the UVA estimate of $40,000.

So UVA is oniy $5k more and OP has stated her child was offered only full tuition, not full freight which is only $13,762. So the total for her son to go to UVA would be $18,762.

Definitely UVA. Ranked 4 versus 151 USNR for public universities.

Please stop saying this; you're mixing up rankings.

Per USNWR's national university rankings, UVA is #26 and JMU is #151. In their public university rankings, UVA is #4 and JMU is #79.

[b]So it's 26 vs 151 or 4 vs 79 but not 4 vs 151.

DP, does it really matter? It's a big difference no matter what ranking service or category you use.

PP here. Yes, there's a difference, but if you're going to compare, at least use the correct numbers! Just trying to save that poster from using the wrong comparison repeatedly.

[Anonymous]

Jmu for the win!