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

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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]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.[/quote]

Recent graduate here. While hoping for scholarships is always a good thing, be aware that most colleges take away any minimal "financial aid" when you have outside scholarships. My last year at a prestigious college was $55,000 for everything. Of course this was before congress started investigating university endowments and several well-know private universities voluntarily dropped cost. I would have had a full ride had I gone to school 4 years later than I did. Instead I had $130,000 in debt. My parents and I cosigned on the loans so they don't have to gift me money by helping to pay down the debt.

OP, I completely agree with you that $100,000+ is not worth a small-liberal arts education. But, I'm, in science and still 9 years later don't make enough to pay off my loans. The most valuable thing about my education was the instant network and reputation. I've had no problem getting my foot in the door.

State schools are an o.k. bargain for what you get. Some have better networks than others. The one thing that many of my friends that went to state school on the west coast experienced is getting screwed in the "Application to majors." Just because you get into a state school doesn't mean you will get into computer science, business, biology, etc all of which require practically 4.0s your first and second years at the university. If you don't get in then you have to take a lesser major (communications or marketing vs business) or leave the school. Leaves a lot of people high and dry. Ends up being 5 years to graduate instead of 4 because you have to transfer or scramble to meet requirements.[/quote]

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