<p>I’m “all in” for USC so I hope people will see my next statement through that lens.</p>
<p>I get what some are saying - albeit not always the most articulate. The extreme cost of education is putting everyone in a bind. When I attended MIT, the cost of tuition was approximately 10-20% of my parent’s salary. They were lower middle class (two wage earners, not high incomes). So that may “date me” in terms of when I attended. Suffice to say it was less than $5,000.</p>
<p>Fast forward:</p>
<p>My husband and I do much better than my parents. But tuition (before scholarships) for two children constitutes our entire adjusted gross income and it is not be feasible to write that check. This is not a USC problem as the same is true of most private colleges where COA’s of $50-60,000 are common. </p>
<p>With the exception of a few very wealthy individuals - attending USC is not without pain for the parents looking at the bill. Even those with large merit awards may still have to make up the difference between tuition and COA. And student loans from the government have not increased much over the last decades so a greater burden lies on the ability of the parents to locate a funding source (Plus and private loans, home equity, retirement, savings, pan handling, begging, faking one’s own death or finding a genie in a lamp with wishes left over).</p>
<p>So there are some families that can write a check without pain. Others are raiding their retirement to do it. Still others are taking out loans. Even students with few assets are finding themselves shut out due to a lack of the desired “full-ride” scholarships.</p>
<p>But in the ensuing debates about who gets what and what is fair starts sowing the seeds of a “class war” which I hope doesn’t happen here on CC.</p>
<p>The reality is that there is no thing as “entitled to” or “free ride” or…</p>
<p>So - its true - if you can’t afford it (or can but choose not to) - no harm no foul. It’s expensive. Some of us see the investment well worth it. Today I helped my kid talk through a problem and she laughed and joked that she’d add a pool to the MTV crib she will buy me when she makes her first movie. To pay back for our dwindling savings.</p>
<p>We all know it is a joke. But in the end - when all else fails - attitude is everything.</p>
<p>If anyone has a wish left over in their genie bottle, can I have it? :-)</p>