If someone is only going to college to get a degree that will get them a job, pick a cheap college. Get the ticket. If you want an education, then you need to look further than that.

Bill Gates wouldn't be where he is if he had gone to some unremarkable state school. Harvard didn't just get him access to the knowledge about an obscure company producing a small computer, it also gave him the contacts he needed to scrape up the money to buy DOS from a guy who didn't know he was sitting on a potential gold mine.

He didn't finish college. He didn't have to, Harvard had already given him a lifetime of business contacts. In that way, the big name schools are important.

However, for pure academics, I honestly don't think I'd go to any of them as an undergrad. It's better to go to Cowtown Polytechnic Institute, graduate with a 4.0, and then go on to MIT. The same goes for Harvard and the rest of the Ivies.

Still, it's no guarantee unless one goes into law, hard sciences or business.

There are some excellent state schools. Two examples: Temple (Philadelphia) and UC Berkley.

Education does not necessarily mean success just because you went to a 'top tier' school. College what you make of it.

My children both went to state schools. One in state, one out of state.

Both were expensive but nowhere near the cost of a college education today. I am proud of their success but am also sad that there are so many worthy young people for whom even a state school is out of reach.
We worry about our future but without the proper tools, the young college age students are facing a tough choice.

The loans are fine, the total of those loans are crippling.
When I went to college, room, board and tuition was about $3000.00 a year.(1960's)
As I look back, I think this was a dream. How could things go so unbelievably out of reach in these past years?

OK, I'm an old timer trying to get by but I think if I had to do it over again, I'd go into a trade that would never be out of vogue.
How about Paper Roses, the plumber? --or maybe Paper Roses, the electrician?
A few years as an apprentice--now $125.00 an hour with no student loan debt.

Sometimes I wonder of an advanced education is any longer worth it. We all need the knowledge but sometimes the cost is so prohibitive that alternatives should be investigated.

Don't forget schools like University of Massachusetts and University of Virginia. Each is now expensive for both in-state and out-of-state students. Both great schools but I'm sure that most colleges offer a good education. It is the responsibility of the student to take advantage of whatever can be gleaned from the offering of any school. I just feel that the time has come to seek or at least investigate alternatives.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2014/04/10/25-colleges-with-the-best-return-on-investment-for-2014/

PayScale recently released its annual list of more than 1,200 schools measured purely by the 20-year return on investment (ROI) for Bachelor’s degrees. The site also tracks typical starting salaries for graduates of most of these schools.

The list is informative, if not surprising. The three schools at the top are elite private institutions that emphasize technology and engineering. No. 1: Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, CA, a school with just 783 undergraduates that is part of the five-college consortium that includes Pomona and Claremont-McKenna. According to PayScale, Harvey Mudd’s annual ROI is 8.8%, for a total return of $980,900 over 20 years. Harvey Mudd ranks at No. 52 on the Forbes list. A typical starting salary for a Harvey Mudd grad, according to PayScale: $73,300.

In second place is California Institute of Technology, known as Caltech, a research university in Pasadena, CA with 997 undergraduates, which many consider the west coast rival of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The 20-year ROI at Caltech is 8.3%, or $837,600. It ranks high on Forbes’ list as well, at No. 18. A typical starting salary for a Caltech grad: $68,400.

Right behind Caltech is MIT, with an ROI of 8.2%, or $831,100. MIT is high up on the Forbes list too, at No. 10. Its undergraduate enrollment, at 4,528, is much larger than Harvey Mudd’s and Caltech’s, and it has the longest pedigree. Founded in 1861, it has produced 78 Nobel Laureates, 53 National Medal of Science winners, and 41 MacArthur “genius” Fellows. A typical starting salary for an MIT grad: $68,600.

Putting her kid through Baylor University for a bachelor of something. Not even grad school yet.

http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-public-colleges/index.php

http://uncnews.unc.edu/facts-about-carolina/facts-figures/


We live in Chapel Hill. Both our sons graduated from Chapel Hill public schools, but took
different directions.

Our youngest son graduated (in 4 years) from UNC-Chapel Hill with a double major. He had
a scholarship worth $20K over 4 years, which just about covered tuition. He managed
to snag a Fulbright Scholarship last year--to spend 10 months in Berlin--studying German theater (he was a German major)
and was admitted last spring to Yale School of Drama for an MFA Class of 2017 (he's first year in that)
and has a sizable scholarship covering almost all his tuition there. Fortunately, we have been
able to cover his living expenses (he also has work study at Yale) and he SHOULD be able to
complete 7 years of undergrad/grad study with NO loans.

He happens to be a really smart kid. We are hoping the Yale credentials--and contacts-- will get him in the door
when it comes time to working in the world of theater.

Our oldest--now at 28-- decided he wanted nothing to do with college after high school--has always known he wanted to work in computers--and he's managed to do very well for himself by teaching himself. His current and previous jobs he was recruited to by
people he knew. We helped him buy a townhouse when he was 25, buying down the mortgage to a level for which he could qualify, using the money we had set aside for his college for his down payment. He has always been a really level headed, responsible kid.

So our kids are night and day different in how they've approached post high school experience/education/career prep.

For-profit "career colleges" - the ones that advertise on late-night TV. You get an average-quality community college education at Year at Duke rates.