I think other factors come in to play. The kid might want to leave the state to cut the apron strings and meet kids from more of the country and world. To me, that's a reasonable preference. It doesn't all come down to a specific benefit-cost analysis.

Anonymous wrote:I think that the quality of the food tends to be high at privates with high endowments and high room & board costs. There are exceptions, though.

Now we're talking. Virginia Tech and JMU routinely rank in the top 10 nationwide for food. So if on-campus food is your leading criterion, save your cash and head to one of the 'burgs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go to the least expensive and bank the difference or invest for grad. school. That's where the name really counts.

[/b]So, community college?

[b]

Of course not. We are comparing elite four year public bs private schools. If you save the money with in-state tuition. And bank the difference you can then help out with grad school.

Anonymous wrote:For CS, skill is very important vs. name of college.

By your logic, go to a community college since name of college drops out as irrelevant in Silicon Valley. By that logic, why bother with an Associate Degree? Go to a boot camp to learn to code.

Anonymous wrote:Go to the least expensive and bank the difference or invest for grad. school. That's where the name really counts.

So, community college?