Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The point of the article is that college costs way too much and do not take out excessive loans. I just look up a few colleges for cost of attendance.

Georgetown- $67,000
UCLA- $56,000 (oos)
Michigan - $57,000 (oos)
Brown- $64,000

Ouch!

My kid's cost of attendance would have been, with the merit aid he was offered:


Kalamazoo - $32,400/year
Wooster - $33,200/year
Allegheny - $30,300/year
Juniata - $26,800/year

He attends another (excellent) school now, where he is very happy. It costs (with merit aid) $30,200/year this year.

Get over your fixation on name brands and the world opens up.

I don't get it. Is $30,200/year your idea of a good deal?

If the goal is an education at a private SLAC, yes, that is a good deal. And that was our goal.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The point of the article is that college costs way too much and do not take out excessive loans. I just look up a few colleges for cost of attendance.

Georgetown- $67,000
UCLA- $56,000 (oos)
Michigan - $57,000 (oos)
Brown- $64,000

Ouch!

My kid's cost of attendance would have been, with the merit aid he was offered:


Kalamazoo - $32,400/year
Wooster - $33,200/year
Allegheny - $30,300/year
Juniata - $26,800/year

He attends another (excellent) school now, where he is very happy. It costs (with merit aid) $30,200/year this year.

Get over your fixation on name brands and the world opens up.

I don't get it. Is $30,200/year your idea of a good deal?

If you are comparing the costs to the cost of Connecticut College, which is the topic of this thread, yes..

I don't get it. Is $30,200/year your idea of a good deal?

Not the PP, but I assume that amount includes room and board. That's a pretty good deal for a private school (when some are running 60K and more full in). Yes, it's about 10K more than a relatively cheap state school. But it's a good deal for a private school that is small/has small classes and teachers who are not TA's and may be a better fit for certain students.

And those who say it is only 10K to be a commuter student are not exactly correct. The student needs a car with insurance, maintenance, parking and gas costs. The student also needs to eat (whether that is at home or on campus, food is not free). There is also the "cost" of the time involved in commuting. It's not an apples and oranges comparison. I still think a young person can go to a 4 year school and live on campus for a reasonable amount IF the student/parents look for better deals. The merit aid at SLACs does make a difference to many students who are caught in the donut hole situation where their parents make too much money to get a lot of financial aid, but not enough to pay full freight at those schools. Many of the "donut hole" students are filling up state schools these days (except for at the SLACs that are giving merit aid).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The point of the article is that college costs way too much and do not take out excessive loans. I just look up a few colleges for cost of attendance.

Georgetown- $67,000
UCLA- $56,000 (oos)
Michigan - $57,000 (oos)
Brown- $64,000

Ouch!

My kid's cost of attendance would have been, with the merit aid he was offered:


Kalamazoo - $32,400/year
Wooster - $33,200/year
Allegheny - $30,300/year
Juniata - $26,800/year

He attends another (excellent) school now, where he is very happy. It costs (with merit aid) $30,200/year this year.

Get over your fixation on name brands and the world opens up.

I don't get it. Is $30,200/year your idea of a good deal?

UMD and UMBC: $10k/year + ~$3k in books and fees. Living on campus is not a requirement when you're within commuting distance so that's a cost that can easily chop $10k+ off the bottom line.

The average debt coming out of Connecticut College is $28,000. That's very manageable.

Not really the college's fault that some people can't figure it out.

My kid's cost of attendance would have been, with the merit aid he was offered:


Kalamazoo - $32,400/year
Wooster - $33,200/year
Allegheny - $30,300/year
Juniata - $26,800/year

He attends another (excellent) school now, where he is very happy. It costs (with merit aid) $30,200/year this year.

Get over your fixation on name brands and the world opens up.

+1 The author of the article seemed to be glued to the idea of going to a certain undergraduate college and then glued to the idea of getting through a master's degree in one year with a 70K loan (incredible!) instead of going part-time with a full-time job as a professor there wisely suggested. Shopping around and considering options pays off enormously. It's hard to believe people don't understand that.

Anonymous wrote:The point of the article is that college costs way too much and do not take out excessive loans. I just look up a few colleges for cost of attendance.

Georgetown- $67,000
UCLA- $56,000 (oos)
Michigan - $57,000 (oos)
Brown- $64,000

Ouch!

My kid's cost of attendance would have been, with the merit aid he was offered:


Kalamazoo - $32,400/year
Wooster - $33,200/year
Allegheny - $30,300/year
Juniata - $26,800/year

He attends another (excellent) school now, where he is very happy. It costs (with merit aid) $30,200/year this year.

Get over your fixation on name brands and the world opens up.

Merit aid is the way to go, but the student has to have great stats and accept that s/he will not necessarily be going to a brand-name school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you share the names of these great, generous Midwestern SLACs? Not being snarky just would like to get them on my radar. Thanks!

Lawrence
Beloit
Kalamazoo
Knox
Cornell College
Coe College
St. Norbert
Denison
Gustavus Adolphus
Luther
Albion
Hope
Augustana
Marquette
DePaul
Loyola in Chicago
Drake
Creighton

These are the colleges my children, or children I know, have received very generous merit offers from bringing costs down into the $30K or below range (not all SLACs, obviously).

I'll add (not all Midwestern):

Rhodes
Wooster
St Olaf
Earlham
Allegheny
Case Western
Clark
Lewis & Clark
Muhlenberg
Puget Sound
Austin
Southwestern
Trinity U (TX)
Hendrix
Juniata
Eckerd

My kid was offered a very generous merit scholarship at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, another small liberal arts college.

Denison University in Ohio is an excellent SLAC with very generous merit aid. Our neighbors' kid is about to graduate and loves it (she was initially hesitant because of its small town location but raves about it now).

I like the idea of just saving some money in an account and then telling your child "this is what we have for you. Use it however you like. If you go in-state, maybe it will cover most of your education.if you want to go OOS, then you'll have to find additional funds."

Santa Clara University in California gives merit aid.

The point of the article is that college costs way too much and do not take out excessive loans. I just look up a few colleges for cost of attendance.

Georgetown- $67,000
UCLA- $56,000 (oos)
Michigan - $57,000 (oos)
Brown- $64,000

Ouch!

I think the author sounds incredibly naive - makes me seriously question his "elite" education considering it produced a young man with zero common sense or street smarts and a huge chip on his shoulder.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you share the names of these great, generous Midwestern SLACs? Not being snarky just would like to get them on my radar. Thanks!

Lawrence
Beloit
Kalamazoo
Knox
Cornell College
Coe College
St. Norbert
Denison
Gustavus Adolphus
Luther
Albion
Hope
Augustana
Marquette
DePaul
Loyola in Chicago
Drake
Creighton

These are the colleges my children, or children I know, have received very generous merit offers from bringing costs down into the $30K or below range (not all SLACs, obviously).

I'll add (not all Midwestern):

Rhodes
Wooster
St Olaf
Earlham
Allegheny
Case Western
Clark
Lewis & Clark
Muhlenberg
Puget Sound
Austin
Southwestern
Trinity U (TX)
Hendrix
Juniata
Eckerd

My kid was offered a very generous merit scholarship at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, another small liberal arts college.