<p>dstark - they will make up the difference with foreign students. Right now the babyboom echo is just starting to hit the colleges so it is really boom time for them. Much better than even a few years ago.</p>
<p>BTW I spend a lot of time going to the WEB sites of the consulting firms the colleges use when they want to “manage enrollment” Trust me the schools are run by MBA’s and think in economic terms. They save the high minded blather for the alumni, parents, and press.</p>
<p>So prices keep going up and up and up?</p>
<p>CA homeowners, you should still submit the forms. You may have high equity, but wil your income support the payment on a new mortgage? Perhaps not…you never know how they will look at it…being expected to tap existing equity is one thing, asking you to sell your home and cash out and move elsewhere is another.</p>
<p>FinAid people COULD look at things like prop 13 did…just because your home value increased doesn’t mean you could afford to buy it now.</p>
<p>patuxent – can you successfully quantify “sticker price” on an education? And depending, like any other commodity, on who you are and how you plan to use it, you might be crazy like a fox to spend the big bucks on it…</p>
<p>For instance, most people would agree that paying $300 for a pair of jeans is idiotic when you can buy a perfectly good pair for what, $35 at a low-end department store? But let’s say you’re a woman trying to land herself a wealthy guy. You’ve done all your spade work, identified the prospect, networked to get yourself invited to the right party, etc., but you have to have market the product – yourself. And you’re taking a chance if you wear the department store jeans. Even if your target is clueless about fashion, the vulturous women at the party won’t be, and the you could be ostracized to the point of not ever really getting near your target simply because you thought it was idiotic to invest $300 or even $150 in something you could buy for $50. (Don’t think it doesn’t happen, by the way, especially if you also made the mistake of not investing in a high-end handbag!) You’ve got money in the bank but you don’t get the guy. Penny-wise and pound foolish. You don’t have to like it, but in certain circumstances, the right brand or the wrong brand can buy you something or lose you something.</p>
<p>If “Harvard” were a brand of jeans, lots of people would look at them, laugh and say, I don’t see why anyone would pay $40,000 a year for those when instead you could go over to this other rack and get two years of community college, then transfer to State U. and come out with a perfectly good degree for less than one year at Harvard! On one level, those people would be absolutely right, and those people should stick with their choice. But I suspect those “Harvard” jeans would still fly out the door as long as the quality was high and the return on the “investment” of wearing them remained positive. Whether it does or not, down the road, is a little murky, but just like the intrinsic value of those jeans is the way you feel when you wear them, the intrinsic value of the education is the experience of being there. Like the credit card commercials, the tab might well be $40K a year, but the feeling, for some, at least… is priceless.</p>
<p>There’s something for everyone out there, which is what makes this such a great country. Rather than complain about the ED system, I would think we should be grateful for living in a country where there are so many ways to get a good education.</p>
<p>I just played around on the Princeton estimator and it shows quite a substantial package for people well over $100,000, and doesn’t crap out until about $140,000 and I was using some investments and some cash and still getting decent $'s estimated. For example, 3 in family, $120,000 income, $10k in cash, $50,000 in stocks, they don’t add home equity, and don’t look at retirement-$15,000 in aid. Drop AGI to $100000 and it’s $22-23000 in aid.</p>
<p>I’m lucky to live in Mayberry in some ways, costs of living being one , but our Assistant Superintendent and his wife the high school teacher don’t make more than $120,000 combined. And my friend the fireman and his wife the teacher probably make closer to $90,000 together. I believe most of America only has one piece of real estate if any and it’s usually there home, and the vast majority of families in this wage bracket have retirement assets like 401K’s as their primary investment tool. Both of which are exempt on Princeton’s calculator. It probably won’t work for me, but it seems pretty generous.</p>
<p>dstark - yes prices just keep going up and up 2x at least compared to the CPA and federal student aid only aggravates it. That is just found money for the schools. </p>
<p>Of course the schools are going to continue their diversification - the revenue source kind with increasing sums comming from research, patents, intellectual property, various kinds of merchandising, conference business, consulting, etc. At the major research universities the undergraduates will probably wind up an after thought - lucrative but bothersome.</p>
<p>mootmom,
I just replied to your pm. I do feel less alone.</p>
<p>Patuxent, my guess is there is going to be a time when tuition costs slow down. There is going to be a point when people just can’t afford it anymore.
I was reading a story today about people working in the computer software industry. People that were making $200 an hour in the boom have lost their jobs to people overseas making $20 an hour and less. We’ve had the blue collar squeeze. Now we are having the white collar squeeze. Who knows, in twenty years, we may even have the CEO salary squeeze. (I won’t hold my breath).
As the educated get squeezed, there may be a rethink about the costs of a college education.</p>
<p>Prices will continue to go up at a rate greater than inflation until such a time as tuition/room & board equal the actual cost of providing the education - at a top LAC, roughly $65k/year in today’s rupees. In other words, the scholarship given to every student (roughly $92k over four years) will be eliminated (it has been moving in this direction for over 20 years.) At the same time, scholarships for those “in need” will increase so that net costs for families that can’t afford the $65k will rise much more slowly.</p>
<p>In other words, the subsidy will end for those who don’t actually require it. You can think of that as fair or unfair, but the trend is very clear, and virtually universal. (The MBAs are in lockstep.)</p>
<p>Well Mini, I’m not paying $65,000 a year. I guess that is why I started this thread.:)</p>
<p>I wouldn’t either - and couldn’t. (I couldn’t pay anywhere close to what is being charged now, even with the $92k subsidy.)</p>
<p>Dizzymom, thanks for your insight. Crazy like a fox indeed. I’ll take my chances the investment will pay off. I’d like to meet up with dstark and patuxent in 10 years to assess who the idiots were.</p>
<p>kirmum–
im impressed w/ you…you cant stand it when someone calls your priorities “idiotic”, but you come right back and say (or at least imply) the same thing about other peoples’ priorities. ru you eye for eye tooth for tooth type person? b/c, with all due respect, thats not the behavior i expect from a well-educated person, much less an adult.</p>
<p>Those of us who think a quality education is worth the price have been called idiots. Perhaps we are. This thread has made me soul search, and I like that I’ve had the opportunity to do so. I have renewed energy for getting out of bed happily each morning. My goal, to work hard to give my children the best of what’s important, is being fulfilled. I remember again why I work as hard as I do. Thanks all.</p>
<p>Valdez, all name calling aside, you have been in my thoughts. I wish for you all the opportunities that your intelligence and potential deserve. I hope you make the hard decisions and live life to the fullest. Few get the opportunities that are being offered you. Choices are hard when you’re young, and frankly, always. Go for the gold, Valdez!</p>
<p>I’m glad this discussion has made you think (it is, after all, the central purpose of discussion). but please dont forget to respect the opposition–no matter how much you disagree w/ them or they disagree w/ you.</p>
<p>and, for the record, no one ive met on this thread is an idiot.</p>
<p>again, you have impressed me kirmum…but this time in a much more favorable manner. :)</p>
<p>im also keeping in mind your personal opinions and i appreciate your sudden gush of encouragement.</p>
<p>Valdez, my family talked about you over dinner tonight. I told my kids that they are fortunate to have been exposed to a lot in life in terms of careers and where education can take you. It sounds like your parents are PhDs, highly educated but often not incerdibly well compensated. I wondered if you had an idea what you want to do. This year in my law firm, 4 associates working on big cases got multiples of your EFC in bonus money. In one year! All went to ivies. My kid’s dad in an attorney/agent in the entertainment industry where earnings are absurdly high. He hires ivy grads. On Wall Street youngsters make these other guys look poor. Depending on what you want to do, the return on that Princeton investment will probably be huge. I would just feel badly to not have shared that with you.</p>
<p>Kirmum, I worked for a Wall St. law firm for years…what you’re saying is what I saw as well…like it or not, that’s the way it is.</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>Still thinking of this as an economic model why would they want to break rank … for the top tier schools for every accepted student there are another 10 or so who would gladly step in … in my opnion, frankly, the top tier schools are charging (much) less then they would if they viewed this as a economic issue to maximize.</p>
<p>3togo (whose retiement planning builds in payments for 3 full payments to top-tier private schools)</p>