Anonymous wrote:Question from reality- this happened to a good friend. Your child wants to be an engineer. Your child gets into GMU for Engineering but is wait listed in Engineering at Va Tech and is accepted to but receives no financial help from:

Renssalaer
Purdue
Embry-Riddle

Would you still only pay for Engineering at George Mason?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great outcome! The reality is that most students can chose between a range of more and less expensive options of similar quality. There's this myth out there that "investing" in a more prestigious school pays off - but no student is choosing between Harvard and community college. The reality is choosing between similar options at difference price points.

I do disagree with some underlying ideas in this column. First of all, student loan deb IS still "good debt". Students who need to borrow should not be deterred from school. If the daughter needed to borrow to get her UMD education that still would be worthwhile, within limits. She will have income eventually, so it is not irrational to invest in future earning capacity as long as the debt load is reasonable.

Second, the parents may be doing a disservice by making her work over the summers to pay for books & incidentals. Summers can be key times for internships and travel, both of which can help landing jobs after graduation. If the parents could subsidize her summers that might really pay off.

I don't think student loan is "good debt" anymore. I mean, yeah, it's a proper use of leverage since it leads to an ROI, but student loan debt is also the only thing you cannot shed in bankruptcy.

If you are choosing between no college (or really bad college) and student debt, student debt is definitely still "good debt." A worthwhile college education should absolutely increase your earning capacity enough to handle a modest monthly loan payment. Student loans have appropriately helped millions of students get educations. There are many more nuances and outright fraudulent sectors (for profit colleges), but financing higher education with loans is a good option for many.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Question from reality- this happened to a good friend. Your child wants to be an engineer. Your child gets into GMU for Engineering but is wait listed in Engineering at Va Tech and is accepted to but receives no financial help from:

Renssalaer
Purdue
Embry-Riddle

Would you still only pay for Engineering at George Mason?

I would check out job placement stats for GMU. If grads get engineering jobs, then I would not help my kid to elsewhere for more $$$.

Those are fine schools, but you don't want to go into debt for them. MIT or Stanford sure, Caltech or Harvey Mudd. But these are really schools for folks who have the money.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Question from reality- this happened to a good friend. Your child wants to be an engineer. Your child gets into GMU for Engineering but is wait listed in Engineering at Va Tech and is accepted to but receives no financial help from:

Renssalaer
Purdue
Embry-Riddle

Would you still only pay for Engineering at George Mason?

I would check out job placement stats for GMU. If grads get engineering jobs, then I would not help my kid to elsewhere for more $$$.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Question from reality- this happened to a good friend. Your child wants to be an engineer. Your child gets into GMU for Engineering but is wait listed in Engineering at Va Tech and is accepted to but receives no financial help from:

Renssalaer
Purdue
Embry-Riddle

Would you still only pay for Engineering at George Mason?

I would check out job placement stats for GMU. If grads get engineering jobs, then I would not help my kid to elsewhere for more $$$.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great outcome! The reality is that most students can chose between a range of more and less expensive options of similar quality. There's this myth out there that "investing" in a more prestigious school pays off - but no student is choosing between Harvard and community college. The reality is choosing between similar options at difference price points.

I do disagree with some underlying ideas in this column. First of all, student loan deb IS still "good debt". Students who need to borrow should not be deterred from school. If the daughter needed to borrow to get her UMD education that still would be worthwhile, within limits. She will have income eventually, so it is not irrational to invest in future earning capacity as long as the debt load is reasonable.

Second, the parents may be doing a disservice by making her work over the summers to pay for books & incidentals. Summers can be key times for internships and travel, both of which can help landing jobs after graduation. If the parents could subsidize her summers that might really pay off.

I don't think student loan is "good debt" anymore. I mean, yeah, it's a proper use of leverage since it leads to an ROI, but student loan debt is also the only thing you cannot shed in bankruptcy.

If you are choosing between no college (or really bad college) and student debt, student debt is definitely still "good debt." A worthwhile college education should absolutely increase your earning capacity enough to handle a modest monthly loan payment. Student loans have appropriately helped millions of students get educations. There are many more nuances and outright fraudulent sectors (for profit colleges), but financing higher education with loans is a good option for many.

Anonymous wrote:I think it is important that the school is the right fit for the student. Some students thrive in a big public university, particularly if they can get into the "school within the school" honors program mentioned in the article. Some students really need a smaller environment.

I do think there is some truth in that students who have to pay part of their own costs value the experience more, are more focused in their studies and goof off less.

I also think there is considerable value to attending college far from home. To me, part of the college experience is the people you meet from other parts of the country, other backgrounds, traditions, cultures. There is value in not being able to run home to mommy and daddy when the going gets tough, be that a painful breakup, strep throat, needing to study when your roommates want to throw a party, etc.

Would you and your DH be OK with paying tuition, room, board and books for each child (at a mutually agreeable school, and/or up to a set limit), and they would have to earn the money for the transportation and "extras" (Greek life, general spending money, breaks, etc)?

Anonymous wrote:Question from reality- this happened to a good friend. Your child wants to be an engineer. Your child gets into GMU for Engineering but is wait listed in Engineering at Va Tech and is accepted to but receives no financial help from:

Renssalaer
Purdue
Embry-Riddle

Would you still only pay for Engineering at George Mason?

Anonymous wrote:I think it is important that the school is the right fit for the student. Some students thrive in a big public university, particularly if they can get into the "school within the school" honors program mentioned in the article. Some students really need a smaller environment.

I do think there is some truth in that students who have to pay part of their own costs value the experience more, are more focused in their studies and goof off less.

I also think there is considerable value to attending college far from home. To me, part of the college experience is the people you meet from other parts of the country, other backgrounds, traditions, cultures. There is value in not being able to run home to mommy and daddy when the going gets tough, be that a painful breakup, strep throat, needing to study when your roommates want to throw a party, etc.

Would you and your DH be OK with paying tuition, room, board and books for each child (at a mutually agreeable school, and/or up to a set limit), and they would have to earn the money for the transportation and "extras" (Greek life, general spending money, breaks, etc)?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great outcome! The reality is that most students can chose between a range of more and less expensive options of similar quality. There's this myth out there that "investing" in a more prestigious school pays off - but no student is choosing between Harvard and community college. The reality is choosing between similar options at difference price points.

I do disagree with some underlying ideas in this column. First of all, student loan deb IS still "good debt". Students who need to borrow should not be deterred from school. If the daughter needed to borrow to get her UMD education that still would be worthwhile, within limits. She will have income eventually, so it is not irrational to invest in future earning capacity as long as the debt load is reasonable.

Second, the parents may be doing a disservice by making her work over the summers to pay for books & incidentals. Summers can be key times for internships and travel, both of which can help landing jobs after graduation. If the parents could subsidize her summers that might really pay off.

I don't think student loan is "good debt" anymore. I mean, yeah, it's a proper use of leverage since it leads to an ROI, but student loan debt is also the only thing you cannot shed in bankruptcy.

Anonymous wrote:Great outcome! The reality is that most students can chose between a range of more and less expensive options of similar quality. There's this myth out there that "investing" in a more prestigious school pays off - but no student is choosing between Harvard and community college. The reality is choosing between similar options at difference price points.

I do disagree with some underlying ideas in this column. First of all, student loan deb IS still "good debt". Students who need to borrow should not be deterred from school. If the daughter needed to borrow to get her UMD education that still would be worthwhile, within limits. She will have income eventually, so it is not irrational to invest in future earning capacity as long as the debt load is reasonable.

Second, the parents may be doing a disservice by making her work over the summers to pay for books & incidentals. Summers can be key times for internships and travel, both of which can help landing jobs after graduation. If the parents could subsidize her summers that might really pay off.