Why would you pay full freight to send your kid to Middlebury?

[Anonymous]

I think that the financial aid number is probably the real number for earnings, whereas the other number (everyone) could conceivably include a lot of people who work for Daddy's Firm where they are paid an artificially high salary. If you figure that half of the kids are in the top one percent families and a lot of those families are business owners, it's possible that half of the kids at a preppy LAC end up "earning" 100K starting salary because Dad (or one of Dad's friends) hires them at an inflated salary.
What do you think Ivanka would have earned right out of college if she had to go and get a regular job like regular people? Instead, Daddy probably paid her 300K which skewed the results for Wharton or whatever . . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think that the financial aid number is probably the real number for earnings, whereas the other number (everyone) could conceivably include a lot of people who work for Daddy's Firm where they are paid an artificially high salary. If you figure that half of the kids are in the top one percent families and a lot of those families are business owners, it's possible that half of the kids at a preppy LAC end up "earning" 100K starting salary because Dad (or one of Dad's friends) hires them at an inflated salary.
What do you think Ivanka would have earned right out of college if she had to go and get a regular job like regular people? Instead, Daddy probably paid her 300K which skewed the results for Wharton or whatever . . .

The Office Of Pulling $hit Out of Your A$$ is very impressed with your work and would like to offer you a promotion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think that the financial aid number is probably the real number for earnings, whereas the other number (everyone) could conceivably include a lot of people who work for Daddy's Firm where they are paid an artificially high salary. If you figure that half of the kids are in the top one percent families and a lot of those families are business owners, it's possible that half of the kids at a preppy LAC end up "earning" 100K starting salary because Dad (or one of Dad's friends) hires them at an inflated salary.
What do you think Ivanka would have earned right out of college if she had to go and get a regular job like regular people? Instead, Daddy probably paid her 300K which skewed the results for Wharton or whatever . . .

Yep. The % of Middlebury graduates who move up two income quintiles is among the lowest in the NESCAC, in Vermont, and among other elite public and private schools.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/college-mobility/middlebury-collegew

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think that the financial aid number is probably the real number for earnings, whereas the other number (everyone) could conceivably include a lot of people who work for Daddy's Firm where they are paid an artificially high salary. If you figure that half of the kids are in the top one percent families and a lot of those families are business owners, it's possible that half of the kids at a preppy LAC end up "earning" 100K starting salary because Dad (or one of Dad's friends) hires them at an inflated salary.
What do you think Ivanka would have earned right out of college if she had to go and get a regular job like regular people? Instead, Daddy probably paid her 300K which skewed the results for Wharton or whatever . . .

The Office Of Pulling $hit Out of Your A$$ is very impressed with your work and would like to offer you a promotion.

LOL you half to discount the earnings of more than half of the graduates to support this crazy theory. (Obviously you think no one can pay for college. I, on the other hand, assume most people pay for college!) People who are way below 1% earners pay for college. So you would have to say the earnings of what 75% or 80% of the graduates do not count???? Are you saying that regular people are 20% of the school?? Donut hole families think everyone is like them...myopic! You could fill up all the top 10 colleges and LACs with full pay kids, high stats kids and still get diversity. There are a lot of people who are not in the 1% who do and can pay for college.

[Anonymous]

It's weird how Tailgate State parents obsess over the ROI of pricey SLACs. We get it, striver, your kid is going to make a solid living as an engineer, sales rep, teacher, accountant or fed. Good for you. Stop obsessing over how other people spend their money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's weird how Tailgate State parents obsess over the ROI of pricey SLACs. We get it, striver, your kid is going to make a solid living as an engineer, sales rep, teacher, accountant or fed. Good for you. Stop obsessing over how other people spend their money.

I am a believer in SLACs but this thread has me rethinking it - not because of the education but because they are populated with your spawn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think that the financial aid number is probably the real number for earnings, whereas the other number (everyone) could conceivably include a lot of people who work for Daddy's Firm where they are paid an artificially high salary. If you figure that half of the kids are in the top one percent families and a lot of those families are business owners, it's possible that half of the kids at a preppy LAC end up "earning" 100K starting salary because Dad (or one of Dad's friends) hires them at an inflated salary.
What do you think Ivanka would have earned right out of college if she had to go and get a regular job like regular people? Instead, Daddy probably paid her 300K which skewed the results for Wharton or whatever . . .

The Office Of Pulling $hit Out of Your A$$ is very impressed with your work and would like to offer you a promotion.

LOL you half to discount the earnings of more than half of the graduates to support this crazy theory. (Obviously you think no one can pay for college. I, on the other hand, assume most people pay for college!) People who are way below 1% earners pay for college. So you would have to say the earnings of what 75% or 80% of the graduates do not count???? Are you saying that regular people are 20% of the school?? Donut hole families think everyone is like them...myopic! You could fill up all the top 10 colleges and LACs with full pay kids, high stats kids and still get diversity. There are a lot of people who are not in the 1% who do and can pay for college.

The point is that people from wealthy families are often "awarded" high salary jobs at the end of their BA's, but these are A. not high salary jobs which anyone can apply for and get B. not a realistic rendering of the relationship between "going to Middlebury" and "getting a starting salary of 100K". The two factors may be correlated, but the kid who is "awarded" a high salary job through family connections just happened to go to Middlebury, but would have been awarded the same job even if he or she went to community college, since they didn't get the job through being prepared at school, they got it through being born to someone wealthy.

That's actually the real problem with the stats about how much people who go to Harvard make as well. If your dad is a Russian oligarch who bought your way into Harvard, you're probably going to earn a lot of money when you finish -- but the relationship between Harvard-Money rests on a set of assumpitons: Wealthy people (including Russian oligarchs) send their kids to Harvard for a credential and afterwards award them good jobs in their firms because of their prestigious credentials.

My roommate at Mt. Holyoke was a member of a Saudi royal family. She majored in Art History and is now quite wealthy. But it certainly doesn't mean that Art History majors from Mt. Holyoke as a group tend to be wealthy.
Here you also have the Bill Gates effect. He walks into a room and our average income all goes up significantly but we're not actually wealthier. He has just skewed the distribution and messed up the average. THe modal salary might still be 100K, even if the median salary is much higher.
Ideally you'd want to ask about the modal income for a Middlebury grad, and then probably want to exclude all the kids who are basically aristocracy or one percenters, and then see what you're left with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That median income number for alumni number is not true. Some weird poster just keeps repeating it.

You're right- it's $58K 10 years out.

https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/school/?230959-Middlebury-College

Again, that's not what is says. You can't read.

NP the number quoted above only relates to students who receive financial aid when attending Middlebury... stated another way the number excludes UMC and UC graduates of Middlebury which, according to this site, is a substantial portions of attendees. Frankly, the median earnings of those receiving financial aid is lower for almost every school than the median earnings of all graduates.

I just looked at the site and actually there are about 10 colleges in the US where the 10 year compensation is over 80k for kids recieveing financial aid. Even if you take that number down to 70k earnings for students recieveing financial aid the site only populates about three pages of colleges or less then 100 colleges. Does that mean that kids on finacial aid do not make money???

Spehlling.

[Anonymous]

Wow. My kid just got into Midd ED. And now I just stumbled across this 20 month old thread. Oh dear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Middlebury is a great school. I wouldn't send a kid who was STEM focused or one who really wants a big university environment or urban setting. Otherwise, I'm prepared to pay whatever I can afford for whatever school offers the best academic fit and future opportunities for my kids.

Interesting. One of my closest friends from my top 5 STEM PhD program went to Middlebury. She is also now a tenure track prof at a too tier institution.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow. My kid just got into Midd ED. And now I just stumbled across this 20 month old thread. Oh dear.

Congratulations. It is a great school, that many kids would kill for. Be happy for your daughter

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. My kid just got into Midd ED. And now I just stumbled across this 20 month old thread. Oh dear.

Congratulations. It is a great school, that many kids would kill for. Be happy for your daughter

Yes, congrats. Such an amazing place. Make sure she brings her skis!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow. My kid just got into Midd ED. And now I just stumbled across this 20 month old thread. Oh dear.

Heather . . . is that you crossing over from the other SLAC threads to troll here? Honey, you've got to seek help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. My kid just got into Midd ED. And now I just stumbled across this 20 month old thread. Oh dear.

Heather . . . is that you crossing over from the other SLAC threads to troll here? Honey, you've got to seek help.

DP - if you are the poster dropping "heather-bombs" over these threads, you appear to misunderstand that vernacular. You can look it up.

Suggestion: No need to try and get people to think you are cool (since they won't). Just deliver your thoughts clearly.

[Anonymous]

I thi k there are some very rude and judgmental people on this forum. Maybe just a couple who have been burned or they migrate over from Politics and continue attacks, rather than being helpful.

What is your ROI on a nice dinner at a restaurant? What’s your ROI on tickets to a Broadway show? A vacation?

Not everything worthwhile in life has an ROI. There are some things we pay for just for the experience.

I want my child who has proven themselves to be curious and intellectually motivated to have interesting professors, small class sizes, and fascinating peers. I want them to be able to dive deep into courses for the sake of their personal growth, not just professional money making aspirations. They will probably continue on to grad school, and hopefully for the rest of their life they will get more enjoyment out of the books they read and their life experiences overall.

This is a luxury, but it is one we choose to spend on. Buying a condo would not provide what we are looking to provide our young adult in their formative years. I am not aware of any state school with class sizes as small as LAC schools like Midd.

Good luck to all young people and their families making difficult decisions about where to study. There are many ways to measure ROI, and they don’t all involve numbers and dollars.