Is there a tipping point , full pay?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are full pay, Would you pay full price for
Emory
BC
UMiami
Villanova
GWU
….going down the rankings list, LMU?
Is there a cutoff for private colleges? Where you tell your kid to just take merit elsewhere, or go in state? What is your cutoff, or are you full pay so you will full pay anyplace ?

(If you are not full pay, and need FA, instate, or merit, please don’t respond, your considerations are different)

We were full pay and actually kinda rich but we live in VA and there was no way in hell we’d full pay for any of those school after a UVA admit. It’s better than all of them. Decisions like that is how we stay rich.

Did you child actually get into UVA? Or if they are yet to go through applications, what if they get declined at UVA? What will you do then?

Two of my kids went to UVA, yes. Another got into William & Mary but didn’t apply to UVA because it wasn’t for them. They ended up at Grinnell where they got 1/2 tuition merit aid. Wouldn’t have gone there otherwise. Also got into Carleton and Wesleyan but they don’t give merit aid. They liked Grinnell best anyway so it worked out.

We don’t throw money away needlessly just because we have it. That’s stupid. Yet people do it on colleges every day.

spoken from the lady whose kids were accepted at a top inexpensive school. You know that's not how it works for all people, rich or not?

Sure. But if your kid isn’t getting into UVA in state then they’re not getting into a top private school either. At best they’re getting into a second tier one with some merit. No thanks.

so if your kids didn't get into a top 25, you'd refuse to pay for college? Rich people can be awful and so self-righteous.

I’d send them to another state school. In fact, that’s what we did for one of our kids. And they were just fine with it. Down the road none of this matters. Stupid people and strivers spend money foolishly on second tier private colleges. We are neither.

If none of this matters...I don't understand why you would pay up for UVA vs. ODU as an example.

[Anonymous]

I dont think anything beyond the top 5 are worth 400k.

I totally get the complaints of 30 year olds who say they will never be able to break into the housing market.

But .. I'm a lot less sympathetic if those same 30yo had basically a downpayment-and-a-half given to them at 18 and they spent it all on college.

If you have 5 million, fine. But for those of us who are full pay but not rich-rich, we need to have bigger conversations.

If we were talking about cars and not colleges, we'd all call you out on buying your kid a BMW "because it's what felt right to them". But because we've wrapped this other luxury product (college) in more esoteric clothes, we let it slide.

Again, if you're super rich, this doesn't apply to you. Buy the BMW (every year for 4 years). But if you think you may have a kid who will be 35 and locked out of home ownership, I'd make a more considered decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think that it's crazy to pay 400K for anything outside of the top 10 schools and it would be beneficial for everyone to think of college as more of a math problem now. We can afford to pay for our kids to go anywhere but 1 wants to get a Ph.D. eventually so they will look at schools where they have a chance to do research and where they get some merit aid and we can help pay for grad school.
2nd kid wants to be a nurse practitioner. I don't think it's worth 400K for an undergrad nursing degree, do you?

I recognize that there are circumstances where an individual kid needs to be in a specific environment but otherwise the price tag is just too high.

What if you’ve got plenty of money (think north of $25m)….

Kids educations are fully funded in 529s…
Then which of these would you pay for:

Wake
Tulane
Boulder
Indiana
Michigan
Wash U
Emory

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think that it's crazy to pay 400K for anything outside of the top 10 schools and it would be beneficial for everyone to think of college as more of a math problem now. We can afford to pay for our kids to go anywhere but 1 wants to get a Ph.D. eventually so they will look at schools where they have a chance to do research and where they get some merit aid and we can help pay for grad school.
2nd kid wants to be a nurse practitioner. I don't think it's worth 400K for an undergrad nursing degree, do you?

I recognize that there are circumstances where an individual kid needs to be in a specific environment but otherwise the price tag is just too high.

What if you’ve got plenty of money (think north of $25m)….

Kids educations are fully funded in 529s…
Then which of these would you pay for:

Wake
Tulane
Boulder
Indiana
Michigan
Wash U
Emory

Any of them. At some point...and you are at it (and honestly, so am I)...the marginal cost difference between the schools is basically nothing to you.

It's like Gordon Gekko said in Wall Street..."I sold that building for an $800,000 profit and it was all the money in the world at the time...now it's a day's pay"

[Anonymous]

Top 2 In-state over full pay unless HYPSM or, maybe, T10

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think that it's crazy to pay 400K for anything outside of the top 10 schools and it would be beneficial for everyone to think of college as more of a math problem now. We can afford to pay for our kids to go anywhere but 1 wants to get a Ph.D. eventually so they will look at schools where they have a chance to do research and where they get some merit aid and we can help pay for grad school.
2nd kid wants to be a nurse practitioner. I don't think it's worth 400K for an undergrad nursing degree, do you?

I recognize that there are circumstances where an individual kid needs to be in a specific environment but otherwise the price tag is just too high.

What if you’ve got plenty of money (think north of $25m)….

Kids educations are fully funded in 529s…
Then which of these would you pay for:

Wake
Tulane
Boulder
Indiana
Michigan
Wash U
Emory

I have a fraction of the NW w fully funded 529s, I'd pay for any of them if that's where my kid wanted to go

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think that it's crazy to pay 400K for anything outside of the top 10 schools and it would be beneficial for everyone to think of college as more of a math problem now. We can afford to pay for our kids to go anywhere but 1 wants to get a Ph.D. eventually so they will look at schools where they have a chance to do research and where they get some merit aid and we can help pay for grad school.
2nd kid wants to be a nurse practitioner. I don't think it's worth 400K for an undergrad nursing degree, do you?



I recognize that there are circumstances where an individual kid needs to be in a specific environment but otherwise the price tag is just too high.

What if you’ve got plenty of money (think north of $25m)….

Kids educations are fully funded in 529s…
Then which of these would you pay for:

Wake
Tulane
Boulder
Indiana
Michigan
Wash U
Emory

Any of them. At some point...and you are at it (and honestly, so am I)...the marginal cost difference between the schools is basically nothing to you.

It's like Gordon Gekko said in Wall Street..."I sold that building for an $800,000 profit and it was all the money in the world at the time...now it's a day's pay"

The most highly ranked school in area/field of study that is the best fit for kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think that it's crazy to pay 400K for anything outside of the top 10 schools and it would be beneficial for everyone to think of college as more of a math problem now. We can afford to pay for our kids to go anywhere but 1 wants to get a Ph.D. eventually so they will look at schools where they have a chance to do research and where they get some merit aid and we can help pay for grad school.
2nd kid wants to be a nurse practitioner. I don't think it's worth 400K for an undergrad nursing degree, do you?

I recognize that there are circumstances where an individual kid needs to be in a specific environment but otherwise the price tag is just too high.

What if you’ve got plenty of money (think north of $25m)….

Kids educations are fully funded in 529s…
Then which of these would you pay for:

Wake
Tulane
Boulder
Indiana
Michigan
Wash U
Emory

ANY college the kid really wants to attend

[Anonymous]

We funded our kids' 529s early. The stock market has been very good for the 529s. As a result, they do have $400,000 to spend on a full pay private of their choice. So that's what we're doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are full pay, Would you pay full price for
Emory
BC
UMiami
Villanova
GWU
….going down the rankings list, LMU?
Is there a cutoff for private colleges? Where you tell your kid to just take merit elsewhere, or go in state? What is your cutoff, or are you full pay so you will full pay anyplace ?

(If you are not full pay, and need FA, instate, or merit, please don’t respond, your considerations are different)

We don't "need" in-state, can afford full pay, but our cutoff is "the school must be significantly better than Virginia Tech if we're going to pay more than VT in-state". Emory might fit the bill (which doesn't matter because DS does not want to go to Emory) but none of the others. Especially GWU, lol hell no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We funded our kids' 529s early. The stock market has been very good for the 529s. As a result, they do have $400,000 to spend on a full pay private of their choice. So that's what we're doing.

You've got the money doesn't mean it's a good idea to spend it unwisely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We funded our kids' 529s early. The stock market has been very good for the 529s. As a result, they do have $400,000 to spend on a full pay private of their choice. So that's what we're doing.

You've got the money doesn't mean it's a good idea to spend it unwisely.

Sure but seems you cannot accept that we think it's a good use of money. Good thing it's our money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd pay it for any school if the kid loved it and it felt like a good fit for them.

+1 But I’d be a little bitter if it was UMiami.

My UMiami full pay kid did great, went on to a T7 MBA program and is well-employed.

Undergrad is really fairly irrelevant for getting an MBA. You are leaving out where your kid was employed after Miami and pre-MBA...that is more important and relevant.

They were well-enough employed directly from U Miami to get accepted to the MBA. That's the point.

I am curious if Florida schools mainly lead to Florida jobs. Or was the point of the MBA so that the kid could get a job somewhere other than Florida?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are full pay. Our EFC is in the 7 figures and all kids have a fully funded 529 (over 400K now).

We allowed our kids to pick where they wanted to attend. One is at a T40 full pay. They turned down a T50 with 50%+ tuition merit award (would have reduced college cost by 42K per year)
because while it was their 2nd choice, they really like where they are better.

So we would pay for any school.

However, if we didn't have it all saved and enough backup to not worry about med school/law school/any graduate school/etc, then we might have them consider the 2nd choice.

Your EFC was a million dollars? Per year?
Honestly I didn’t know it went that high.
Who’s paying a million dollars a year for college?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are full pay, Would you pay full price for
Emory
BC
UMiami
Villanova
GWU
….going down the rankings list, LMU?
Is there a cutoff for private colleges? Where you tell your kid to just take merit elsewhere, or go in state? What is your cutoff, or are you full pay so you will full pay anyplace ?

(If you are not full pay, and need FA, instate, or merit, please don’t respond, your considerations are different)

We don't "need" in-state, can afford full pay, but our cutoff is "the school must be significantly better than Virginia Tech if we're going to pay more than VT in-state". Emory might fit the bill (which doesn't matter because DS does not want to go to Emory) but none of the others. Especially GWU, lol hell no.

"Significantly" is doing a lot of work there. Objectively, many people would argue that any of these schools are better than Virginia Tech.
But, sure, if my kid gets into VT and also gets into Ole Miss or similar -- then he's going to VT, no question.