I think one of the main points in all of this is that costs matter. But the costs depend on your financial status, your academic status, and the institution.

If you have a second quartile household income
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/01/15/business/one-percent-map.html?ref=business
namely about $50k-$90k per year, the the Ivies and other elites are much cheaper than other options. (Some Ivies will even cap net price at 10% of income up to $150k income, so 91% of households would pay at most 10% of income, if accepted.)

I went to
to get stats on universities, and also checked out the Net Price Calculators of each place, and put in mid 2nd quartile income numbers $70k income, $200k house, $100k other non-sheltered assets.

The following are the 15 private universities with 25th Percentile SAT Math scores at least 700, and I list the middle 50% of those scores, and the Net Price (including loans and student work) given by their Calculators.

California Institute of Technology
760-800
$21k

Columbia University in the City of New York
700-790
$15k

Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering
725-790
$13k

Harvard University
710-790
$7k

Harvey Mudd College
740-800
$19k

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
740-800
$17k

Northwestern University
700-780
$26k

Princeton University
710-800
$11k

Rice University
700-780
$18k

Stanford University
700-790
$8k

University of Chicago
700-790
$25k

Vanderbilt University
710-790
$16k

Washington University in St Louis
720-790
$22k

Webb Institute
700-750
$10k

Yale University
700-800
$14k


The following are the 5 public universities with 25th Percentile SAT Math scores at least 640, and I list the middle 50% of those scores, and the Net Price (including loans and student work) given by their Calculators. These are out-of state prices.

Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus
660-760
$26k

University of California-Berkeley
650-770
$44k

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
680-790
$44k

University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
650-760
$41k

University of Virginia-Main Campus
640-740
$20k

-----------------------------------

Berkeley is SIX TIMES MORE EXPENSIVE THAN Stanford!!!!

It may be very hard to get into some of the elite institution listed above, but if you do, and you have an upper middle class income in the second quartile $50k-$90k range, then some of these places are very affordable.

This is why I am so keen to find out what it takes to get in.

Last edited by 22B; 07/23/13 03:16 PM.