Ivy undergrad education worth debt?

whatever4
Wed, 18 Feb 2009 12:05:58 +0000

Our kid was offered a full-ride scholarship (everything but books and fees) to the state flagship, and I think he would have been happy there. He loved Harvard, was accepted there, and is going there for about $14,000 a year – about the cost of state flagship U, had he not earned a full-ride scholarship there. Yes, it would have been cheaper for us to send him to state U, and it would have saved us a chunk of change. (He would have been OK if we had told him we could not afford his first choice, which was Harvard.) But so far Harvard has been an incredibly wonderful experience for him; he is stretching himself academically and socially, and loves the people he has met and the classes he has taken. We are happy with our investment so far. (He’s only a freshman.)

We are not going to let our son go into more than $10,000 debt (total) for undergrad education. If one of us loses a job, our evaluation of this college decision might change (although I believe Harvard will take job loss into account with its financial aid package). We are a middle-class, two-income family, and money is definitely not unlimited for us. But we value education, we value opportunities for our kids, and we were prepared to pay at least the cost of state flagship for each kid, so Harvard has been do-able for us. You are looking for input, and that’s where we are right now on this issue.

(I’m assuming OP found out, as we did, that taxable income is not the same as earned income when HYPS is determining financial aid eligibility. And that a student financial contribution is required, independent of the parental one. That’s why $80,000 in taxable family income does not necessarily mean that the student and family only have to come up with $8,000 total a year for Yale.)