Monday, September 28, 2015

Paying for College and All the Considerations

Paying for a child’s college education can be difficult. This is especially true if you’re going to have multiple children attending college at once and/or if you’re sending your child to a very prestigious school. Prestige often means a much higher price tag than, say, the local community college.

It’s important to understand, however, that, with a few exceptions, those “prestigious” colleges may not really be worth it. Some of those big-deal schools don’t actually offer an education that’s any better or better career prospects than other, cheaper schools.    

Don’t believe that? Well, amazingly, a recent study by the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program revealed that in terms of mid-career earnings, loan repayment rate, and occupational earnings, graduates of Washington and Lee University, Harvey Mudd College, Clarkson University, and other cheaper schools actually fared better in these categories than Harvard graduates! Harvard is just about as prestigious as it gets, and if its graduates aren’t doing any better than graduates at other colleges, that should really make you think twice about forking over double the money just so your child can attend a “big name” school.

You also want to take your child’s major into consideration when choosing a college. In some fields, such as the technology field, the potential for earning a lot of money after graduation is high, and there’s a lot of competition, so, in that case, having a degree from a well-known institution could really be worth it. Your son or daughter might have a better chance of getting a job after graduation with the right degree and would be able to pay off any loans once that job was secured. With other, less competitive fields, however, it might not make a difference, in terms of career prospects, where a degree is from, and a graduate might not make enough, perhaps even ever, to pay off the loans he might accrue from attending a more prestigious (and expensive) school. Thus, it’s important to be practical and to consider what your child wants to major in and do after college and then factor the realities of that career choice into the college decision.

Finally, you always want to think about the potential connections your child could make at school and/or the alumni resources available to him or her after graduation. If your child stands to meet a lot of important people in his or her chosen field and make good, professional connections at a particular college, then it may be worth a higher price tag. Likewise, if a school offers lots of resources to help graduates secure employment and find success, paying more might just be worth it.


In the end, only you can decide if a particular school’s price and name is worth it to you and your child. Just be practical when you make this decisions and consider all the factors at play.

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