@southernfemmom Your point is a good one – we do have a free option (LPS) that we are saying no to. So obviously cheaper isn’t always better. I think the difference here is that I’m assuming that you already vetted school B as being somewhat comparable to school A, or it wouldn’t be on your list. That said, BS application lists may well include schools that are “worth considering” but are far from “equal.”
So to answer your question: how much more is a school on one’s list worth versus the others? And I think that answer is based on one’s estimation of fit, which would include everything from academics to personality of kids, faculty, buildings, etc etc etc.
So as I sit and consider our list – the de facto cost to us will definitely play a huge role in choosing a school. However, the cheapest will not necessarily win out, depending on the cost differential. The “top” school on our BS list, however, is less than $40k/year “better” than the “bottom” one. Ten grand? maybe. But even the “worst” school on our list is amazing, and I’d be thrilled for my DD to attend.
Put another way: if saving 40K a year isn’t a no-brainer for choosing school B, then maybe there are some really good reasons that are giving you pause? could it be that either: 40k means less to you than it means to me (which I say in no negative way – it may well be a question of a small sacrifice for some folks, like skipping one family vacation, which is kind of no big deal), OR it may be that somewhere deep inside, you recognize that maybe school B really isn’t the right fit for your DD, and perhaps shouldn’t have been on your list after all, despite the 40K difference?
Money is hard to talk about it, especially on the internet, so please know I mean all of this to be helpful. Feel free to ignore completely if not.