Reply to do your friends elsewhere live as financially conservative as you find people in DC do?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'm from southern NJ (no where near NYC). It's the type of town where people go to HS, go to Rutgers or Rowan/TCNJ or Drew or wherever for college, and then settle down in their hometown or within 20 miles of it. Going to Philly for the work is going to the "big city" -- no one wants that unless they can't find a job in south jersey. If you're well to do, it's bc you're a local business owner of a business that does well or you're a dr -- then you're flashy in your home/car/buying your kids new luxury cars at age 16 etc. to reward them for being such "good kids." Sending your kids to an ivy or OOS other than Penn State or Delaware is looked down upon as if you think the local schools aren't good enough for your child -- including amongst the wealthy business owners/drs; the mantra is -- I went to Rutgers, and I'm doing just fine, why should I waste money on UPenn even if my kid could get in.

So no - they don't have to live conservatively. If you are only sending your kid in-state and will NOT consider any other option and ESP if your kid is good -- highly ranked in his class etc. bc there is significant merit money/almost a free ride to be had in state. Take education savings out of the mix; housing isn't super expensive and some of my HS friends "bought" their childhood homes from their parents -- so I doubt it was market rates; I'm sure they save some for retirement but no one obsesses about saving $1 or $2 million or 18k/yr bc their parents and grandparents didn't do that and did just fine.

People in this area and esp on this site are climbers -- they know what options are out there and they want to try for the best -- be it schools or housing or retirement -- that means saving. When your options are more limited and you don't WANT to seek out better ones, it isn't as necessary to save.[/quote]

My best friend is from S NJ. I disagree with you. Parents absolutely want to send their kids to Upenn or Harvard. Whether kid gets in or not is another story. I have lots of friends from all over NJ, PA and NY. Lots do attend state schools due to money, just like kids in VA go to the good public schools here. Not many kids are turning down Harvard to go to Rutgers. They will pick Rutgers over BU or NYU though.[/quote]

You can disagree, but that was my experience. Depends on where in south jersey too -- some parts are more rural where this mentality is pervasive; some are more like bedroom communities of Philly where I suspect it could be different -- just like Arlington is different than 90 min south of Arlington.[/quote]

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