I would add “quite a bit of world travel” to HRSMom’s list. I consider travel an amazing educational experience, well worth loads of money…if one has loads to spend on education.
Slightly off topic, but I have always wondered why so many posters here are willing to pay for K-12 education when public schools are free to all, yet college isn’t “worth it?”
I have a son at Princeton that “only” wants to be a teacher. I was surprised to find that there are a lot of other students there interested in teaching as well-Princeton even has a teacher prep program. When he was considering his options last Spring a CC poster actually chastised him for taking a slot at a top school from a “serious” student. It is unfortunate that so many see undergraduate education as equivalent to trade school when there is so much more to those 4 years.
“world travel” could be achieved on additional Merit scholarships. My D. did just that and went on very expensive trip to NZ with the group from her college who traveled there on the regular basis. She actually learned whole tons and more so about her own self and her personal limitations. But it was D’s life long dream to visit the grounds of filming of “The Lord of the Rings”. I do not believe that would be possible at many Elite colleges. It was possible at her in-state public where she decided to apply for Returning Students Merit award. Her application was successful. This was though one of her many trips abroad and within USA. Couple of them were in fact free. D’s in-state college actually has a campus in Europe, but D. did not have time to take advantage of this opportunity. Money is not the only obstacle, the other valuable resources like time also have their limitations.
@mama2drama That exact conversation is taking place in our current 11th grader’s college discussion (though not in the way you meant.) One school our dd is considering will allow 2 full yrs of full-ride scholarship $$ to be used for study abroad, one yr abroad in each language area she wants to major in. With other programs, she would have to search for semester funding and 2 semesters would probably be the max budget.
No decisions yet and at this point they are hypothetical decisions, but the abroad experience isn’t one easily discounted.
As a parent, this was a very tough question for us. We thought long and hard about this as a family. Once the initial exhilaration of having gotten into a highly selective school wore off, you face the reality of having to fund that education for your child.
We (my wife and I) look at an expensive private school, as our “inheritance gift” to him. We won’t be taking loans out, but it is definitely a sizable hit on our finances given that we won’t qualify for need based aid.
We are acutely aware that he many not make more in a job once he graduates, than if he went to a local state school, or to schools where he had “full rides”
The question for us was where would he thrive better. Most of the schools he got “good merit aid” from were larger schools. Some kids do very well in these schools. They have the initiative, they elbow their way into the opportunities and don’t mind large classes with fewer interaction with teachers. Others not so well.
In the end, we came to the conclusion, that our kid did not fit that mold. It’s not that we don’t care about the merit aid offered. We just weighed it against which school would fit his needs and his temperament better.
For us, private school is definitely a “Luxury”, but we decided that it is more likely that our child will do better in a smaller, more intimate environment. Is it worth the price of a house in a midsize Midwestern city? We sure hope so, but only time will tell 
How could a Princeton spot be taken from a serious student if Princeton has a teaching program? That’s silly for someone to have said to him! If a parent is happy to pay, that’s great.
@planner03 my kids went to public schools. Why? Bc I felt in our district, it was not worth it. The schools are great, why pay more? Same argument for me. but some people don’t have a good public choice I guess.
I have the $, but it does irritate me that my son doesn’t get how much it is. But I suppose that takes experience earning $, which will come.
if you have the money or get great financial aid, why not? There are plenty of private colleges, i.e., those costing $60k, that offer nursing programs.
It is a post bach certificate program, not part of the regular Princeton degree-the student still majors in Physics, Chemistry, History, English, whatever. I suppose the mindset was that a Princeton Physics degree should be parlayed into a similarly prestigious grad school degree, not into a teaching certificate, because that would be “a waste.”
To go back to the original question, I think one of the reasons why someone would feel entitled to write “waste” is because nursing is an under appreciated, largely women’s field. Writing that an engineering degree from an Ivy is a waste is more controversial because there are different assumptions about research possibilities, networking, and larger career goals in engineering. In the end, I think the subject is tainted with a certain disrespect of nursing, writes the sister of a nursing professor.
Now one can write “waste” about humanities degrees and many licensing degrees (CPAs, for example), but by taking nursing, it creates–in some very ignorant minds–the contrast between the inexpensive state degree and the Ivy degree (that actually may be cheaper than the state degree). In doing so, it ignores the differences between an Ivy nursing degree and a less competitive school. For example many of the Penn nursing students will have taken APs and have scheduled freed up for complex projects. Many would have second language fluency that would allow them to undertake work on global health topics. It would be a very different degree than one that prepares for the licensure exam only.
I just want to point out you need to assume the student could get into an Ivy.
All those assumptions would apply if the same student attended an in-state nursing program. They would still have taken the same APs, still the same language fluency, still the same options for advanced classes. I have no disrespect for nursing (writes the brother of a nurse).
I think “waste” is not the right word. Perhaps “unnecessary expense”?
But the classmates of the student at a generic nursing program would not share those characteristics. At my sister’s well-known state university, they have a relatively high flunk out rate (somewhere around 10% after being accepted into the major). She spends lots of time on retention. Nursing may be a desirable major, but many students cannot manage it. I suspect, like teaching, many of the students are not high performers, but unlike teachers, the license test is rigorous, no wiggle room in the ICU.
Nursing programs, even at smaller less well known colleges, are incredibly competitive and becoming more so. Any more, I"d assume a student in the BSN program (direct entry or admitted after prerequisites) had some APs, etc.
Again, we are saying a student can choose between an Ivy or lower cost option. Ergo, they are already assumed to have those extra skills/APs, etc…
But will their classmates? Will the professors be focused on retention or on maximizing intellectual growth? Will the curriculum focus on getting everyone through or assume everyone gets through and wants to develop research questions?
I would amend that statement that “not ALL classmates at a generic nursing program would share those characteristics.”
It’s kind of arrogant to assume that there are not some very or even equally qualified students at many of the top public university nursing programs. Most of them had no desire to apply to Ivy league schools, particularly those students coming from outside of the NE, and particularly those students looking at nursing specifically. There is absolutely nothing wrong with attending an Ivy for nursing, and definitely many legitimate reasons for choosing one. But lacking funds, FA, or the desire to uproot oneself to the NE, declining to attend an Ivy for nursing school does not doom one to attending school with a bunch of dolts, it doesn’t put any kind of ceiling on career advancement, and it doesn’t preclude becoming a nurse who not only excels with respect to skills and tasks, but in critical thinking and advanced practice.
Nrdsb4, I have taught at big, state, research U’s my whole career, three different U’s in 3 different states, and I have had some very smart students, but most of my time is spent working with students who need help to progress. I am very proud of the teaching I have done, both undergraduate and graduate. I have even received awards for it.
I now have a daughter at HYPS. It is a different world. Even as an academic from an academic family with lots of Ivy degrees and appointments, I had no idea how different the curriculum, the student body, the networks, the professorial attention, the financial aid, the intellectual atmosphere. I cannot imagine having the choice of sending a child to my well-ranked state school or an Ivy and not choosing the Ivy (well, okay, I’m not big on Cornell or Dartmouth). The endowment makes a difference as does the student body.
Sorry Miami, that was for the post above yours. We cross-posted.
@Postmodern, I had the same reaction that you’re having when I first got here, but I guess I’ve gotten used to it.
People seemed hell-bent on talking kids out of any school with any bit of prestige. And it seemed like thread after thread contained posts advising kids to avoid all debt.
I agree with @mom2and that there are many threads where people giving nuanced answers to the questions of prestige and debt, but there are some where people take the argument to the extreme.
I think everyone would agree that borrowing $240K to go to a prestigious school would be a bad idea. You do get lots of kids coming on here asking about only the elite schools, and it’s clear that prestige is the only thing guiding their search. Many times the schools have absolutely nothing in common.
I think it’s good that people talk some sense into those kids, but I do think that many people take it to the extreme. For example, I have a cousin who is totally against taking on any debt or spending money on prestigious colleges. She spent a fortune on private elementary school, and pushed her kids to work their butts off in High School, but when it came time to look at colleges, she restricted them to only schools that she felt were affordable for the kid with minimal help. For most of these schools her kids were way over the top 25 percentile stats-wise - like 100 points on each SAT section.
One of her kids looked at a few private schools that she really liked, but my cousin talked her out of it. She had 25K saved for the kid, but wouldn’t help her with anything more than that, even though she has plenty of money saved, and her husband will probably retire early.
Based on their lifestyle, I’m pretty confident that they could afford to help the kid a little bit, and probably a lot. Of course it’s their money, but I just think they’re being cheap.
Thanks for that feedback, @WalknOnEggShells , I will try and follow your lead and get over it. Also, I fully understand the value of cost consciousness in an internal family decision – that’s for each family to make.
One of the most valuable things I have gotten from my short time on CC is the idea of “fit” being more important than prestige, and I get that. Best to attend somewhere you will love and thrive. (Thanks all, BTW)
What I question is very simply, the use of some obtuse, unpredictable ROI-type prediction (oxymoron purposeful) to base a really, really important decision.