Wren Building at The College of William & Mary (Public)

“What if I graduate from private school and have to live at home with my parents because I can’t find a job?”

“What if I graduate from private school and end up back at McDonald’s?”

“What if I graduate from private school and end up getting the same job with the same pay as my public school friends?”

“What if I bleed my parents dry to the point they have to work many more years to afford retirement?”

“What if I drop out of private school halfway through, thereby wasting all that time and money?”

I asked myself these questions over and over again when deciding between public university or private university. My parents weren’t rich nor was I smart enough to get large amounts of scholarship money from private schools, so I felt extra pressure to make the right choice.

My thesis is that the more fearful you are of failure and the more guilt you feel about spending money, the more you should consider going to public school. If you are unaware that 870 million people in the world suffer from malnourishment every day, then what do you really care about wasting food on your plate or gorging yourself to oblivion? If you know your wealthy parents will hook you up with a job at their company after graduation, does it really matter you spend $44,000 in tuition going to Boston University when U. Mass-Amherst costs $13,400 in tuition and provides just as good an education? Of course not.

In the end I decided there was no way in hell I was going to attend a private school that cost $25,000 a year in tuition back in the 1990’s if it wasn’t in the top 10. All subjects are taught off the same text books anyway. Some of the intro courses are even taught by teacher assistants. Why pay a premium?

I was even considering going to community college for two years and then transferring over to a four year institution to save my parents more money. But thankfully William & Mary accepted me despite my average SAT score. Virginia has some other great public schools including UVA, Virginia Tech, James Madison, and Mary Washington so it didn’t seem right to not take advantage of the public school system.

When I wrote “Average Inheritance By Country,” I was merely guessing at the $3,000 a year tuition my college charged back in 1995. After doing some digging online, it turns out my guesstimate was pretty spot on at $2,890 a year. The reason why I remember the cost 18 years later is because I was extremely sensitive to my family’s finances.