Comments on: Fool of Family Finance – Dean H.

By: Corporate Barbarian

Corporate Barbarian — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 18:42:31 +0000

Both of my kids will go to state schools. You can get a good education anywhere. All you need is a desire to learn. For my oldest, the state school happens to be one of the best for his field. And I agree, once you get that first job, it’s all about performance.

By: Snowy Heron

Snowy Heron — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:35:15 +0000

State schools don’t have quite as nice of an appearance as the better private schools, but you are paying for the education, not a great photo op or just to impress the neighbors about the school your kid is attending. I would say that if you have the money to send your kid to private school, go for it. But do NOT get them in debt for such an education. A kid with good initiative will do fine in a state university. Plus, a few years back there was an article I read about the school that more Fortune 500 CEOs had graduated from than any other – and that school was not Harvard, Yale or Stanford. It was the University of Wisconsin.

By: TMN

TMN — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:26:46 +0000

Not defending the guy, but look at the other options. I know several people who have come out of a state school with over 40k in debt, and one guy in particular with over 100k. I’m not saying they’re making the right choices either, but we need a shift in a number of expectations regarding college in this culture.

While the current expectations stand, though, I can certainly understand wanting to protect your kids from the kind of ridiculous debt that society has basically assumed you will take on.

By: SJ

SJ — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 05:15:33 +0000

MIT, Princeton — When I was looking @ ugrad they more or less advertised that most the students would be able to get financial aid…

I’ll speak only from the point of an engr. —
1. There are a lot of great in-state schools for my major. Michigan, Washington, UIUC, Berkeley, etc…
2. The ability to get a job isn’t just the name of your school, but also the connections your school as w/ industries. Such as CAT, ge w/ uiuc, LM w/ Lockheed, etc.
3. If you are that good a student, get a masters. Cap your degree @ a top tier school. As long as your ugrad isn’t Hofstra and lacks research opportunities you should be fine!

By: Mr.ToughMoneyLove

Mr.ToughMoneyLove — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 02:31:13 +0000

Po- That may be true for a small subset of schools but not for most private schools. Also, the real edge comes with scoring that first job out of school. After that, its all about job performance.

By: MasterPo

MasterPo — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 02:11:08 +0000

Have to disagree about the schools.

A lot depends on what the kids want to study and their goals for careers. In many fields the name of the school you go to opens or closes doors. That is the hard, cold truth. A good student will do well anywhere but the reality is name recognition plays a BIG part in many fields. Tell someone you went to MIT or Princeton and it’s a given you went to a good school. Tell someone you went to Hofstra or Adelphi and get the next question “Where is that?”.

By: Rick Beagle

Rick Beagle — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 01:50:52 +0000

I must be an old fart because my only comment to this has to do with the lack of perceived efforts on the part of the ADULT children to defray these costs. I would be more willing to sympathize with his dilemma if there was a sense that these Adults had more “skin in the game”.

Excellent point on schools btw.

Peace.
Rick Beagle