<p>Yes, kids should know how much stuff costs (and even better, how much “adult labor” is required to pay for it. Amazing how even smart, college bound kids think someone who makes $100K per year gets to take that home. So showing your kids a hypothetical paycheck at certain salary levels- taxes, all the other deductions, quite an eye opener!).</p>
<p>But check the current thread on the miserable young woman at Pepperdine who went there because it was cheap, and the dozens of other threads every year from kids or parents who made a “value” choice (which is great) without considering if the school or program or academic offerings were a fit… and then you have the underside of using price tag as the primary sorting device. If your kid ends up taking an extra year because the first school was a miserable decision and their credits won’t transfer, or the first school doesn’t have the right course of study, or they want a direct admission into a specialized program so have to re-do Freshman year… well, in most cases, an extra year is costing real money without the benefit on any Merit awards and most likely is coming right out of the bank of mom and dad.</p>
<p>So yes- financial disclosure. How much the parents are prepared and able to pay. What kind of loans and work/study the student needs to be able to contribute. How long it will take to pay those loans back, and what kind of lifestyle trade-offs that will mean (i.e taking the bus and not owning a car; roommates for 8 years after graduating, making pot luck suppers for entertaining vs. all the glamorous nights in bars kids see on TV shows about young grads, etc.) All of this is important.</p>
<p>But it’s also important to consider non-financial aspects. Sometimes the full ride or the cheap college or the “much less than sticker price” is just fundamentally a bad choice.</p>