Is Going to an Elite College Worth the Cost?

While not specifically geared for LD it is still worth the read.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/19/weekinreview/19steinberg.html

-Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/19/weekinreview/19steinberg.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2

 

It's worth it. If you have the opportunity to attend an elite school and choose a less prestigious institution you are likely making a huge mistake. I see the opportunities the kids here at Harvard have and it's mind boggling. Iwalked through the undergrad career fair last year and couldn't believe it. Companies were recruiting here in a down economy that most schools couldn't get to come to campus during the hiring boom. Not to mention the leg it gives you if you intend to pursue graduate study.

 

Brands are important and universities are no exception.

 

These are some valid points, but it's important to consider this issue from a broader perspective and ask two questions:

1. Can I afford sending my kid (or myself) to that school, or would this mean significant debt/loss of quality of life?

2. Is my kid (am I) ambitious enough to play the elite game?

Question 1 should be self-explanatory, but 2 deserves some elaboration. What the article gets at is that attending an elite school does not automatically lead to a life of success and happiness.

Let's not consider the fact that a career is obviously only one of many factors contribution to a good life. Do awesome employers come to Harvard career fairs? Absolutely. Do they hire any kid just because they have a Harvard diploma? Absolutely not. You need the right major, prestigious internships, publications, amazing grades, etc. Once you are with the highly desirable company, you need to work, work, work, and work your way up, constantly. Move into better positions, take on extra work, change companies at the right moment, move around the country and the globe. Et cetera.

Is all that worth the extra income? To most people, it is not. You can still get good and meaningful jobs attending a less elite school. You can still get into amazing graduate programs if you do everything right at a non-elite school.

I know a lot of people would trade anything for Ivy League and a Fortune 500 career. But if my kids turn out to be anything like my wife and me (= nice normal people with nice normal jobs), they'll go to a state college.

 

depends on your age, job market and many other things

many nursing schools offer an accelerated 2nd degree BS in nursing
this is for people who already have a 4 year non-nursing degree, say psychology
you can complete the 2nd degree in 12-15 months full time study and get a BS in nursing

now, should you enroll in Columbia University in NYC where its going to cost 70 000 just for tuition ? not including books, lab frees, insurance, housing, ...

or should I go to a public state university where it may cost 1/2 that

remember, this is for someone who is doing a 2nd degree, so probably a career changer, someone in their late 20s or 30s
do they really need to take on that amount of debt ?
wouldn't the cheaper state school be good enough ?

 

It all boils down to the common theme around here - go to/send your kids to the best college you can afford. In this instance "afford" is a relative term because you need to consider education as a long-term investment. If someone can send their kids to an elite school without it resulting in the rest of the family suffering economically for the decision, then it is a valid option.

I may be way out of the norm here but $40-50K per year to send my kid to an elite school does not sound crazy to me. Many here will argue that the degree from EC, COSC, or wherever is going to be just as good an elite degree because of the cost. Sorry, but that is not even remotely close to true. Even if the education were comparable, the other aspects of an elite degree such as the networking opportunities will trump a cheap degree every time.

Attendance at Harvard et. al. does not guarantee you success, but it opens up so many doors and opportunities that those from more modest schools will never have access to. Why would you not take advantage of that if you were able - it is all about options whether or not you choose to exercise them.

 

Agreed. And keep in mind, most of the uber-elite schools are needs blind with admissions. If you're good enough to be admitted, they will find a way to finance your education, and I don't mean merely offering you loans. They will get you a financial aid package that makes costs for you beyond reasonable. If you or your child is admitted to Harvard, Yale, MIT, Stanford and then doesn't attend....I'll just be diplomatic and say you're not very bright.

Can you be successful going to a small state school, sure. But your odds of being successful are increased by going the elite route. It also depends to on how you define success. My criteria probably differ from most, but professionally I would say anything short of a six figure income is not success. And that is the minimum, even at that i personally wouldnt be satisfied, of course I grew up in a relatively privileged environment so I realize that my definition is probably skewed. Just my two cents.

 

I agree with you 100%, but the context of the orginal conversation was for first-time students starting out in college with their lives ahead of them. That is the problem with many of the conversations around here on DI - there are several different groups, with diverging goals, looking for a magic cure-all answer to many questions. My educational path has worked great for me, but may not for others and I am certainly going to advocate a different route to my children.

 

The problem with the question is that it's a quantitative question that's going to be answered qualitatively by anyone on the forumset For a new student at age 18, I'd say it's absolutely worth it. Especially if you're from an underprivileged background and are looking at Harvard. Their financial aid allows a free ride for any family making under 40k a year to their kids.

Now on to me.

I'm no different. Brands are important.

I had a questionable undergrad for my career field from Northeastern. I immediately went to WGU because I needed to level set.
Now that I've got that I needed a MBA, but I just got out of WGU and a decade old diploma from Northeastern wouldn't get me into a good doctoral program and I couldn't put ass in seat so I went to UMass Amherst hedging the bet that that program would be good enough.

Now that I'm one semester away from finishing the MBA, I'm looking at reality and my perceived quality of education and realizing that UMass won't get me where I want to be.. so I'm looking at a second masters from HES (two reasons: rigor and recommendations) or Thunderbird (two reasons: networking and global language reqs) so I can jump to that Doctoral program.

I'm nearing 40 in a couple years so is the return good for me? I'll probably never make up the salary I'd have made if I focused on my career fully (I'd probably be a VP by now) but to me the Doctorate itself is a life goal and I want it to be from somewhere with some prestige. Therefore the soft return is huge.

Note I am leaning towards HES, in a small part due to AU's recommendations earlier this year.

 

I agree completely. My BS was to just get into an MS program. I came from attending CCU so any RA program worked for me. Touro University International (branch campus of Touro) was a non-profit at the time and was a perfect fit. The company I worked for was based in NY with a lot of Touro graduates (B&M school) so my degree was respected. My route worked well for me but I would not say it would work well for others. I was only able to capitilze on it based on my work expereince.

Some one just starting out should pick the best school (with a major that will pay back) and reap the rewards.

 

While I agree with the best school part, I disagree that one needs to select a major that will "pay back" (I'm assuming that you mean financially). While there is nothing wrong with pursuing a business, accounting or nursing degree if that's where the students' interests lie, I do not feel that parents should pressure their children into selecting one of these (or similar) majors just for future perceived financial benefits. I believe that college graduates with a diversity of majors is a good thing (for obvious reasons - we can't all be accountants). We don't need a world full of business majors (21% is enough!).