Wash Post: Private colleges are a waste of money for white, middle class kids

[NACBA]

By Max Ehrenfreund at

Many parents whose kids have their eye on an exclusive, private college face a difficult question: Is it worth unloading your life's savings or having your child take on tens of thousands of dollars in student loans?

The average four-year private college costs over $42,000 a year for tuition, room and board, after all, while the average four-year public school costs less than half that -- $18,943 for in-state students, according to the College Board. So the question is really, really important, especially at a time when nearly half of recent college grads have a job that doesn't even require a degree.

Freshman and returning students move into George Washington University. (Marvin Joseph/Post)

Fortunately, for many Americans -- white, middle-class kids -- there's an easy answer: Don't pay more to go to a private college.

That means choosing the University of California over Pomona, the State University of New York over NYU and the University of Maryland over nearby American or George Washington.

Of course, if a student is getting a scholarship that heavily discounts the cost of attendance, the question isn't as relevant. And the answer to the question is much more complicated for kids from families in other racial socioeconomic groups. But for white kids with well educated parents, what matters is getting a college degree, not where it came from.

For starters, take a large survey of college graduates published this year by Gallup. It asked graduates how they were doing across five different metrics, including financially, physically and socially. Eleven percent of graduates of public universities and private universities said they were "thriving" across all five. Twelve percent of graduates of U.S. News & World Report's top 100 schools were thriving, essentially the same as the rest.

http://tablet.washingtonpost.com/top...310_story.html

[Lindsey]

The thing about these reports is that they don't really factor in scholarships. I applied to 3 private colleges, all of which fell in the "safety" category for me. The result: all 3 offered scholarships that made the cost of attendance there about half of what Penn State would have cost. In total, I paid $24K for my bachelor's degree - Penn State would've cost around $45K at the time. I think that a large portion of the students at private colleges are not paying "Sticker Price." It's still a lot of money, but the public/private cost difference is greatly exaggerated.

I would rather my tax dollars not fund public universities - I don't believe this universities provide enough ROI to the average taxpayer.

[angelatc]

For starters, take a large survey of college graduates published this year by Gallup. It asked graduates how they were doing across five different metrics, including financially, physically and socially. Eleven percent of graduates of public universities and private universities said they were "thriving" across all five. Twelve percent of graduates of U.S. News & World Report's top 100 schools were thriving, essentially the same as the rest.

That's a tell, I think. They're gauging this on the liberal "how do you feel?" standard. "Kids" from other socioeconomic groups tend to be less than satisfied no matter how much return they get on their investment.

[Natural Citizen]

That's a tell, I think. They're gauging this on the liberal "how do you feel?" standard.

Well. I suppose that it would be a "tell" if those are the terms of controversy that one looks to find or are the terms of controversy in which we choose to ask questions to then analyze such data in way that conforms more to our political ideologies. Things like this, I don't like to reconfigure into a left-right paradigm. Of course, some people do that and so it is what it is.

My son goes to a private university. He seems content. Of course, he has very little debt. Which, in his case, reflects what Lindsey was saying about scholarships.

[specsaregood]

That's a tell, I think. They're gauging this on the liberal "how do you feel?" standard. "Kids" from other socioeconomic groups tend to be less than satisfied no matter how much return they get on their investment.

This sorta ties into what you said, but I think makes an even bigger statement:

The biggest predictor of whether a graduate wasn't thriving was whether he or she had student loans. Fourteen percent of those without any debt said they were thriving, compared to 2 percent of those with more than $40,000 of debt. You can't draw iron-clad conclusions from that, but those figures should be worrisome all the same for anyone thinking about taking on student loans.

going into debt leads to unhappiness.
I've said it before and I'll just keep saying it; I think the community colleges in this country are the absolute best bang for your buck. After 2 years you can have an associate degree that will transfer to nearly all major universities and you have already acquired a "degree" whereas the person going to a 4yr school for 2 years wont have anything to show for it except probably debt.

[Natural Citizen]

I've said it before and I'll just keep saying it; I think the community colleges in this country are the absolute best bang for your buck.

I would agree with this. I know a lot of young people who have chosen this route. Haven't heard any negative after thoughts on it from them.