Looking back, do you wish your child attended the least expensive college?

[Anonymous]

^ I also have a neurotypical child who is a scrappy go-getter: she could go to any college and do well in life! However, since I'm offering any college he wants to my oldest, I feel I have to offer the same to my youngest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. My eldest went to Purdue. He would have gone to Tech if we had made it about money. We had purchased the prepaid tuition at a much lower cost. He did extremely well at Purdue and had a group of friends for the first time in his life. He is now working in a great job and has a great life. When we visited both campuses, there was something that made it seem a better place for him. It was such a positive experience.

That's great, though of course you'll never know if he could have had all of that and more at Tech. There's just no way of knowing.

No, but so many kids come from NOVA that there is a chance that he would have faced the kind of exclusion and bullying he received in K-12.

What? Where the heck did that come from? Who says NOVA kids get bullied and excluded at VT?

[Anonymous]

Even if cost is not a factor, the least expensive college might be just as good as the most expensive one. We are fortunate to be able to give our kids the option of any college. Our oldest, who is now 28, is an engineer who went to a very expensive and prestigious school. He had a good experience there, but now says he could have just as well gone to UMD, which has great engineering.

[Anonymous]

My bank account does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We did not choose the least expensive option for my oldest daughter, nor are we likely to do so for our current HS senior. But...we did/are choosing an option that was in budget that had the best fit for our children for their major, academically, socially, etc.

For my oldest daughter's case, her cheapest school was an in-state school that's kind of in the middle of nowhere, with little diversity. And while it had her major, we did not think there would be good internship opportunities. She really only applied to go there if she did not get in anywhere else. On the other end, she also applied to a "reach" school that she loved that is expensive and not known for giving good merit. I told her that unless the unlikely merit came back for her, it wasn't going to be an option because we had a budget we had set for college. As expected, it did not. So we picked the best school within our budget that met all of her and our important requirements and was a good fit. She absolutely loves it there and is thriving.

The situation is the same with my current senior. She has 4 options. One is in-state and is the absolute cheapest (about $12K/year cheaper than the next cheapest) and actually would be a decent fit. One is out-of-state (her favorite!), is twice the price of in-state option and not known for giving good merit, and they didn't. The other two options are within our budget (out of state with good merit) and both fall about midway in cost between the cheapest and most expensive.

All are pretty equal academically. We have ruled out the most expensive one, but are willing to pay for any of the other three because they are all within the set budget that she knew about before she started applying. It would be nice for her to take the cheapest one but it is unlikely as she wants to leave the state and spread her wings, and we are good with that. We would not have gone out of budget for that for her and she knows that because we were pretty firm before the whole application process that we had $xx to spend on college.

Good luck!

This is us, almost to a T, we're just a few years removed. The "reach" school is more so from a cost perspective but DC1 would be likely be happy at any of the ones they're applying to. DC2 is a bit more ambitious but still has a few more years and some Bio and Chem classes to pass in HS before deciding to really focus on a medical career. LOL.

[Anonymous]

This is an extreme example but maybe a cautionary tale if the least expensive isn't just a reasonably priced public or a good merit offer from a National level LAC that is lower in the USNWR rankings: One of our friends (in the Midwest, not DMV) made her kid go to the least expensive school--it was truly a no-name place, out of state but a regional college that offered her a near full-ride and an opportunity to play her sport. I don't even know how they found the place. I'm not sure if the school is even ranked in the USNWR and isn't included among Princeton Review schools. It was a terrible decision---the education was sup-par, practices for a dead-end team took up a lot of time and she lost interest and motivation in the sport. The school was clearly on the financial edge and there were few amenities. She did okay in classes but not stellar because she pretty much hated everything. The school turned out to be a 'suitcase school' so not much social life. Her mom made her stick it out for two years, but then she dropped out. She is now at community college and says the classes are far more organized and challenging than her other school. She now has to drag this transcript with her that looks bad. She initially got into reasonably-priced in-state schools when she applied as a freshman, but the full-ride was tempting to her family I guess. It's ending up costing a lot of lost time, motivation and money and will likely drag on her opportunities. So while I think being attentive to costs is important, choosing the least expensive option might not always be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is an extreme example but maybe a cautionary tale if the least expensive isn't just a reasonably priced public or a good merit offer from a National level LAC that is lower in the USNWR rankings: One of our friends (in the Midwest, not DMV) made her kid go to the least expensive school--it was truly a no-name place, out of state but a regional college that offered her a near full-ride and an opportunity to play her sport. I don't even know how they found the place. I'm not sure if the school is even ranked in the USNWR and isn't included among Princeton Review schools. It was a terrible decision---the education was sup-par, practices for a dead-end team took up a lot of time and she lost interest and motivation in the sport. The school was clearly on the financial edge and there were few amenities. She did okay in classes but not stellar because she pretty much hated everything. The school turned out to be a 'suitcase school' so not much social life. Her mom made her stick it out for two years, but then she dropped out. She is now at community college and says the classes are far more organized and challenging than her other school. She now has to drag this transcript with her that looks bad. She initially got into reasonably-priced in-state schools when she applied as a freshman, but the full-ride was tempting to her family I guess. It's ending up costing a lot of lost time, motivation and money and will likely drag on her opportunities. So while I think being attentive to costs is important, choosing the least expensive option might not always be.

Right... be economical but use some judgment

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are on the verge of making a decision with our graduating HS senior, and he has many offers with varying merit aid offers (mostly public, but some privates) and because money is an issue for us, we would of course like him to attend the school that costs us the least over 4 years. Yes, these schools all offer different majors and school atmosphere and all that, but at the end of the day we as parents look at it like our child needs to make the best out of whatever situation they are being given, and if one school offers him a great package because he worked hard in HS and got great grades and besides it was him who chose to apply to these schools in the first place (even if some of these were likelies or safeties or whatever) he should attend whatever helps us pay the least. I'm not sure he necessarily sees it that way, but I'm also not sure it should be up to him to decide since he's not paying $ for it. Keeping in mind he's the oldest and we will have two kids behind him, one in college at the same time, I really need to set this expectation that college is what you put into it, wherever you go, but I'm not sure kids these days are being told that. I'm really asking this question not for those who have saved for college in full, but for anyone who is not... did you ever make this decision with your child and how did that go?

We told out children at the outset that our budget was $X and that they could attend any school that met that budget.

Each chose the most expensive option from among the private schools that gave them merit scholarships, which didn't surprise me because typically the school that gives you the most is the one for which you are the most (over)qualified.

We were and are comfortable with that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS is attending his least expensive option but it was, fortunately, also his first choice -- Virginia Tech.

DD is not attending the least expensive, that would have been UMW for $17k. But her LAC at about $30k is still well within budget.

Neither kid applied to schools we knew had no chance of coming in under the maximum we were willing to pay.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It depends on OP's finances, but I think such a kid seems entitled if they expect the parents to pay beaucoup bucks for a college degree. Some of these colleges cost more than the median salary. That's insane.

OP has two other kids. What would they tell the other kids when it's time for them to go to college?

I get it, OP. My DC worked their butt off in HS. Graduating in a magnet program 4.0 uwgpa, very high SAT scores. DC applied to flagship in state as well as OOS and fancy private. DC will most likely go in state honors college that has a very good reputation in the industry because it's soo much cheaper (merit aid) AND the reputation is solid. DC will easily be able to find a good paying job after graduation. The money we save will also allow DC to go to graduate school possibly fully paid by us.

My DC told me that a lot of the reasons why kids want to go to these fancy elite schools is due to ego, and that does include DC. I told DC I'm not paying $320K for your ego. Instead, I'll buy you a car for $32K after you graduate.

The best gift you can give your college aged kid is to have them graduate without any loans, and for the parents to be financially independent in retirement and not have to rely on their kids.

Whew! It's nice to hear others say the same. The first thing we told our kids was we (as in the parents) needed to be able to help -- and that means fully funding our own retirement and making long-term housing decisions for both age-in-place and when care might be needed. Second, they needed to be able -- able to get into a college/program they desired. And, finally, they needed to be deserving. And that started when they were in grade school by treating their teachers, classmates, and us with respect.

They are not perfect; neither are we but so far, we're all on track for all three conditions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think setting that expectation was the job for two years ago. Did you give your student a budget? Do other schools fall within that budget?

I think you are setting yourself up for a lot of resentment if you say “Great job getting those merit scholarships to Welcoming SLAC and Awesome Flagship, but Dad and I decided you are going to Last Choice Safety. Hey, you picked that school to add to your list (after we insisted you needed a safety), so really, this was your choice.”

I agree with this. Making him attend the lowest price one seems like a bait and switch to me.

Choosing a college is a person's first adult choice. I think it's important that the student and not the parents make that choice, because then the student experiences the consequences, good and bad. If it doesn't go well, he cannot come back and blame you.

[Anonymous]

This is a huge mistake parents make all the time

People are so against community college on this board however it is a great way to save some cash and still end up with that four year degree. Given Gpa's restart when transferring also a win.

Parents need to talk about these financial implications when kids apply not after.

There is nothing wrong with an instate school.

Parents are afraid little jon or suzie or summer or apple will have to go go god forbid UMD or UVA LOL parents are absurd,

[Anonymous]

We would have paid for MIT for CS if my Asian DS with the highest possible stats and very impressive ECs got in. But, he did not get in and he decided to go to UMD with merit money $$$.

While money is not an issue, we only thought of the following privates - MIT, CMU, and Stanford - as worthwhile to full pay for CS.

We prefer to pay as little as we can to get the best education for our DS's career goals and UMD gave him all the opportunities he wanted.

We do understand how hard it is for our children to save even $10k-$20k a year once they start a job. So, I told them that a portion of the money we have saved for their college will be theirs if they choose to go to UMD. Both my kids opted to use it to start their brokerage accounts.

There are going to be other schools better than UMD if people want some other majors than CS. Our choice was very clear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is an extreme example but maybe a cautionary tale if the least expensive isn't just a reasonably priced public or a good merit offer from a National level LAC that is lower in the USNWR rankings: One of our friends (in the Midwest, not DMV) made her kid go to the least expensive school--it was truly a no-name place, out of state but a regional college that offered her a near full-ride and an opportunity to play her sport. I don't even know how they found the place. I'm not sure if the school is even ranked in the USNWR and isn't included among Princeton Review schools. It was a terrible decision---the education was sup-par, practices for a dead-end team took up a lot of time and she lost interest and motivation in the sport. The school was clearly on the financial edge and there were few amenities. She did okay in classes but not stellar because she pretty much hated everything. The school turned out to be a 'suitcase school' so not much social life. Her mom made her stick it out for two years, but then she dropped out. She is now at community college and says the classes are far more organized and challenging than her other school. She now has to drag this transcript with her that looks bad. She initially got into reasonably-priced in-state schools when she applied as a freshman, but the full-ride was tempting to her family I guess. It's ending up costing a lot of lost time, motivation and money and will likely drag on her opportunities. So while I think being attentive to costs is important, choosing the least expensive option might not always be.

Penny wise, but pound foolish? This really falls on the parent.

[Anonymous]

The most expensive private turned out to be life-transforming for one kid and OOS public was just what was needed for the other kid.