Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Save in 529, have cash, have kid do work study/get a job to help pay.

Op here..
we did too. Could pay for Michigan but still couldn’t justify the cost of attendance as an out of state student. So i guess my question is how do you justify paying 50-70k for a slightly more prestigious school.

For us it is not about prestige - it is about fit for a child with a learning difference.

I agree. But so many families send their kids to expensive salc without merit aid or other financial assistance without bringing the cost down to your instate school when they could get petty similar education at the state school. What I don’t understand is how do you justify the ROI for such schools? Especially when kids go to such schools to study history or philosophy. That clearly indicates they will need to go to graduate school as well or law school or medical school. Do people take out loans?

This just isn’t true. Lots of people graduate with liberal arts degrees and get jobs. I have a team of 25+, and virtually all have undergraduate degrees in liberal arts; a few have graduate degrees (liberal arts master’s degrees, not professional degrees), but the vast majority do not.

I don’t get this question. I know lots of people in the DC area who can easily afford private school K-12 + 4 years of full pay private college. No dent in their finances at all. We are not at that level but there are a significant number of wealthy families. Why wouldn’t you send your kid to private university if you can easily afford it and the kid wants to go?

SLAC is the right fit for my daughter. Just like large state school is right for my other child. They have options because we maxed out our 401Ks starting 30+ years ago, started college funds for them, and budgeted by taking small vacations, driving cars 10+ years, public school education, etc. They know that if they attend a state school, we will purchase them a car. These are the decisions that have been right for our family.

OOS college tuition is very personal.

Personally I think it is a mistake to not explain college finances before applying to any college. Like Sophmore year HS. They absolutely should understand that process.

While we could easily afford any college and grad school etc..we told them you go anywhere but our flagship state school if it costs more than that, they pay. Or they could show us a power point of why the other college is worth the money.

When it came down to picking a school they all picked something that was financially responsible. No power points needed LOL.

Bottom line is colleges are businesses now a days and it's important to get your monies worth.

One of mine went out of state to a school I considered way below his academics but the cost was actually less than our instate tuition. Studied Engineering and Computer Science sitting very pretty right now with a great job.

College is about getting out with the least amount of debt as possible. I don't care if someone does community college or a "crappy lower tier college" all students have the same goal. Get a job or go to graduate school ,,,,,

Taking out loans to go to Michigan or Penn State over a flagship state school near your home, dumb.....

OP - I agree with you. The insanity needs to stop. Not many people can afford 300k for 4 years without having major sacrifices later or questionable trade offs. We have 275k salary and our friends who are financially conservative are making similar decisions. If it was a question between 30k in state or 45k out- DD could choose- but even that’s huge over 4 years.
My DD scores well (though maybe not by DCURBANMOM standards) 1450 but we didn’t think the price differential was worth it for a BC, ND, BU, Wake Forest etc)...

We can afford it with careful budgeting, and we highly value that kind of education in my family. It is the right environment for our DC, and we aren’t focused on a monetary ROI but rather on the value of the experience itself. I come from the kind of family where everyone has overflowing bookshelves and there is an old tv somewhere in the house but it’s not in the living room, if that makes sense. It’s just who we are. No one is fabulously wealthy, but everyone has interesting jobs doing something they like and a comfortable income.

People “justify” spending money on all kinds of things that I don’t value, like expensive cars or second homes or designer handbags or trips to Disney. I see people driving $70k cars but then sending their kid to state school and that is not for me but I get that it is for others. .To each their own; I am confident in my decisions and have zero regret about dropping that $74k/year so that my kid can get a great liberal arts education.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oberlin:

$76k a year, including R and B

Paid as follows:

$24k merit
$4k OSCA (does co-op dining, rather than standard meal plan. Works in the co-op about 6 hours a week, saves $2k a semester)
$25k out of 529 (we saved $110k by May Senior year, cushion because costs will increase each year)
$15k out of income ($1200 a month, which is what we saved during HS)
$8K from my kid (he had $80,000 gifted to him for education between both sets of grandparents and my grandparents)

This year, OSCA isn’t happening because of COVID, so my kid’s portion is $12k.

We are very lucky that we have the only grandkids on both sides, and both sets of grandparents opened a 529 or education IRA when they were born and contributed some each year. Otherwise, my kid would take out a $5500 Stanford and we would make up the difference.

Kid is responsible for books and spending money from summer job.

Realized WM is now $42k w/ R&B and once merit and OSCA are factored in Oberlin is $48k w/ R&B.

Bang for the buck just isn’t there.

Maybe not for your kid. It is for ours.

+1 Not the PP, but we value the SLAC experience and we prioritized that for our daughter. My daughter didn't end up at Oberlin, but another SLAC with merit, but we were very impressed with the school and it was one of her top choices.

To the OP who is asking how you afford LAC or out of state, we took all of the out of state public universities off the table except for ones that came in around our state institution. We felt my daughter would thrive in a smaller LAC environment and we prioritized seeking out SLACs that offered merit. We were able to bring the cost down to about $10k/year more than our state options. Prestige did not come into our thinking. It was all about fit and the best learning environment for her. All families need to make their own decisions about what they value and what they are willing to spend.

Anonymous wrote:I really didn’t see how even the cheapest live at college school was less than $130k overall.

Don't look at the sticker price. They tend to give very liberal merit aid (like half tuition).

PS-I am still contributing to the 529 while she is enrolled.

1) My kid's SLAC is not 70K
2) She got a merit scholarship that pays half the costs
3) I had a 529 that will make up most of the other half.

But, bear in mind that tuition tends to go up 1--3k per year (pre-Covid) AND there are lots of small costs that add up (travel, lab supplies, books, fees, now covid testing, etc).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oberlin:

$76k a year, including R and B

Paid as follows:

$24k merit
$4k OSCA (does co-op dining, rather than standard meal plan. Works in the co-op about 6 hours a week, saves $2k a semester)
$25k out of 529 (we saved $110k by May Senior year, cushion because costs will increase each year)
$15k out of income ($1200 a month, which is what we saved during HS)
$8K from my kid (he had $80,000 gifted to him for education between both sets of grandparents and my grandparents)

This year, OSCA isn’t happening because of COVID, so my kid’s portion is $12k.

We are very lucky that we have the only grandkids on both sides, and both sets of grandparents opened a 529 or education IRA when they were born and contributed some each year. Otherwise, my kid would take out a $5500 Stanford and we would make up the difference.

Kid is responsible for books and spending money from summer job.

Realized WM is now $42k w/ R&B and once merit and OSCA are factored in Oberlin is $48k w/ R&B.

Bang for the buck just isn’t there.

Maybe not for your kid. It is for ours.

I can see that. A lot of families prefer slac just like they prefer private schools. To them, private is better, expensive is better. Exclusive is better. Then the cost can be justified

Another Oberlin parent here. For our family, it is not that private/expensive/exclusive is “better.“ It’s that a small liberal arts school offers small classes, undergraduate research, connections with professors, and various other experiences that make it worth it to us. Our DC’s specific academic and other needs make a small school a good fit.

Our DC has a $32,000 merit scholarship. We pay for the rest out of our 529 and other savings. We will have some leftover for graduate school.

By going to slac’s or oos in the first place.

We are lucky to make enough money to pay for our DC’s LAC out of regular salary. Some people like fancy cars, others like big houses or extravagant vacations. We pay for our kids schooling. No judgment. If you can afford it without loans, why does it matter? ROI isn’t necessarily the motivating factor behind all of my life decisions and I’m sure I’m the happier for it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oberlin:

$76k a year, including R and B

Paid as follows:

$24k merit
$4k OSCA (does co-op dining, rather than standard meal plan. Works in the co-op about 6 hours a week, saves $2k a semester)
$25k out of 529 (we saved $110k by May Senior year, cushion because costs will increase each year)
$15k out of income ($1200 a month, which is what we saved during HS)
$8K from my kid (he had $80,000 gifted to him for education between both sets of grandparents and my grandparents)

This year, OSCA isn’t happening because of COVID, so my kid’s portion is $12k.

We are very lucky that we have the only grandkids on both sides, and both sets of grandparents opened a 529 or education IRA when they were born and contributed some each year. Otherwise, my kid would take out a $5500 Stanford and we would make up the difference.

Kid is responsible for books and spending money from summer job.

Realized WM is now $42k w/ R&B and once merit and OSCA are factored in Oberlin is $48k w/ R&B.

Bang for the buck just isn’t there.

Maybe not for your kid. It is for ours.

I can see that. A lot of families prefer slac just like they prefer private schools. To them, private is better, expensive is better. Exclusive is better. Then the cost can be justified

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oberlin:

$76k a year, including R and B

Paid as follows:

$24k merit
$4k OSCA (does co-op dining, rather than standard meal plan. Works in the co-op about 6 hours a week, saves $2k a semester)
$25k out of 529 (we saved $110k by May Senior year, cushion because costs will increase each year)
$15k out of income ($1200 a month, which is what we saved during HS)
$8K from my kid (he had $80,000 gifted to him for education between both sets of grandparents and my grandparents)

This year, OSCA isn’t happening because of COVID, so my kid’s portion is $12k.

We are very lucky that we have the only grandkids on both sides, and both sets of grandparents opened a 529 or education IRA when they were born and contributed some each year. Otherwise, my kid would take out a $5500 Stanford and we would make up the difference.

Kid is responsible for books and spending money from summer job.

Realized WM is now $42k w/ R&B and once merit and OSCA are factored in Oberlin is $48k w/ R&B.

Bang for the buck just isn’t there.

+1

What is he studying at Oberlin?

Science, minor in musical studies.