Greek Life at "New Ivies" (as Newsweek calls them)

[macallan25]

UTexas > You.

[KatieKD]

Oh, I forgot, the ridiculous prices of some of those schools compare with the ivies...some are almost $50,000 a year

[alum]

Schools charge what the market will bear. Remember that private schools don't get subsidies and funding from a state's coffers as do publics.

Where I grew up and where I live now (2 VERY different areas), parents will gladly (maybe more willingly than gladly) pay full coat of attendance (COA) if it's the best fit for their kid. For us, the flagship public universities in our current state (and we have 2 in the top 30) just didn't "fit" with our oldest. Some kids just want a science/math driven curriculum like MIT, Caltech, some want Ivy only, some want a prestigious LAC. Still others want the bigger state school. It is up to the parents and the applicant to find the best fit for which the parent is willing to pay.

[PhoenixAzul]

Originally Posted by alum

Schools charge what the market will bear. Remember that private schools don't get subsidies and funding from a state's coffers as do publics.

Where I grew up and where I live now (2 VERY different areas), parents will gladly (maybe more willingly than gladly) pay full coat of attendance (COA) if it's the best fit for their kid. For us, the flagship public universities in our current state (and we have 2 in the top 30) just didn't "fit" with our oldest. Some kids just want a science/math driven curriculum like MIT, Caltech, some want Ivy only, some want a prestigious LAC. Still others want the bigger state school. It is up to the parents and the applicant to find the best fit for which the parent is willing to pay.

My college (Otterbein) is about 27,000 a year. But, I end up paying less to go there and live in than I would going to a PA state school and living in, because I qualified for merit aid. State schools didn't offer me any merit aid, and I was out of the "need" aid range. But OC offered me several sizeable scholarships that brought my costs down to about 7 a year. And the education was/is exactly what I was looking for...small classes, professors not TA's, small campus, campus "feel", and a real campus community. I didn't feel any of those at the state schools I got accepted to, nor some of the more "elite" private schools I was accepted by. I can honestly say that I do not regret my decision in the least, and the above is pretty spot on.

[alum]

PA is absolutely correct. Merit aid is another wonderful thing that not enough parents/students research while looking at schools. For middle-class earners who have been diligent about saving, the EFC is going to be quite high, in many cases greater than a year of salary. When the EFC is greater than the COA, the student won't get any need-based aid.

We have friends whose son got a full-tuition merit scholarship to RPI for 4 years. He would not have gotten one from MIT etc, simply because MIT doesn't provide them.

When a student is looking for colleges with an eye for merit aid, initially look at the mid 50% range for standardized tests. Look more closely at the schools where your SAT/ACT scores are higher than those of the schools' high end range. This is just a starting point.

Originally Posted by PhoenixAzul

My college (Otterbein) is about 27,000 a year. But, I end up paying less to go there and live in than I would going to a PA state school and living in, because I qualified for merit aid. State schools didn't offer me any merit aid, and I was out of the "need" aid range. But OC offered me several sizeable scholarships that brought my costs down to about 7 a year. And the education was/is exactly what I was looking for...small classes, professors not TA's, small campus, campus "feel", and a real campus community. I didn't feel any of those at the state schools I got accepted to, nor some of the more "elite" private schools I was accepted by. I can honestly say that I do not regret my decision in the least, and the above is pretty spot on.

[Munchkin03]

Threads and articles like this make me laugh.

"Public Ivy," "Southern Ivy," "Near-Ivies," and "New Ivies." There are only eight schools that can be called Ivies...the rest are just really good schools, but to use the term "Ivy" doesn't celebrate the schools in their own rights. I think UT is an awesome school, but never would I call it a "Public Ivy." It's just a damned good school in an awesome town.

There are only about 20 schools that I would consider sending any mini-Munchkins to. I will not pay if they go to crappy schools!

[alum]

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

Threads and articles like this make me laugh.

"Public Ivy," "Southern Ivy," "Near-Ivies," and "New Ivies." There are only eight schools that can be called Ivies...the rest are just really good schools, but to use the term "Ivy" doesn't celebrate the schools in their own rights. I think UT is an awesome school, but never would I call it a "Public Ivy." It's just a damned good school in an awesome town.

There are only about 20 schools that I would consider sending any mini-Munchkins to. I will not pay if they go to crappy schools!

Technically the Ivy League is just an athletic conference of certain midsize private schools.