[an]

Since a big portion of your debt is student loan and car payment, I would do a cash out refi to pay off those two things. Since you’re paying for the refi anyways, might as well take out enough to pay off the credit card @ 20% as well.

[an]

[quote=flu][quote=AN][quote=flu]So at least from the specialists I’ve seen, it mattered to me what their background, research, and area of expertise was.[/quote]You didn’t say where they went to school… I totally agree with you about those criteria and those would be mine too.[/quote]

One went to Harvard, one’s from John Hopkins, one’s from UCLA, from New Zealand[/quote]Would you have ignored the guy/gal from UCLA since it’s not Ivy?

[an]

[quote=flu]I care enough that they didn’t go to university of phoenix. Whether it’s a Harvard or Stanford or UCLA or some other reputable med school, not so much,[/quote]Me too, but I don’t think you can get a MD at University of Phoenix.

[an]

[quote=Essbee]So, like I said, it’s fine to go to a UC, but I would not advise CSU for premed students.[/quote]Really? What if you’re super smart, so you breeze through CSU pre-med with straight As, which allow you to have plenty of time to volunteer 40+ hours/week at local hospital/clinic/etc. and you ace your MCAT? Not only that, because you’re super smart and self driven, you also got your physician assistant degree too while you’re finishing up your BS at a CSU? Just like undergrad admission, I feel like grad school admission is just as complex. There’s a lot more to it than just where you went to school previously.

[an]

[quote=flu]So at least from the specialists I’ve seen, it mattered to me what their background, research, and area of expertise was.[/quote]You didn’t say where they went to school… I totally agree with you about those criteria and those would be mine too.

[an]

[quote=harvey]Y’all are ignoring a very important aspect of the cost/benefits.

If your kid gets into the Ivy League and doesn’t go, they’ll spend the rest of their life thinking “I could have gone to …”[/quote]If you’re that smart, you wouldn’t think that way. If you do think that way, you’d probably flunk out of Elite U anyways. My friend turn down CalTech for a UC. He took a few years after his BS teaching English in Japan. By his late 20s, he’s an Engineering manager. I don’t think he think twice about his decision about turning down CalTech.

[an]

[quote=flu]I wouldn’t go see a “pain specialist” unless that specialist was top of his field. And that usually doesn’t happen when the doctor has sheety credentials.

In as much as I needed serious legal help, I wouldn’t go to someone with a JD from University of Phoenix.[/quote]Specialist at the top of his field is not the same as going to Elite U? Do you care that your specialist went to Harvard for had 100% success rate in their operations and have great bed side manner? I don’t even know where my general practice doctor went to school but I do know when I don’t get treated well and would change doctor to one where he/she would spend proper amount of time with me. I also would ask for personal recommendation from other people. I’ve never gotten recommendation that start with, Dr. so and so went to Harvard. It’s more of, Dr. so and so doesn’t rush to get you out of the office, talk to you about a more holistic approach and truly care about your well being. As for specialist, I would care more about Dr. so and so have done 100s of so and so procedure with great success rate more than where he went to school.

[an]

[quote=flu]
WHAT? UC schools are $35k/year now including room and board? Holy freaking sheet. In 9 years, with a 4% increase per year, that’s $50k/year for UC schools. Ouch… Ok, so the difference isn’t as wide.

Little FLU: Ivy is back play. Now just get in. Looks like I need to put more money into the “ForMyKidNotMyPorsche” account.

Side note: anyone else thing over the next decade it’s realistic to find 4% returns consistently year after year?[/quote]Based on my calculation, current UC tuition is ~$13k and Harvard is $48k. In 9 years, at 4% increase, UC would be ~$18k and Harvard would be ~$68k. That’s a difference of $50k/year. So, after 4 years of undergrad, you’re talking about $200k. I don’t know about you, but that’s pretty big difference to me. Maybe it’s not as big of a deal if you have one kid. For me, I rather save that $200k and if he/she has the ability to get far beyond a BS and make that education investment worth it, then I can take that $200k and pay for their MD/Law/MBA. You can view it as undergraduate being a test. If you’re a MD, I don’t think people care if you got your pre-med at Harvard or at SDSU, as long as you got your MD at Harvard.

[an]

[quote=scaredyclassic]Take that no. And multiply by 3 cuz I got 3[/quote]
That would be almost $3m if we assume medical school for all 3 @ $95k/year. Wow.

[an]

[quote=FlyerInHi]It’s not like you need to come up all the money all once. An 18yo is just out the cocoon. A young reaponaible adult going to grad school can work and will know how best to do right by his parents.

You can afford to pay.[/quote]
How much would you need from day one?

[an]

[quote=scaredyclassic]My wife went to uci med school for 3000 a year 20 years ago. In retrospect that may be the best buy we ever made.[/quote]
Does that include room and board?

[an]

flu, I think you underestimate the cost of medical school. My cousins who are optometrists have loan in the $200-300k range, just for the post undergrad. They also graduated from undergraduate almost 2 decades ago. So it wouldn’t surprise me if it’ll be in the $400-500k range for private post undergrad when our kids are at that age. So realistically, you’re looking at more like total of $800-900k. More if they take longer to graduate than average. Then there’s the opportunity cost of that $800-900k. Imagine how many investment properties you can buy with that kind of cash and how much monthly rent you can take in. Even if you don’t need that cash and monthly income, that’s a sizeable about that you can give to your kid and grandkids for as long as you keep those properties.

[an]

I wish they teach personal finance in HS (make it mandatory) and teach them about ROI. Maybe then, there won’t be so many people graduating with $200k+ in loan with a starting salary of <$40k. I think that kind of debt load really affect them for many years to come.

[an]

With all the talk about the worthiness of the cost of an Ivy education. No one have really mentioned what kind of person would make that cost worthwhile. Not everyone will be CEO of fortune 500 companies. The probability of your kid being a regular sales guy, an engineer, an IT admin, a RN, etc. is much higher. Would a $400k cost for an Elite U degree be worthwhile if your kids’ only desire is to help the poor and the sick (physically help them, not with just money)? Would you ignore your kids’ desire and push them to get into Elite U with a hope they’ll be a CEO of a fortune 500 company? Even if they’re capable of doing it, would you ignore their true desires for financial prosperity?

[an]

Very interesting article about similar topic: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/15/opinion/sunday/frank-bruni-how-to-survive-the-college-admissions-madness.html?_r=0

“… I looked up the undergraduate alma maters of the chief executives of the top 10 corporations in the Fortune 500. These were the schools: the University of Arkansas; the University of Texas; the University of California, Davis; the University of Nebraska; Auburn; Texas A & M; the General Motors Institute (now called Kettering University); the University of Kansas; the University of Missouri, St. Louis; and Dartmouth College.”

“I also spoke with Sam Altman, the president of Y Combinator, one of the best-known providers of first-step seed money for tech start-ups. I asked him if any one school stood out in terms of students and graduates whose ideas took off. “Yes,” he responded, and I was sure of the name I’d hear next: Stanford. It’s his alma mater, though he left before he graduated, and it’s famous as a feeder of Silicon Valley success.

But this is what he said: “The University of Waterloo.” It’s a public school in the Canadian province of Ontario, and as of last summer, it was the source of eight proud ventures that Y Combinator had helped along. “To my chagrin,” Altman told me, “Stanford has not had a really great track record.””

[Author]

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