People in private equity need to keep their mouths shut about other people’s decision making and realize that their little bubble is meaningless for thinking about the real world.

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Anonymous wrote:It’s almost always about money.

Unless you are in the DC part of DCUM. We don't have a state school, so there is barely a cost difference between OOS public and private and the privates give more merit aid.

We live in a good public school system. We are considering private schools for our children. I was comparing college admissions and our well regarded public school has so many students heading to UVA, W&M and VT. [b]It made me wonder what schools those students got accepted to and could have attended that they gave up to attend the state public schools[/b].

Maybe you don't know where they got accepted. It is much harder to get into the top tier schools than it was in the 90's. And, depending on major and career goals, the good publics can have the same outcome as the privates.

If their families are like ours, the students didn't apply to elite schools because the parents set a budget, and it excluded such schools.

It's about the student, not about the school.

Op here. I know very few seniors since my kids are younger. I did meet a few who did ED with what sounded like perfect stats to UVA and never even applied to other schools. Other kids got into better schools and chose UVA. Then there are the other hundred(s) who I don’t know personally who will be attending VA and MD state schools.

With younger kids and a limited world view, now is the time to keep an open mind and understand that you don't have a good sense of the current landscape in college admissions or the very wide variety of family financial and other considerations that go into picking a college.

FWIW, we could have stretched to allow DS to apply to more selective schools but he only wanted to go to Virginia Tech and is doing very well there.

My oldest is a freshman in high school so not that young. I also have two other kids I am considering switching to private school.

I do think it is geographic and lots of donut hole families. SUNY vs Cornell is different than UVA vs Georgetown.

Yes, I was a financial aid kid. I got a mix of grants, merit scholarships and loans.

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Anonymous wrote:My parents did not pay for my college or grad school. I never considered any public universities in state or out of state. I am from NY. I applied to schools I was interested in, got financial aid and graduated grad school with loans and paid it off pretty quickly. I worked in investment banking and private equity in NYC so it was fast.

I’m surprised at how many people choose state schools in VA and MD.

Are students that afraid of debt?

All these families are better off financially than my family was when I was going to college. The cost of college was not a factor for me. I just knew I would pay it back.

Agree. I think that some people did not have the experiences that you and I had, so they are afraid of having to pay back school loans, OP. And absolutely yes, money is why anyone I know who has their kids attend publics, attend publics. Which is fine for them, we are grateful for more options.

I am not trying to offend anyone. I come from a humble background. My parents did not and could not pay for my education. It just seems strange to me that these UMC people who are much better off financially than my parents would have their kids attend a lesser school for money. I may never understand.

The issue is bang for the buck. A school that costs $360k has to be “superior enough” to justify the cost relative to a much cheaper state school.

People also anticipate having to pay for grad school.

Why is this hard for you to understand?

My husband makes several million dollars per year. Taking on 200k debt like we did to get an elite education doesn’t sound bad to me. I had full confidence to earn and pay back my loans.

First of all, bull$hit he does.

If you are paying for "an elite education" just as a luxury expenditure that your kids don't really need (which would be true if your DH actually made "several million a year", which he does not because you are lying) that's great for you. However, sane people who can afford "an elite school" still need to take into account the cost-benefit equation of doing so. What is the career intent, will grad school be required, and will a state flagship satisfy the needs of both.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s almost always about money.

Unless you are in the DC part of DCUM. We don't have a state school, so there is barely a cost difference between OOS public and private and the privates give more merit aid.

We live in a good public school system. We are considering private schools for our children. I was comparing college admissions and our well regarded public school has so many students heading to UVA, W&M and VT. [b]It made me wonder what schools those students got accepted to and could have attended that they gave up to attend the state public schools[/b].

Maybe you don't know where they got accepted. It is much harder to get into the top tier schools than it was in the 90's. And, depending on major and career goals, the good publics can have the same outcome as the privates.

If their families are like ours, the students didn't apply to elite schools because the parents set a budget, and it excluded such schools.

It's about the student, not about the school.

Op here. I know very few seniors since my kids are younger. I did meet a few who did ED with what sounded like perfect stats to UVA and never even applied to other schools. Other kids got into better schools and chose UVA. Then there are the other hundred(s) who I don’t know personally who will be attending VA and MD state schools.

With younger kids and a limited world view, now is the time to keep an open mind and understand that you don't have a good sense of the current landscape in college admissions or the very wide variety of family financial and other considerations that go into picking a college.

FWIW, we could have stretched to allow DS to apply to more selective schools but he only wanted to go to Virginia Tech and is doing very well there.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s almost always about money.

Unless you are in the DC part of DCUM. We don't have a state school, so there is barely a cost difference between OOS public and private and the privates give more merit aid.

We live in a good public school system. We are considering private schools for our children. I was comparing college admissions and our well regarded public school has so many students heading to UVA, W&M and VT. [b]It made me wonder what schools those students got accepted to and could have attended that they gave up to attend the state public schools[/b].

Maybe you don't know where they got accepted. It is much harder to get into the top tier schools than it was in the 90's. And, depending on major and career goals, the good publics can have the same outcome as the privates.

If their families are like ours, the students didn't apply to elite schools because the parents set a budget, and it excluded such schools.

It's about the student, not about the school.

Op here. I know very few seniors since my kids are younger. I did meet a few who did ED with what sounded like perfect stats to UVA and never even applied to other schools. Other kids got into better schools and chose UVA. Then there are the other hundred(s) who I don’t know personally who will be attending VA and MD state schools.

UVA is not for everyone. I know several high stats students who chose other schools (T20), I do not hold that against them.

dp. if they took out loans for it, that was a dumb move from an ROI perspective. If they can afford it, then it's a moot point.

Most people are not wealthy, and making emotional decisions on a big purchase (which college is) is not a good move.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s almost always about money.

Unless you are in the DC part of DCUM. We don't have a state school, so there is barely a cost difference between OOS public and private and the privates give more merit aid.

We live in a good public school system. We are considering private schools for our children. I was comparing college admissions and our well regarded public school has so many students heading to UVA, W&M and VT. [b]It made me wonder what schools those students got accepted to and could have attended that they gave up to attend the state public schools[/b].

Maybe you don't know where they got accepted. It is much harder to get into the top tier schools than it was in the 90's. And, depending on major and career goals, the good publics can have the same outcome as the privates.

If their families are like ours, the students didn't apply to elite schools because the parents set a budget, and it excluded such schools.

It's about the student, not about the school.

Op here. I know very few seniors since my kids are younger. I did meet a few who did ED with what sounded like perfect stats to UVA and never even applied to other schools. Other kids got into better schools and chose UVA. Then there are the other hundred(s) who I don’t know personally who will be attending VA and MD state schools.

UVA is not for everyone. I know several high stats students who chose other schools (T20), I do not hold that against them.

Anonymous wrote:My parents did not pay for my college or grad school. I never considered any public universities in state or out of state. I am from NY. I applied to schools I was interested in, got financial aid and graduated grad school with loans and paid it off pretty quickly. I worked in investment banking and private equity in NYC so it was fast.

I’m surprised at how many people choose state schools in VA and MD.

Are students that afraid of debt?

All these families are better off financially than my family was when I was going to college. The cost of college was not a factor for me. I just knew I would pay it back.

Any you turned out to be an A**h***

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s almost always about money.

Unless you are in the DC part of DCUM. We don't have a state school, so there is barely a cost difference between OOS public and private and the privates give more merit aid.

We live in a good public school system. We are considering private schools for our children. I was comparing college admissions and our well regarded public school has so many students heading to UVA, W&M and VT. [b]It made me wonder what schools those students got accepted to and could have attended that they gave up to attend the state public schools[/b].

Maybe you don't know where they got accepted. It is much harder to get into the top tier schools than it was in the 90's. And, depending on major and career goals, the good publics can have the same outcome as the privates.

If their families are like ours, the students didn't apply to elite schools because the parents set a budget, and it excluded such schools.

It's about the student, not about the school.

Op here. I know very few seniors since my kids are younger. I did meet a few who did ED with what sounded like perfect stats to UVA and never even applied to other schools. Other kids got into better schools and chose UVA. Then there are the other hundred(s) who I don’t know personally who will be attending VA and MD state schools.

Anonymous wrote:I know students at our FCPS school who were admitted to T25 schools but had to turn them down because they couldn’t pay/justify the tuition. I think one of the reasons privates seem to have a higher percentage of kids going to T25 schools is because their parents can afford it. In addition there are legacy and athletic recruits. I’m not saying there aren’t smart kids at private or the academics aren’t rigorous, I just think there is more to the story as to why their admissions seem better. If your student is unhooked, you are not wealthy, and you think your kid can get into a T25 school, you might want to save the tuition spent at private school for college savings.

This. High-end private schools are essentially screening in admissions for the kids who will do well in T25 admissions. Add 4+ years of curating those students + 1-on-1 college counseling that public schools can't provide and wow! excellent college admissions results!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s almost always about money.

Unless you are in the DC part of DCUM. We don't have a state school, so there is barely a cost difference between OOS public and private and the privates give more merit aid.

We live in a good public school system. We are considering private schools for our children. I was comparing college admissions and our well regarded public school has so many students heading to UVA, W&M and VT. [b]It made me wonder what schools those students got accepted to and could have attended that they gave up to attend the state public schools[/b].

Maybe you don't know where they got accepted. It is much harder to get into the top tier schools than it was in the 90's. And, depending on major and career goals, the good publics can have the same outcome as the privates.

If their families are like ours, the students didn't apply to elite schools because the parents set a budget, and it excluded such schools.

It's about the student, not about the school.

I know students at our FCPS school who were admitted to T25 schools but had to turn them down because they couldn’t pay/justify the tuition. I think one of the reasons privates seem to have a higher percentage of kids going to T25 schools is because their parents can afford it. In addition there are legacy and athletic recruits. I’m not saying there aren’t smart kids at private or the academics aren’t rigorous, I just think there is more to the story as to why their admissions seem better. If your student is unhooked, you are not wealthy, and you think your kid can get into a T25 school, you might want to save the tuition spent at private school for college savings.

OP you need to tour UCLA, Berkekey, UVA sbd Michigan and then cone back and tell us they are "lesser". Much has changed since you went to college

The answer is yes for us. I would never empty the kid's investment account to fund his education or mine. The schools need him more than he needs them.
He may skip college altogether.

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Anonymous wrote:You understand that tuition rates have grown astronomically faster than wages since you were in college, right?

Of course I understand. We can easily afford to pay tuition. However, even if we couldn’t, I would encourage my children to apply and attend the best college possible.

I know many kids going to UVA and W&M could have gone to “better” schools. I’m sure this is more from public high schools, not private. If you are already paying 50k for high school tuition, paying 80k for college tuition probably would not be a factor in deciding where to go to college.

1. If you couldn't afford to pay, then why would you encourage your children to apply and attend the "best college possible"?

2. Your statement about a person paying $50K being able to pay $80K (and rising)(It's actually $90K now, generally) makes assumptions and is erroneous.

3. Yes, people pick publics and privates with merit aid over "better" brand-name schools because of money.

Dh and I want to HYP grad schools. I earned high six figures and Dh now earns seven figures. I don’t think it would have been possible without our education.

You can't be serious? Do you know how many people make that much who went to unknown schools, or are entrepreneurs, or dropped out?

Or people that went to top private universities but still don’t get into careers where they make that much.

I work in the fine arts. I knew the financial ROI on my degrees was going to be basically nonexistent (and my field of the arts is incredibly competitive, but I'm passionate about it and wanted to take a shot at it) so I did a state school for undergrad, graduated w/ almost no debt, and then went to an T10 w/ a full tuition scholarship for my MFA. I had to take out some loans to help cover cost of living in grad school but graduated with a very manageable amount of debt (under 25k).

I had classmates in grad school who had over six figures of debt from undergrad alone, and I have colleagues who didn't get scholarships for their MFAs and dropped $150k on them. I find it hard to believe they'll ever pay them off.

I could have gone to a top private art school for a BFA, but my public school BA still got me into the best MFA program in the country for my field.

If my kid wanted to go into the arts or humanities I'd be all for it, but I'd never let them saddle themselves with a ton of debt to do so. I will say someone upthread made a good point that public uni options vary from state to state, but as long as your state's public universities have strong arts/humanities it's unhinged to counsel a kid to go into a ton of debt for a career path where they'll likely never break six figures (or as is often the case, in the fine arts, never "make it" and have to pursue a fallback career).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s almost always about money.

Unless you are in the DC part of DCUM. We don't have a state school, so there is barely a cost difference between OOS public and private and the privates give more merit aid.

We live in a good public school system. We are considering private schools for our children. I was comparing college admissions and our well regarded public school has so many students heading to UVA, W&M and VT. It made me wonder what schools those students got accepted to and could have attended that they gave up to attend the state public schools.

Maybe you don't know where they got accepted. It is much harder to get into the top tier schools than it was in the 90's. And, depending on major and career goals, the good publics can have the same outcome as the privates.