Yes, I can totally see that we will pay $55,000 a year for at least two of our children to go to small liberal arts schools. One of our kids thrives in smaller classes and the other is dyslexic. In both cases, I'd rather pay for a small liberal arts school with a tight community (with a high 4 year graduation rate) than take the chance that they would fail at a larger school.

Both DH and I had siblings who were weaker students that flailed at large state schools. I'd rather see my kids finish on time and have a better college experience. This assumes that the small liberal arts experience is what they want though.

The extra money over a state school is not a burden for us, the calculation would change if the kids or us needed to take out excessive student loans.

12:37 - do you have a source for this?

Very few would be worth this to me . . . use the "saved" money for grad school.

But, I am comparing this tuition to in-state tuition at the flagship in-state university (or close to it). Not community college.

Depends on the school OP. I would only pay that kind of money for a top 10 university; otherwise, go public. So, the three top Ivies, Stanford, and whichever others privates are in the top ten ..yes...otherwise...no.

12:37 I honestly cannot take your graph as real. Berkely was banned many years ago from considering racial status in admittance. If you have Berkely wrong, what else do you have wrong.

Guess it depends on what else you'd do with the money.

Yeah, I agree with this. Are you going to use it to save for retirement? Pay down debt? Travel? Do charitable work? These seem reasonable to me.

Are you going to use that money to buy a BMW? A huge house that you don't need? Throw your kid an extravagant wedding? In those cases, I think money is better spent on education.

Education, especially education in the right environment for the kid, has all kinds of intangible benefits for its own sake. Of course the debt burden is something to definitely consider, and in many cases it's not worth going hugely in debt for a degree, but all other things being equal, I think there are worse ways to spend your money. But perhaps those are just my values.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Top Ivies, yes.

I disagree. Save it for grad school. Plus, the amount of growth and learning a young adult can do with a gap year and $55k is exponentially higher than what they'd get at an ivy league school. Unless, of course, you're stuck on connections and think the only way your child will have a career is if they know the "right people".

I think that plays a major reason in selecting an ivy league school. Birds of a feather.........

Anonymous wrote:Top Ivies, yes.

I disagree. Save it for grad school. Plus, the amount of growth and learning a young adult can do with a gap year and $55k is exponentially higher than what they'd get at an ivy league school. Unless, of course, you're stuck on connections and think the only way your child will have a career is if they know the "right people".

Top Ivies, yes.

I've heard it's worth it if you're planning on going into Finance, because of the connections and how it looks in your resume. Might help in law, although you still have grad school to get a status school on your resume. If you're planning on going in to theater, not so much.

Guess it depends on what else you'd do with the money.

Honestly, no not IMO. But I admit we are part of the problem. Since we have the money, we will probably pay for it.

I went to a college where tuitions are now at this rate also, and I am NOT thinking my BA was worth this much. I am going to be encouraging my DD (who is only 6 right now) to go to a VA state school!!!!

Going through the whole application process right now with my senior and feeling like there is really no college worth this kind of tuition. Am I wrong? Is there a place out there that would make it worth paying approx. $240K for four years?