<p>gwt:</p>
<p>We were in a similar situation two years ago. D was admitted to UConn Engineering Honors in-state, with half scholarship, vs other supposedly more prestigious schools (Cornell, Northwestern, Michigan OOS) all of which had much greater costs.</p>
<p>Our view, as parents was that the “Honors” Designation didn’t mean much at the end of the day. The diploma would be UConn, which is all anyone really would care about. Our D also expressed a strong preference to other schools.</p>
<p>In our situation, we were fortunate in that we had planned in advance and could afford the higher expense without serious hardship or compromising other educational opportunities down the road. We believe that the more prestigious universities offered an overall brighter student body, better education and better opportunities down the road. (I understand that others Strongly do not agree with our conclusions, but that was our process).</p>
<p>This is not to say that she wouldn’t have received a fine education at UConn. Also, honestly, I understand that cost is a major factor, and that families absolutely must balance the impact of extra tuition vs the somewhat amorphous benefits of a higher prestige school. Different people will come out differently on these issues and there is no right or wrong answer in many cases.</p>
<p>I know that you will read many responses saying the extra money is not worth it. Suffice it to say that some of us disagree. Despite the cost difference, in our case, when the other acceptances began to roll in, UConn was pretty much dropped from consideration.</p>