Scholarships: Ignatius & Magis

beastman
Mon, 21 Dec 2009 10:35:29 +0000

nkl, like you, probably, I have attended every college planning session offered at my son’s HS and the speakers unanimously advise parents AGAINST getting caught up in the emotional inclination to jeopardize themselves financially to get missy to the dream school. I’d offer three things further:

1. do a side by side evaluation of the program of her interest at Notre Dame and MU and see how they stack up, what the job prospects are, avg starting salary, etc. I think it’s important to compare MAJORS rather than generalizing to the UNIVERSITY level as MU may have a niche that actually makes them equiv to ND.

2. crunch the numbers to see what the additional cost will do to your finances: 401k value, debt load at age xxx. Do you really want to find your retirement delayed or jeopardized by this?
Most college planners urge parents to keep emotions in check to always “pay yourself first.” This does not make you selfish, it makes you a realist.

3. ask how badly D will “suffer” if she goes to number 2 choice. Will she really get a lousy program or hate the school? If so, OK. But in all likelihood she will be happy as hell, and as a bright, highly motivated young woman somehow manage to go exactly where she wants to go!!