Really depends upon your individual student and family.

Is that 100K+ a "drop in the bucket"? Does the kid plan to attend graduate school and/or Professional grad school and do you have the ability to fund that easily?

For 98%+, the answer is attend the school with merit.

However, we have a kid who is at the school ranked "10 higher" and full pay and turned dow $42K/year merit award ($168K/4 years of undergrad).

Why? Because it had nothing to do with "rank" and everything to do with that school being a much better fit for my kid. It was the school where anytime we visited, I just got the feel "this is the school they will end up at and want". The $$ is in the 529, we can fund graduate school, and it's a blip in our financial situation. But my kids knows most kids would have taken the $$$$$ and gone to the school with merit

No, it's not.

Heck, UVA and UMD are separated by 20 "ranks" and you'll never convince me that that's accurate. They're peers.

People are so gullible. They get mesmerized by numbers. They think that just because “someone” made a list & put a number next to each item, the ranking is necessarily (1) accurate (2) precise & (3) meaningful.

It reminds me of those lists of the 100 most beautiful women in the world that various magazines used to publish, & 80-89 would often be indistinguishable from 1-10.

Or the internet articles where they rank the 10 best war movies of all time, & some 5-hour silent movie from Uzbekistan is on there, but Full Metal Jacket isn’t.

College rankings involve incredibly complicated things (colleges) being measured qualitatively using questionable criteria measured imperfectly & then weighted almost randomly. Then slap numbers on the results, & some people are willing to empty their bank account go to 15 instead of 25. Insanity.

If private vs. public, maybe yes. Public vs public, no. Private vs private, depends.

Anonymous wrote:Is a ranking 10 positions higher worth giving up a $100K merit scholarship (over four years)? We can afford full pay. Both schools are good for the major and both well known.

Maybe bragging rights over going to HYPS are truly worth $100,000.

Most people who don’t know what Rice or Wash. U. are really don’t care about Brown, Dartmouth or Cornell, either.

So, the decision here should probably be about fit and location, not ranking.

If you can afford the $100,000, and the more expensive school seems more appealing, thank your deity that you’re spending the money on something wonderful, not something sad, and spend the money.

If the lower-ranked schooling is at least as appealing in every way, just lower-ranked: Keep in mind that the merit aid is a sign the school will do its best to do right by the student. The school knows it stole the student away from the higher-ranked school. So, there’s nothing wrong with choosing that school.

Ten spots is a rounding error. Paying attention to ten spots (or ranking at all) is an intelligence error.

Which school does your DC prefer? Let them choose, for reasons other than “some website tells me that people will be more impressed with my parents at cocktail parties if I choose X.”

10 notches on the current rankings almost certainly won’t make a difference (unless the higher-ranked school is something unique like MIT).

So set aside the rankings AND the money.

Of the two, which feels like a more authentic fit for your DC’s personality?

Where do you see them being the most comfortable and happy outside the classroom for these next four years? (Peers, weather, sports/clubs, location/proximity to home, vibe - whatever matters to them)

In the end, kids will be more engaged at college if they’re comfortable and happy with their peers and the vibe of the school. This is super important when it comes to relationships with professors, advisors, aolder students who can share advice about classes and career/internship/research opportunities etc.

Every school has fantastic “extra” opportunities for kids who are engaged and proactive. Choose the school where your DC is more likely to be that kid.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How about JHU (#6) with zero merit/need-based vs. WashU (#21) full tuition worth $300K+ over 4 years? Comparable engineering major

WashU every single day.

I can't see paying an extra 300k when you have WashU in your pocket. And engineering in particular doesn't care about small differences in rankings. Even if 300k isn't a strain, would much rather use the money for grad school, down payment, travel, investments, etc.

+1

This is a no-brainer in every way.

+2 Wash U also has the reputation of a pleasant student experience. JHU is expected to be the hardest hit of all universities by the federal grant cuts. The place could be in a world of hurt.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How about JHU (#6) with zero merit/need-based vs. WashU (#21) full tuition worth $300K+ over 4 years? Comparable engineering major

WashU every single day.

I can't see paying an extra 300k when you have WashU in your pocket. And engineering in particular doesn't care about small differences in rankings. Even if 300k isn't a strain, would much rather use the money for grad school, down payment, travel, investments, etc.

+1

This is a no-brainer in every way.

Anonymous wrote:Is a ranking 10 positions higher worth giving up a $100K merit scholarship (over four years)? We can afford full pay. Both schools are good for the major and both well known.

No one cares about “ranks” except DCUM. Employers don’t. Grad schools don’t.

Anonymous wrote:How about JHU (#6) with zero merit/need-based vs. WashU (#21) full tuition worth $300K+ over 4 years? Comparable engineering major

WashU every single day.

I can't see paying an extra 300k when you have WashU in your pocket. And engineering in particular doesn't care about small differences in rankings. Even if 300k isn't a strain, would much rather use the money for grad school, down payment, travel, investments, etc.

How about JHU (#6) with zero merit/need-based vs. WashU (#21) full tuition worth $300K+ over 4 years? Comparable engineering major

Tell your kid if they take the scholarship you’ll give them $50k as a graduation gift and see what s/he says.

'10 ranks' is meaningless.

Same boat here. Took the $100k. Let our son decide but also told him he could take care of to college if he choose school that was 10 spots lower but gave him $100k. Wife and I liked lower ranked school better and thought it was better fit and better academically.