Why exactly should I justify my consumption choices to a bunch of losers on DCUM?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Egads, the sanctimony! As if people who can't/won't pay $80k/year for college are driving a Beamer, living in a mansion, and going to Europe every year instead

I'm not the PP above, but, actually, yes, I know quite a few folks who can't/won't pay that much in tuition, but who drive fancy cars, own more than 1 home and take expensive vacations. That's not my choice, but I certainly do have friends and neighbors who have made or are making that choice.

Anonymous wrote:I went to highly ranked SLAC, which is now almost $80k all in and is stingy with merit, as top ranked SLACs can be. Pretty much everyone I know from my college is highly successful not just with our $300k+ jobs but have done really interesting things, seem mostly happy and motivated in all aspects of life. I want for my kids to have that life. Does spending $320,000 on my kids college guarantee that, of course not, but I cannot help myself to spend the money I have for that purpose. Maybe I am the sucker the schools are looking for and maybe my kids will not be able to get in anyway. But if they can, not making them turn down the likes of Boston College, Swarthmore, Vanderbilt. Completely respect that others think I am crazy, I might look back in 15 years and regret it.

That's interesting and I'm glad it worked out but I bet you'd be just as successful if you went state U. Seems like there are several philosophies...

* Go to the cheapest place you can that offers what you want
* Go to the highest ranked school you can get into/ or perceived best fit regardless of cost
* Go to a "good" school that won't break the bank

In my family, there has been no correlation between highly ranked schools and job satisfaction with the exception of the one family member that went to a highly ranked school but she scored a 1600 on the SAT. She probably would have done just as well as state U though. She had a free ride.

I went to highly ranked SLAC, which is now almost $80k all in and is stingy with merit, as top ranked SLACs can be. Pretty much everyone I know from my college is highly successful not just with our $300k+ jobs but have done really interesting things, seem mostly happy and motivated in all aspects of life. I want for my kids to have that life. Does spending $320,000 on my kids college guarantee that, of course not, but I cannot help myself to spend the money I have for that purpose. Maybe I am the sucker the schools are looking for and maybe my kids will not be able to get in anyway. But if they can, not making them turn down the likes of Boston College, Swarthmore, Vanderbilt. Completely respect that others think I am crazy, I might look back in 15 years and regret it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do you pay for slac? Or oos state schools? Like Michigan tuition is 50k out of state. My DS was accepted but we couldn’t justify the cost to attend Michigan when he could just go to UMD for a fraction of the cost. Just curious how do families pay for schools that are over 70k .

Funny you ask this but I was a MD resident 15 years ago when I was accepted to Michigan and UMD, and it was actually MORE expensive for me to attend college park because of how little aid they gave aside from loans. Michigan was very generous with grants - even as an OOS student - so I ended up going to Michigan over MD for purely economic reasons. Wasn't too caught up in which school was better at that time b/c I was just a typical lazy high school student, lol.

This was our situation just a few years ago. Well, not Michigan (Michigan waitlisted my kid who would have loved to go there) but a private high-sticker-price school with a reputation for bad aid gave my musician a full tuition scholarship. Every college except Maryland gave a music scholarship and they were all cheaper than MD. It's a shame because the professor at MD in his instrument is very strong and he would have loved to study with him - but it was more money.

Mine is at an OOS because the program is ranked #1 in the country, much higher than our in-state. The OOS is still cheaper than DC private school - HS was $48k in senior year!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH and I both went to SLACs before meeting at a top 3 law school. We know the value of a SLAC education and we can afford it for our kids. If you can't or don't want to pay for a SLAC, that's fine, but how is it so difficult for you to understand that people have different priorities?

Same here. Paying for college is our top priority.

+1. DH and I met at a SLAC. We really value the small classes (our SLAC and DS’s SLAC often have only a half dozen kids in 300 level classes), only professors teaching/ no TAs, undergrads developing the relationships with professors (we had three of our professors attend our wedding, went to their houses for dinner, knew their kids), undergrads getting all the research opportunities, the schools working with the student to tailor internships and study abroad to their particular goals, classes the revolved around discussion and not lecture, we both did individual studies with professors in specialized areas where there wasn’t a class, living in a 4 year residential community...


Our parents made that possible for us, and we both had significant professional opportunities based on connections we made as undergrads with friends and professors. So we are making it possible for our kids. We drive Subaru’ss for 10 years, we don’t go to Disney, we live in a good school pyramid, but not the most expensive one— and we saved. And our parents saved for their grandkids. So far, it’s been 1000% worth it.

Anonymous wrote:DH and I both went to SLACs before meeting at a top 3 law school. We know the value of a SLAC education and we can afford it for our kids. If you can't or don't want to pay for a SLAC, that's fine, but how is it so difficult for you to understand that people have different priorities?

Same here. Paying for college is our top priority.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

And again the question. How do families save enough money to pay for their kids to go to OOS colleges?

Op here- no that was not my question. My question was how do you justify spending 70k per year on one kids education when you can achieve the goal of educating your child at in-state school for a lot less money? My question has been answered by some helpful and some snarky comments

Here's what your question was "Just curious how do families pay for schools that are over 70k". Not how do they justify it. That's why you are getting people answering with the mechanics how families pay for schools that are over 70k.

Anonymous wrote:

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

And again the question. How do families save enough money to pay for their kids to go to OOS colleges?

Maximize your earnings; Spend less than what you make; Live on one spouse's salary; Stay in the first house you buy; Own vehicles for at least 10 years, if not more; Prioritize your kid's education over vacations, etc. Luck plays a role obviously.. With getting the right job, spouse with the right mindset, kids that are smart enough to be able to get admissions to the right school and willing to take advice, etc.

Our first is applying for college now. His ED will cost us 80K+ a year; His safety will be $0 - $15K/yr (Merit aid); Instate (UVA) will be about $35K. Most likely will be around $50K/yr (OOS state flagship). If he makes his ED, it will end up costing us $120K more. We are OK with paying for what we believe is the best possible education for him. He has the stats for all these schools but has several structural factors working against him (race, competitive school, wrong sex for area of interest, etc.) so we hope for the best. Will deal with Grad school expenses when we get to that stage. Not going to Med school, so it won't be terrible.

The whole point in living in this forsaken swamp is being able to afford to send my kids to the school they want to attend.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

And again the question. How do families save enough money to pay for their kids to go to OOS colleges?

Op here- no that was not my question. My question was how do you justify spending 70k per year on one kids education when you can achieve the goal of educating your child at in-state school for a lot less money? My question has been answered by some helpful and some snarky comments

How do you justify sending your child to a 4 year college when they could live at home and get a 2 year degree for far less? How do you justify that when college in Germany is literally free?

How do you justify a fancy meal out instead of ordering pizza or eating pbj?

Anonymous wrote:

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

And again the question. How do families save enough money to pay for their kids to go to OOS colleges?

Seems pretty obvious to me. Some people make more, some people prioritize different expenses. Some people will forgo vacations to pay for this, some people don't need to. Some OOS colleges don't costs as much as others, some LACs don't cost as much as others. Not sure why it's so hard to understand.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

And again the question. How do families save enough money to pay for their kids to go to OOS colleges?

Op here- no that was not my question. My question was how do you justify spending 70k per year on one kids education when you can achieve the goal of educating your child at in-state school for a lot less money? My question has been answered by some helpful and some snarky comments

How do you justify sending your child to a 4 year college when they could live at home and get a 2 year degree for far less? How do you justify that when college in Germany is literally free?

Anonymous wrote:

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

And again the question. How do families save enough money to pay for their kids to go to OOS colleges?

Op here- no that was not my question. My question was how do you justify spending 70k per year on one kids education when you can achieve the goal of educating your child at in-state school for a lot less money? My question has been answered by some helpful and some snarky comments