Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ignore the community college idiots. The horror that a B student should go to a 4-year college. What world are you people living in that’s it’s only UVA or CC?

the "horror" is paying a small fortune for a nothing college. I'm not in VA. I think it's fine to pay in state tuition for those other VA colleges, but some people on here seem to be telling OP to send their kids to OOS and/or expensive private college because those colleges don't care that much about grades as much as how much you are willing to pay. Really? You'd want your kid to go to such a college?

BTW, I went to a no name state U, but I paid in state and commuted. I've read some posts on this forum of people telling an OP to consider that no name state U and pay OOS. That is absolutely insane.

Some people have more money than sense.

And what are you going to do with the money? Buy more things? Buy a larger house? Put in in the bank and... make more money?

How empty and pointless. I bet you don't travel either. Because that costs money and you're only left with memories.

Listen, most of us are HAPPY to gift our children the college experience. There is nothing material that I could buy that would bring me more joy.
I don't think you get this and I don't get you.

Nope, I'm frugal. I don't need things to make me happy. I love to travel, actually. That's where my money goes.

So, you're wrong on so many fronts.

Also, who said I didn't want my kid to go to college. I absolutely do, and I'm making sure DC is on track to go to college. But, I'm not paying a small fortune to go oos for a nothing college. I'm happy to pay for in state, or OOS for a great college, but who would be dumb enough to pay for OOS or full pay private for a C rated college.

I agree that overpaying for college is a bad idea, and that's the case for an A student as well as a B student. But if you insist the only option is an in-state public, you don't understand college pricing. Particularly for less selective private colleges the sticker price has no relation to reality. Yes, it may be more than your local state U but the gap is likely a lot smaller than you think.

We have one kid at a small private that is costing just a little more than our kid at a VA public. They offered what she wanted/needed.

? never stated only in state public regardless. My DC in college also applied to MIT, didn't get in, but we would've paid for that.

But, not paying OOS for say, JMU when DC could go to in state UMBC. That's the kind of comparison I'm talking about.

Did your kid get merit aid or financial aid? If merit aid, what were the stats? If financial aid, what's your HHI?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ignore the community college idiots. The horror that a B student should go to a 4-year college. What world are you people living in that’s it’s only UVA or CC?

the "horror" is paying a small fortune for a nothing college. I'm not in VA. I think it's fine to pay in state tuition for those other VA colleges, but some people on here seem to be telling OP to send their kids to OOS and/or expensive private college because those colleges don't care that much about grades as much as how much you are willing to pay. Really? You'd want your kid to go to such a college?

BTW, I went to a no name state U, but I paid in state and commuted. I've read some posts on this forum of people telling an OP to consider that no name state U and pay OOS. That is absolutely insane.

Some people have more money than sense.

And what are you going to do with the money? Buy more things? Buy a larger house? Put in in the bank and... make more money?

How empty and pointless. I bet you don't travel either. Because that costs money and you're only left with memories.

Listen, most of us are HAPPY to gift our children the college experience. There is nothing material that I could buy that would bring me more joy.
I don't think you get this and I don't get you.

Nope, I'm frugal. I don't need things to make me happy. I love to travel, actually. That's where my money goes.

So, you're wrong on so many fronts.

Also, who said I didn't want my kid to go to college. I absolutely do, and I'm making sure DC is on track to go to college. But, I'm not paying a small fortune to go oos for a nothing college. I'm happy to pay for in state, or OOS for a great college, but who would be dumb enough to pay for OOS or full pay private for a C rated college.

This is your problem. You don't realize how good these schools outside of the top ones are. Many educate students very well; their graduates learn important ways of thinking and get good jobs. It's extremely hard to get a faculty position anywhere so they are going to have faculty with PhDs from top-tier institutions. The differences in ranking have very little to do with the quality of education your child will receive or their future career outcomes (other than not as easily getting recruited for Wall street, big consulting firms or big tech etc.) They are lower ranked because they fall slightly lower than the others in pulling in top research dollars, in creating a reputation among other scholars, in funding Pell Grant recipients etc. But they are very good at taking average kids like your DC, educating them and preparing them for adult life and on average they are associated with a significant lifetime income boost as well as health and other social outcomes boost over kids who did not go to a 4 year college. That your kid comes in with resources and support will make their outcomes even better than average. Fortunately too there are many OOS and private schools that provide merit aid in ways that they don't cost more--or not much more than going in-state.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This forum is full of liars. My 3.2/1180 DD started at JMU in August. No hooks or varsity sports.

Your daughter got lucky. According to SHEV, 3.65 is the 25th percentile for GPA

The 25th percentile doesn't matter that much because JMU is not selective--they accept around 80% of their applicants which includes a lot of kids who fall way below the 25th percentile for JMU. That's over 5000 kids with lower scores. And only about 1/5 of students even submit test scores.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ignore the community college idiots. The horror that a B student should go to a 4-year college. What world are you people living in that’s it’s only UVA or CC?

the "horror" is paying a small fortune for a nothing college. I'm not in VA. I think it's fine to pay in state tuition for those other VA colleges, but some people on here seem to be telling OP to send their kids to OOS and/or expensive private college because those colleges don't care that much about grades as much as how much you are willing to pay. Really? You'd want your kid to go to such a college?

BTW, I went to a no name state U, but I paid in state and commuted. I've read some posts on this forum of people telling an OP to consider that no name state U and pay OOS. That is absolutely insane.

Some people have more money than sense.

And what are you going to do with the money? Buy more things? Buy a larger house? Put in in the bank and... make more money?

How empty and pointless. I bet you don't travel either. Because that costs money and you're only left with memories.

Listen, most of us are HAPPY to gift our children the college experience. There is nothing material that I could buy that would bring me more joy.
I don't think you get this and I don't get you.

Nope, I'm frugal. I don't need things to make me happy. I love to travel, actually. That's where my money goes.

So, you're wrong on so many fronts.

Also, who said I didn't want my kid to go to college. I absolutely do, and I'm making sure DC is on track to go to college. But, I'm not paying a small fortune to go oos for a nothing college. I'm happy to pay for in state, or OOS for a great college, but who would be dumb enough to pay for OOS or full pay private for a C rated college.

I agree that overpaying for college is a bad idea, and that's the case for an A student as well as a B student. But if you insist the only option is an in-state public, you don't understand college pricing. Particularly for less selective private colleges the sticker price has no relation to reality. Yes, it may be more than your local state U but the gap is likely a lot smaller than you think.

We have one kid at a small private that is costing just a little more than our kid at a VA public. They offered what she wanted/needed.

This exactly. But it us hard to break through some people’s assumptions with facts.

Their kids have unnecessarily limited options because they won’t take the time to use the net price calculator on every college’s website!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ignore the community college idiots. The horror that a B student should go to a 4-year college. What world are you people living in that’s it’s only UVA or CC?

the "horror" is paying a small fortune for a nothing college. I'm not in VA. I think it's fine to pay in state tuition for those other VA colleges, but some people on here seem to be telling OP to send their kids to OOS and/or expensive private college because those colleges don't care that much about grades as much as how much you are willing to pay. Really? You'd want your kid to go to such a college?

BTW, I went to a no name state U, but I paid in state and commuted. I've read some posts on this forum of people telling an OP to consider that no name state U and pay OOS. That is absolutely insane.

Some people have more money than sense.

And what are you going to do with the money? Buy more things? Buy a larger house? Put in in the bank and... make more money?

How empty and pointless. I bet you don't travel either. Because that costs money and you're only left with memories.

Listen, most of us are HAPPY to gift our children the college experience. There is nothing material that I could buy that would bring me more joy.
I don't think you get this and I don't get you.

Nope, I'm frugal. I don't need things to make me happy. I love to travel, actually. That's where my money goes.

So, you're wrong on so many fronts.

Also, who said I didn't want my kid to go to college. I absolutely do, and I'm making sure DC is on track to go to college. But, I'm not paying a small fortune to go oos for a nothing college. I'm happy to pay for in state, or OOS for a great college, but who would be dumb enough to pay for OOS or full pay private for a C rated college.

I agree that overpaying for college is a bad idea, and that's the case for an A student as well as a B student. But if you insist the only option is an in-state public, you don't understand college pricing. Particularly for less selective private colleges the sticker price has no relation to reality. Yes, it may be more than your local state U but the gap is likely a lot smaller than you think.

We have one kid at a small private that is costing just a little more than our kid at a VA public. They offered what she wanted/needed.

Anonymous wrote:This forum is full of liars. My 3.2/1180 DD started at JMU in August. No hooks or varsity sports.

Your daughter got lucky. According to SHEV, 3.65 is the 25th percentile for GPA

This forum is full of liars. My 3.2/1180 DD started at JMU in August. No hooks or varsity sports.

Anonymous wrote:There is a weird cohort that dominates the DCUM college board.

The "Top 10 for a computer science degree that gives you a 6 figure income by 22 or you're wasting your money" crowd.
I don't know any of them in real life.
We don't come from money and we had to earn every cent we have. We're currently middle class by DCUM standards and upper middle class by any other standard.
We (and everyone we know in real life---and this is a large cross section of professional class people--engineers, teachers, doctors, CEOs, nurses, etc) all have some money saved for college. We believe in paying for a 4 year degree. We don't need that degree to be from Harvard or UVA. We don't need it to be in computer science or pre-med. We are committed to paying that money for our kid's college experience... whatever that might turn out to be. We will pay what we can for Harvard or Vanderbilt or Temple or Tennessee or SCAD or Berklee. We won't consider our kids to be a failure or their life "off track" if they're not pulling down 6 figures by age 22. We won't be surprised if they switch directions or careers 4 times by age 30. We view life as a journey and our children's lives as something that we ultimately don't much (if any) have control over.

Great post. My only problem with it is that you didn’t mention the tiresome finance & consulting drones.

Anonymous wrote:There is a weird cohort that dominates the DCUM college board.

The "Top 10 for a computer science degree that gives you a 6 figure income by 22 or you're wasting your money" crowd.
I don't know any of them in real life.
We don't come from money and we had to earn every cent we have. We're currently middle class by DCUM standards and upper middle class by any other standard.
We (and everyone we know in real life---and this is a large cross section of professional class people--engineers, teachers, doctors, CEOs, nurses, etc) all have some money saved for college. We believe in paying for a 4 year degree. We don't need that degree to be from Harvard or UVA. We don't need it to be in computer science or pre-med. We are committed to paying that money for our kid's college experience... whatever that might turn out to be. We will pay what we can for Harvard or Vanderbilt or Temple or Tennessee or SCAD or Berklee. We won't consider our kids to be a failure or their life "off track" if they're not pulling down 6 figures by age 22. We won't be surprised if they switch directions or careers 4 times by age 30. We view life as a journey and our children's lives as something that we ultimately don't much (if any) have control over.

You sound like the people I know IRL. Very few kids I know will be applying to Top 10 schools or majoring in computer science. Most parents in our group will happily pay for a mid-tier school and may get a little anxious when their kid changes their major 3 times and makes career changes, but most of the kids will turn out just fine.

DH and I were B students who went to mid-tier schools, avoided STEM as much as possible and ended up just fine as a lobbyist and lawyer. Our kids will be just fine too going to whatever mid-tier colleges they choose.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If VA, JMU, GMU, VCU

JMU and GMU have 25th percentile GPAs well above OP's kid. SHEV makes it very transparent for VA residents

Doesn't matter though because GMU and JMU are not selective--GMU accepts 90% of applicants, JMU around 80%. GMU has over 40k students. So that's a lot of kids who are accepted below the 25th percentile.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ignore the community college idiots. The horror that a B student should go to a 4-year college. What world are you people living in that’s it’s only UVA or CC?

the "horror" is paying a small fortune for a nothing college. I'm not in VA. I think it's fine to pay in state tuition for those other VA colleges, but some people on here seem to be telling OP to send their kids to OOS and/or expensive private college because those colleges don't care that much about grades as much as how much you are willing to pay. Really? You'd want your kid to go to such a college?

BTW, I went to a no name state U, but I paid in state and commuted. I've read some posts on this forum of people telling an OP to consider that no name state U and pay OOS. That is absolutely insane.

Some people have more money than sense.

And what are you going to do with the money? Buy more things? Buy a larger house? Put in in the bank and... make more money?

How empty and pointless. I bet you don't travel either. Because that costs money and you're only left with memories.

Listen, most of us are HAPPY to gift our children the college experience. There is nothing material that I could buy that would bring me more joy.
I don't think you get this and I don't get you.

Nope, I'm frugal. I don't need things to make me happy. I love to travel, actually. That's where my money goes.

So, you're wrong on so many fronts.

Also, who said I didn't want my kid to go to college. I absolutely do, and I'm making sure DC is on track to go to college. But, I'm not paying a small fortune to go oos for a nothing college. I'm happy to pay for in state, or OOS for a great college, but who would be dumb enough to pay for OOS or full pay private for a C rated college.

OP, I just wanted to say your daughter will go far in life. She is getting a good education and she works hard at her studies.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ignore the community college idiots. The horror that a B student should go to a 4-year college. What world are you people living in that’s it’s only UVA or CC?

the "horror" is paying a small fortune for a nothing college. I'm not in VA. I think it's fine to pay in state tuition for those other VA colleges, but some people on here seem to be telling OP to send their kids to OOS and/or expensive private college because those colleges don't care that much about grades as much as how much you are willing to pay. Really? You'd want your kid to go to such a college?

BTW, I went to a no name state U, but I paid in state and commuted. I've read some posts on this forum of people telling an OP to consider that no name state U and pay OOS. That is absolutely insane.

Some people have more money than sense.

And what are you going to do with the money? Buy more things? Buy a larger house? Put in in the bank and... make more money?

How empty and pointless. I bet you don't travel either. Because that costs money and you're only left with memories.

Listen, most of us are HAPPY to gift our children the college experience. There is nothing material that I could buy that would bring me more joy.
I don't think you get this and I don't get you.

Nope, I'm frugal. I don't need things to make me happy. I love to travel, actually. That's where my money goes.

So, you're wrong on so many fronts.

Anonymous wrote:There is a weird cohort that dominates the DCUM college board.

The "Top 10 for a computer science degree that gives you a 6 figure income by 22 or you're wasting your money" crowd.
I don't know any of them in real life.
We don't come from money and we had to earn every cent we have. We're currently middle class by DCUM standards and upper middle class by any other standard.
We (and everyone we know in real life---and this is a large cross section of professional class people--engineers, teachers, doctors, CEOs, nurses, etc) all have some money saved for college. We believe in paying for a 4 year degree. We don't need that degree to be from Harvard or UVA. We don't need it to be in computer science or pre-med. We are committed to paying that money for our kid's college experience... whatever that might turn out to be. We will pay what we can for Harvard or Vanderbilt or Temple or Tennessee or SCAD or Berklee. We won't consider our kids to be a failure or their life "off track" if they're not pulling down 6 figures by age 22. We won't be surprised if they switch directions or careers 4 times by age 30. We view life as a journey and our children's lives as something that we ultimately don't much (if any) have control over.

I never stated it had to be one of those schools. My one DC goes to UMD, and we're thrilled about it.

You are the one who thinks that I'm saying it's T10 or nothing. That is absolutely not what I'm saying. And no where did I state that a college grad is a failure unless they are making six figures at 22. Again you are taking that to extremes.

But, there's a balance. I have a younger DC who is probably a B to B+ student. DC may not get into UMD. Maybe they will get into UMBC or Towson. I would be good with that. Or, if they really wanted UMD, go to community college then transfer. But, I would not pay OOS or full pay private for a middling university. That's a dumb financial move.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ignore the community college idiots. The horror that a B student should go to a 4-year college. What world are you people living in that’s it’s only UVA or CC?

the "horror" is paying a small fortune for a nothing college. I'm not in VA. I think it's fine to pay in state tuition for those other VA colleges, but some people on here seem to be telling OP to send their kids to OOS and/or expensive private college because those colleges don't care that much about grades as much as how much you are willing to pay. Really? You'd want your kid to go to such a college?

BTW, I went to a no name state U, but I paid in state and commuted. I've read some posts on this forum of people telling an OP to consider that no name state U and pay OOS. That is absolutely insane.

Some people have more money than sense.

And what are you going to do with the money? Buy more things? Buy a larger house? Put in in the bank and... make more money?

How empty and pointless. I bet you don't travel either. Because that costs money and you're only left with memories.

Listen, most of us are HAPPY to gift our children the college experience. There is nothing material that I could buy that would bring me more joy.
I don't think you get this and I don't get you.