HELP ----Is Cal Berkeley Worth 60k-70k in Student Debt VS No loans or Debt at a Lower School ? ? ? ?

First of all, that’s assuming an absurd level of salary growth. If you start at $70K straight out of Haas (and let’s be real - the median is around $60-70K, so let’s assume a starting salary around the top end of the median range rather than something in the top 5%), someone would have to double their salary in 10 years to get to $150K. And we’re claiming that will be their minimum salary? Unlikely, unless he goes back to grad school or something. According to Payscale, college graduate see abut 60% salary growth before age 30. And even that seems a bit high;

I know lots of people who work at those companies and did not borrow $60-70K for undergrad. If the OP’s son truly is an ambitious kid, as you said, he can end up at a good company making a good salary without borrowing the debt. At the very least he can save the borrowing for his MBA.

The much bigger risk is if the kid doesn’t end up at one of those places and struggles to repay his loan.