Paying for college $75K

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please don't do that. 3X $75k invested and your child will never have to work again after 35. They'd rather have that and a state school degree than working til retirement.

A lot of 18 yr olds cannot understand the impact of $150K student loans.

I ran the numbers with my DC and showed them how long it would take to repay the $150K assuming a $140k job. They don't understand how taxes work; they see $140K, and think big money, but then you show them how much they will deduct in taxes, and they realize just how much their take home really is. Then you show them the repayment schedule, and how that will impact their ability to save to buy a house.

Run the real numbers with your kids.

A lot of kids understand it, but they also look at starting and mid career salaries at various universities and compare them. Somewhere like Emory may be much more expensive, but their grads are earning a lot more than Radford grads at every stage of their careers

Not for the same majors, living in the same COL areas. If you compare that, there probably is not that much difference. Also, you have to compare it to the salaries from radford grads that could have gotten into Emory---so kids who are highly motivated and driven who just happened to go to Redford because it's what they could afford. Do that and the differences will be minimal. You cannot compare the overall salary of someone with a 3.25 GPA/1000 SAT to that of someone with a 1550/3.9UW and 14+ APs because there is a good chance there will be a huge difference, unless the one kid really found their way in college.

However, there is a huge jump between Emory and Radford. A kid that can get into Emory can find many places between those two that will be affordable and offer what you want

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Be smart and don’t overspend. Very few students are full pay at 70-80k a years. It’s less than 2% of students with that type of bill to pay. That is a luxury good.

You have 75k, add in 27k for Fed loans (I wouldn’t go above that with high interest private loans). Add in some more for cash flow. Maybe you can swing 40k a year.

That means go state school or only look at private schools with generous merit (they exist, there are lots that will get your cost from the 75k list price closer to 40k).

At the T25 schools, most are more than 50% pay the full weight.

At NYU & USC a lot of “full-pay” students are there on significant amounts of Parent Plus Loans.

Those people are obviously not the brightest then. No school is worth taking out PPL

If my kid got into MIT, I'm taking out parent pluses

If your kid got into MIT, then they are likely doing STEM, and where they go does not matter that much, it's what they do while they attend school and afterwards. If you have to take $200K in PPL to put them thru MIT it financially isn't worth it. Your kid can go to VAtech or UMPCP or any other number of excellent private schools with excellent stem programs that are affordable to you. MIT grads work alongside grads from other schools and make the same thing.
STEM especially, it DOES NOT matter where you go. A CS degree is a CS degree, a Mech Eng degree is a Mech Eng degree for undergrad. No company hires just from the elite universities---they hire from a wide variety of places.

[Anonymous]

The above poster doesn't have the whole picture. At some big companies hiring for lucrative positions, firms have guideposts about taking the top 50% of students at the top 10 schools, top 25 at the top 50, and take only the top of the class from the rest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The above poster doesn't have the whole picture. At some big companies hiring for lucrative positions, firms have guideposts about taking the top 50% of students at the top 10 schools, top 25 at the top 50, and take only the top of the class from the rest.

I have the whole picture. No firm takes 50% of the students in a specific major at a T10 school. Very few firms only hire from T20 schools. Kids at VaTech/UMD/GMU all get jobs at FAANG. And not everyone wants to work there. Go to a "non-MIT" school in CS and you will still get an amazing job, and it might even be FAANG except you didn't go into major debt to do so. If not, you will still have a great job. Not sure why everyone is so obsessed with working at the "top firms" immediately, or ever really.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The above poster doesn't have the whole picture. At some big companies hiring for lucrative positions, firms have guideposts about taking the top 50% of students at the top 10 schools, top 25 at the top 50, and take only the top of the class from the rest.

My VT CS grad has multiple offers and his first job was a result of an internship with a starting salary at a cyber security company of 110k. He’s one year in and his first stock options have just vested.

I’m very glad he was sensible and went to a state school. Can’t imagine MIT would have yielded better results. Absolutely no ROI in paying 200k more for an undergrad.

[Anonymous]

PPs don’t give value to top schools with <5% admission rates because they and their children could never get in. They provide no value over other schools apparently. Smacks of sour grapes.

If OP’s kid got into HYPSM or a small handful of others, OP should take out the Parent+ loans. If it’s not for one of those schools, don’t bother. Go to a cheap school or one that gives merit aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The above poster doesn't have the whole picture. At some big companies hiring for lucrative positions, firms have guideposts about taking the top 50% of students at the top 10 schools, top 25 at the top 50, and take only the top of the class from the rest.

My VT CS grad has multiple offers and his first job was a result of an internship with a starting salary at a cyber security company of 110k. He’s one year in and his first stock options have just vested.

I’m very glad he was sensible and went to a state school. Can’t imagine MIT would have yielded better results. Absolutely no ROI in paying 200k more for an undergrad.

Just FYI, my recent MIT graduate got a first year package of $650k fresh out of college. Not saying, it applies to every MIT graduates but there were a handful of them who got a similar package the same year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The above poster doesn't have the whole picture. At some big companies hiring for lucrative positions, firms have guideposts about taking the top 50% of students at the top 10 schools, top 25 at the top 50, and take only the top of the class from the rest.

My VT CS grad has multiple offers and his first job was a result of an internship with a starting salary at a cyber security company of 110k. He’s one year in and his first stock options have just vested.

I’m very glad he was sensible and went to a state school. Can’t imagine MIT would have yielded better results. Absolutely no ROI in paying 200k more for an undergrad.

Just FYI, my recent MIT graduate got a first year package of $650k fresh out of college. Not saying, it applies to every MIT graduates but there were a handful of them who got a similar package the same year.

Doing what? I highly doubt that he got that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The above poster doesn't have the whole picture. At some big companies hiring for lucrative positions, firms have guideposts about taking the top 50% of students at the top 10 schools, top 25 at the top 50, and take only the top of the class from the rest.

My VT CS grad has multiple offers and his first job was a result of an internship with a starting salary at a cyber security company of 110k. He’s one year in and his first stock options have just vested.

I’m very glad he was sensible and went to a state school. Can’t imagine MIT would have yielded better results. Absolutely no ROI in paying 200k more for an undergrad.

Just FYI, my recent MIT graduate got a first year package of $650k fresh out of college. Not saying, it applies to every MIT graduates but there were a handful of them who got a similar package the same year.

Doing what? I highly doubt that he got that.

Quantitative research for a quant trading firm/hedge fund. Think about firms like Citadel, Jane Street, Hudson River Trading.

[Anonymous]

On that income OP can pay out of pocket/cash so it's absurd to take out loans/etc. They should have been saving more. Many of us live on much less and saved more. Child should go to a state school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The above poster doesn't have the whole picture. At some big companies hiring for lucrative positions, firms have guideposts about taking the top 50% of students at the top 10 schools, top 25 at the top 50, and take only the top of the class from the rest.

My VT CS grad has multiple offers and his first job was a result of an internship with a starting salary at a cyber security company of 110k. He’s one year in and his first stock options have just vested.

I’m very glad he was sensible and went to a state school. Can’t imagine MIT would have yielded better results. Absolutely no ROI in paying 200k more for an undergrad.

Just FYI, my recent MIT graduate got a first year package of $650k fresh out of college. Not saying, it applies to every MIT graduates but there were a handful of them who got a similar package the same year.

Doing what? I highly doubt that he got that.

Quantitative research for a quant trading firm/hedge fund. Think about firms like Citadel, Jane Street, Hudson River Trading.

Sell out. What a waste.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The above poster doesn't have the whole picture. At some big companies hiring for lucrative positions, firms have guideposts about taking the top 50% of students at the top 10 schools, top 25 at the top 50, and take only the top of the class from the rest.

My VT CS grad has multiple offers and his first job was a result of an internship with a starting salary at a cyber security company of 110k. He’s one year in and his first stock options have just vested.

I’m very glad he was sensible and went to a state school. Can’t imagine MIT would have yielded better results. Absolutely no ROI in paying 200k more for an undergrad.

Thank you for the real world Data point! It's amazing that so many think "your life is over" if you are not in at a T20 school, that you will never get a "real job". In reality, we all know that is not true. Shocking, a VAtech CS grad got a good job, just shocking (Sarcasm mode for anyone impaired).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The above poster doesn't have the whole picture. At some big companies hiring for lucrative positions, firms have guideposts about taking the top 50% of students at the top 10 schools, top 25 at the top 50, and take only the top of the class from the rest.

My VT CS grad has multiple offers and his first job was a result of an internship with a starting salary at a cyber security company of 110k. He’s one year in and his first stock options have just vested.

I’m very glad he was sensible and went to a state school. Can’t imagine MIT would have yielded better results. Absolutely no ROI in paying 200k more for an undergrad.

Just FYI, my recent MIT graduate got a first year package of $650k fresh out of college. Not saying, it applies to every MIT graduates but there were a handful of them who got a similar package the same year.

Yeah, it does not apply to all MIT grads. I'm assuming a large part of that package is "options". Absolutely no way a recent grad got a salary of $650k or anywhere near that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The above poster doesn't have the whole picture. At some big companies hiring for lucrative positions, firms have guideposts about taking the top 50% of students at the top 10 schools, top 25 at the top 50, and take only the top of the class from the rest.

I have the whole picture. No firm takes 50% of the students in a specific major at a T10 school. Very few firms only hire from T20 schools. Kids at VaTech/UMD/GMU all get jobs at FAANG. And not everyone wants to work there. Go to a "non-MIT" school in CS and you will still get an amazing job, and it might even be FAANG except you didn't go into major debt to do so. If not, you will still have a great job. Not sure why everyone is so obsessed with working at the "top firms" immediately, or ever really.

Where you go for undergrad can make a difference when you apply to graduate programs. Not saying they need to go to MIT but something to keep in mind, not everyone is done after 4 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please don't do that. 3X $75k invested and your child will never have to work again after 35. They'd rather have that and a state school degree than working til retirement.

A lot of 18 yr olds cannot understand the impact of $150K student loans.

I ran the numbers with my DC and showed them how long it would take to repay the $150K assuming a $140k job. They don't understand how taxes work; they see $140K, and think big money, but then you show them how much they will deduct in taxes, and they realize just how much their take home really is. Then you show them the repayment schedule, and how that will impact their ability to save to buy a house.

Run the real numbers with your kids.

A lot of kids understand it, but they also look at starting and mid career salaries at various universities and compare them. Somewhere like Emory may be much more expensive, but their grads are earning a lot more than Radford grads at every stage of their careers

Not for the same majors, living in the same COL areas. If you compare that, there probably is not that much difference. Also, you have to compare it to the salaries from radford grads that could have gotten into Emory---so kids who are highly motivated and driven who just happened to go to Redford because it's what they could afford. Do that and the differences will be minimal. You cannot compare the overall salary of someone with a 3.25 GPA/1000 SAT to that of someone with a 1550/3.9UW and 14+ APs because there is a good chance there will be a huge difference, unless the one kid really found their way in college.

However, there is a huge jump between Emory and Radford. A kid that can get into Emory can find many places between those two that will be affordable and offer what you want

Has anyone ever done the study? Are employers in high col cities with high starting salaries even recruiting at third or fourth tier public schools?