Anonymous
03/29/2025 16:25
Subject: To you, what schools are truly worth 90k/year
so, late to this thread but.. my DC is a sophomore at Vandy, and we struggled with the “is it worth it” question 2 years ago when we were considering options. Full pay. Kid just received offer for JUNIOR year internship, which should fairly certain path to 6
figure job upon graduation. I now believe Vandy was worth every cent
figure job upon graduation. I now believe Vandy was worth every cent
Anonymous
03/29/2025 15:48
Subject: To you, what schools are truly worth 90k/year
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:No college is worth 90K.
I have a Stanford grad my age, 3 levels below me in my org.
I have countless UVA, UNC, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, friends in my neighborhood who are in very middle tier jobs or stay at home wifes.
Tufts? Barely makes me think it might be a decent school.
Delusion aside college shoudl be aboout 30K these days. 60K and you know you are wasting money. 90K and you might as well call the police because you have been robbed. Causation and correlation are very different things.
I went to top schools and I have a decent but middle management job. I’m not sure where my boss’s boss went because they’ve scrubbed it from his bio. In fact that is the case for most of the executive level at my company.
I agree. College should be about 30k max.
Why?
Anonymous
03/29/2025 15:17
Subject: To you, what schools are truly worth 90k/year
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:This begs the question: what would make a half million dollar investment in your child's college education worth it to you? What is the ROI you're seeking?
Status label? Job prospects? Social connections?
If I were in a position to spend that much, I'd be looking at prestigious British universities too. Oxford, Cambridge, St. Andrews. I have both attended and taught at international schools. I taught in Switzerland (future international bankers) and my sister in law has lectured at Cambridge. You can't beat that prestige and those connections. Well worth half a million and more.
Good fit. That's all we need. The $$ is already set aside in a 529 account.
If good fit is all you need, you are lucky. All you need and to do is spend the time and money to do the deep dives into the culture, ethos, etc. of all the schools you want to consider. What a fun excursion - and you can afford it!
Agreed we are very fortunate. But this seems to really upset the pp.
Yeah, what’s with all the anger? Do you get angry if your neighbor goes to Paris for a vacation while you go to Myrtle Beach?
Anonymous
03/29/2025 14:20
Subject: To you, what schools are truly worth 90k/year
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:No college is worth 90K.
I have a Stanford grad my age, 3 levels below me in my org.
I have countless UVA, UNC, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, friends in my neighborhood who are in very middle tier jobs or stay at home wifes.
Tufts? Barely makes me think it might be a decent school.
Delusion aside college shoudl be aboout 30K these days. 60K and you know you are wasting money. 90K and you might as well call the police because you have been robbed. Causation and correlation are very different things.
These examples are terrible…I don’t understand why people throw them out as proof of anything.
Also…why would you include UVA or UNC in your list when of course a bunch of those folks likely were in state and didn’t pay the outrageous tuitions?
If you look at the 20 richest Americans…15 either graduated or dropped out of a top school 10 school. Warren Buffet would be counted in this group if he had not decided to transfer from Wharton.
You can’t win the anecdote fight…so don’t play it. The reason people decide to pay these amounts ironically are because of the anecdotes (that are verified vs the bullshit spewed on DCUM)…which also create unrealistic expectations.
The reasons those 20 richest are so successful is likely due to their wealthy upbringing---they would succeed no matter where they went. And it's easier to be an entrepreneur when you know you have a safety net (rich family) supporting you. You are often brought up to take more risks, so it's a part of life from young age.
So it's not really correlation to the school they got into, but to their entire upbringing.
Many were UMC, but nowhere near wealthy.
Certainly being UMC helps, but neither Mark Zuckerberg’s dentist dad or Jeff Bezos’ network engineer stepdad (his mom had him in HS) had really much of an impact on their starting their companies or their ultimate success. Bezos’ parents invested in a friends and family round as part of a much larger funding tranche.
The Waltons of course are a different matter because they are on the list entirely from inheriting Walmart stock.
It’s hard to know if Facebook would exist if Zuckerberg had attended SUNY Binghamton instead of Harvard.
Anonymous
03/29/2025 14:04
Subject: Re:To you, what schools are truly worth 90k/year
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Major is much more important if you consider value and worth.
https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/
- Harvard English = $64,155
- Boston College Finance = $135,373
- Northeastern CS = $149,127
Median earnings. It's not why we're full pay for BC, but this is an added benefit.
What about median earnings?
You do you, but outcome is one of the most important factors for the most people and it's not just an added benefit.
Anonymous
03/29/2025 14:03
Subject: Re:To you, what schools are truly worth 90k/year
We saved. I was thinking $60k would be top price for private. I didn’t foresee my kid getting into Ivies. We can swing it- bit likely would have socked away more. We also almost did the Virginia pre-pay thing
Anonymous
03/29/2025 13:44
Subject: To you, what schools are truly worth 90k/year
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:No college is worth 90K.
I have a Stanford grad my age, 3 levels below me in my org.
I have countless UVA, UNC, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, friends in my neighborhood who are in very middle tier jobs or stay at home wifes.
Tufts? Barely makes me think it might be a decent school.
Delusion aside college shoudl be aboout 30K these days. 60K and you know you are wasting money. 90K and you might as well call the police because you have been robbed. Causation and correlation are very different things.
These examples are terrible…I don’t understand why people throw them out as proof of anything.
Also…why would you include UVA or UNC in your list when of course a bunch of those folks likely were in state and didn’t pay the outrageous tuitions?
If you look at the 20 richest Americans…15 either graduated or dropped out of a top school 10 school. Warren Buffet would be counted in this group if he had not decided to transfer from Wharton.
You can’t win the anecdote fight…so don’t play it. The reason people decide to pay these amounts ironically are because of the anecdotes (that are verified vs the bullshit spewed on DCUM)…which also create unrealistic expectations.
+1
studies have been done showing ivy+ and/or T10 schools overrepresented at top levels of many careers.
My law partners are 1/5 from T10s, 3/5 from T30/T5LACs, 1/5 from T30-75/lesser LAC, for undergrad. Law all but 2 are T14.
DH's medical partners/owners of the specialist group are 2/3 T10/ivy or Williams, 1/3 are Uva, WM. The med schools they went to are 1/2 Top50 research med schools.
We are sending all 3 of ours to ivy, T10 or T5LAC: if they were not that level of student or had gotten shut out we would do the next closest thing, T25 private or William and Mary in state which functions like a private mid-size and has T25 quality students.
They are overrepresented but there is still wide variation in success. There was a study in Nature last year that looked at 34 of the top schools and found how heavily overrepresented they were across over 26,000 high achievers in 30 different domains. But, there were two big caveats. One, people from the 34 were more likely to have attended for grad school than undergrad, and two, in the professional fields (versus the academic ones) they were overrepresented but usually a minority of the total. In other words, a majority of the high achievers in the professional fields didn’t attend one of the 34 schools, despite them still being overrepresented.
Anonymous
03/29/2025 13:10
Subject: To you, what schools are truly worth 90k/year
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:No college is worth 90K.
I have a Stanford grad my age, 3 levels below me in my org.
I have countless UVA, UNC, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, friends in my neighborhood who are in very middle tier jobs or stay at home wifes.
Tufts? Barely makes me think it might be a decent school.
Delusion aside college shoudl be aboout 30K these days. 60K and you know you are wasting money. 90K and you might as well call the police because you have been robbed. Causation and correlation are very different things.
These examples are terrible…I don’t understand why people throw them out as proof of anything.
Also…why would you include UVA or UNC in your list when of course a bunch of those folks likely were in state and didn’t pay the outrageous tuitions?
If you look at the 20 richest Americans…15 either graduated or dropped out of a top school 10 school. Warren Buffet would be counted in this group if he had not decided to transfer from Wharton.
You can’t win the anecdote fight…so don’t play it. The reason people decide to pay these amounts ironically are because of the anecdotes (that are verified vs the bullshit spewed on DCUM)…which also create unrealistic expectations.
+1
studies have been done showing ivy+ and/or T10 schools overrepresented at top levels of many careers.
My law partners are 1/5 from T10s, 3/5 from T30/T5LACs, 1/5 from T30-75/lesser LAC, for undergrad. Law all but 2 are T14.
DH's medical partners/owners of the specialist group are 2/3 T10/ivy or Williams, 1/3 are Uva, WM. The med schools they went to are 1/2 Top50 research med schools.
We are sending all 3 of ours to ivy, T10 or T5LAC: if they were not that level of student or had gotten shut out we would do the next closest thing, T25 private or William and Mary in state which functions like a private mid-size and has T25 quality students.
Anonymous
03/29/2025 12:27
Subject: To you, what schools are truly worth 90k/year
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:No college is worth 90K.
I have a Stanford grad my age, 3 levels below me in my org.
I have countless UVA, UNC, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, friends in my neighborhood who are in very middle tier jobs or stay at home wifes.
Tufts? Barely makes me think it might be a decent school.
Delusion aside college shoudl be aboout 30K these days. 60K and you know you are wasting money. 90K and you might as well call the police because you have been robbed. Causation and correlation are very different things.
These examples are terrible…I don’t understand why people throw them out as proof of anything.
Also…why would you include UVA or UNC in your list when of course a bunch of those folks likely were in state and didn’t pay the outrageous tuitions?
If you look at the 20 richest Americans…15 either graduated or dropped out of a top school 10 school. Warren Buffet would be counted in this group if he had not decided to transfer from Wharton.
You can’t win the anecdote fight…so don’t play it. The reason people decide to pay these amounts ironically are because of the anecdotes (that are verified vs the bullshit spewed on DCUM)…which also create unrealistic expectations.
The reasons those 20 richest are so successful is likely due to their wealthy upbringing---they would succeed no matter where they went. And it's easier to be an entrepreneur when you know you have a safety net (rich family) supporting you. You are often brought up to take more risks, so it's a part of life from young age.
So it's not really correlation to the school they got into, but to their entire upbringing.
Anonymous
03/29/2025 12:25
Subject: To you, what schools are truly worth 90k/year
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Is it worth it to me to drop millions on a Ferrari or a Rolls Royce? Absolutely not- not even if I had the money and certainly not if I had to take out a loan for them.
But for someone who loves driving, loves cars, has the money, and would get enormous pleasure out of driving the car? They should just understand that they likely won’t reap a financial return…but it still might be worth it to them.
Bad example with the Ferrari…those cars actually have good financial returns because Ferrari dramatically curates its buyer list and limits production.
Most Ferrari’s actually appreciate in value because it’s so difficult to buy one new…even if you have the $$$s.
DP: point is people value different things. Some of us value education and planned and saved for it. Others choose to save/spend on other things and then like to complain "it's not fair we cannot afford $90K". But if you are making $200K+, you most likely could have "found a way to afford it if it's most important to you". Now, is that the best choice for your finances, not always if only making $200K. Just like spending $80K+ on a vehicles at that income likely is not the best choice. But some people do chose that.
Anonymous
03/29/2025 12:22
Subject: To you, what schools are truly worth 90k/year
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:This begs the question: what would make a half million dollar investment in your child's college education worth it to you? What is the ROI you're seeking?
Status label? Job prospects? Social connections?
If I were in a position to spend that much, I'd be looking at prestigious British universities too. Oxford, Cambridge, St. Andrews. I have both attended and taught at international schools. I taught in Switzerland (future international bankers) and my sister in law has lectured at Cambridge. You can't beat that prestige and those connections. Well worth half a million and more.
Good fit. That's all we need. The $$ is already set aside in a 529 account.
If good fit is all you need, you are lucky. All you need and to do is spend the time and money to do the deep dives into the culture, ethos, etc. of all the schools you want to consider. What a fun excursion - and you can afford it!
Agreed we are very fortunate. But this seems to really upset the pp.
+1
Many people get upset that they did not plan. Yes, costs are ridiculously high. But 15-20 years ago, it was very obvious we were heading this way. Our FA had us plan for $30K for in-state, $50K for mid cost college and $85K for upper end. That was fairly spot on. We knew we would be full pay (a privilege certainly) so we chose to save accordingly. We prioritized saving for college, it came out of budget before we planned any other extras.
Anonymous
03/29/2025 12:20
Subject: To you, what schools are truly worth 90k/year
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:This question is really for donut hole families. People that make over 200,000 a year but less than 300,000. Have some saved for college but not nearly enough.
IMO, if you cannot "easily pay the $90K", then it's not worth it. Don't mess with your retirement to pay for college. There are hundreds of great schools that will be affordable (thru merit or simply lower overall prices). Find the best ones of those for your kid
Np. My kid hasn’t applied yet but I just ran a NPC for a private school my kid is interested in, and despite my having an older dc in college and living in a high COL location, apparently these schools think I should spend 65% of my take home pay on their tuition. So ridiculous.
Then the $90k schools are not worth it for you.
That is so very profound, thanks for posting your wisdom.
But I think this is meant to be a larger comment about the expense of education in the US.
But the thread is what schools are truly worth 90k to you.
Yes, and thank god for your wisdom or else I wouldn’t have had my answer!
What always shocks me about the posters on Colleges is how dumb many of them seem as they are obsessing about elite colleges for their dc. The irony.
WTH??! If you need to spend 65% of your take-home pay to fund college, then that college is most likely too expensive for your family budget. Whether college is $90K or 50K or 30K. Simple math. Not sure you can find a financial advisor who would disagree with that.
Anonymous
03/29/2025 12:18
Subject: To you, what schools are truly worth 90k/year
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:This begs the question: what would make a half million dollar investment in your child's college education worth it to you? What is the ROI you're seeking?
Status label? Job prospects? Social connections?
If I were in a position to spend that much, I'd be looking at prestigious British universities too. Oxford, Cambridge, St. Andrews. I have both attended and taught at international schools. I taught in Switzerland (future international bankers) and my sister in law has lectured at Cambridge. You can't beat that prestige and those connections. Well worth half a million and more.
Good fit. That's all we need. The $$ is already set aside in a 529 account.
+1
Anonymous
03/29/2025 12:18
Subject: To you, what schools are truly worth 90k/year
Anonymous wrote:No college is worth 90K.
I have a Stanford grad my age, 3 levels below me in my org.
I have countless UVA, UNC, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, friends in my neighborhood who are in very middle tier jobs or stay at home wifes.
Tufts? Barely makes me think it might be a decent school.
Delusion aside college shoudl be aboout 30K these days. 60K and you know you are wasting money. 90K and you might as well call the police because you have been robbed. Causation and correlation are very different things.
Why mention all these colleges???
Anonymous
03/29/2025 12:16
Subject: To you, what schools are truly worth 90k/year
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:This question is really for donut hole families. People that make over 200,000 a year but less than 300,000. Have some saved for college but not nearly enough.
IMO, if you cannot "easily pay the $90K", then it's not worth it. Don't mess with your retirement to pay for college. There are hundreds of great schools that will be affordable (thru merit or simply lower overall prices). Find the best ones of those for your kid
Np. My kid hasn’t applied yet but I just ran a NPC for a private school my kid is interested in, and despite my having an older dc in college and living in a high COL location, apparently these schools think I should spend 65% of my take home pay on their tuition. So ridiculous.
Then the $90k schools are not worth it for you.
That is so very profound, thanks for posting your wisdom.
But I think this is meant to be a larger comment about the expense of education in the US.
But the thread is what schools are truly worth 90k to you.
And someone who doesn't have that money saved and cannot easily "cash flow" it most likely should not be spending it on college for 4 years. And yes, IMO, if it takes 65% of your take-home to fund college, that college is too expensive for most people. Especially when there are literally 95% of the rest of colleges that can be affordable and many excellent choices.