Why pay $90K for a less competitive private vs. far less $$ for a less competitive public?
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Anonymous
| Because the private was actually much more reputable in the major my kid wanted. |
Anonymous
|
"But, if you have a lot of money, and the only question is value, then one question is whether you think that financial ROI, based on current conditions, should be the main factor you use to pick a college for your kid. "
I read your entire post. Im a bit confused. ROI has never ben our concern. Rather the health of our kid and his wellbeing. I went to a state flagship and graduated with a Liberal Arts degree. I made roughly a million a year and retired 6 years ago. I'm certainly bragging, but you may not know what your kids are capable of! |
Anonymous
This is an adorable mommy who clearly has no idea what she is talking about. "The Street", LOL!! |
Anonymous
| My kids can go where they want to, period, and I can pay. That is why. |
Anonymous
| If you can qualify for financial aid, better privates will give mostly grants while OOS publics will give all loans. In the end, your actual cost may be similar. |
Anonymous
The kid can just as easily have a fun, important, soul-enriching experience at an affordable state school as at an expensive private.
Well you could always repay your kid for attending a $150k school instead of a $350k school by giving your kid $200k for a down payment on a house. "Don't overspend on luxury items" is one of the important life lessons that a parent should impart.
The FREOPP site does exactly that. https://freopp.wpengine.com/roi-undergraduate/
It's not hard at all to find salary trends by major that stretch back decades. Liberals arts has been heading consistently downward all that time. Yeah your liberal arts kid might go to law school and do well, but that requires a lot of things to go right - get into a top law school, get hired at BigLaw, make partner. Talk about a soul-crushing grind.
The FREOPP site calculates ROI based on 6 year graduation as well as 4 year.
FREOPP calculates "counterfactual earnings" (the amount that the same student would have earned over the course of her life had she not pursued the credential or flunked out). And if your kid is going to flunk out, they might as well flunk out of an affordable public school than an expensive private. If you think your kid may have a bad outcome, you unquestionably should not send him to an expensive school.
lol it's more likely that the music history professor will be bitter because they wound up teaching at Podunk State and they can't afford to shop at Whole Foods which is a two-hour drive from their 1500 sq ft shoebox built in 1955. "Alas, business majors are often not truly happy despite their wealth" - next you'll be quoting that asinine Richard Corey poem.
That kid can major in music or comparative literature at a state school rather than being full pay at a private LAC. Desire to major in something useless strengthens the case to send them to a state school rather than a private.
Well they might but that's not the way to bet. And lifetime earnings by major goes into the ROI calculation at FREOPP. |
Anonymous
The kid can just as easily have a fun, important, soul-enriching experience at an affordable state school as at an expensive private.
Well you could always repay your kid for attending a $150k school instead of a $350k school by giving your kid $200k for a down payment on a house. "Don't overspend on luxury items" is one of the important life lessons that a parent should impart.
The FREOPP site does exactly that. https://freopp.wpengine.com/roi-undergraduate/
It's not hard at all to find salary trends by major that stretch back decades. Liberals arts has been heading consistently downward all that time. Yeah your liberal arts kid might go to law school and do well, but that requires a lot of things to go right - get into a top law school, get hired at BigLaw, make partner. Talk about a soul-crushing grind.
The FREOPP site calculates ROI based on 6 year graduation as well as 4 year.
FREOPP calculates "counterfactual earnings" (the amount that the same student would have earned over the course of her life had she not pursued the credential or flunked out). And if your kid is going to flunk out, they might as well flunk out of an affordable public school than an expensive private. If you think your kid may have a bad outcome, you unquestionably should not send him to an expensive school.
lol it's more likely that the music history professor will be bitter because they wound up teaching at Podunk State and they can't afford to shop at Whole Foods which is a two-hour drive from their 1500 sq ft shoebox built in 1955. "Alas, business majors are often not truly happy despite their wealth" - next you'll be quoting that asinine Richard Corey poem.
That kid can major in music or comparative literature at a state school rather than being full pay at a private LAC. Desire to major in something useless strengthens the case to send them to a state school rather than a private.
Well they might but that's not the way to bet. And lifetime earnings by major goes into the ROI calculation at FREOPP. |
Anonymous
| We can easily afford it, that’s why. |
Anonymous
It depends on many things from your finances to what your kid wants. If you can't afford the private, you need to tell them ahead of time what you CAN afford, so they can figure out options. Think about what your kid wants to study and where they want to live. If they want to be in a major city (Boston for example), they aren't going to get the low rates. And if their major is strong at an expensive private, that's where you send them. |
Anonymous
|
What you often get for the extra money is:
smaller classes more personal attention all around more opportunities to participate in school team sports, music programs, theater, etc. Greater ease in making friends if you struggle with this, b/c you see the same people more frequently These all can have great value, but you also give up a lot: more variety of classes and professors greater diversity of students stronger sports teams to root for greater variety of facilities to use, events to attend and, of course, lower cost I experienced both and preferred the latter, but I could see paying the extra if it's not going to put you in too much debt and you think the kid is going to profit from the benefits of a smaller school. |
Anonymous
| I have an older kid and a rising senior as well. The problem these days is that it is so hard to predict where they might actually get in. My oldest applied broadly: Virginia state schools and all level of privates, from top 20s to those that were clearly safeties. The hope was that he would get some merit money from some of the "target" privates. Until you apply and get acceptances - and really think hard about it - it's hard to predict where the kid will get accepted, where merit money might come into play, how a department reputation might tip a scale. Also, going on the admitted student visits give a lot of insight into the actual experience and whether the money is worth it in the end. |
Anonymous
Just a note that the above factors seem to be a comparison between small-private and large-public. There are medium and large privates, which may have most of the benefits of both. |
Anonymous
| I do private college counseling and I start with, "where did you go to college and how did you feel about it?" |
Anonymous
You aren’t bright are you? |
Anonymous
| My DC graduated last month from Bucknell at the cost of over 320k in four years, and is still unemployed. Just saying… |