Public vs. Private college costs

[witchkizzle]

I'd also carefully consider community college as a strategy to accomplish undergrad coursework. It can come at great savings, but it requires a focused candidate with drive to not only complete that coursework in the wake of other distractions (work, potentially living at home, etc), and also someone who will passionately pursue acceptance into a university for coursework related to a specific degree.

This is what I wish I would have done. I went off to a private university right out of high school (Baylor University) majoring in Chemistry. I wasn't doing well for a variety of reasons (none of which were partying or drugs or girls). I was lonely (my then-girlfriend-now-wife was back home in Houston), struggling in school, not a very focused student, playing video games a lot, etc...

Anyway, I decided to come home, switched my major to Chemical Engineering (another mistake) and began attending University of Houston (yet another mistake). Finally, my loving parents decided to give me a wake-up call and pretty much pulled me out of school and made me go to the community college here in town for a year to finish basics and then transfer to a campus/member of U of H for Juniors/Seniors/Graduates only.

I then finished my bachelors and masters in accounting in a total of 5.5 years from graduating high school (all the major switching resulted in 15+ semester hours of classes per semester). Best decision of my life. Now I'm 26 have been out of school for 2.5 years and will be pushing 100k salary next year. I am so thankful my parents wised up and made me get my act together after I wasted some of their money. I couldn't have done it without them, and I was angry at first because they were coming down on me pretty hard, but I obviously needed it.

[siggy_freud]

Depending on what she wants to study, and how eager the university is to get good candidates/students, they may be willing to offer in-state tuition even if she's an out of state student. It's one way they can compete with private schools that tend to have more freedom with costs, scholarships, etc.

[~bs]

So for all the parents out there, keep that in mind when you hear everyone tout the benefits of public colleges. They aren't always as cheap as they are made out to be.

Not always, but most times are, hence everyone repeating the same thing. Out of state public schools charge "out of state tuition", which is always significantly higher than in-state. Nothing new there.

Back when I was going to school, in-state was $3000/year, out of state public was 10-15/year, private in-state was ~10-15k/year, private out of state was 20-30k/year. All of this excludes housing and other costs.

Personally, I chose in-state public, because I did not see where an education at a out of state public school could provide a net benefit of 50k or out of state private could provide a net benefit of over 100k over my career. Out of state tuition also requires additional money to be paid out for housing. And this was especially since I was undecided for 3 years, also I'm intelligent (but lean towards lazy).

Unless the student KNOWS what they are doing and are extremely smart/intelligent (read: unlikely for most), the chances are high that you will be wasting money sending them to a more expensive school. With my in-state education, I can safely say that I outearn almost all of my peers from high school that went to college. Many ended up dropping out or transferring instate. Others got their degrees, but never really got jobs that validated their 30k/year tuition costs. Better option is 2 years in-state at a community college or public university. Take class credits that are easily transferrable. Then after 2 years, consider transferring to a "better" school. That way, you'll drastically cut tuition paid over the 4 years.

[swapnil]

That is really a good thing to read, but here in India things are converse, what ranks higher in the charts for getting good education is :
1. Private Schools and Colleges,
2. Outstate Schools and Colleges
3. Instate Schools and Colleges
4. Govt. Recoginzed Schools and Colleges
Let me put that Govt. Recognized colleges are the least cheap ones for a student to get educated, and the situation of Private Schools and colleges is they mold a child to perfection in almost every aspect right from academics to Extra Curriculum to Sports and Athletics and case of Govt. Schools and Colleges, the situation is worse, they charge less and they also provide the worst quality of education with no discipline among the students while other colleges and schools that are instate, depends on the nature of recognition if the college is known mob will gather over there, but if the college is less known, then the quality provided by the college is by far better than the known ones, as what I have experienced till now.

[atlantaadvisor]

Out of state public schools rarely represent a savings. Depending on your child's intended major, an in state public school is often the best bet.

[moneybags]

Out of state public schools rarely represent a savings. Depending on your child's intended major, an in state public school is often the best bet.

I agree with this from a financial perspective. I am a firm believer in finding the right fit when it comes to school. Our best in state school has almost 40,000 students, not a good fit for my DD. She is at a private school with under 4,000 students.

[elessar78]

I just checked my (public) alma mater's tuition and it's $15K-$20K per year, depending on major. Not including living costs.

[elessar78]

As a complete aside, there are plenty of scholarships out there. My father-in-law's organization offers one for agriculutural degrees but most years it goes unclaimed because no one applies for it. He said that if no one with an Ag major applies for it then they'll award to anyone that applies. I assume this is true for most organizations.

I remember hunting for scholarships when I was in college and never applying for any because I didn't fit the demographic that they were geared toward. I probably should've applied for as many that I could find—even if I wasn't black/latino/asian studying philosophy/math/engineering at XYZ University.

[disneysteve]

As a complete aside, there are plenty of scholarships out there. My father-in-law's organization offers one for agriculutural degrees but most years it goes unclaimed because no one applies for it. He said that if no one with an Ag major applies for it then they'll award to anyone that applies. I assume this is true for most organizations.

I remember hunting for scholarships when I was in college and never applying for any because I didn't fit the demographic that they were geared toward. I probably should've applied for as many that I could find—even if I wasn't black/latino/asian studying philosophy/math/engineering at XYZ University.

We have only barely begun the process of learning about scholarships but I know there are a ton of them out there. The good thing is that DD fits several minority groups as a white Jewish girl going into engineering. Hopefully that and good grades will garner her some money for college.

[elessar78]

My last two companies have offered scholarships of some sort, so I'd look into any medium to large sized businesses/corporations. As well as various charitable groups like Rotaries, Chambers of Commerce, Lions Clubs, etc.

And once she's in the college there may be grants, endowments, scholarships that she is or could become eligible for. As well as competitions—I won one my senior year worth two grand.

[moneybags]

We have only barely begun the process of learning about scholarships but I know there are a ton of them out there. The good thing is that DD fits several minority groups as a white Jewish girl going into engineering. Hopefully that and good grades will garner her some money for college.

The best scholarships come directly from the schools. Search the school websites. Some are tricky and don't list them all. Second best source of scholarships are your local scholarships. Our school provided us with a list of these. There are big national scholarship, like Coca Cola, but your competition is huge.

DS I would not count white or Jewish as a minority at most colleges. Girl + engineering + good grades/test scores = $$$.

I did quite a bit of research on scholarships, so if you want more info, let me know.

[Doublejm1]

Out of state public schools rarely represent a savings. Depending on your child's intended major, an in state public school is often the best bet.

Agreed. Private schools are generally the most expensive. Steer clear of the likes of Kaplan and the University of Phoenix.

[~bs]

We have only barely begun the process of learning about scholarships but I know there are a ton of them out there. The good thing is that DD fits several minority groups as a white Jewish girl going into engineering. Hopefully that and good grades will garner her some money for college.

Hopefully she's able to apply for and get some scholarships on her own because with your income (you're a doctor), the govt will only approve her for student loans. And many scholarships take the fafsa into consideration when deciding who to award the scholarship to. Not all, but it will narrow the pool of scholarships that are available to her. If she is eligible for more specific scholarships (like an engineering one), she has a better chance of getting those monies.