Will a Georgetown Education be Worth the Money?

[C86]

I am a proud Georgetown alumnus and the prouder father of twin two-year olds. I recently checked the "college cost calculator" on Illinois' 529 plan website, which allows you to project the cost of attending any school in the country using the school's current cost of room and board, adjusted for the school's historic rate of inflation. According to this calculator (which is actually run by Smith Barney), an undergraduate education at Georgetown for each of my girls is projected to cost $517,000. (The culprit behind this figure is GU's historic rate of inflation of 7.6 percent). Therefore, my wife and I are looking at potentially spending over $1 million dollars simply for a Georgetown undergraduate education (leaving aside the costs of grad school or professional school).

My wife and I are now facing a distressing question: is a Georgetown education really worth over 1 million dollars? I go back and forth on the point. I truly believe that Georgetown provides an exemplary undergraduate education, and that the knowledge, values and friendships that I gained there have helped me immensely in life. But at the same time, it's only college. Is the marginal benefit of attending Georgetown, rather than a very good state university, worth the extra money, particularly when post-graduate schooling is becoming the norm?

I throw the issue to the Board: any thoughts?

[Deleted]

Interesting question. My friends and I have talked about this question (whether college costs will ever level off) because if you think about it, it won't be just G'Town...any great school will be worth hundreds of thousands if not millions. So I'd broaden your question: is ANY elite institution worth the millions when you could go to a good state school for a fraction of the price?

GO HOYAS!!!

[C86]

I agree Buffalo, it's a bigger issue than just GU. However, my biases are showing, and I have to believe that if any school is worth that amount of money, it's Georgetown.

[DFW HOYA]

I think one of three things eventually will follow:

1. The "sticker price" of a school will simply go away. Schools will offer variable rate tuitions based on need (or merit), depending on the school;

2. Alternative choices to higher education (distance learning, co-op programs) force price sensitivity in the markets; or

3. The prices will rise to a point where the roof will simply cave in on private schools--first, to less exclusive schools, and up the ladder.

[WilsonBlvdHoya]

As the proud godfather of these twin girls, I'll throw my $.02 in (if you'll pardon the pun)!

1. The 7.6% historic tuition rate increase is somewhat correlated with GU's comparatively woeful endowment. Not to glad-hand here but the best way to try to cut back that growth rate in the future is for alums and lovers of GU to donate (ahem!--I'm guilty of not putting $ where mouth is as well although I'm happy to report that it seems the more recently graduated classes are really coming through when it comes to participation as a % of the class).

2. I think DFW's first point more or less occurs already as financial aid kicks in for those who can less afford GU tuition and other costs. Lamentably, much of that aid comes in the forms of loans (again, more endowment=more grants--see Princeton which has now eliminated undergraduate loans as a form of financial assistance). When DFW and C86 and I were students 20 years ago, loans were prevalent but far less so than now. Besides, the average family income of a GU undergrad is now around $150K (this was reported in the business section of the W.Post 3-5 yrs. ago vs. UMCP avg. of $75K) so, for better and worse, a greater % of the GU student body can afford the skyrocketing tuition.

3. On DFW's 2nd point, I think GU will largely be immune to the alternative choices forcing some level of price sensitivity in the higher education markets. At the higher end, which leads me to his 3rd point, one cannot underestimate the willingness-to-pay of American baby-boomer and Gen-X parents for superior higher education (that's what permitted the historically high growth rates of tuition in the first place!). I'd be willing to bet there are sufficient numbers of parents out there NOW willing-to-pay $1M tuition to fill a Class of 2009 at Harvard or any other Ivy or UChic. if their little Johnny or Janey was admitted. This anxiety is especially high among urbanites on both coasts and certainly manifests itself in Chicago as well.....

4. In the end, I'm not really worried because I know that the twins will win dual athletic scholarships as Attack and Defense in GU's Women's Lax Class of 2024!!! They'll successfully extend the women's lacrosse national championship streak to 14 years!!! LOL! ;-) In the meantime, C86, keep those 529 contributions going and make sure the gals are practicing their cradling skills!!!

[Nevada Hoya]

I was already counting on the twins to form half of the four-time Penn Relays 4x800m relay championship of America team.

[C86]

DFW, WBH, Buffalo and Nevada --

I concur with your opinions of why the price of a GU education is skyrocketing. I also agree with WBH and DFW that the "list price" of a college education probably doesn't exist. Ditto to the conclusion that rich people will continue to spend huge amounts of money for an elite university education.

In short, we all agree that college is going to be expensive, and we agree why this will be the case. But the more pressing question for me is on the value side of the equation: is a GU education really worth spending a million dollars? I go both ways on the issue. A million bucks spent at the University of Illinois, to use an example, would buy a whole lot of very good education. In fact, it would probably cover a BA, a masters and a PhD for both girls. At a minimum, it would provide both a good BA, and leave something left for grad school.

However, a Georgetown education is undeniably valuable, and I would not trade mine. [An aside, the postings on the board about the death of Fr. Cioffi demonstrate what a special place Georgetown is]. It's a tough call how you value something like that.

But, as WBH points out, I will, in all likelihood, not have to make the decision. The twins are showing uncommon athletic ability at a young age, and they will letter both in Lacrosse and Track at Georgetown [how they will handle the overlapping seasons remains to be determined]. However, to be safe, WBH, if you want to offer any more two cents, send them to me and they'll go straight into the 529.

[Nevada Hoya]

Hear, hear, let's offer a toast to the twins in both their academic and athletic endeavors! May they be blessed with the power of bi-location (as the legend of St. John Bosco leads us to believe in this preternatural power).

I didn't have to make the choice of GU or University X for my son. He went into engineering, so GU was not even in the running. Some of the schools out west are not as expensive as the eastern elites. Also, we just had to pay for his undergrad education, as in engineering and the sciences, it is easy to get assistantships or fellowship for grad degrees. If I were to have to make a choice, and my son were interested in GU, it would have been a hard choice. The amount of the financial aid package would be very important in my decision. In the end I ended up funding my son's education at the University of Portland (Oregon's Catholic university) with US savings bonds (the value would have been much more, if I had invested in a good performing mutual fund).