| I will weigh in on the public instate university issue. IF your EFC is in excess of the cost of attendance at most private schools, and you do not receive merit aid (from those privates that DO offer it), your in state public university will be your best bet financially. The reality is that if your EFC is in the $40,000 range (and with two parents working in professional jobs, that is not an unrealistic amount), you aren't going to get huge aid at the private schools either. For families with more modest incomes and lower EFC's, it is very possible that the need based aid provided by the privates will bring their cost down to the same amount or less than these folks would be paying out of pocket to attend the public U. Public U's don't have a lot of their own institutional money (in most cases).
So...if your EFC is very high, and your instate U costs in the $18K-$20K range, it might well turn out to be your financial safety.
If your EFC is lower, and your income and assets are also in a lower range, the private universities that meet a high percentage of need could cost you less than a public university.
The key here is you need to know the %age of aid the private school will meet. If it's less than 100%, all bets are off...or as they say YMMV. |