To the parent that said that kids won"t choose Northeastern over Ivies, that is just not true. My son chose Northeastern over Penn. He knows other kids who chose it over Harvard and Stanford. If you are not getting any financial aid at the ivies but then are offered a great merit package, in some cases full tuition, it makes it very hard to not choose Northeastern. I know we have been very happy with his choice financially and academically. When tuition is around 48,000 a year at these schools that is no small sum to turn down. Especially if you plan to go to graduate school, merit money is great. People say that if you aren’t getting financial aid then you don’t need it, but that is just not true in many cases. Putting three kids through college without financial aid would cost 750,000. Then how can you ever retire?