Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My parents did not pay for my college or grad school. I never considered any public universities in state or out of state. I am from NY. I applied to schools I was interested in, got financial aid and graduated grad school with loans and paid it off pretty quickly. I worked in investment banking and private equity in NYC so it was fast.

I’m surprised at how many people choose state schools in VA and MD.

Are students that afraid of debt?

All these families are better off financially than my family was when I was going to college. The cost of college was not a factor for me. I just knew I would pay it back.

It makes sense for investment banking, since public universities are not loved on wall street. If you majored in anything else, public u would serve you just as well. You'd pay those loans even faster.

Wall Street loves Michigan, Indiana, UVA , and Cal grads. All public.

Anonymous wrote:The thought of going into investment banking makes me shudder. I wouldn’t want my child to do that just to pay off loans.

Seriously. I think it's a real problem that these "elite" schools end up just being feeders to things like banking and management consulting. Kids go in there with a diversity of interests but they seem designed now to just churn out a small number of jobs. When you've paid that much for the credential, you have to justify it with a limited number of jobs.

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in the Bay Area -- most of my high school class who went to college went to a UC school or a Cal State school, other than maybe 10-20 percent who went to private colleges or universities. Even with the relative affluence of my hometown -- early-ish Silicon Valley, very UMC -- cost was absolutely a factor in college choice, particularly when the public schools were so strong and so affordable. Private school tuition has only skyrocketed since then. You better believe we will be looking at public. Since we live in DC, we are looking at OOS tuition (with DC TAG's help) everywhere, unfortunately.

Same in Southern California. I applied to some private and OOS publics (I wanted to get away) but didn't get enough aid to persuade my parents it was worth it. Ended up having a great experience at CA public and was very happy with my first job out of college and my career has gone well from there.

Costs and aid landscape are very different now. In many cases a good in-state public makes a lot of sense but there are also a lot of schools that price with merit aid to be competitive with the in-state price. We pay about the same for one kid at a VA public and the other at a private that was a better fit than the VA options.

are you asking if costs influence peoples' decisions on major purchases?

yes.

Anonymous wrote:Because it’s a terrible waste of money. Particularly right now when you are basically paying to be indoctrinated by anti-semites and fund encampments for entitled brats who would not survive two days in Gaza under the “leadership” of the very people they are defending.

the vast majority aren't rooting for Gaza's leadership, good lord. they are against exactly what the ICC is

The thought of going into investment banking makes me shudder. I wouldn’t want my child to do that just to pay off loans.

We will. I will not allow my child to have debt.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My parents did not pay for my college or grad school. I never considered any public universities in state or out of state. I am from NY. I applied to schools I was interested in, got financial aid and graduated grad school with loans and paid it off pretty quickly. I worked in investment banking and private equity in NYC so it was fast.

I’m surprised at how many people choose state schools in VA and MD.

Are students that afraid of debt?

All these families are better off financially than my family was when I was going to college. The cost of college was not a factor for me. I just knew I would pay it back.

You are tone-deaf and ignorant, OP. Most professions will never, ever, create investment banking type wealth. Most people don't want that job, because we're all different with different skills and personalities. So for the MAJORITY of jobs requiring a college degree or graduate school, there is no point in paying more for a private university. The ROI just isn't there.

Snap out of your bubble.

Thank you. +1.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Virginia has some fantastic state schools. Why pay for private when you can get a better education, with a larger alumni network, at a public?

+1

+1. DS had private options ($93K a year), OOS public options (Georgia Tech and Purdue) but picked UVA. We banked the difference, which compounded, so can easily afford graduate school now

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m paying $50k for high school and I don’t want to pay $80k for college.

You should have saved the money to pay for the better school. Anyone who claims UMD is better than or the same as MIT is ignorant or lying.

You're wrong, it's not so black and white. MIT has one of the best math and physics education in the world. It's also a cut-throat pressure cooker self-esteem wringer. And is it worth that price differential? That will depend on people's financial situations, OP and PP. Not everyone qualifies for financial aid, and people's goals are all different. It's ridiculous to send a Humanities or Business kid to MIT, since they need top-level math and physics to graduate, and presumably might not graduate with the best GPA.

It's all in the details, people. You can't make sweeping statements like idiots.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Virginia has some fantastic state schools. Why pay for private when you can get a better education, with a larger alumni network, at a public?

UVA is definitely better than SUNY.

+`1. UVA is no 24 best univirisites in the US. SUNY is no. 76

Borh my folks attended public universities. Worked in public schools their entire working careers. I attended public schools and university. My children attended public schools. Son enrolled at public university. Never really considered private.

OP is probably a troll but also from New York where many people look at private options because the SUNYs are not as respected as the top public universities. The same was true in MD in my day. But if you live in CA, MI, NC, TX and other states with very highly regarded public flagships it's hard for many families to turn down in-state tuition because there aren't that many better private options.

Anonymous wrote:Virginia has some fantastic state schools. Why pay for private when you can get a better education, with a larger alumni network, at a public?

+1

Anonymous wrote:Image that. Different people make different choices. Some because they choose to and some because they have to. I know a lot of people who do state for undergrad and for grad do private. but hey, keep on judging! You way is the only way!

Well said.