How does most of America pay for these elite schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nearly all the Ivy schools (and most other universities) have a ROTC program on campus or at a neighboring school they partner with if wanting to participate. They will pay your tuition, but you have to work for it.

really?

Yes, really.

maybe they could also earn the money as gladiators

[Anonymous]

Unless my DC gets a large merit scholarship and can give us a good reason, we won't consider sending him to some teeny tiny liberal arts school that no one's heard of outside of the two or three states.

Some of these schools will be nearly six figures by the time DC graduates from HS-- it's ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nearly all the Ivy schools (and most other universities) have a ROTC program on campus or at a neighboring school they partner with if wanting to participate. They will pay your tuition, but you have to work for it.

really?

Yes, really.

maybe they could also earn the money as gladiators

Plenty of great kids go on to serve and become much better leaders and overall better people because of it. Maybe you should have. Having military service is also a huge resume bonus in nearly any profession (I won’t go as far to say all, but most).

[Anonymous]

no thanks
also no evidence whatsoever “serving” makes you a better person

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nearly all the Ivy schools (and most other universities) have a ROTC program on campus or at a neighboring school they partner with if wanting to participate. They will pay your tuition, but you have to work for it.

really?

Yes, really.

maybe they could also earn the money as gladiators

Plenty of great kids go on to serve and become much better leaders and overall better people because of it. Maybe you should have. Having military service is also a huge resume bonus in nearly any profession (I won’t go as far to say all, but most).

Many of the absolute worst people of the last 50 years served in the military. Also, the ethics of US military operations are highly questionable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nearly all the Ivy schools (and most other universities) have a ROTC program on campus or at a neighboring school they partner with if wanting to participate. They will pay your tuition, but you have to work for it.

really?

Yes, really.

maybe they could also earn the money as gladiators

Plenty of great kids go on to serve and become much better leaders and overall better people because of it. Maybe you should have. Having military service is also a huge resume bonus in nearly any profession (I won’t go as far to say all, but most).

Many of the absolute worst people of the last 50 years served in the military. Also, the ethics of US military operations are highly questionable.

This is the absolute worst of our society. People who enjoy the benefits provided by those who put their lives on the line for us and then disparage them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nearly all the Ivy schools (and most other universities) have a ROTC program on campus or at a neighboring school they partner with if wanting to participate. They will pay your tuition, but you have to work for it.

really?

Yes, really.

maybe they could also earn the money as gladiators

Plenty of great kids go on to serve and become much better leaders and overall better people because of it. Maybe you should have. Having military service is also a huge resume bonus in nearly any profession (I won’t go as far to say all, but most).

Many of the absolute worst people of the last 50 years served in the military. Also, the ethics of US military operations are highly questionable.

Oh, as in many of our former presidents?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nearly all the Ivy schools (and most other universities) have a ROTC program on campus or at a neighboring school they partner with if wanting to participate. They will pay your tuition, but you have to work for it.

really?

Yes, really.

maybe they could also earn the money as gladiators

Plenty of great kids go on to serve and become much better leaders and overall better people because of it. Maybe you should have. Having military service is also a huge resume bonus in nearly any profession (I won’t go as far to say all, but most).

Many of the absolute worst people of the last 50 years served in the military. Also, the ethics of US military operations are highly questionable.

This is the absolute worst of our society. People who enjoy the benefits provided by those who put their lives on the line for us and then disparage them.

What benefits?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As soon as our first son was born we started saving for college A small smoothly amount at first and increased when daycare was no longer needed. We do have 80k a year saved for him and his brothers. We do fine but have 10 year old cars. No fancy handbags, clothes, etc.

Now if we had 6 kids no way could we afford college for all six.

This is our situation. I opened 529s the week of birth. We saved. Grandparents helped.

We drive old cars. Live in old house. We still do not have 80k/year saved.

Same here. Have been saving diligently but life happens. Divorce (which meant additional expenses so couldn't increase the monthly savings amount). Also, our salaries were not very high for many years but are now high enough to put us in that gray area where it is too high for financial aid at some schools but not high enough for us to actually be able to pay the full cost.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In our case - both sets of grandparents are also paying, we only have two kids, and we can live comfortably from the lowest salary, so we also pay as he goes for DC1's med school. We make almost 500K/year and we moved to a lower COL area, so our mortgage is low.

so basically you didn't need to save anything and you could still fund your kids' college and beyond. the vast majority of parents whose kids go to elite colleges have big homes AND fancy vacations AND nice purses AND fancy clothing. you can't save your way to 80k/year tuition, and even if you can, you shouldn't. it's like private k-12. if you need to eat $1 ramen noodles to pay tuition, it's not for you.

Those are your priorities. Don't tell others how to spend their money.

NP, fair enough. I suppose I would rather have a more balanced, well-rounded diet, eat out occasionally, be able to take small vacations and have my kids go in-state or on substantial merit / full ride scholarships to top flagships.

[Anonymous]

In my extended family:

- In one family, two high-income married parents paid for two kids to go to college
- In another family, divorced parents of a high one-income family and dad paid for college
- In another family, grandma left some money in her will (the remains of grandpa's life insurance policy) that will be used for college plus parents will fund balance. Both parents work and have high incomes.
- In another family, kid went to 1 year out-of state private and returned to local college because they ran out of money. Finished at the state school on a prepaid plan.
- In another case, one-parent low income and kid had almost full ride. Other kid had full tuition. Other kid pulled it together with loans, work, savings, money from both grandparents.

The rest of the kids in my extended family attended public colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:no thanks
also no evidence whatsoever “serving” makes you a better person

The question was...how does the "rest of America" afford these elite schools. It's ROTC or scholarships or merit aid. Or they just don't apply or go.

[Anonymous]

So a funny thing about ROTC.

I was admitted to and really wanted to go to one of the small elite schools. The cost was out of the question for my family and we were offered very little aid because my dad owned his own business and the aid package assume the ability to sell or mortgage several business assets that my dad reasonably did not feel comfortable parting with. Also quite a bit of loans. I also have three siblings and that figured in as well.

I looked into ROTC and was exploring it as an option, but my dad was super discouraging about it. He's kind of an asshole anyway, but he told me I'd never cut it in the program and I'd hate the service after I graduated, etc. I was worried he was right so I gave up on it and on the school (which is not a place where a lot of people do ROTC). I went to a state university where I got a merit scholarship that covered most of my tuition and graduated debt free. No regrets about any of that -- my life has worked out really nicely and I got a good education and I'm really glad I didn't take out a bunch of loans for undergrad.

However, I sometimes think about how my dad handled that and have concluded he was just straight up wrong. I think my willingness to explore ROTC as an option to get something I really wanted reflected a real willingness to sacrifice for my goals at a young age, and I think I would have done fine in the program. I wound up in a field where military experience would have been useful early on, and I probably would have gotten a lot of language experience as well which would have been extra handy. I'm super liberal and I don't think military service would have changed that. I think it would have been pretty formative and interesting.

I don't regret the choices I made but I also think parents sometimes limit their own kids more than necessary. I've put that lesson in my back pocket for my own kids, I think it's worth heeding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So a funny thing about ROTC.

I was admitted to and really wanted to go to one of the small elite schools. The cost was out of the question for my family and we were offered very little aid because my dad owned his own business and the aid package assume the ability to sell or mortgage several business assets that my dad reasonably did not feel comfortable parting with. Also quite a bit of loans. I also have three siblings and that figured in as well.

I looked into ROTC and was exploring it as an option, but my dad was super discouraging about it. He's kind of an asshole anyway, but he told me I'd never cut it in the program and I'd hate the service after I graduated, etc. I was worried he was right so I gave up on it and on the school (which is not a place where a lot of people do ROTC). I went to a state university where I got a merit scholarship that covered most of my tuition and graduated debt free. No regrets about any of that -- my life has worked out really nicely and I got a good education and I'm really glad I didn't take out a bunch of loans for undergrad.

However, I sometimes think about how my dad handled that and have concluded he was just straight up wrong. I think my willingness to explore ROTC as an option to get something I really wanted reflected a real willingness to sacrifice for my goals at a young age, and I think I would have done fine in the program. I wound up in a field where military experience would have been useful early on, and I probably would have gotten a lot of language experience as well which would have been extra handy. I'm super liberal and I don't think military service would have changed that. I think it would have been pretty formative and interesting.

I don't regret the choices I made but I also think parents sometimes limit their own kids more than necessary. I've put that lesson in my back pocket for my own kids, I think it's worth heeding.

You could also have gotten killed or profoundly disabled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In my extended family:

- In one family, two high-income married parents paid for two kids to go to college
- In another family, divorced parents of a high one-income family and dad paid for college
- In another family, grandma left some money in her will (the remains of grandpa's life insurance policy) that will be used for college plus parents will fund balance. Both parents work and have high incomes.
- In another family, kid went to 1 year out-of state private and returned to local college because they ran out of money. Finished at the state school on a prepaid plan.
- In another case, one-parent low income and kid had almost full ride. Other kid had full tuition. Other kid pulled it together with loans, work, savings, money from both grandparents.

The rest of the kids in my extended family attended public colleges.

Oh wait -

- One other family, low-income, kid had full academic scholarship. This wasn't one of the top schools but a very good private. I know kid had work-study. Kid was valedictorian of class and attended a school in the 60-90 range that gave merit.