s/o Sending your child to a small liberal arts college for $50k a year is a rip-off

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Speaking as a college administrator, it seems that several posters are misinformed about financial aid, especially at the most prestigious liberal arts colleges (Amherst, Swarthmore, Williams, Wellesley, Pomona, etc.). These schools have tremendous endowments that enable students who qualify for financial aid (using fairly standard financial aid formulas via FAFSA) to attend with minimal, and sometimes, no loans. In other words, if your children are able to get into these highly competitive schools and you qualify for financial aid, you may actually spend less money than sending your child to a state school under severe budget restrictions. It really pains me to see excellent students from poor families who don't even bother to apply to these schools because their parents believe that the price tag is too high. That is simply not the case.

This is such an interesting, revealing post. It's just so "painful" that poor kids don't have the good sense to know that college doesn't ACTUALLY cost $50,000 per year -- when that's the price listed on the website, in all the guidebooks, when you google "Swarthmore tuition." No, the poor kids are the ones who don't know better, who go to the less prestigious schools with the skimpy endowments, borrow way too much, don't have hovering alums helping them find prestigious internships. If it's "simply not the case" that you don't charge $50,000, then don't advertise that you do.

That said, as others have pointed out, the crisis in higher ed is in the lower ranks. Kids are borrowing way too much to attend middling schools that can't afford to discount tuition. And many of those schools cost the same $50,000 per year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op blanket statements such as that are ignorant. I graduated from one of the top liberal arts schools, received a fabulous education, both in the classroom & out, went into finance & began making 6 figures by 2 yrs after graduation. I paid off all of my loans quickly & find myself tapping into the network of alums fairly regularly. I would do it all over again & encourage my children to do the same.

I disagree. Now would you like a non-fat soy chai latte? Please don't forget to tip.

Troll. How disgusting. Feel better loser?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You do realize that in most places Harvard is considered liberal arts, right?

That said, I agree with OP on the whole. I'll be damned if I'm going to be saddled with people looking for handouts.

So don't send your child to a school and pay full freight. You won't be saddled with "handouts" then. We are happy to pay full freight and know that some of the dollars go to paying other kids' tuition. Or are you suggesting that taking out a student loan is looking for a handout? This country is in real trouble when we start to denigrate the value of education and we look at everything through a lens that focuses only on our own immediate self-interest. What kind of country is that? Third world.

[Anonymous]

Actually, the Swarthmore website is pretty clear about its stance on financial aid. On the tuition page of the college bulletin, there is an underlined hyperlink to the financial aid website:

http://www.swarthmore.edu/admissions-and-aid/financial-aid-and-cost-information.xml

I think that colleges try very hard to make known that financial aid is available, but they can only do so much. Its not thier job to educate every high school student college counseling. College counselors at high schools need to do a better job, and frankly, parents need to do some research, too, instead of blaming colleges, which aim to be clear about their tuition costs and financial aid packages. Besides, if colleges don't lis the cost of tuition, there would be an even greater uproar about the lack of transparency.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Speaking as a college administrator, it seems that several posters are misinformed about financial aid, especially at the most prestigious liberal arts colleges (Amherst, Swarthmore, Williams, Wellesley, Pomona, etc.). These schools have tremendous endowments that enable students who qualify for financial aid (using fairly standard financial aid formulas via FAFSA) to attend with minimal, and sometimes, no loans. In other words, if your children are able to get into these highly competitive schools and you qualify for financial aid, you may actually spend less money than sending your child to a state school under severe budget restrictions. It really pains me to see excellent students from poor families who don't even bother to apply to these schools because their parents believe that the price tag is too high. That is simply not the case.

This is such an interesting, revealing post. It's just so "painful" that poor kids don't have the good sense to know that college doesn't ACTUALLY cost $50,000 per year -- when that's the price listed on the website, in all the guidebooks, when you google "Swarthmore tuition." No, the poor kids are the ones who don't know better, who go to the less prestigious schools with the skimpy endowments, borrow way too much, don't have hovering alums helping them find prestigious internships. If it's "simply not the case" that you don't charge $50,000, then don't advertise that you do.

That said, as others have pointed out, the crisis in higher ed is in the lower ranks. Kids are borrowing way too much to attend middling schools that can't afford to discount tuition. And many of those schools cost the same $50,000 per year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to GW. At the time it was one of the most expensive colleges in the nation, and now I think it is the most expensive. I was able to attend on scholarship. I paid nothing for my education other than room, board, books and fees. A lot of private colleges charge some students $50K (which includes everything) in order to charge other students very little.

Ideally, my daughter will be able to go wherever she wants and wherever lets her in, but hopefully she won't have to go into a ton of debt to do it. We'll try for scholarships and ideally I can gift her money after graduation to help her pay down student loans.

I don't understand. If you have the means, why not just pay the tuition?

[Anonymous]

They should charge a higher interest rate for degrees that dont pay and to encourage students to seek paying and sought after degrees. Why are the rates the same for riskier loans

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My spouse: Ivy Leaguer. Her best college friends are: medical doctors, lawyers, Ph.D.'s, theologians, and overall brilliant people.

Me: state school. My best friends are journalists, truck drivers and cops.

It ain't the quality of education you're paying for. It's the quality of your professional network.

This may indicate more about you and your best friend then the colleges you attended.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My spouse: Ivy Leaguer. Her best college friends are: medical doctors, lawyers, Ph.D.'s, theologians, and overall brilliant people.

Me: state school. My best friends are journalists, truck drivers and cops.

It ain't the quality of education you're paying for. It's the quality of your professional network.

This may indicate more about you and your best friend then the colleges you attended.

Correction:

This may indicate more about you and your best friend than the colleges you attended.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My spouse: Ivy Leaguer. Her best college friends are: medical doctors, lawyers, Ph.D.'s, theologians, and overall brilliant people.

Me: state school. My best friends are journalists, truck drivers and cops.

It ain't the quality of education you're paying for. It's the quality of your professional network.

This may indicate more about you and your best friend then the colleges you attended.

Yeh brah cause keg parties was networking fuck going to school to learn

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My spouse: Ivy Leaguer. Her best college friends are: medical doctors, lawyers, Ph.D.'s, theologians, and overall brilliant people.

Me: state school. My best friends are journalists, truck drivers and cops.

It ain't the quality of education you're paying for. It's the quality of your professional network.

This may indicate more about you and your best friend then the colleges you attended.

Yeh brah cause keg parties was networking fuck going to school to learn

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They should charge a higher interest rate for degrees that dont pay and to encourage students to seek paying and sought after degrees. Why are the rates the same for riskier loans

So, I have an English degree and I make enough that I pay full price for my child to attend college. Is that a degree that you would consider risky? Its not the degree, it's what you do with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to GW. At the time it was one of the most expensive colleges in the nation, and now I think it is the most expensive. I was able to attend on scholarship. I paid nothing for my education other than room, board, books and fees. A lot of private colleges charge some students $50K (which includes everything) in order to charge other students very little.

Ideally, my daughter will be able to go wherever she wants and wherever lets her in, but hopefully she won't have to go into a ton of debt to do it. We'll try for scholarships and ideally I can gift her money after graduation to help her pay down student loans.

I don't understand. If you have the means, why not just pay the tuition?

Tax reasons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to GW. At the time it was one of the most expensive colleges in the nation, and now I think it is the most expensive. I was able to attend on scholarship. I paid nothing for my education other than room, board, books and fees. A lot of private colleges charge some students $50K (which includes everything) in order to charge other students very little.

Ideally, my daughter will be able to go wherever she wants and wherever lets her in, but hopefully she won't have to go into a ton of debt to do it. We'll try for scholarships and ideally I can gift her money after graduation to help her pay down student loans.

I don't understand. If you have the means, why not just pay the tuition?

Tax reasons.

Please explain. We are paying full tuition now. using our 529 savings which were tax effective. Why would it be beneficial to take out a student loan. And I know we can't qualify for any financial aid. So what's the tax strategy here?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love how the few people that went to the top 5 schools are rapidly posting about how great their school experience was. What you're not seeing is everyone who went to school 10 and down the Haverfords, St Olafs, Macalaster College, Pomona etc. Btw GW and Georgetown are not considered small schools. Oh and if you don't think Vtech or UVA don't have a huge alumni presence then you're smoking something.

I went to a Haverford/St. Olaf/Macalaster/Pomona (no, I don't want to specify which one). I had a wonderful time. I learned a lot about what I thought I wanted to major in, and I learned a lot about what I did end up majoring in. I had professors who genuinely cared, I had opportunities only a small school can offer. I thrived at my school because it was the right environment for me to succeed in. I was accepted into several top-10 grad schools for IR. I make a decent living (I made a choice to stop chasing money; I happier now).

Attending a SLAC was the right choice for me. Maybe it wasn't the right choice for you, maybe it's not the right choice for your child; or maybe it is and you're too closed-minded to realize that. But SLACs are the right choice for some people and to unilaterally degrade SLACs as a waste of time and money demonstrates a shockingly narrow mindset.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love how the few people that went to the top 5 schools are rapidly posting about how great their school experience was. What you're not seeing is everyone who went to school 10 and down the Haverfords, St Olafs, Macalaster College, Pomona etc. Btw GW and Georgetown are not considered small schools. Oh and if you don't think Vtech or UVA don't have a huge alumni presence then you're smoking something.

I went to a Haverford/St. Olaf/Macalaster/Pomona (no, I don't want to specify which one). I had a wonderful time. I learned a lot about what I thought I wanted to major in, and I learned a lot about what I did end up majoring in. I had professors who genuinely cared, I had opportunities only a small school can offer. I thrived at my school because it was the right environment for me to succeed in. I was accepted into several top-10 grad schools for IR. I make a decent living (I made a choice to stop chasing money; I happier now).

Attending a SLAC was the right choice for me. Maybe it wasn't the right choice for you, maybe it's not the right choice for your child; or maybe it is and you're too closed-minded to realize that. But SLACs are the right choice for some people and to unilaterally degrade SLACs as a waste of time and money demonstrates a shockingly narrow mindset.

Well said!