We are having this same convo. S25 is accepted for Physics also and very interested in Nuclear energy for which Boulder rates top 10. But we won’t make a decision until we see how he fared with the UC schools.
We’re in the same boat as everyone else - assessing the overall cost against a dearth of merit support…one question I have for y’all (and maybe there’s another CC thread that digs in on this deeper, which I would love to hear about): have any other parents here done a deep dive on their household budget to see how much money will be saved by their child going away to college?
On my end, I’m estimating that we spend upwards of 20K per year on our senior, between (in rough descending order) food (probably over 10K here alone), travel sports, monthly 529 savings, school fees around sports/photos/testing/etc., gas, water, utilities, etc. All that spending will come off of our budget when he leaves home, so the actual NEW cost of college that we’ll have to take on is a lot less than the sticker price.
For Colorado, that lowers the new, additional cost of attending to more like 40K per year for us, which while still a big chunk of change, gets closer to being covered by our 529 savings. Point being, if you haven’t yet taken a close look at your household spending, you might be surprised at how much your child is costing you now - especially on food - that will be “saved”, lowering the overall college price tag.
Curious if other parents are seeing similar math.
For sure, but from a relative value perspective it applies equally to all your options…
Definitely! But if CU Boulder (or any other school) is your child’s clear preference, and it’s a question of affordability of that particular school, it’s helpful to really understand your family spending, since some costs might cancel out to help make that preferred school more affordable than the sticker price suggests.
100% agree
I’m not sure how as a society we’ve arrived at it costing $300k to send a child to the University of Colorado- at this point it beggars belief
seriously. is it the Deion effect?
Maybe a tad - sports helps - but the school has been hot for many years.
If it’s your “run of the mill flagship”, then why does it cost more than so many higher ranked and yet crush it?
That’s not a new phenomenon.
That predates Deion - by many years.
“If it’s your “run of the mill flagship”, then why does it cost more than so many higher ranked and yet crush it?”
Yeah, why? What’s the reason?
Because CU Boulder and other schools in great locations are Insta worthy.
a variety of schools have been hot as reflected by increases in EA, overall, and OOS applications (independent of rankings). That seems to be a broader phenomenon, yet some of these other increasingly popular schools aren’t yet at CU prices
His parents must be so proud.
The comments provide additional insight…
Because you’re rich and want to ski. Or your parents want to visit and ski.
And yeah football.
I’m stuck on the cost of attendance as a function of ‘popularity’ at CU, and how that compares to other schools that are ‘hot’. Over the most recent 4 academic years, CU applications have increased by ~55% (to about 68-70K), while tuition and fees have gone up 33% over that same period. By comparison, over that same period Clemson applications have increased by 2-fold/100% (to about 62K), while tuition and fees have gone up 5% during this time. So my conclusion is that CU-Boulder tuition is discordantly high compared to popularity
Nothing is high if you are getting it. I mean Michigan is bonkers. You can get the same education anywhere and yet they get it as does UVA. Or even lower ranked UCs. Different states manage it differently. Some ‘have to pay’ to get some. CU doesn’t.
Some schools - not sure these specifically - got on common app.
That’s brought big growth.
Some, like UMN and Mines, target with school only easy apps.
Some schools have expanded sales - ie outreach - often to wealthy areas. Bama has been accused of this.
Not saying these two. Don’t know.
I think CU had been on when my kids applied. Not sure about Clemson. We didn’t apply there.
yes, both CU and Clemson (and others like it with growth) are common app. My main point is that seeing the CU Boulder cost of attendance gave me sticker shock, and I don’t think these prices are justified compared to ‘competitors’. but that’s just me and I do appreciate there is strong appeal, plus aid packages, that justify it for others
I meant ‘joined’ - some joined recently and their #s go bonkers.
Why I set my kid’s limit at $50k - I also don’t see the value. I learned from my mba - you can be lower cost and get your butt kicked. My roomies friend at Wharton had little rigor but insane focus on finding a job. My education, it seemed, was stronger.
We had 100+ on the initial list.
When I learned some have no merit aid, we cancelled many that night. The list got much shorter quickly.