How important is your child's school? (Princeton: private schools, colleges, taxi driver)

[tewest86]

Originally Posted by BLDSoon

That much may be true. But for me, it depends on how much i SPENT to get them there. Other independently wealthy parents may not care and maybe can afford to be philosophical about it.

If charity work is what said kid wanted to do with their life they certainly don't need an Ivy league degree to do it. They probably dont need any degree to do that truth be told. The point of pursuing that level of education is not to do something you could easily do without it.

Now if they parlay their Ivy League basketweaving degree into a non-profit Home Goods firm that teaches/ promotes basketweaving in Africa to re-sell those products all over the world and utilize the vast majority of their profits to better the communities their artisans live in...and because their main goal is Charity/Empowerment etc, He/she only collects a 50k salary..... that is one thing. And i would be VERY proud of that.

But if my private school educated, ivy league educated child graduates with one of the worlds most prestigious and expensive degrees and decides to join UnitedWay as a clerk with no aspirations of doing much else.....I would be very upset. Yes I would.

I'm one of those that believes in the 'to whom much is given' mantra because i happen to have very intimate knowledge of just how little others have to get by on. To me that would be inexcusable laziness and my adult child and i would have a problem.

I can respect this.

[kyam11]

Originally Posted by BLDSoon

That much may be true. But for me, it depends on how much i SPENT to get them there. Other independently wealthy parents may not care and maybe can afford to be philosophical about it.

If charity work is what said kid wanted to do with their life they certainly don't need an Ivy league degree to do it. They probably dont need any degree to do that truth be told. The point of pursuing that level of education is not to do something you could easily do without it.

Now if they parlay their Ivy League basketweaving degree into a non-profit Home Goods firm that teaches/ promotes basketweaving in Africa to re-sell those products all over the world and utilize the vast majority of their profits to better the communities their artisans live in...and because their main goal is Charity/Empowerment etc, He/she only collects a 50k salary..... that is one thing. And i would be VERY proud of that.

But if my private school educated, ivy league educated child graduates with one of the worlds most prestigious and expensive degrees and decides to join UnitedWay as a clerk with no aspirations of doing much else.....I would be very upset. Yes I would.

I'm one of those that believes in the 'to whom much is given' mantra because i happen to have very intimate knowledge of just how little others have to get by on. To me that would be inexcusable laziness and my adult child and i would have a problem.

About as well stated as it can be.

[stan4]

Originally Posted by NP78

Not to hijack the thread, but I have a question for you: What do you consider to be "fully funded" 529's?


Just curious, been re-evaluating how much we are putting in the 529's for our kids recently.

Projected out based on the rate of inflation of the cost of college tuition when our kids will be 18.

We put enough in both of their accounts so that we don't have to put any more in and they should grow to fully fund tuition at pretty much any college they want to go to in the future.

[stan4]

Originally Posted by TheOverdog

There are plenty of jobs that are perfectly legit that people out of Ivies do that don't pay more than $50k a year. All sorts of charities, social workers, and education would be some examples. You may not want your child doing that kind of work (especially if you footed the bill) but you are their parent, not their king.

Totally off topic, but I always find it interesting when people talk about folks working for a little money in order to pursue careers where they directly help people.

Do you have any idea how many more people you could help if you had more money and a better education?

[gocubs418]

Something something private education or your child is a garbage baby

Another day, another private education prop thread

[stan4]

Originally Posted by gocubs418

Something something private education or your child is a garbage baby

Another day, another private education prop thread

That's silly.

Parents and peers. Outside of the student himself, nothing is more important than parents and peers.

Don't need private school for that.

However, with more parents spending fewer hours parenting then they used to, I can see why many people are hedging their bets with the private school.

[Wittgenstein's Ghost]

Originally Posted by stan4

Totally off topic, but I always find it interesting when people talk about folks working for a little money in order to pursue careers where they directly help people.

Do you have any idea how many more people you could help if you had more money and a better education?

This is a good point, so long as people actually give to effective charities. Most people don't.

But it is a good point that a lot of people who decide to work in nonprofits or in otherwise public serving jobs aren't making a significant difference on the margin because there is likely another person who is almost as talented ready to take the job behind them. This problem generalizes to all sorts of jobs that are considered beneficial as well, including medicine. A lot of people would say that a given doctor saves X number of lives, but that is almost certainly false. The only good a given doctor is adding to society is the good that is produced by the marginal difference between his or her abilities and the abilities that would have been utilized if the next best person I've gotten to be a doctor instead. That's why choosing to become an investment banker who gives significant money to effective charities actually does make the world a better place. It's unlikely that the next would-be investment banker would be so generous, so there is a real marginal difference. Such a person would almost certainly be able to make a better contribution to society than most nonprofit workers.

There are some exceptions to this. For example, the guys who started the Against Malaria Foundation have almost certainly added a significant amount of good to the world. Dollar for dollar, their charity is possibly the most effective charity in the entire world. Any dollar they have diverted to their cause has created positive effects that would not have otherwise existed.

[J800]

Edit: Double

[J800]

UNT/UTA/UTEP grad here. First job paid $85K base out of school, over $100K with bonus. I'm definitely an outlier for my school.

Did not go to elite schools at any point in my life.I think a student that really works hard can succeed from anywhere, but it definitely requires more effort due to a lack of connections.

[NP78]

Originally Posted by stan4

Projected out based on the rate of inflation of the cost of college tuition when our kids will be 18.

We put enough in both of their accounts so that we don't have to put any more in and they should grow to fully fund tuition at pretty much any college they want to go to in the future.

Thanks. I was pretty much thinking the same. The big variable is the cost of tuition (public, private, projected tuition inflation rate which has historically outpaced CPI, etc.)