re: Forbes’ “New Ivies” Public and Private Universities, 2026

quote:

---

We are just looking at normal state schools with a goal of just getting a degree and not being in debt the rest of my life

---

Our last to to finish wound up with 80k total (housing, tuition, books)for bachelors and masters, he managed the money I gave him very well

Inflation has been a bear though since Covid, I’m estimating the one I have in college now will be about 100k all in with bachelor’s with dual majors

She is also handling my money very responsibly

Our last will probably run 125k all in

All at good in state schools

None of mine had any interest in the big schools Aggie (just too big) and TU (big city commuter school feel) but all are going to have great educations and be able to provide for themselves just fine
But the financial difference isn’t that big, Aggie and TU both would be about 50k total more

quote:

---

UGA Alum swore Georgia was the best academic university in the country

---

Well, I think a hard worker can graduate from any of the SEC schools and become successful… plus I don’t want to jinx us by throwing shade at Georgia, because we can’t seem to beat them in football…

Yes, of course, a book written about colleges 41 years ago is very relevant

Cool anecdotal evidence dawg

quote:

---

The term "Public Ivy gets thrown around a lot, but it was actually created by a guy from Yale in 1985 who wrote a book called: Public Ivies: A Guide to America's Best Public Undergraduate Colleges and Universities.

He named Michigan, Cal, Texas, UVA, UNC, William & Mary, Miami (Ohio) and Vermont as the 8 public universities where someone could get an Ivy League-level education.

Now, people ignore that origin, and there are 20+ schools claiming to be a Public Ivy.

---

It is a dumb, undefinable term up there with "Blue Blood."

It had several revisions including the Greene's guide in 2001 that expanded out the group to 30 schools including:

Pennsylvania State University (University Park)
Rutgers University (New Brunswick, New Jersey)
State University of New York at Binghamton
University of Connecticut (Storrs)
College of William & Mary (Williamsburg, Virginia)
University of Delaware (Newark)
University of Maryland, College Park
University of Virginia (Charlottesville)
University of Arizona (Tucson)
University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Davis
University of California, Irvine
University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, San Diego
University of California, Santa Barbara
University of Colorado Boulder
University of Washington (Seattle)
Indiana University Bloomington
Miami University (Oxford, Ohio)
Michigan State University (East Lansing)
Ohio State University (Columbus)
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
University of Iowa (Iowa City)
University of Michigan (Ann Arbor)
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
University of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Florida (Gainesville)
University of Georgia (Athens)
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of Texas at Austin

You never get that time back with them either, I feel incredibly blessed and lucky he wants to stay home for an extra year. It makes so much sense financially as well, most kids don't want to because they want that immediate freedom. Good for you hope your daughter enjoys her experience, seems like it is a great decision for your family.

quote:

---

What's interesting and I believe is being implied by the feedback they discuss from the hiring managers is that DEI has messed up admissions to a point where top tier candidates who should’ve been accepted to Penn or whatever are ending up at Georgia Tech or Texas and the DEI candidates probably should’ve been at a third tier school and it’s watering down the Ivy League brand.

But functionally the schools listed are historically mostly backup schools for people who didn’t get into the actual Ivy League.

---

While it's convenient to blame DEI, and I am certain there is some of that to an extent, the reality of the situation is that there are just simply more kids applying to historically top schools than ever before. And those top schools have not increased their numbers of incoming Freshman in any meaningful way. It is almost impossible to get into the traditional Ivies at this point. Hell, it's impossible to get into a lot of the "secondary" top schools. The brand of Ivies hasn't been watered down at all. Those schools are still filled with kids that are the smartest of the smartest, who will then make up the majority of the top law, business, grad schools.

What this does do is allow a lot of 2nd and 3rd tier colleges and universities to attract really incredible students, and as a result, they become more selective as well.

It all flows downhill.

quote:

---

quote: AI is not going to be able to come out and fix a leaky basement, or wire a panel box…


Sooner that most people think, an AI-powered robot will do just that.

---

Maybe, if we humans have not blown ourselves up with drone wars first…

You truly are ignorant