Investing In College

 College certainly is a very wise investment for most people, but it must be entered into with that frame of reference. It used to be that kids would just enter college and "figure it out" once they got there. Either mom and pop would take a loan and just send Johnny to college hoping he chooses to become a doctor or lawyer or if not, then he'll "find himself". At one time, degrees had a different cost as well as a different value than they do now.

In this landscape, the cost of college, even for one child is much more prohibitive than it used to be, and the advantages said college provides really depends on a lot of factors. Smart parents and more savy kids can get a fantastic and cost effective education if the right planning is done on the school, payment strategy, field of study etc.

Like I said, for myself college was a fantastic investment. It has been for most in my circles. It just require more thought and planning go into the process than a few decades ago.
 
College certainly isn't for everyone but for those who do want to get a degree it is alway manageable.

"...Returns vary sharply; they are negative for more than 100 schools and over 11% a year for ones like Harvey Mudd College in California, the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Virginia. Dartmouth, Harvard, Stanford and Princeton are over 10%, but so is Queens College in New York—where state residents pay just over $5,000 a year in tuition, versus about $41,000 for Stanford.

Take a look at the tuition rate at Queens College (cited above) and the company that school keeps in terms of returns one gets from going there..You can get a first-rate education there ( I know I teach there) at rock bottom prices. Elsewhere you can alway go to a relatively inexpensive community college for the first two years (where you may very well get better grades) and then transfer to the college of your choice.

Bad times call for flexibility and a willingness to go about the enterprise with a workable strategy...
 
College certainly isn't for everyone but for those who do want to get a degree it is alway manageable.

"...Returns vary sharply; they are negative for more than 100 schools and over 11% a year for ones like Harvey Mudd College in California, the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Virginia. Dartmouth, Harvard, Stanford and Princeton are over 10%, but so is Queens College in New York—where state residents pay just over $5,000 a year in tuition, versus about $41,000 for Stanford.

Take a look at the tuition rate at Queens College (cited above) and the company that school keeps in terms of returns one gets from going there..You can get a first-rate education there ( I know I teach there) at rock bottom prices. Elsewhere you can alway go to a relatively inexpensive community college for the first two years (where you may very well get better grades) and then transfer to the college of your choice.

Bad times call for flexibility and a willingness to go about the enterprise with a workable strategy...
Click to expand...
 

Exactly right. My undergrad/PA school totalled at about 60K when I graduated in 99. I made more than that my first year and that was back in 99' at 22 years old. Lots of places like Queens College, and state schools which provide amazing education and subsidies at a fraction of the cost.
 
 That is why state schools are getting much more difficult to get into. They are more cost affective. I now live in Fl. and a student needs about a 3.8 GPA to get into Florida or Florida State. Fl. offers pre paid college plans and provides bright future scholis if you have good grades. That is why both my kids went to Fl. state schools. It is comporting to know that neither will graduate w any debt.
 
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