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Thanks for the clarification, Bostonian. Of course it's a little difficult to predict what our income will be when my oldest child reaches 18 (I currently work half-time), but that calculator does give me a livable number. Of course, I'm hoping to save more for college by then, but I didn't up that # much. I actually suspect that we would be better off NOT saving very much for college (and putting our "excess" money into retirement accounts instead--aren't those pretty much sacrosanct?), given that our total income is still likely to be under 6 figures by the time our kids reach college age.

The problem is that it punishes savers.

For instance, I don't really contribute to retirement accounts due to my inability to foresee tax changes 20 years down the road, but rather, I save mostly cash. I also recently downsized my house.

So I'm expected to use my retirement money to pay for the school just because it's not in a "retirement account."

So maybe Johnny shouldn't go to Harvard.

Maybe he should move to a high poverty state in his junior year of high school that offers lottery scholarships for anyone who has been a resident for a year and is capable of maintaining a C average.

Just pointing out that extreme scenarios don't paint a realistic picture. I'm not saying student debt isn't an issue, but going to Harvard isn't a necessity. We told our kids when they started mid school that if they wanted to go to MIT - or any out of state school - they'd better get the grades to earn a scholarship. Otherwise they could go in-state. If they don't value their education enough to work for the grades to get there, we're sure not dumping good money after it.

You are not being realistic. Nowadays even straight A's and close-to-perfect SATs are NOT guarantees of merit scholarships.
If your child does not get a merit scholarship, it does NOT mean he did not try his best in high school. The most selective schools, including the Ivies, MIT, and Stanford, do not offer merit scholarships.

Whether the extra cost of an Ivy is worth it (and whether there is an extra cost to begin with, as I have discussed) are separate questions.

Um, the cost after lottery scholarship for our in-state tuition is $700 a semester. Definitely lower cost, and there are plenty of folks with degrees from MIT who are not earning any more than the folks with engineering degrees from state schools. There is no way I'd fork out $100,000 per year for tuition when I don't think the difference in salaries or opportunities is worth that kind of money vs. $1400 per year..

There are always National Merit Scholarships. I had one (I did very well on the verbal SAT and my father worked for a large corporation). I'm not sure how much easier or harder it is to get one these days. Mine covered about 1/4 of the cost of tuition, but of course, tuition was lower then.

Just have to share that I just went to check out the NMS website and Stephanie Meyer--you know, the author of Twilight--is one their list of "Scholars You May Know."

NMS just went down a notch in my book!

Just an aside - while those colleges may not offer merit scholarships, there are organizations separate from colleges that do offer merit-based scholarships that can be used at whichever university or college a student enrolls in - my dh is on the board of one of those organizations that offers scholarships to graduating high school seniors in our area.

polarbear

I don't know...is it smarter from the author's persepctive to write a book that only 2% of the population can read and appreciate, that only a fraction of that group will buy, and that has little to no chance of becoming a profitable film, or one that can be read (and bought) by a much larger group, with the potential for lucrative movie deals? It really depends on whether you believe authors should be artists who create without regard for economics, or whether it is fine for them to be tradespersons who turn out a saleable product that meets popular demand.

I hate the Twilight books, but I'm not their intended audience, and I don't think that I'd disparage their author as being somehow less intelligent just because she managed to write something with mass appeal. Remember that the average adult reading level in the US is around the 8th grade level, and people choose leisure reading that is written around 2 grade levels below what they are capable of comprehending. She knew her market...

Though I didn't quite push myself in effort to the stupid levels required for competing for an Ivy school, I still took the scholarships lie hook, line, and sinker.

In 1992 I had an unweighted GPA of 3.79 (weighted would have been somewhere around 4.49), a 1300 SAT (1250 was good enough for Mensa), a gold seal on my diploma from the California Scholastic Federation, and applications to a mix of expensive private and fairly inexpensive state schools.

Merit scholarships: a few hundred dollars from local contributors like the Elks Lodge, barely enough to buy books.

Hah.