Reply to What is a "donut hole family"?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We’re in that donut hole, mostly because we have three kids. But one went to UMD, one went to OOS flagship on merit scholarship (and will graduate early with APs), and one is still in high school.

All three want careers where they have to go to grad school so it didn’t make sense for us to go overboard with loans etc. for undergrad.  Plus I’m still paying off my own student loan (but it will be paid off this summer)!

But the UMD kid just got into a bunch of top notch grad programs, including an Ivy.  So I don’t think we really needed to pay all that extra money for a Carnegie Mellon undergrad (for example).  Maybe it’s worth it if your kid isn’t going to grad school?  It wasn’t for us.[/quote]

Thanks for saying this.  I attended public schools all my life and hoped I would be able to send my kids to a school like Williams.  I saved lots of money every year and when my eldest graduated  HS last year we theoretically had the $ to do it, but 1) the kid wasn't that interested (Although unable to tour because of COVID and 2) the price differential between public and Williams was so large that we just couldn't stomach it.  Kid is at a large OOS public school (we are DC residents so TAG helps) and loving it.  He is thinking he may want grad school and I love stories like yours that suggest that he can still get into prestigious grad school programs even if he didn't go to Williams.  By not going to Williams, we can afford to help pay for grad school.  I do suspect that you do get a better education at Williams, but not sure it is in the end worth all that $$.  It's like a LAmborgini when a Honda is fine.

In sum, sure, it would be a dream come true for one of my kids to attend a school like that, but I don't feel entitled to it.  These schools are tiny and can easily fill up a class by charging as much as they like and end up with mostly very wealthy kids-- and then for diversity add in low income.  That is working for them, I guess.  IF it really bugged me, I guess I'd try to start up a school that offered an alternative.

I understand St. John's in Annapolis is making an effort to be more affordable to middle class -- and it offers a great education.

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