<p><a href=“Lots%20of%20parents%20think%20their%20kid%20needs%20a%20car%20at%20college;%20usually%20not%20so.%20We%20don’t%20have%20to%20pay%20ANY%20car%20insurance%20for%20our%20kid%20who%20is%20away%20at%20college,%20since%20he%20does%20not%20have%20vehicle.%20He%20is%20covered%20in%20full%20when%20he%20is%20home%20visiting,%20also%20for%20no%20charge.%20That’s%20worth%20about%20an%20extra%20$2000,%20right%20there!”>quote</a>
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<p>I’ve got to agree wholeheartedly with that, and I attend a rural school that most would describe as ‘in the middle of nowhere’. Most of my friends have cars that I can borrow if I need to use one, and even so, I don’t find very many reasons to need one.</p>
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<p>This can be a good strategy, but usually only applicable to top schools outside the East Coast and California, which are generally thought of as the ‘most desirable’ locations by most on CC. The OP mentions UPenn, and being from the Northeast, I would expect that he is considering mainly Ivies and such schools in the area. You won’t find a top school in the Northeast for significantly under 50K these days.</p>
<p>If the OP is indeed looking outside the northeast, there are a few top schools that have a few thousand knocked off the sticker price compared to Ivies/etc but is it really worth it between 45K and 50K not to go to the top choice school?</p>