<p>megnut and bluejay -</p>
<p>first, i’d like to apologize if i sounded harsh, i didn’t mean to. cornell is a wonderful school and no one can contest that it IS an ivy leaque school to boot. but, yes, the question is not only is it $100,000 better than Pitt (and i assume but have forgotten that you guys are weighing Pitt scholarship $$ in this decision), but also are you willing and able to pay the $100k difference, and is it worth it to you to do that.</p>
<p>i felt your pain last year with a different school and was very fortunate in that my D really, really, really liked Pitt and so we didn’t agonize too much. plus, my H and i were seriously opposed to six figure debt for college when we were pretty sure D was heading to grad school down the road. so once the finaid offers were in, our decision was relatively easy.</p>
<p>cornell is a terrific school, but their financial aid is lousy. a dear friend of mine’s D went there, as did my friend, her H, and her parents, and her H’s parents. there was never any question but that debt would be incurred if necessary to pay for cornell. BUT…said D’s first job paid her two checks a month of $800 per check. she was married with two kids and one check went to her student loans and the other went to the day care, 'cause they couldn’t afford her student loan debt on her H’s salary. she worked a full time job to pay her loans and her day care. that just wouldn’t be worth it to me, and it would pain me to know my grandkids were in day care JUST to pay student loan debt.</p>
<p>that may not be your situation(s), but think about it.</p>
<p>ps - how do you think that cornell girl would have lived if she were single, with $1600/mo take home pay and $800/mo of student loan debt (no kids)? think about it.</p>