Be careful what wish for: daughter accepted to Ivy

When your daughter was born 18 years ago did you not think she'd go to college?

I've filled out FAFSA and CSS profiles for ivy league & similar schools within the last two years. If you're making 250k and have a house worth 2 million, you're not getting need based aid.

Occasionally you can bargain for some aid or try and get universities to match other financial offers, but that doesn't occur very often on the undergrad level.

That upper middle class bracket falls just outside the maximum allowed wealth to receive any need based help. Even from ivies and other exceedingly generous schools.

Sesamoiditis wrote:

When your daughter was born 18 years ago did you not think she'd go to college?

Ha ha ... yes, but was gearing towards the $22k per year school.

Anyhow, I appreciate all of the thoughtful responses. Some contain very good advice.

I will report back if she gets in and what the actual cost would be ... in case any with similar situations are interested. (Apologies for the misleading subject line. I was worried about fitting it in and forgot to update it before posting. While they did fly her up, she hasn't officially been accepted.)

If you're making $250k a yr and live in a 2 million dollar home you are on the edge of the pay bubble. You and the 25% above you pay for the rest of us to go Ivy for the price of state u. Sad but true.

Here's what I told my kids:

$40K/year.

How did I come up with that? That covers the out-of-state cost for most good public universities. It'll pretty much cover tuition and living places like Illinois, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Purdue. I didn't want to force our state university, but I also didn't want to cough up another $20K+ per year for a school that's not going to give significant additional benefit. My son is studying Engineering at Purdue. Its engineering program is better than that at *any* ivy, and there are Purdue Engineering grads everywhere. The only places with better reputations in the Engineering world are Stanford and MIT. My daughter *may* go in-state. I'm not insisting on that. Of course, there are some public schools that cost about as much as a private college if out of state. Michigan, Virginia, and Vermont come to mind. They're off the table.

I tell my kids what my parents told me - if you want to go to college, get great grades, do great in athletics, and get either an academic or athletic scholarship. Otherwise, you will have to work and go to school like millions of other kids.

It worked wonders in our family - three of us ran Division I with full scholarships and the oldest went D1 on academic scholarship. My parents paid $0 and we have $0 in student debt upon graduation.

Lots of free money out there. Someone is willing to pay for your talented child to attend their school.

Have to agree. It's more social engeneering than learning. Do you think American History 1001 has different information at Ohio State than Stanford? BUT she will be sitting in class next to other rich kids and meeting and getting f#cked by rich boys from nice families.

I went to a low level state school. I know who was in school there. A lot of us were the first in our families to go to college others were children of teachers, nurses, and para-professionals.

well...... wrote:

My son is studying Engineering at Purdue. Its engineering program is better than that at *any* ivy, and there are Purdue Engineering grads everywhere. The only places with better reputations in the Engineering world are Stanford and MIT.

Caltech, Berkeley, GTech, UMich, Harvey Mudd, UIUC, and UCLA would like a word. Depending on the field, Cornell, Duke, Hopkins, and Northwestern would enter the convo too, especially at the undergrad level. Good company to be in, but Purdue's not the #3 engineering rep in the country.

Interesting thread. I'm a 50 year old who has done well after paying his way through a state school many years ago now. Of course in those days, state schools cost next to nothing. I knew that college inflation had been insane over the years since, but was stunned when I went to a workshop at the College of Wooster in Ohio a few weeks back. During a break, I looked up annual costs to attend, and it was almost 60K! I nearly pooped myself.

I can certainly understand the angst generated by those looking at costs for Ivy league schools, although it is true that attendance at them buys connectivity, and that matters in life. It is also clear to me that state schools can be a great deal, because ultimately it's about how each individual achieves that matters most. We've all known elite-school graduate jack offs, and state school achievers. What I cannot understand is why anyone would spend big dollars to go to one of the thousands of non-elite, barely-known little colleges dotting the landscape in much of the country. The College of Wooster at 60K per year? Are you kidding me? You get none of the elite panache and most of the high price? Why are people sending their kids to schools like this?

Wooster is a very good school.

hahahaha not quite wrote:

well...... wrote:

My son is studying Engineering at Purdue. Its engineering program is better than that at *any* ivy, and there are Purdue Engineering grads everywhere. The only places with better reputations in the Engineering world are Stanford and MIT.

Caltech, Berkeley, GTech, UMich, Harvey Mudd, UIUC, and UCLA would like a word. Depending on the field, Cornell, Duke, Hopkins, and Northwestern would enter the convo too, especially at the undergrad level. Good company to be in, but Purdue's not the #3 engineering rep in the country.

Penn State engineering is one of the tops in the East. No laugh.

hahahaha not quite wrote:

well...... wrote:

My son is studying Engineering at Purdue. Its engineering program is better than that at *any* ivy, and there are Purdue Engineering grads everywhere. The only places with better reputations in the Engineering world are Stanford and MIT.

Caltech, Berkeley, GTech, UMich, Harvey Mudd, UIUC, and UCLA would like a word. Depending on the field, Cornell, Duke, Hopkins, and Northwestern would enter the convo too, especially at the undergrad level. Good company to be in, but Purdue's not the #3 engineering rep in the country.

Not so good at reading comprehension are you? You listed a bunch of schools. Only one is ivy. Did you actually *read* what I wrote? Nowhere did I say it was #3, either. Where'd you get that. It is consistently ranked top 10 by us news.

No_cash wrote:

Sorry, Sociology

Lol

I'm telling you now, your daughter, she has no clue. Which is fine, but don't compound it.

Save your money or have the Ex-wife pay for it all.

I've never said this, Bc ppl around me say it.

But Sociology is a bad, bad, worthless degree.

Actually for you I'd wish her a general mid-grade degree, Chem, Bio, History, then get married and have kids with a decent guy that loves to work, loves family and kids himself.

Agreed. Sociology is a waste of your money and beyond worthless. If she insists on that major, then tell her that she can study that at your local community college and save you a ton of dough.

Bullshit, in the respect that anyone outside of NE Ohio has ever heard of it. There are two logical paths to choosing a university; choose one that is accredited but reasonable when it comes to total cost of the degree, or choose one that everybody will recognize and will connect you in ways that will likely enhance your life later on. Schools like Wooster are neither, in that they cost a fortune but don't connect one in meaningful ways or bring that name recognition piece. Truth be told, if you aren't graduating from an Ivy, or Notre Dame, or USC, or a handful of others, you're kidding yourself if you think it matters which school it is. Hell, even in NE Ohio, few think of Wooster as anything other than that little school in farm country an hour away. I would send a kid to Oberlin or Case 1000 times before I'd send him to Wooster. I have interviewed many kids coming out of college in NE Ohio and can tell you without a doubt that kids from Akron, Kent and CSU compete just as well as kids from the little schools in the countryside. Case and Oberlin are the only two schools around here that have that "sheen" of prestige.

well...... wrote:

hahahaha not quite wrote:

Caltech, Berkeley, GTech, UMich, Harvey Mudd, UIUC, and UCLA would like a word. Depending on the field, Cornell, Duke, Hopkins, and Northwestern would enter the convo too, especially at the undergrad level. Good company to be in, but Purdue's not the #3 engineering rep in the country.

Not so good at reading comprehension are you? You listed a bunch of schools. Only one is ivy. Did you actually *read* what I wrote? Nowhere did I say it was #3, either. Where'd you get that. It is consistently ranked top 10 by us news.

"The only places with better reputations in the Engineering world are Stanford and MIT."

I'm not the one having issues with reading comprehension here friend.

Purdue's graduate engineering programs are superior to the ivies (possibly bar Cornell), but there are several schools besides Stanford and MIT with "better reputations in the engineering world" than Purdue.

I was pleased that both Oberlin and Middlebury have Ben Franklin stores in town.

ivy grad, MD

no to sociology, yes to ivy

take out loans, but only if she is and continues to be a great student

well...... wrote:

My son is studying Engineering at Purdue. Its engineering program is better than that at *any* ivy, and there are Purdue Engineering grads everywhere. The only places with better reputations in the Engineering world are Stanford and MIT.

Engineering students from places like Purdue end up being good engineers. Engineering students from the Ivies end up as investment bankers, consultants, corporate executives.

When Columbia recruited me a while ago they essentially price matched other Ivy League offers. Some schools have more "academic" money to give than others. Also, some schools are cheaper than others. If she really likes Columbia have her reach out/apply to other Ivies and see if they'll offer a better deal (may want to bring finance issues to up the coach before hand and make sure this matching policy is still in place).