At what HHI are you willing to pay for an ivy league school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The odds are that your child will not get into any of the Ivy+ schools. So it's not really a problem for 99%.

If your child is on track to go to an elite school and you're earning $250k+, its not that hard. Most folks earning UMC incomes have had a pretty good idea that their children would go to college since before they were born and have steadily put away some money over the past 18 years in preparation. Of all the financial hurdles you face in life, college is probably the most predictable.

At UMC income levels, the choice is yours, just like most financial decisions. How big a house? How nice a car? Not, can I afford a house or a car. Would you rather wait until you die to give your children money or would you rather see them reap the benefits while you're around? Is giving a down payment on your child's first house closer to your values than the best education you can afford?

99%? You're exaggerating. Ivy+elites have acceptance rates ranging from 5%-15%. If you take away the dummies who have no chance but fell victim to BS marketing, I bet it's more like 10%-25%. It's far from impossible for an UPM student to get into an Ivy+elites.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We made $200k and sent ours to Princeton OP. DH and I both state grad and undergrad like you. Brand value is impossible to quantify. The value of an Ivy is no one ever questions how smart you are. It is nearly impossible to get into them these days. I know...people who went 20+ years ago have a different story.

Totally worth it OP. Ours makes over $100k and is 22 years old.

Congrats! Wall St, executive consulting or computer engineering?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The odds are that your child will not get into any of the Ivy+ schools. So it's not really a problem for 99%.

If your child is on track to go to an elite school and you're earning $250k+, its not that hard. Most folks earning UMC incomes have had a pretty good idea that their children would go to college since before they were born and have steadily put away some money over the past 18 years in preparation. Of all the financial hurdles you face in life, college is probably the most predictable.

At UMC income levels, the choice is yours, just like most financial decisions. How big a house? How nice a car? Not, can I afford a house or a car. Would you rather wait until you die to give your children money or would you rather see them reap the benefits while you're around? Is giving a down payment on your child's first house closer to your values than the best education you can afford?

99%? You're exaggerating. Ivy+elites have acceptance rates ranging from 5%-15%. If you take away the dummies who have no chance but fell victim to BS marketing, I bet it's more like 10%-25%. It's far from impossible for an UPM student to get into an Ivy+elites.

The bold is the debate. Ivy league is about brand. It isn't necessarily the "best" education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The odds are that your child will not get into any of the Ivy+ schools. So it's not really a problem for 99%.

If your child is on track to go to an elite school and you're earning $250k+, its not that hard. Most folks earning UMC incomes have had a pretty good idea that their children would go to college since before they were born and have steadily put away some money over the past 18 years in preparation. Of all the financial hurdles you face in life, college is probably the most predictable.

At UMC income levels, the choice is yours, just like most financial decisions. How big a house? How nice a car? Not, can I afford a house or a car. Would you rather wait until you die to give your children money or would you rather see them reap the benefits while you're around? Is giving a down payment on your child's first house closer to your values than the best education you can afford?

99%? You're exaggerating. Ivy+elites have acceptance rates ranging from 5%-15%. If you take away the dummies who have no chance but fell victim to BS marketing, I bet it's more like 10%-25%. It's far from impossible for an UPM student to get into an Ivy+elites.

NP. I'm going with the 99%. When DC entered high school, one that seemingly sent lots of kids to the Ivy's, we all thought our kids were going too. Now as a senior, even the best and brightest are not getting in (unless it is for sports or they are legacies) and many others do not even apply. So even though the acceptance rates are higher than 1%, more than 99% of UMC people have kids heading somewhere other than where they thought a few years ago. FWIW, I went to one of the schools mentioned, and I do think that admissions has changed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If my kid got into an Ivy I would make it happen even if we had to borrow $. It opens major doors. (I went to a good but not great university so I didn't experience this personally but I saw it from watching peers in the workplace.

+1

There is no magic to the Ivy league that opens doors and assures success.

[Anonymous]

Wow. I really do not understand the obsession with Ivy League schools. You should be focused on what school is best for your child's area of interest, not some arbitrary athletic conference. My kid, for example, was interested in engineering. I am also an engineer and know what the different schools have to offer. With the exception of Cornell, it would have been mind bogglingly stupid to focus on Ivy League schools because engineering is not their strong suit. Outside of Caltech/MIT/Stanford, the most sought after engineers, at least at my company, come from places like Purdue and U of Illinois. Certainly not Harvard and Yale.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no such thing as an Ivy equivalent

Haha...big surprise to Stanford, MIT, Caltech, UChicago, Berkeley, Michigan and the like...unless you're just referencing the fact that the Ivies are their own sports league.

+100, I would go to Stanford, MIT, Caltech than Ivies league Cornell, Brown, Dartmouth, or Columbia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If my kid got into an Ivy I would make it happen even if we had to borrow $. It opens major doors. (I went to a good but not great university so I didn't experience this personally but I saw it from watching peers in the workplace.

+1

There is no magic to the Ivy league that opens doors and assures success.

+1 The research is pretty unequivocal that students who are Ivy-caliber but elect to go to less expensive schools for financial reasons do just as well as the Ivy grads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow. I really do not understand the obsession with Ivy League schools. You should be focused on what school is best for your child's area of interest, not some arbitrary athletic conference. My kid, for example, was interested in engineering. I am also an engineer and know what the different schools have to offer. With the exception of Cornell, it would have been mind bogglingly stupid to focus on Ivy League schools because engineering is not their strong suit. Outside of Caltech/MIT/Stanford, the most sought after engineers, at least at my company, come from places like Purdue and U of Illinois. Certainly not Harvard and Yale.

Ahh, but their parents don't get the same bragging rights, bumper sticker and ridiculous parent plus loans...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If my kid got into an Ivy I would make it happen even if we had to borrow $. It opens major doors. (I went to a good but not great university so I didn't experience this personally but I saw it from watching peers in the workplace.

This. I'd make whatever sacrificed were necessary to put my kid through an Ivy- any Ivy.

Same. My father was a college professor so I was forced to go to that university rather than the ivy of my dreams. I went ivy for grad school. The differences are startling.

This is a false dichotomy. There are almost 2,500 four-year colleges and universities in the country. There are differences among all of them - not just between your dad's university and an Ivy league one.

The poster probably went to father's university because of the significant tuition rebate. I know a couple of friends who were in the same boat because of the expense. Nor a false dichotomy at all.

[Anonymous]

Interesting discussion. I was accepted into two Ivy League schools plus MIT as an undergraduate focused on physics. Ended up going to Georgia Tech because I went to HS in Georgia and with the HOPE scholarship I paid virtually nothing (and would've been full pay at the other schools). Now I have Ivy Leaguers working for me.

Once again reaffirms that the Ivy League obsession is BS. It's less about the school you go to and more about working hard and taking advantages of opportunities to gain experience and exposure to the right people in your field.

[Anonymous]

We make $375k but have 3 kids.
I'd pay whatever it cost for an Ivy or another top 10 school if that's where they wanted to go.

I have reason to think they'll get in (currently in late elementary). They're smart kids but so is every other kid we know in NW DC.

[Anonymous]

oops.
Previous poster here.
I should have written "I have NO reason to think they'll get in".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting discussion. I was accepted into two Ivy League schools plus MIT as an undergraduate focused on physics. Ended up going to Georgia Tech because I went to HS in Georgia and with the HOPE scholarship I paid virtually nothing (and would've been full pay at the other schools). Now I have Ivy Leaguers working for me.

Once again reaffirms that the Ivy League obsession is BS. It's less about the school you go to and more about working hard and taking advantages of opportunities to gain experience and exposure to the right people in your field.

Who'd you marry? Who do you associate with? It's not all about the money -- most folks in the middle class remain in the middle class.

[Anonymous]

We will move heaven and earth to send our kids to the school that is the best fit for their needs regardless of whether it is an ivy. That said, we started saving when they were born so it is doable. Even if we didn't save, I would never tell them they couldn't take loans. At 18 they are old enough to engage in a serious discussion of the costs and benefits.