Anonymous
03/25/2025 17:40
Subject: To you, what schools are truly worth 90k/year
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:This is why a lot of people are sending their kids overseas. St. Andrews Scotland is approx 30K/year. LSE is about 28K. National University of Singapore is 10-30K depending on what course is chosen. That's a lot less than 90K and those universities have placements/name recognition on par with Tufts, I would say. YMMV.
It was an interesting thought/option. We looked overseas for our oldest, not to save money but as a safety. She liked and was accepted a McGill but in the end it was to risky choosing a major from the start since she was not really sure about what she wanted to do.
Uh- McGill is a safety for only the strongest of students. More predictable, maybe, but not a safety
No, it was my kid's safety as well. He was strong academically, but not strong in anything else which American universities value, such as extra curriculars. Getting into McGill is really easy - you just need lots of As in school, some APs. It's such a relief to know you're getting in because they post the required stats online. He ended up attending a US university nonetheless, but during the waiting periods, he was never worried about not having a university to go to. If all else failed, he had McGill.
Anonymous
03/25/2025 17:39
Subject: To you, what schools are truly worth 90k/year
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Our son is likely to choose Tufts and we will be full-pay (choosing over two full-ride tuition opportunities, other options for lower tuition at state schools, and another higher ranked full-pay private school). If you can't afford it then you obviously should not. And we all have our own sense of what makes something worth it. We would not pay full-price for Michigan or other large state schools, but would for a smaller or medium sized school with strong academics. I realize that choice does not resonate with everyone. Go Jumbos!
Funny—I wouldn’t pay full tuition for a pretend Ivy League like Tufts, but I would for a top public school like Michigan or UCLA. Fittingly, Jumbo is a funny mascot for such a lightweight school.
Here come the teenager responses.
Anonymous
03/25/2025 17:37
Subject: To you, what schools are truly worth 90k/year
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I actually am not sure how people handle these costs without hurting their finances. We have a good hhi, too good for aid, but not ultra high. Just housing and a meal plan and books will be close to 20k. So add 50k in tuition on top and it becomes insanity if you have more than one child.
Over our kids’ lifetimes, the stock market has been very kind to 529’s - so the money is already set aside. It’s going to education for our kids or our kids’ kids. Zero impact on our lives otherwise.
We could say the same financially, but it’s still a value proposition. I just don’t think the price tag is worth. We didn’t get where we are financially by being foolish with money, which is what I feel Tufts is. Foolish.
So you made financial mistakes by overfunding your kids' 529s. Maybe your grandchildren will be happy.
Anonymous
03/25/2025 17:37
Subject: To you, what schools are truly worth 90k/year
None, and yet here I am, paying 65K a year for George Washington's Elliott School of International Affairs, which is ranked in the top 10 of such majors, but still... shouldn't be worth that much. And that's with 20K in merit aid a year.
Sigh.
The reality is that I will pay for whichever reputable program my kids choose. I'm a sucker.
Sigh.
The reality is that I will pay for whichever reputable program my kids choose. I'm a sucker.
Anonymous
03/25/2025 17:33
Subject: To you, what schools are truly worth 90k/year
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:This is why a lot of people are sending their kids overseas. St. Andrews Scotland is approx 30K/year. LSE is about 28K. National University of Singapore is 10-30K depending on what course is chosen. That's a lot less than 90K and those universities have placements/name recognition on par with Tufts, I would say. YMMV.
It was an interesting thought/option. We looked overseas for our oldest, not to save money but as a safety. She liked and was accepted a McGill but in the end it was to risky choosing a major from the start since she was not really sure about what she wanted to do.
Uh- McGill is a safety for only the strongest of students. More predictable, maybe, but not a safety
Anonymous
03/25/2025 17:15
Subject: To you, what schools are truly worth 90k/year
For my kids and our finances, none. They aren't the kind of students who would be competitive for a Stanford/MIT/Harvard/etc. that could be transformative for the future tech genius, entrepreneur, etc. Maybe we'd be willing to figure it out if they were that kind of kid. But for solid but not exceptional students I see no reason to spend that much for a non-elite private or OOS public.
One of my kids goes to VT and that was the only place he wanted to go. The other goes to an OOS LAC that costs us just a bit more than VT after merit. It's possible DC2 might have liked an expensive, higher ranked LAC more but we didn't bother exploring those, knowing they were out of the question with our budget. Both are doing well at their schools, getting good academic experiences, and summer jobs in their fields. I don't feel like we lost out on anything in not being able to spend $90k.
One of my kids goes to VT and that was the only place he wanted to go. The other goes to an OOS LAC that costs us just a bit more than VT after merit. It's possible DC2 might have liked an expensive, higher ranked LAC more but we didn't bother exploring those, knowing they were out of the question with our budget. Both are doing well at their schools, getting good academic experiences, and summer jobs in their fields. I don't feel like we lost out on anything in not being able to spend $90k.
Anonymous
03/25/2025 17:09
Subject: To you, what schools are truly worth 90k/year
Anonymous wrote:Our son is likely to choose Tufts and we will be full-pay (choosing over two full-ride tuition opportunities, other options for lower tuition at state schools, and another higher ranked full-pay private school). If you can't afford it then you obviously should not. And we all have our own sense of what makes something worth it. We would not pay full-price for Michigan or other large state schools, but would for a smaller or medium sized school with strong academics. I realize that choice does not resonate with everyone. Go Jumbos!
Funny—I wouldn’t pay full tuition for a pretend Ivy League like Tufts, but I would for a top public school like Michigan or UCLA. Fittingly, Jumbo is a funny mascot for such a lightweight school.
Anonymous
03/25/2025 16:59
Subject: To you, what schools are truly worth 90k/year
Anonymous wrote:More UChicago alumni:
https://alumniandfriends.uchicago.edu/s/info-notable-alumni
By the way, look at fellow Boothies at the helm at Microsoft (Nadella), Starbucks (Niccols), Dr. Praegers, Diageo, and so many other corporations, big, small, cutting edge, consulting, I banking etc.
Oops- this link
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_University_of_Chicago_Booth_School_of_Business_alumni
Anonymous
03/25/2025 16:57
Subject: To you, what schools are truly worth 90k/year
More UChicago alumni:
https://alumniandfriends.uchicago.edu/s/info-notable-alumni
By the way, look at fellow Boothies at the helm at Microsoft (Nadella), Starbucks (Niccols), Dr. Praegers, Diageo, and so many other corporations, big, small, cutting edge, consulting, I banking etc.
https://alumniandfriends.uchicago.edu/s/info-notable-alumni
By the way, look at fellow Boothies at the helm at Microsoft (Nadella), Starbucks (Niccols), Dr. Praegers, Diageo, and so many other corporations, big, small, cutting edge, consulting, I banking etc.
Anonymous
03/25/2025 16:50
Subject: Re:To you, what schools are truly worth 90k/year
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:WashU mom keeps inserting WashU
WashU 29 dad here. Honestly cannot wait to write that check! Doesn’t hurt that total cost of college is single digit percentage of my net worth.
Lol and here you are on an anonymous thread mid smack in the middle of a work day
I know. Sounds odd but it’s true. I just love this thread! It’s like an escape. The debates are so obscure and stupid, yet argued with such vitriol. It’s like an anthropological adventure.
I am with WashU 29 dad!
Anonymous
03/25/2025 16:43
Subject: To you, what schools are truly worth 90k/year
Anonymous wrote:The ivies add in Duke, Stanford ,MIT, Caltech maybe Rice, UChicago Northwestern and Notre Dame. For LAC’s Williams, Bowdoin
Davidson(if want to work in South) and maybe as a safety Holy Cross because of their strong outcomes in corporate America. Excluded Amherst Swarthmore and Wash u because their grads usually don’t up on Wall Street or board roles in corporate US. Same maybe said for UChicago.
No, same cannot be said of UChicago. Several of my Booth classmates or fellow alumni are CEOs or top executives at corporate firms or sit on boards all over the place. Let’s not even talk about our Law School. And here is a list of some well known names, just to start the conversation.
No Wall Street— who do you think wrote the Econ models used?
https://alumniandfriends.uchicago.edu/s/info-notable-alumni
Anonymous
03/25/2025 14:59
Subject: To you, what schools are truly worth 90k/year
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I actually am not sure how people handle these costs without hurting their finances. We have a good hhi, too good for aid, but not ultra high. Just housing and a meal plan and books will be close to 20k. So add 50k in tuition on top and it becomes insanity if you have more than one child.
Over our kids’ lifetimes, the stock market has been very kind to 529’s - so the money is already set aside. It’s going to education for our kids or our kids’ kids. Zero impact on our lives otherwise.
We could say the same financially, but it’s still a value proposition. I just don’t think the price tag is worth. We didn’t get where we are financially by being foolish with money, which is what I feel Tufts is. Foolish.
Anonymous
03/25/2025 13:03
Subject: To you, what schools are truly worth 90k/year
Our son is likely to choose Tufts and we will be full-pay (choosing over two full-ride tuition opportunities, other options for lower tuition at state schools, and another higher ranked full-pay private school). If you can't afford it then you obviously should not. And we all have our own sense of what makes something worth it. We would not pay full-price for Michigan or other large state schools, but would for a smaller or medium sized school with strong academics. I realize that choice does not resonate with everyone. Go Jumbos!
Anonymous
03/25/2025 13:02
Subject: To you, what schools are truly worth 90k/year
Anonymous wrote:This is why a lot of people are sending their kids overseas. St. Andrews Scotland is approx 30K/year. LSE is about 28K. National University of Singapore is 10-30K depending on what course is chosen. That's a lot less than 90K and those universities have placements/name recognition on par with Tufts, I would say. YMMV.
Not in America they don’t.
Anonymous
03/25/2025 12:52
Subject: To you, what schools are truly worth 90k/year
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:If you pay half of that, you can save $180,000 over 4 years.
If you put that in S&P500 assuming 9% yield, you get 1 million in 20 years.
You'll be a millionaire at 45 years old.
Except we are about to enter a bear market and a recession.
20 years is a pretty decent time horizon. Agree that 9% seems awfully high though.
9% is actually conservative.
Do a quick Google.
"The average stock market return is about 10% per year, as measured by the S&P 500 index"
The S and P did deliver 10 pct but the starting point is 2004 - post tech bubble and 9/11 recession. And tech stocks really outperformed and took over the market over the last 20 years.
9 pct is not conservative. Theoretical models would point to 7 or 8 pct.