Anonymous wrote:Really is insane to spend 70k a year on a small private 3rd tier college in today's economy if you have more than 1 kid going through college, particularly at one time. 200k? Nope. State school makes much more sense and frankly most people these days are making that choice. Our HHI is 250k in DC proper and with a $3000 a month mortgage and 3 kids heading for college in the next 3 years? Not gonna happen. 2 household earners here.

Hard pass on this for us too.

I've never understood these one size fits all posts. State schools have a lot to recommend them but there are students who would flounder in that environment. If a CTCL school can set them up for a lifetime of success, then thats the right move. And they are much more generous with merit aid.

Anonymous wrote:Really is insane to spend 70k a year on a small private 3rd tier college in today's economy if you have more than 1 kid going through college, particularly at one time. 200k? Nope. State school makes much more sense and frankly most people these days are making that choice. Our HHI is 250k in DC proper and with a $3000 a month mortgage and 3 kids heading for college in the next 3 years? Not gonna happen. 2 household earners here.

Hard pass on this for us too.

You are very close minded. I have four kids and we are a 2 earner household making less than what you do. Today, I have a son who just graduated from Beloit, a CTCL, who is now in medical school and 2 others at Uva. The Beloit graduate was awarded merit scholarships that made it LESS expensive to attend than had he gone in state. That came in very handy considering the continuing cost of his education. And the education he got at Beloit was top notch but go ahead and call it third tier. My husband and I both went to Ivy for undergrad and feel strongly that our DS got a better education at Beloit than we did. Meanwhile our two at UVa usually sit in classrooms of 100-300 students and their professors have no clue who they are. Our Uva DCs sometimes express regret that they didn't attend a college like Beloit rather than Uva. Obviously, this "third tier" school did not hold my oldest back from pursuing his dreams.

You are writing off a whole bunch of good colleges that may actually cost less than in-state. That's ok - sounds like my 4th will be applying to college at the same time as yours - more money and opportunities for her.

Anonymous wrote:Really is insane to spend 70k a year on a small private 3rd tier college in today's economy if you have more than 1 kid going through college, particularly at one time. 200k? Nope. State school makes much more sense and frankly most people these days are making that choice. Our HHI is 250k in DC proper and with a $3000 a month mortgage and 3 kids heading for college in the next 3 years? Not gonna happen. 2 household earners here.

Hard pass on this for us too.

Our HHI is slightly less than yours. We do not qualify for need-based aid and have two more kids to get through college.

Our oldest DC is at one of the CTCL and we are paying about $35K/year, thanks to his merit scholarship. Although he was admitted to UMD-CP, his SLAC is a much better fit for him, and he is thriving in ways that I'm pretty sure would not have been possible at a huge flagship school.

Virtually all of the CTCL give merit aid to high performing students.

We will get all three of our kids through school without loans.

Anonymous wrote:Really is insane to spend 70k a year on a small private 3rd tier college in today's economy if you have more than 1 kid going through college, particularly at one time. 200k? Nope. State school makes much more sense and frankly most people these days are making that choice. Our HHI is 250k in DC proper and with a $3000 a month mortgage and 3 kids heading for college in the next 3 years? Not gonna happen. 2 household earners here.

Hard pass on this for us too.

Large, impersonal universities are not for everybody. I went to a large state school and graduated from there, but there was always a part of me that wished I was at a smaller college. I felt like a number.

But, to each his own. And who decides which college is in what "tier" anyway?

Really is insane to spend 70k a year on a small private 3rd tier college in today's economy if you have more than 1 kid going through college, particularly at one time. 200k? Nope. State school makes much more sense and frankly most people these days are making that choice. Our HHI is 250k in DC proper and with a $3000 a month mortgage and 3 kids heading for college in the next 3 years? Not gonna happen. 2 household earners here.

Hard pass on this for us too.

NP here. Colleges That Change Lives are a group of 40 schools, put together (initially) by Loren Pope, who I believe was an education writer. The schools in the CTCL list are 1) typically small, with small classes, 2) focus on undergraduate education, 3) provide unique experiences for students, 4) have accessible professors with few (if any) TAs teaching classes and 5) provide better than average financial aid. The schools run the gamut. There are religious schools (Hope, Wheaton, Hillsdale, which are all on my DD's list), some very well know (like Reed), but most are not. Juniate, Allegheny, Denison and Clark are also on her list. Also they generally have high acceptance rates. If you're looking for the tailgate/drunken Greek experience, these aren't the schools for you. We've been impressed with what we've seen about most of these schools. There are some that we'll definitely avoid (like Hampshire College and Antioch; too small and liberal).

Read the website. Get the book.

Anonymous wrote:OP, what exactly is a CTCL ? Thanks

There is a book. There is a website. Several people on this thread has pointed readers to both.

Look at the website, read the book.

OP, what exactly is a CTCL ? Thanks

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I highly recommend deep springs college.

https://www.deepsprings.edu/

um... two year college, very small, all men at this point, incredibly hard to get into. Not too realistic, IMHO.

Read carefully. They start to accept women from 2018. And after finishing 2 year, majority of students transfer to elite universities. No try, nothing to earn.

Anonymous wrote:I highly recommend deep springs college.

https://www.deepsprings.edu/

um... two year college, very small, all men at this point, incredibly hard to get into. Not too realistic, IMHO.

I highly recommend deep springs college.

https://www.deepsprings.edu/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Read the book. It will explain in great detail what the numerous benefits are.

PP is right that you need to pay attention to the graduation rates at each college.

My child is in one of the CTCL schools, and doing great. I graduated from a NESCAC school and am envious of DC’s experience, which I think is better than mine was.

Which ones? Can you be specific? sorry, not trying to be sarcastic, but these schools can be so different so further clarification would help.

See the Colleges That Change Lives website: same info as the book: https://ctcl.org

My niece is at McDaniel and loves it. I have several other friends whose children graduated from McDaniel and they loved it too. My niece was very undecided about what she wanted to do. Neither of her parents went to college and her dad somewhat objected to her going to college, convinced that she would only end up in debt and not able to get a job. I helped her get started on the college search process. She started out looking at science and engineering schools, because she wanted to be sure to get a good job and to be able to pay off loans. During our investigations, I realized that she had only average courses, and her school really didn't offer anything challenging in math and science, so she was NOT prepared to jump into engineering at a big school (though I didn't tell her that.) We looked at a mix of schools, including McDaniel. She didn't like it - too small and not focused on Science and Engineering. I ended up being very impressed by it - the programs it offers, the study abroad and internship opportunities, the outings to DC and Baltimore. One thing that caught me - this school of 1500 in the middle of nowhere Westminster, pulls 10,000 visitors to their homecoming football game. That's dedicated alumni - and dedicated alumni have connections and donate back to the school. I also like the fact that they had an education program, which I thought would be a better fit for my niece and that she could easily switch into it if she didn't like the science track.

Well, fall comes, she gets a job at a Montessori school and suddenly - teaching is it! and McDaniel became her number one choice. She applied, was somewhat overqualified, got in and also got $20k/yr scholarship. First semester there, and she discovered social work and switched into that major. Then she had a fantastic class with a history professor, who convinced her to minor in history. Then she discovered public policy side of things. And finally several professors have strongly encouraged her to consider law school. She's been on the top dean's list every semester and has a lot of personal relationships with the professors. She said about half the students are serious students, the other half are not. She's applying to graduate school now, and has a much stronger focus on the direction of her life and her purpose. McDaniel was the perfect school for her.

Not all the CTCL schools are the same - the other two that I know of that have good recommendations from people I know are Goucher and Juniata. The schools are not for everyone, but I think they are great for students who would thrive in a smaller environment with more personal attention.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Read the book. It will explain in great detail what the numerous benefits are.

PP is right that you need to pay attention to the graduation rates at each college.

My child is in one of the CTCL schools, and doing great. I graduated from a NESCAC school and am envious of DC’s experience, which I think is better than mine was.

Which ones? Can you be specific? sorry, not trying to be sarcastic, but these schools can be so different so further clarification would help.

Look up the Common data set for each school you were interested in. It will tell you what the for your graduation rate is. When we did our college search, I wanted to see a four year graduation rate over 75 percent. But your mileage may vary.

Anonymous wrote:Read the book. It will explain in great detail what the numerous benefits are.

PP is right that you need to pay attention to the graduation rates at each college.

My child is in one of the CTCL schools, and doing great. I graduated from a NESCAC school and am envious of DC’s experience, which I think is better than mine was.

Which ones? Can you be specific? sorry, not trying to be sarcastic, but these schools can be so different so further clarification would help.