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March 16, 2015 at 10:27 PM in reply to: The cost of an Ivy League undergrad degree next year…. #783864
CoronitaParticipant[quote=joec]I think getting into UCSF and some of the other UC med programs are just as hard probably as some privates. That said, something that wasn’t mentioned is that if you were seeing a doctor, a lawyer, tech guy or anything in life, doesn’t it make sense to see someone who is probably the best or hardest working?
Usually, but not always, the guy who even got into Harvard or top programs are already people who can and have worked their asses off to get there. I’m sure you have some folks who are smart at SDSU, but I don’t think those people are anywhere near the caliber of the guy at some of these other places. The reason is because the person at the top private school, if he was top probably was recruited and given free tuition if they couldn’t afford it. Look at this high school guy who I know is smarter than me…Look at the end of the article where me would like to go to school:
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/dec/10/eric-chen-siemens-flu-project-canyon-crest-academy/Do you see a UC there? Will your own learning or research or think big go further working and studying next to this guy or the 3.6 gpa guy going to SDSU?
The reason Essbee posted about her med school experience was because if you wanted to go to a top program, you probably have to also go to a top school and do really well. Going to Cal State isn’t going to cut it I feel and think some folks here are being a bit short sighted when it comes to the money.
scaredy, I think you’re doing your kids a disservice by not at least considering the option as more of a positive if they even get in rather than forcing SDSU down their throats.
Again, please note that there is no guaranty that the ivy grad will do better, but, in general, they do make MORE money so the guy who posted that the cal state guy can make more or just as much is smoking crack:
UCB is 20th on this list. Other than the military ones (which are awesome deals if you can get in (also very hard to get in)), all the pay from graduation to 5 years out is higher on average for all the private schools:
http://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report-2014/full-list-of-schoolsThat said, you still have to get in…Is it worth it? Generally, you can
Again, my views are also based on my own experience and I felt UC degree is worth “less” than say a degree from Stanford/Harvard, etc…when looking for new jobs, business connections, etc…[/quote]
Based on my observation from engineering at my company, we don’t make a distinction between a good state school or a ivy league school. Maybe when you are a fresh out of school with 0 experience. But anyone with more than 10 years of experience, more importantly is their experience and whether they can pass get through our onsite interview, and even then it’s sort of random.
At one point we did try to recruit interns/0-2 year experienced people locally from both UCSD and SDSU. Here was our observation. The really good UCSD candidates we couldn’t get, because they were going to Google, Facebook, or Apple. For some reason, UCSD teaches a lot of their coursework in Java but folks have very little school experience with embedded O/S and fewer understand multi-threading and concurrency. The really sharp ones tend to stay in research and aren’t interest in most of the positions offered.
For SDSU, we exclusively interviewed master’s students. Even then, it was hard to find candidates that we felt knew enough for what we needed to be done. The few good candidates we hired were people who already had a solid work experience that was simply taking part time classes to get a masters degree, but otherwise had very solid backgrounds.
I think the candidates we ended up hiring were the ones that had self interest in teaching themselves beyond what their coursework taught them.
GPA never came into play. We also blew it on a few good candidates, simply because of the moronic administrative overhead of our hiring process.CoronitaParticipant[quote=harvey][quote=svelte]ie, they would still be on the hook to the bank for $11K and yet have nothing to drive.[/quote]
And if they don’t pay it … ?[/quote]
And as I stated earlier, exactly why you wouldn’t want to use your heloc to pay off other debt. You can survive having one car repo’ed if it really comes to that. Why throw good equity from your good home purchase on a bad debt?
I always said, pay yourself first, then your creditors.
Anyway, I think for the benefit of the OP, we really should put our heads together and give the OP constructive ideas on how to get out of this situation.
CoronitaParticipantI hate the auto industry. They no longer sell cars. Now they sell payments. It’s such a shitty thing to do.
I have no idea what do to with the upside down prius. Again, I wouldn’t sacrifice the house over it, since worst comes to worst the bank repo’s the car, and it becomes a ding on the credit.
I hope the OP has gap insurance. Because if someone hits his car and totals it, even if it’s the other person’s fault, insurance often will only pay up to the bluebook value, leaving you the owner on the hook for whatever difference.
Seems like the prius is unfortuantely going to be around for some time. The minivan however is on a 4 year lease, so eventually that will end. That’s good so car payments probably will be halved in a few years. Next car can be a nice preowned one that is inexpensive.
CoronitaParticipant[quote=outtamojo]Are they still offering those 0% 18 month balance transfer
credit cards? When we had a revolving debt/car loan we rolled everything over into 2 or 3 of those and paid things off without paying any interest at all – just be sure to roll it over to another 0% card or pay it off 2 months or so before introductory period is over.[/quote]——–NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO————-
These balance transfer offers only work for
1) People who have demonstrated they can exercise financial restraintand
2) People who can pay attention to details and make payments on time every single time.
With all due respect to the OP (which given his new info he revealed…and kudos for him to offering data about it, since as someone has already mentioned he’s/she’s already more than 1/2 way to solving his problem by acknoledging their could be one), if I were the financial planner for this couple, I would say until he/she can prove otherwise, let’s error on the side of doing the least complicated thing possible, because that’s just one more thing this couple would need to juggle on top of whatever else stress he is already juggling. Two jobs, 3 kids (one with special needs) and 3 dogs. That’s a LOT of distractions.
No 0% balance transfer option,no jiggle credit card games (which someone at works does to pay his kid’s college tuition_, no other game some of you more seasoned people who can beat the credit card company at their own game can manage to do. You are probably 10% of the population that can win at this game, the remaining 90% of the population will lose and pay a pretty big price for trying to play. If that’s not how the 0% transfer offers work, credit card companies wouldn’t play this game to lose money. So the last thing this person needs is an overly complicated strategy.
The first thing I would do is eliminate this $5000 credit card debt. The easiest thing I would do first is go through ones entire house and put everything you don’t need on ebay/craiglist/garage sale for sale. I’d say the average person has more than 50%+ of useless crap bought at some point just sitting their at home doing nothing.
My crap is probably closer to 60%-70%. That garage sale nets $1000, use that $1000 and make that $5000 to $4000 outstanding balance.
BTW, while your realizing earning that $1000 take a hell of a lot of work to be forking it over to a credit card company, you might as well get a nice par of shears and cut up your credit card, or at least stick them in a nice bottle of water and freeze it in the fridge. So you can’t use it…For a long long time. Or at least if you want to use it, you’re going to have to wait for it to thaw from that really big block of ice, giving you plenty of time to think whether you really need to make a purchase. Pay with your debit card or pay cash. Don’t have money to pay, too damn bad…You ain’t buying it.
Take every bill off of autopay off of your credit card.. Speaking of which. If you have landline phone and a cell phone, now would be a time to cut either or out of your budget…Your cellphone is a $150/month expense that most likely you can live without. Or get a prepaid one just in case for emergencies. Got cable TV? Goodbye for now. Most of the 200+channels on directtv you don’t watch anyway. There’s only so many episodes of storage wars, or duck dynasty, or hardcore pawn you can possibly watch or other quality programming. Cut the tv out, go outside and to the park and spend time with the family. It’s probably better entertainment anyway.
That $150-200/month, you stick into your nice retirement account. Like starting next month… Get your cable and/or cell phone back after you’re done with your minivan lease payment.
CoronitaParticipant[quote=harvey][quote]Bad idea shifting insecure debt to one that is backed by your primary home.[/quote]
So should they start making extra mortgage payments with their credit card?[/quote]
No. First ,we don’t know if they have credit card debt. But let’s assume that’s the case for argument sake.
If the couple has no savings. Then you have to look at the what’s the worst that can happen if a large financial misfortune happens (such as a job loss)
Option 1. Pay off credit card with heloc. Experience job loss. Ok great. Credit card company appreciates that.
Now what? You need money for food, you need a place to live, and your heloc is now maxed out so you can’t borrow against it anymore. Then what? Borrow against your credit card at 20+APR% to buy food?
Option 2. Continue to make payments on your credit card (adding more principal if possible). Then experience job loss. What’s the worst that can happen if you stop paying your credit card bills?
Ruined credit..Ok fine…But you still have a home to live in, you home isn’t immediately in jeopardy from your job loss, and worst case if you need survival money after maxing out your credit cards, you can at the very end then tap into to HELOC. You’re buying yourself time to get back on track minimizing your risk of losing your home. You’re buying yourself time so that you can put your home on the market and sell at a very very good price if you’re economic situation really doesn’t improve, so that you aren’t a desperate seller that suddenly has worry about NOD’s.
Credit card companies can call all they want to try to collect on you. They won’t go after your 401k and they won’t go after your primary home.There’s a reason why it’s an insecure debt, and why it will more or less get renegotiated at some point in time.
The reason why many people open a HELOC line of credit is specifically for emergency use only. Because when you’re jobless, payless, and need to bridge any sort of short term expense, you won’t be able to borrow any money at a cheap rate in the short term. For someone that is financially strained, they should have that emergency lifeline available at all times.
March 16, 2015 at 10:03 AM in reply to: The cost of an Ivy League undergrad degree next year…. #783806CoronitaParticipant[quote=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.[/quote]
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,
March 16, 2015 at 10:01 AM in reply to: The cost of an Ivy League undergrad degree next year…. #783805CoronitaParticipant[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
March 16, 2015 at 8:57 AM in reply to: The cost of an Ivy League undergrad degree next year…. #783797CoronitaParticipant[quote=scaredyclassic][quote=flu][quote=scaredyclassic]For prestige or more money?
Within medicine to me it seems like hustlers make money but a hospital wherever they do their residency us gonna make 1 to 150 an hour.
So is it gonna be more lucrative to be a doc with 250k in the bank setting up a few pain mgt. 9th ices with a less prestigious residency or an internist from Harvard working as a hospital is a “good” hospital.
The Harvard gal probably has more shine but the pain guy is probably gonna be rich.[/quote]
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]
for medicine who cares if you’re seeking a particular doc unless you’re paying cash. Otherwise you’re just another body another insurance policy and your opinion isn’t making anyone wealthier[/quote]
First, not all insurance policies are created equal.
Second, for specialized medicine (those with “unique” conditions), some doctors are interested in it from the research perspective, usually the ones associated with a university or research.
Using myself as an example. Someone who has a desmoid tumor, it became very clear which doctors wanted to just make money and which doctors wanted to find the best possible treatment.
There were plenty of surgeons that tried to push me into having it removed as fast as I could, without considering that surgery itself might have been what caused the growth to begin with. For them, it was a chop shop: cut them open, operate, bill, no worries afterwards, since it would be out of their court to deal with. Done…The best advice was from doctors that were from academia and or research, who highlighted every pro/con of doing surgery versus chemo, and allowing me to make the decision in an unbiased way. Some of the best advice I got was from one surgeon Cleveland Clinic, despite having performs several thousand of similar procedures, strongly discouraged me from surgery, since he considered it the last resort. That guy’s opinion was confirmed by another renowned surgeon at UCLA, both him and his son that also practices there, as well as a board at UCLA that reviewed my case. All this started off from UCSD with my surgeon, when she suggested I get a second and third opinion from people more knowledgeable, who’s dealt with it.
So at least from the specialists I’ve seen, it mattered to me what their background, research, and area of expertise was.
CoronitaParticipant[quote=harvey]- What’s the amount of your consumer debt?
– What’s the rate?
If the rates are high and a sizable portion of your “paycheck to paycheck” cash flow is interest, then #2 would make sense if you can get a substantially lower rate on the HELOC.
Only sell the house as a last resort. The low interest rate you have is something you want to keep for long time.
This, and the Tightwad Gazette.[/quote]
Bad idea shifting insecure debt to one that is backed by your primary home. If push comes to shove, one could probably negotiate a settlement with an insecure debt much easier with say a credit card company than one can with a HELOC these days, if it really came to that.
March 16, 2015 at 7:11 AM in reply to: The cost of an Ivy League undergrad degree next year…. #783789CoronitaParticipant[quote=scaredyclassic]For prestige or more money?
Within medicine to me it seems like hustlers make money but a hospital wherever they do their residency us gonna make 1 to 150 an hour.
So is it gonna be more lucrative to be a doc with 250k in the bank setting up a few pain mgt. 9th ices with a less prestigious residency or an internist from Harvard working as a hospital is a “good” hospital.
The Harvard gal probably has more shine but the pain guy is probably gonna be rich.[/quote]
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.
March 15, 2015 at 10:05 PM in reply to: The cost of an Ivy League undergrad degree next year…. #783774CoronitaParticipantI’m surprised wall street hasn’t created a derivatives market for college tuition costs.
For example, Goldman could offer a $1000 option to allow you to pay your kid’s Ivy League education @ $60k/year in 2025 for 4 years, with the option contract expiring in 2030. The option would be considerably more expensive as the kid gets closer to high school. Of course, the option contract would be worthless if your kid doesn’t/can’t go to any of the Ivy League schools.
March 15, 2015 at 9:51 PM in reply to: The cost of an Ivy League undergrad degree next year…. #783773CoronitaParticipant[quote]
1. Somebody mentioned that the cost of attendance (COA) for a UC is about 14K and 60K for an Ivy. 14K, is just the tuition for a UC. Total COA for UC is about 35K. So approximately, the total COA difference for four years between UC and the Ivies is about 110K to 120K, depending on the school. That 120K is probably the difference of the cost of living in Scrrips Ranch vice living in Escondido. Or maybe by not driving a Range Rover/Porsche but just having a Honda Civic or a Kia. Maybe not going to Europe for vacation but instead just driving to Arizona or Las Vegas. Or maybe not paying for an expensive extra curricular (i.e. soccer, baseball, etc.). Or maybe a combination of these things and other. But who am I to judge? And I don’t. Different people put values on different things.
[/quote]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?
March 15, 2015 at 9:44 PM in reply to: The cost of an Ivy League undergrad degree next year…. #783772CoronitaParticipant[quote=spdrun]Med school abroad is also cheaper. Poland or the Czech Republic, and there are programs that cater to Americans looking to get licensed in the US.[/quote]
HAHAHAHAHA
March 15, 2015 at 12:36 PM in reply to: The cost of an Ivy League undergrad degree next year…. #783738CoronitaParticipant[quote=FlyerInHi]Flu, now for the tough love.
I fail to see how you live in Carmel valley, have investment properties, talk about Porsches, yet not afford to pay.
Not saying it’s chump change, but you can pay. Can’t you move to a 1 bedroom condo if you absolutely had to?[/quote]No. Here’s why. $400k for undergrad, and another $200k-300k for say medical school/law school/business school?
And that’s even assuming kid finishes and doesn’t decide to get married early and not end up finishing anything and end up being a stay-at-home parent. Not that there is anything wrong with that at all. But from an ROI perspective, that would be a big time suck.
Why should I sacrifice my quality of life and spend so much money on something if all that education ends up being flushed down the toilet if she decides she doesn’t want to work/have a career at all? Is her future husband (or in this 21st century, being politically correct, future spouse (man or woman) ) going to pay me back? Kidding… Sort of…
I think the thing will be, “you want to get in, you better work to get a scholarship because that’s the only way you’ll get in.” Then, that will be a litmus test to see how badly my kid wants it. If my kid doesn’t care, that’s fine too.
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