Ivy League Tuition : Yes You CAN Afford it

If you can get into one of the best top tier colleges in the nation then you should go.   People seem afraid of a tuition bill at a major Ivy League level school, but this fear is unfounded.    The most prestigious universities in the nation also have some of the most generous financial aid.   If you can get into an Ivy League school then its virtually guaranteed that you can afford it.


Harvard is Cheap ..With Financial Aid
Harvard costs well over $50,000 total in tuition and other expenses.   Thats expensive.  But you probably won't pay anywhere near that.  

Financial aid at Harvard is very generous.  They make this commitment:
"Harvard guarantees to meet 100 percent of a student’s demonstrated financial need for all four college years based on information we receive from the family each year."

Tuition is free at Harvard for families making under $60,000.  The general expectation for families making from $60,000 to $180,000 income is that you'll pay 10% of your income towards college.   Average loan debt for 2009 Harvard grads was under $9,000 which is well under the national average loan debt for graduating seniors of over $20,000.  


Ivy League will all meet your financial need.


Harvard isn't the only school in the Ivy League with very generous financial aid.   In fact every single Ivy League school says that they will meet a families full financial needs.   When they say "financial need" that means how much the family needs in order to afford the school after the financial aid forms are filed and the families contribution is determined.   SO if the college costs $50,000 a year and the financial aid forms determine the family can pay $5,000 with their own money then the left over difference of $45,000 is the "financial need".    Put that simply : The universities will cover the cost that you can't pay yourself.

All the Ivy's

Brown University : "Brown is committed to meeting a family's full demonstrated need"    If family income is under $60,000 then Brown expects you to pay nothing.   If the family makes under $100,000 then they don't require you to take any loans.


Columbia University: "Columbia meets 100% of the demonstrated financial need for all students admitted as first-years"

Cornell University: Announced this summer : "Cornell will commit to matching the parental contribution and loan level of other Ivy schools, and will strive to also match the parental contribution and loan levels at Stanford, Duke and MIT."   And since the other Ivy's all say they'll meet 100% of your need, Cornell will match it at similar 100% needs.

Dartmouth University :   They say that their financial aid  : " meets enrolling students' full demonstrated financial need." 

Princeton University:  They state that they : "For more than three decades, we've considered students for admission to Princeton without concern over their families' ability to pay — and offered aid to cover 100 percent of each admitted student’s need." and they meet your financial need without loans: "Princeton was the first university to offer every aid recipient a financial aid package that replaces loans with grant aid (scholarships) that students do not pay back." 

University of Pennsylvania:   "Penn is committed to meet 100 percent of your financial need, as determined by Student Financial Services."

Yale University :   Yale says that they : "will meet the full demonstrated need of every student including international students for all four years." 

Other Great Universities

Stanford University : "For parents with total annual income below $60,000 and typical assets for this income range, Stanford will not expect a parent contribution toward educational costs" and they'll make sure tuition is covered if your income is under $100,000.

M.I.T.  : "We meet the full need of each undergraduate for all four years"

CalTech : "If you are an admitted student whose family has insufficient financial resources to pay for all or part of your educational expenses, Caltech will provide you with a financial aid package commensurate with your demonstrated need and so make it possible for you to attend."


Military Academies

Our nations military academies are among the best universities in the country.   If you decide to go the military route then the academies offer an excellent education with no cost.   In fact you actually get a salary while you attend.

West Point says  : "A West Point cadetship includes a fully funded four-year college education. Tuition, room, board, medical and dental care are provided by the U.S. Army. As members of the Armed Forces, cadets also receive an annual salary of more than $6,500."

Comparing States Public School Test Scores

Are the schools in your state any good?   Some people seem to think that any and all public schools anywhere in America are horrible.   There are many schools that are not doing a good job educating student but there are also many schools that are doing a very good job.   The quality of education varies greatly across the nation from state to state and city to city.    One starting point for comparison is to look st the average test scores for schools in each state.   Some states score well above average and some are below average.  

The Dept. of Education's National Report card has data on test scores students at the state level.   Below are the average test scores for math and reading plus their sum.


2009 test scores for 4th graders:

	math	read	sum
National Public	239	220	459
Massachusetts	252	234	486
New Hampshire	251	229	480
Vermont	248	229	477
New Jersey	247	229	476
Connecticut	245	229	474
Minnesota	249	223	473
North Dakota	245	226	471
Maryland	244	226	470
Virginia	243	227	470
Kansas	245	224	469
Montana	244	225	469
Colorado	243	226	469
DoDEA	240	228	469
Maine	244	224	468
Ohio	244	225	468
Florida	242	226	468
Pennsylvania	244	224	467
Indiana	243	223	465
New York	241	224	465
Delaware	239	226	465
Wyoming	242	223	465
Missouri	241	224	465
Kentucky	239	226	464
South Dakota	242	222	464
Iowa	243	221	464
Wisconsin	244	220	464
Washington	242	221	464
North Carolina	244	219	463
Idaho	241	221	462
Rhode Island	239	223	461
Nebraska	239	223	461
Utah	240	219	460
National Public	239	220	459
Texas	240	219	459
Illinois	238	219	457
Oregon	238	218	456
Michigan	236	218	455
Oklahoma	237	217	454
Georgia	236	218	454
Arkansas	238	216	454
South Carolina	236	216	452
Tennessee	232	217	449
Alaska	237	211	448
West Virginia	233	215	448
Hawaii	236	211	446
Nevada	235	211	446
Alabama	228	216	444
California	232	210	441
Arizona	230	210	440
Mississippi	227	211	438
New Mexico	230	208	438
Louisiana	229	207	437
District of Columbia	219	202	421

2009 scores for 8th graders:

	math	read	sum
National Public	282	262	544
Massachusetts	299	274	572
New Jersey	293	273	565
Vermont	293	272	565
Minnesota	294	270	564
New Hampshire	292	271	563
North Dakota	293	269	562
Montana	292	270	562
South Dakota	291	270	561
Connecticut	289	272	560
DoDEA	287	272	560
Pennsylvania	288	271	559
Washington	289	267	556
Maryland	288	267	556
Kansas	289	267	555
Wyoming	286	268	554
Ohio	286	269	554
Maine	286	268	554
Wisconsin	288	266	554
Colorado	287	266	553
Missouri	286	267	553
Indiana	287	266	553
Idaho	287	265	552
Virginia	286	266	552
Nebraska	284	267	551
Oregon	285	265	550
Utah	284	266	550
Iowa	284	265	549
Delaware	284	265	549
Texas	287	260	547
Illinois	282	265	547
New York	283	264	547
Kentucky	279	267	546
North Carolina	284	260	544
Florida	279	264	544
National Public	282	262	544
Alaska	283	259	542
Michigan	278	262	540
Rhode Island	278	260	538
Georgia	278	260	538
South Carolina	280	257	538
Tennessee	275	261	536
Oklahoma	276	259	535
Arizona	277	258	535
Arkansas	276	258	534
Hawaii	274	255	528
Nevada	274	254	528
Louisiana	272	253	526
West Virginia	270	255	525
New Mexico	270	254	524
Alabama	269	255	523
California	270	253	523
Mississippi	265	251	516
District of Columbia	254	242	496

Keep in mind that these are just average test scores and that every state will have variations.   Each state has a large variation in school quality from city to city and between school districts.   The very best school in a state with low average scores may be a very good school even compared to most schools in a state with very high averages, and vice versa.

Happy Labor Day

I hope you're enjoying your Labor Day weekend!

Don't Buy A Suit Like I Do

I don't wear suits much.  I've only bought a total of two suits in my life.    I didn't do a very good job buying either.

The first suit I bought in the early 90's after I graduated college.   I bought the suit to do job interviews.   I got it from a Men's Wearhouse.   I don't recall what I spent but I'm pretty sure it was under $200.  It was a good suit.   BUT ... the style of the suit was a trendy fashion with shoulder pads, pin stripes and it was double breasted.    In the early 90's that looked perfectly normal, but today it looks horribly out of date.   That first suit worked fine initially, but now years later its not something I'd want to wear.  

The second suit I bought recently.   I bought the suit the day before I had to go to a memorial service so it was a last minute kinda purchase.  I didn't get much advance notice about the memorial service and I didn't have much time to fit in the shopping, so this wasn't planned of course.   Again I went to Mens Wearhouse to buy it.   When I was driving there with my wife, I had in my head that I didn't want to spend more than $200.   I initially figured I might just buy a jacket that I could wear with some dress slacks I already had.   When we got to the store the first suit the buy put me in had a price tag of about $500.  I failed to state up front what my price range was so of course the salesperson goes straight to one of the more expensive suits.   I told him that was too much and asked for something closer to $200 level.  I then tried on 3-4 more suits in the $200 range and finally found one that fit me well.    I also tried individual jackets but decided to go ahead and just get a full suit so I'd have it to wear if or when I needed. I figured why spend $100 or so on just a jacket when I could go ahead and get the full suit.     I finally settled on a suit for about $230.   Not too far above the $200 I initially figured on spending.     Not so fast!   When they're fitting the pants I find out its an extra $22 more to have the hem done.   So now its actually $250 I'm spending.

Guess what!  They are having a sale right now and if you buy one suit you can get another for just $100.   That actually sounded like a great deal.   And I still do think it is a good buy.   However I resisted the temptation to spend more money because I barely need one suit, much less two suits.  Sure $100 more for a 2nd suit would be a good buy but I don't need a second suit.    Bullet dodged.  ... for a moment... the salesman was good.  He suggested that I could get a nice sport coat and my wife really liked that idea.   We'd actually talked about me getting a decent sport coat that we could wear on nice dates and such.  Something formal but not overly dressy like a full suit.   So this is something I had wanted to buy.  Ok, so now I'm buying a suit AND a sport jacket.  Thats not too bad.  Guess I'm spending over $300.  

However we're not done yet of course, you can't forget the accessories.   I'll need a dress shirt and a tie of course.   The salesman shows me a very nice shirt with some sort of fancy features like stain resistance, wrinkle resistance and whatever, but the price tag is around $50 for that shirt so I decline and ask for something cheaper.   Getting a tie is a matter of taste so I end up buying one of the tie's that I like for something around $15 or $20.   If I add this all up in my head I think I'm at about $360.    The salesman suggests some dress shoes, no thanks I've got those.   He asks about socks, no I've got socks.   I'm surprised he didn't try to sell me a handkerchief, cuff links and some cologne too.

The very last attempt on the salesmans part to increase his commission was to pitch me the $10 cedar hanger.   That is a clothes hanger made of cedar wood in order to keep the moths out of your suit.  No thanks.  (after the fact I found cedar hangers online $11 for 5 pack).  

Once everything is wrung up at the cash register the final bill is $391 and change.   As I'm paying about 100% more than I intended to for the day's shopping I at least congratulated myself that I didn't fall for the $10 hanger.

That is the conclusion of my long example of how NOT to buy a suit.   Maybe next time I buy a suit I'll do a better job.    Below are some things I've learned about the process that would help me pay a bit less hopefully.

Don't buy a suit at the last minute 
Buying a suit at the last minute doesn't give you time to shop around and look for bargains.   If you're buying at the last minute you are stuck taking the quick and easy option which usually isn't the best value.

DO buy a suit in advance

You don't know when you'll need to go to a funeral or some other occasion that requires more formal attire.  If you buy a suit in advance of when you actually end up needing it then that will allow time to shop around and find a good buy.   If you know you'll need a suit sometime in the future for a wedding, unexpected funeral or other event then buy one in advance so you have plenty of time to shop around to find a good suit or wait for a good sale without being rushed to make a decision.

Don't go into the store without a solid idea of what you need and want to buy. 
I went into the store without really thinking if I wanted or needed a dress shirt, tie, shoes, etc.  I just had a vague idea of needing a suit or maybe a jacket but without any detail.   You should figure out before hand exactly what you want to buy so you aren't stuck making decisions on the spot about the various accessories or buying something you didn't really need or want in the first place.

Don't let a salesman guide you into purchases that you don't want or need or out of your budget.
I did not need an extra sport jacket but I ended up buying one anyway.   I wanted one but I didn't need one that day.   I could have just said no thank you on that one and shopped around more to buy one at another time.   Buying it then and there was more of a "why not" ... or "might as well, while we're at it" purchase.

DO shop around for accessories.
I'm pretty sure that Mens Wearhouse has a very large profit margin on their accessory items like the dress shirts, ties, socks, and cedar hangers.   If I had the time to shop around for these items then I am sure I could have gotten them cheaper elsewhere.


Don't buy a trendy suit that will go out of fashion
The first suit I bought back in college was a good suit at the time.  Now it would make a good Halloween costume if someone wanted go go as "90's Man".    If you need a suit then buy one in a classic fashion that won't go out of style in a few years.   That way your suit will last you years or even decades into the future.  My father has a suit he bought in the 1960's that still looks fine today. 


I do not regret my suit and jacket purchase.   Please don't read this story as a negative review of Men's Wearhouse.  I actually quite like Men's Wearhouse and was very satisfied with the good work the salesman there did and I'm happy with the suit purchase.   I don't think $391 for what I bought was a bad price.   I could have gotten it cheaper if I'd shopped around a bit I'm sure but I didn't have time to do that.  For a last minute purchase I am happy with what I got.   I knew at the time that I was paying a bit more since it was a last minute purchase. Its a good suit I'll be able to use for years.

Men's Wearhouse photo By Xurble