Three kids. One a sophomore at RPI, one a High School senior and entering college next Fall….and then there’s our 8 year old. By the time our youngest gets his high school sheepskin, we may all be living in a cardboard box!
The tuition of any college is clearly separate from the cost of that education. Like a business, the excess represents the “profit” of the school. At Rensselaer (which I believe is Dutch for “I am financially ruined”), the yearly tuition is north of $50,000! That’s like buying a new Lexus each year (for cash!) Clearly, the education he receives at RPI will insure a well-paying job—and we remind our oldest that he will take care of us in our old age! However, the idea of spending nearly a quarter million dollars to attain that education seems a bit excessive to me.
If you are rich, there are no college worries. If poor, there are ample grants and need-based aid to insure a qualified student will make it through. It’s the middle class that gets squeezed, as usual.
Harvard’s endowment (at least ten figures) means that students there could literally pay zero tuition for four years, without making a dent in their bank account! And since many Ivy League grads will be the CEO’s of tomorrow, the alumni payback in donations to the school might make a free education really pay off once these young people achieve the financial success that seems almost certain. It’s hard to turn down the fundraising requests when your old alma mater gave you a free ride!
On the contrary, RPI is already calling us for donations-and pardon me if the thought of giving one penny more makes me angry when we are currently writing such huge checks and taking out massive loans.
I may do some homework myself. Multiply the average cost of a year of college nationwide by the number of college students. My guess is that the total is probably less than we spend per month in Iraq.
Which do you think is the better investment?
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Hey, Tim, obvously you haven't come across a couple colleges that don't charge tuition. One, Berea College, is only for residents of Appalachia. Another tuition free college is Andrew Jackson University, an online school (which also eliminates room & board, athletic fees, etc.) that charges an administrative fee ($300-$400) per semester rather than standard tuition. The "catch" with these two schools is, one, if you're not from Appalachia you don't qualify for Berea, and two, Andrew Jackson limits enrollment in their program to one hundred per month and limits it to four courses per semester for undergraduates, three courses for graduate students. So move to Appalachia or take 3-4 courses online and your bill for college will almost disappear.
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