What percent of parents' net worth is a BA from Middlebury worth?

Colleges & Universities Middlebury College
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I think this is the question that more and more people are asking, it’s why the acceptance rate is rising, and the Early Decision line for full-pay applicants is the quickest route to a seat in the class.

I’m a Middlebury alum and I don’t know if I can let my child apply to Middlebury. The want 10+ percent of my net worth for one child to get a BA? Does that make this the wrong school for me? This was founded as a teaching college. What is it now?

I can’t be the only person who says it’s gone too far. These schools are shooting themselves in the leg.

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I mentioned this in other threads and shared stories about my neighbors who couldnt afford to send their kids to elite schools because they were donut hole families (despite their kids working their butt off to get accepted).

The typical response you’ll get here on CC is that lower income families would gladly trade places with you and your kids dont need to go to Middlebury.

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Ha, that’s funny. I don’t feel bad for myself not being able to justify spending $400k after-tax dollars for a BA, I feel embarrassed of my alma mater for allowing this to happen.

I used to defend Middlebury when it was criticized as a school for rich kids, but now it’s so far beyond the pale of being broken to be laughable. It’s indefensible. Accepting 70% of their class with early decision? GTFOH.

I do feel for sorry for my high-achieving son that it no longer makes sense to even strive to attend many of America’s formerly top colleges and universities because they’ve priced themselves to absurdity.

Fortunately there’s a growing movement towards public colleges and in-state universities, and I suspect those schools are going to leave many of these private schools to drown in their tuitions.

It’s unfortunate.

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Get ready for the next 600 posts on colleges with 90% acceptance rates that will give you merit aid. Im sure you already know all this.

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Not only do I know that, I know that those schools are offering those seats because many are circling the drain and many will be closing their doors over the next few years.

Question, is there a tuition that bankers from Westchester County will not pay to send their kids to Middlebury?

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Yes. If their kids can get in to a higher ranked school (according to US News and World Report) because wealthy parents are just chasing prestige (another common theme on CC).

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Every family needs to make the decision about college funding in a way that is suitable for their family. I agree that college costs have gotten quite high. As reference, the college my oldest went to was $38,000 a year all in for his senior year. It’s now over $90,000 a year. The college our younger kid went to was under $50,000 a year all in her senior year. It’s now…$85,000 a year, or so.

At the time our kids went to college (grads in 2007 and 2010), we were easily able to pay the cost of college using my salary alone. I’m not sure that would be possible if they attended the same colleges now.

This is an “industry wide” issue and certainly is not confined to Middlebury!

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A reminder that this is not the Politics Forum, and political discussions can only happen there. Post edited to comply.

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Very personal call and you’ve obviously gotten the best answer for you.

Others may disagree with you.

I’m on the - you can spend what you want philosophy. It’s your money - as long as you don’t strain or even make things worse for your family or impact the taxpayer, then what you choose is up to you.

I’m not sure that the sub is necessarily a public. If one wants an LAC (a private one), there are plenty less expensive or that throw out merit (Thanks @cfp message #1 of 600). In those school’s case, it’s because the answer is no - people aren’t willing to pay full so they have no choice but to discount, whether through need aid or merit.

My answer is no, I wouldn’t pay but I’m full pay and set a budget. Mine got into a somewhat like school with no $$ and it came off. But I answered your question in advance.

However, I’m not sure the sub has to be your in state or out of state public. It may be but it may also be Allegheny. Or Wheaton.

At the same time, per CDS, near half are getting grants, on average just shy of $60k at Midd.

If you had 2/3 paid for by the school, then you might think it’s ok.

On the other hand, those families might be shelling out even a higher percentage of their income than you would have to.

Suffice it to say, it’s a very individual call and I’m not sure the substitutional schools or school types are necessarily the same for all.

This kind of stat lacks context. Midd admitted 1348, 409 of which got in ED. So they admitted more than double that (939) RD assuming 100% of ED committed.

So yes 409 of the 598 who enrolled came ED.

But they admitted 939 to get those additional 189 kids or nearly 5 for each kid who accepted for an approximate 20% RD yield.

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We wouldn’t let one child apply ED to Middlebury, and is was specifically because of the cost. She went to a lower ranked but very good university with merit aid, found a good fit, got a great education, did very well, and then went to a very highly ranked and more importantly very good graduate program that was also a good fit for her (and again did well).

Times multiple children, plus additional expense for a graduate degree?

I do not see the cost of the expensive “no merit” private schools as worth it for a bachelor’s degree unless the parents are either very, very wealthy, or poor enough to get very good financial aid. Maybe there might be an argument for a student with a major where a bachelor’s degree is likely to be the last degree (such as engineering). If graduate school is likely, I do not see the point.

I know a very, very small number of families where spending $400,000 for a bachelor’s degree would be no hardship at all and would leave enough in the bank to pay for both siblings and graduate degrees. In contrast, I know a lot of families that are in the so-called donut hole, where they make enough to preclude need based aid but not enough to be able to pay $400,000 for a BA or BSc without worrying about it. Quite a few of them have academically very talented children.

And those of us in my family who got graduate degrees (five of us if you include a sibling), and some friends that we know who got graduate degrees, have all reported that very good and highly ranked graduate programs have students from a huge range of undergraduate schools.

You are not. I am with you 100%.

Some hiring managers have noticed. I used to see quite a few coworkers from MIT and Stanford. Now I see equally good coworkers from U.Mass and Rutgers and even more so from universities outside of the USA.

In the long run I think that the graduates make the school more than the school makes the graduates. I am seeing excellent students going to affordable universities, graduating four years later, and doing very well.

I will admit that for PhD programs things are very different. Given that at least in my experience good STEM PhD programs in the USA are fully funded with a stipend, here the top students can afford to attend whichever schools have a strong program in their major and are a good fit and that they can get accepted to. Also there are some very good one year master’s degrees. While I do not think that I would shell out the big bucks for four years at Middlebury or Stanford, I might very well shell out the big bucks for a one year master’s degree (if either daughter had wanted to do that).

That is what I have seen. This includes some very strong students.

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I think it is very reasonable for any family to decide they do not want to pay the high sticker price for a private college, even if they can.

OP likely already knows this, but since others stumble upon these threads who may not, I just want to say that the private college options for families who qualify for no need based aid are not - sticker price privates with no merit aid or 90% acceptance rate schools “circling the drain” who give merit aid to everyone out of desperation. There are a good number of private schools in the middle that give out some merit or huge merit to top students they want, but not to everyone that are not in a financially precarious position at the moment.

Some of those schools may very well be good choices for kids who love Middlebury and have the credentials to get in, but their family does not want to (or can’t) shell out that much.

I have a kid who loves SLACs, and they are a great fit for her. At least in my state, the public schools are not a good substitute for that, even though California has phenomenal public schools. But they are huge (I know people, some of them are less huge, but most of the non commuter ones and those without enrollment issues are big compared to SLACs). But, there are great LACs that do give merit aid to top students who could otherwise go to either more selective schools or state schools. So, that is another good option for those who want a LAC but do not want to pay full freight.

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It’s not exactly the topic here, but isn’t Middlebury financially accessible to middle-income families?

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Donut hole families arent middle class.

$90k x 4 = $360k. 10% net worth = $3.6 million.

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Here’s what Middlebury shows for net COA by income level. Unless a family has fairly significant savings, these net prices don’t really look financially accessible for families in the $50K-$225K range (not wanting to debate ‘middle-income’.) As you said, it’s not really the topic that OP asked, but does illustrate the donut hole issue that many families are looking at as they contemplate financing college.

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The good news is that net prices for four year colleges in the US have been declining for a more than a decade, so many families do have other options that can be relatively more affordable, they are just outside the small set of elite schools that provide need based aid only.

I agree with tsbna44 that the decision of what to pay for college is unique to each family and their set of circumstances, values, goals, etc. And that’s no different than a college saying they want to increase access for low income families so will focus their financial aid on those families and/or offer only need based aid, defined via a formula that works for that particular college.

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I’m glad you understood this.

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I don’t think it is unreasonable for Middlebury to expect a family worth $4 million to pay 10% of its net worth for their child’s education.

Whether that family wants to do so is up to them.

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Isnt the whole point of these threads to answer what was asked instead of the usual, let’s talk about what we want to talk about which is what happens 90% of the time.

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This is why elite school costs will continue to go up.

I remember a co-worker asked Tufts about affordability for donut hole familes. According to her, their response was basically you’ll figure out a way. Families like yours always do.

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In that Middlebury’s charges to full-pay students are, if Middlebury is representative of its type, less than that of their actual costs for these students, I tend to concur with this. Nonetheless, financial trends manifesting in segments of higher education appear to be limiting the choices of families in certain income brackets.

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Tufts behaves differently than Middlebury though in their financial aid ethos. Per the most recent CDSs, 35% of Tufts undergrads qualify for need based aid, while 48% of Middlebury undergrads do. I don’t believe that difference is an accident, rather it is by design.

I agree, and also agree it’s up each family to do what is right for their situation.

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