Anonymous wrote:Personally I found the article somewhat disturbing. My parents were lower middle class - my dad was the first in his family to go to college, and I knew ZERO women who had gone to college. But my parents saved and told me to apply to the best schools possible. I was amazed to see families with far greater wealth than we had tell their kids: we pay in-state fees and anything more is on you. I got into an Ivy and got some aid, but I also took on loans which made me a hell of a lot more responsible than my friends whose parents paid every penny. I knew I needed a job after school was done, wheras they knew mom and dad would keep paying the bills. I think the MIchelle Singletary column disregarded what was best for her child in favor of what was cheapest, and in my experience that isn't always the same thing.

Were your loans in the six figure range?

My friend's son didn't get into VA Tech for engineering and went to Purdue. Parents hope if his GPA is good he can transfer back to finish at aa state school. I don't know if that is an option?

Anonymous wrote:Personally I found the article somewhat disturbing. My parents were lower middle class - my dad was the first in his family to go to college, and I knew ZERO women who had gone to college. But my parents saved and told me to apply to the best schools possible. I was amazed to see families with far greater wealth than we had tell their kids: we pay in-state fees and anything more is on you. I got into an Ivy and got some aid, but I also took on loans which made me a hell of a lot more responsible than my friends whose parents paid every penny. I knew I needed a job after school was done, wheras they knew mom and dad would keep paying the bills. I think the MIchelle Singletary column disregarded what was best for her child in favor of what was cheapest, and in my experience that isn't always the same thing.

Students loans don't make a dent in the cost of private colleges now. I had FA 25 years ago to a private college and the loans covered a much bigger portion than they do now because cost of college is so high. A loan of 5,000-6,000 is nothing if it costs 60,000-65,000 for a year.

Also, her daughter didn't get into her dream school. I know Michelle says they would have told the daughter she couldn't attend but it is easier to say that when the decision is hypothetical.

Anonymous wrote:Personally I found the article somewhat disturbing. My parents were lower middle class - my dad was the first in his family to go to college, and I knew ZERO women who had gone to college. But my parents saved and told me to apply to the best schools possible. I was amazed to see families with far greater wealth than we had tell their kids: we pay in-state fees and anything more is on you. I got into an Ivy and got some aid, but I also took on loans which made me a hell of a lot more responsible than my friends whose parents paid every penny. I knew I needed a job after school was done, wheras they knew mom and dad would keep paying the bills. I think the MIchelle Singletary column disregarded what was best for her child in favor of what was cheapest, and in my experience that isn't always the same thing.

I can't read Michelle Singletary's mind, but I'm guessing if the two schools in question were Harvard vs. UMD, they might have made a different calculation.
Instead, the decision was between one state school vs. another state school: UNC vs. UMD
Under those circumstances, I think the approach they took was sound.
I know in DCUM world everyone likes to think that the decision their kid is going to be making is "Ivy vs. somewhere else" but with acceptance rates in the single digits, that's just not reality.
Millions of Americans aren't in billions of dollars of debt because they went to Ivy League schools and are paying off loans. They're in debt because kid got his heart set on an expensive-but-not-tier one school. I'm sure it provided an idyllic 4 years, but at the end of the day going with "dream school" didn't make them more marketable than if they had just gone with one of their in-state public schools.

Personally I found the article somewhat disturbing. My parents were lower middle class - my dad was the first in his family to go to college, and I knew ZERO women who had gone to college. But my parents saved and told me to apply to the best schools possible. I was amazed to see families with far greater wealth than we had tell their kids: we pay in-state fees and anything more is on you. I got into an Ivy and got some aid, but I also took on loans which made me a hell of a lot more responsible than my friends whose parents paid every penny. I knew I needed a job after school was done, wheras they knew mom and dad would keep paying the bills. I think the MIchelle Singletary column disregarded what was best for her child in favor of what was cheapest, and in my experience that isn't always the same thing.

Anonymous wrote:College debt is no longer good debt, in reality.

Is foregoing college and not getting a degree a better option?

College debt is no longer good debt, in reality.

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?

good question. when it is 5 years in the future it seems much simpler, once you get here, the options are very complicated and shades of gray.

Also the stress to get into a state school from some high schools is obscene.

Anonymous wrote:My complaint with the column was that she focused exclusively on the sticker price for the schools and did not explain the importance of merit and financial aid in determining the actual net price. Many times, schools with the higher sticker price will end up being less expensive than other schools because they out together a better package.

This is especially true if your DC is a really strong student. The Ivies are all rich enough to offer very generous financial aid packages for nearly everyone from a family earning less than $125K. If you're a National Merit semifinalist, you can get a full-tuition merit scholarship to most land grant colleges and SLACs.

I don't know how much Michelle Singletary makes, but if she and her husband earn over $200k, I find it interesting that she isn't a little more generous on her child's college options. It's not like college should have been a surprise expense and that she couldn't have predicted a long time ago that she might need to save up some serious assets. For those parents lucky enough to make substantial incomes, what is more important to spend money on than your kids' education? Parents shouldn't go into debt, but when you make a lot of money, it is relatively easy to save up $200-300k over 18 years.

I think she gives 10% per year to her church, so she definitely could have afforded it with different priorities.

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?

OP here - Purdue for engineering, maybe. Purdue not in the school of Engineering? No.

That is exactly what our friends did. Their son is currently a Junior at Purdue in aerospace engineering and has a great co-op job. I think it was the prudent choice too.

Op- I think your plan is a good one since you are willing to pay for OOS if it is warranted.

Purdue is an excellent engineering school, as is RPI. I would definitely pay OOOS/private for those.

Anonymous wrote:My complaint with the column was that she focused exclusively on the sticker price for the schools and did not explain the importance of merit and financial aid in determining the actual net price. Many times, schools with the higher sticker price will end up being less expensive than other schools because they out together a better package.

This is especially true if your DC is a really strong student. The Ivies are all rich enough to offer very generous financial aid packages for nearly everyone from a family earning less than $125K. If you're a National Merit semifinalist, you can get a full-tuition merit scholarship to most land grant colleges and SLACs.

I don't know how much Michelle Singletary makes, but if she and her husband earn over $200k, I find it interesting that she isn't a little more generous on her child's college options. It's not like college should have been a surprise expense and that she couldn't have predicted a long time ago that she might need to save up some serious assets. For those parents lucky enough to make substantial incomes, what is more important to spend money on than your kids' education? Parents shouldn't go into debt, but when you make a lot of money, it is relatively easy to save up $200-300k over 18 years.

DH and I make about $200K and we have saved $250K for our two kids' college funds (they are 16 and 13). To us, that is a lot of money and we could not have saved more given our other expenses and priorities (retirement, emergency fund). We have done everything possible to save aggressively, and it is still not enough to pay sticker prices at top-tier schools.

When the time comes, the money we have will be what it will be, and we will take a similar approach to that described in the WaPo piece, because we are unwilling to incur (or allow our kids to incur) debt for undergrad education. Our kids may not get merit aid. If they are Harvard material, we will be expected to foot more of the bill than what we have available.

There are many of us in this situation. We work with what we have.

My complaint with the column was that she focused exclusively on the sticker price for the schools and did not explain the importance of merit and financial aid in determining the actual net price. Many times, schools with the higher sticker price will end up being less expensive than other schools because they out together a better package.

This is especially true if your DC is a really strong student. The Ivies are all rich enough to offer very generous financial aid packages for nearly everyone from a family earning less than $125K. If you're a National Merit semifinalist, you can get a full-tuition merit scholarship to most land grant colleges and SLACs.

I don't know how much Michelle Singletary makes, but if she and her husband earn over $200k, I find it interesting that she isn't a little more generous on her child's college options. It's not like college should have been a surprise expense and that she couldn't have predicted a long time ago that she might need to save up some serious assets. For those parents lucky enough to make substantial incomes, what is more important to spend money on than your kids' education? Parents shouldn't go into debt, but when you make a lot of money, it is relatively easy to save up $200-300k over 18 years.

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?

OP here - Purdue for engineering, maybe. Purdue not in the school of Engineering? No.

That is exactly what our friends did. Their son is currently a Junior at Purdue in aerospace engineering and has a great co-op job. I think it was the prudent choice too.

Op- I think your plan is a good one since you are willing to pay for OOS if it is warranted.

Anonymous wrote: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 worked during school - waited tables 2 nights a week, and during my internship on the Hill, I waited tables as well. Of course at this point, that was a million years ago