Prestige/Expensive vs. Good/Cheap

oldolddad
Fri, 09 Feb 2007 18:37:01 +0000

Calmom: Last post is so important. I remember a student who had parents who told her she could go anywhere. She took lots of trips and then applied to top schools. She was accepted to many then also offered a full ride to a state school. Parents then said she had to go to the state school. They also decided they wanted to build a bigger house. Daughter was bitter but got over it in college, excelled and went on to do big things. I remember my daughter was in the fifth grade and I had told her that if we could afford it and if she got in and made the case we would figure out a way to send her to were she wanted to go. I remembered that when several years later she wanted to go ED to a top school. Finances had changed but we worked out a deal on what part we would pay. She got scholarships and saved a bunch in summer and has worked in her field at college to make money and although money is tight for her she is keeping her end of the education bargain which was “if you go to a place that costs more each year than my first house, learn as much as you can and get as much out of it as you can” And she is. But do not think that most rational middle class parents do not question the value of something that has gone up more that double the inflation rate for a long time. My wife went to a to 20 private college and at that time could earn half the cost by working summers. No can do now.
Son actually is taking a different tack and may turn down the elite for the money although he has asked " If I take the scholarship can you give me some of the college money you have saved for me to buy a grand piano when I graduate?" Damn we raised a capitalist