At the end of the day, does it really matter? For undergrad, MD is still a decent deal. In-State Tuition per year: UMD College Park $11,000 Towson $10,500 UMD Baltimore Co $12,000 Salisbury $10,000 UVA $19,000 W&M $24,000 Tech $14,000 VCU $15,000 |
And US News. |
Times Higher Education (UMD is 114, UVA is 166) CWUR (UVA is 71, UMD is 79) QS (UMD is 169, UVA is 260) USNews Global rankings (UMD is 57, UVA is 119) |
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I think these threads with generic prompts are started by trolls just to start fights.
In order to give productive advice, we need more information like job location, children, likes/dislikes, etc. |
+ 1,000. This is a known fact. CPA |
| Compare policy and actions of Governors. |
How much are people paying in tolls a month? |
Taking the Dulles Toll Road to quickly get from Fairfax County or Loudoun County to Arlington (and back) is a max of $6 each way (free routes can be much slower during rush hour). Take it 20 times per month and that’s $240. However, the express lanes to get from NOVA to DC use dynamic rolling and routinely cost $25 to $45 each way during peak rush hour. Do that 20 times per month and you could have a toll bill of $1200 to $1600 per month. If you qualify for HOV-3 (commute with two others ), you can take the express lanes for free. One obviously doesn’t have to take the express lanes to get into DC, but it can make the difference between a 30 minute commute and a 60min or longer commute each way. |
Ah, yes, so we have a "leading consulting organization" (which ranks UVA higher), some Chinese thing (QS), and the US News global rankings (their normal rankings have UVA 24 and UMD 46). I'll spot you the Times Higher Education thing, which ranks both behind such notables as Yonsei University, Leiden University, UNSW Sydney, Humboldt University of Berlin, University of Tubingen, University of Southampton, and University of Alberta. Cool. Rankings aside, your original claim that UMD is "leagues better" than UVA is simply not a conclusion that a serious person can reach (to say nothing of the non-flagship schools, which are significantly stronger in VA). |
| The tolls analysis is bogus and was rigged to produce highest possible dollar costs. There are non-toll paths along all of the tolled routes, and they do take a bit longer, but not as dramatically longer as PP claims. |
| I do think thread was started by a troll. And lack of clarity from OP on work/school locations, despite many requests for that, tends to confirm that suspicion. |