re: If your child got a full ride scholarship to an SEC school....

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Arkansas for sports and academics. Being on the hill is badass. #1 Poultry Science school in the nation. 24th in Business. 20,000 students is the perfect size. Nothing beats Razorback football and baseball in Baum Stadium. Basketball can be good but the program is so down right now it's not even funny.

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You've completely sold me. I'm turning in my transfer request tomorrow.

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Nothing beats Razorback football

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If I had a kid now, I'd be 41 by the time he's old enough to play college ball anyway.

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I do not care what anyone says...if Vandy offered my child a full ride, then I would think she would go that route....

More to life then athletics...a degree form Vandy retty much sets you up....

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+10000000

My kid wouldn't have any say so. They would go to Vandy and like it.

I guess it depends on what they want to do. If they want to go for engineering, for example, Vandy would not be the place to go.

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borrow and invest in your child's future? Or is he/she just not worth the extra effort?

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You're saying this as though a $200k loan (the difference in LSU and Vanderbilt over eight semesters) is just something a parent whose child is of college age (in other words, that parent is at least 40, more likely 50+) can afford to take and pay back.

And if you honestly feel that way (at the very least the prejudicial language in "not worth the extra effort" would indicate such), I don't see how I could give a suitable answer.

ETA: Furthermore, as BHP(?) said earlier, graduate school is far more important than undergraduate school. What if my kid is going to be a lawyer? I could send him/her to LSU for cheap, the kid could get a fair undergraduate education (maybe not Vanderbilt level), and then the $200k I just saved could go to LSU's damn strong law school (75th in the nation by US News - 75th might not sound all that elite, but considering how many colleges exist in the USA, that's impressive no matter how you cut the cake), get an excellent law education, and the kid could be on his/her merry way without needing to shell out the monies.

Also, ultimately, I'm not choosing my kid's school. This ain't high school. The kid's not a kid anymore - s/he can make his/her own decisions.

ETA2: And not to start a fight, because being able to reject a Duke scholly and apply for a competitive Morgan Stanley job is respectable and all, but what does this have to do with anything?

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quote: Mississippi State University (MSU) $44,200 $80,600 quote: University of Mississippi $41,800 $78,000 That's got to hurt the ego of those Ole Miss fans who think their university is above all else.

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Agreed man...

If you get a full-ride or near full-ride, then sure, go to Vandy. But if you don't, then you really have to look at the cost-benefit analysis of each school.

We had a lot of folks who thought they were so much better in my med school class because they went to a big-name undergrad. But you know what, the kid who went to a community college for free ended up in the same position as the kid who shelled out $100K for undergrad.

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and how many kids change majors? Go to the better school, that's it. You force your kid to go to the best school he can get into. The kid may not like it, but that's because he's a kid. He doesn't understand the doors that will be open for him when he goes to certain schools, or the doors which will be shut because he went to another school.

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And what if they don't switch? Wouldn't you prefer they get best education in their field?