I went to a huge land-grant university in the south and my ex-girlfriend went to a private college in the mid-atlantic. She left school with $8000 of loans and mine was double that.
How is that possible? The state backloaded the additional costs into university "fees". And my scholarships, though easier to get, were much smaller (public schools are misers about the grant money). Her school had 3 itemized things: tuition, housing, meal plan. Tuition was $40,000 and the school paid for 90% of it, Pell, Stafford, and workstudy covered the rest. Since the majority of her fellow students came from rich, mid-atlantic families they were generous with the endowments.
The point is if you ask your colleague from MIT how much he paid he might have even paid less than you. Those that can get into those schools have no problem affording them. I believe for Harvard any family making <$70,000 are fully covered. It's probably a similar scheme for MIT.
This is a really important point. My wife attended one of the Seven Sisters. While we're still paying college loans, we owe much less than if she'd gone to any of the state schools in her area.
His parents are somewhat loaded so he/they paid over 300k which is ~3x what I paid. Plus he did not work for 2 extra years so toss another 100+k in lost wages and interest over time period.
How is that possible? The state backloaded the additional costs into university "fees". And my scholarships, though easier to get, were much smaller (public schools are misers about the grant money). Her school had 3 itemized things: tuition, housing, meal plan. Tuition was $40,000 and the school paid for 90% of it, Pell, Stafford, and workstudy covered the rest. Since the majority of her fellow students came from rich, mid-atlantic families they were generous with the endowments.
The point is if you ask your colleague from MIT how much he paid he might have even paid less than you. Those that can get into those schools have no problem affording them. I believe for Harvard any family making <$70,000 are fully covered. It's probably a similar scheme for MIT.