Parents ready to pay big bucks so their kids can attend an elitecollege might want to ask themselves if gaining admission to one of thoseschools will guarantee their child a prosperous future - or just a mountainof debt?

Dante Chinni, who explored that question in Sunday's Washington Post Magazine's Education Review , was online Monday, April 3, at 1 p.m. ET to field questions and comments.

Dante Chinni is a Washington writer.

____________________

Dante Chinni: Well, there is a LONG list of questions here already. Clearly people are interested in this topic.

For the record, because I'm sure its a question behind some questions. I went to Michigan State and double majored in Journalism and Modern European History.

And I have to say reporting this story changed my mind on this topic. I orginally thought the Ivies would be where my VERY young kids would be headed. I'm much more open in my thinking now ... as long as they don't want to go to Michigan. (That's a joke, by the way).

Let's get started.

_______________________

New York, NY: The criteria you cite -- the earnings of graduates --

seems to me to be the worst possible way to measure how

"good" an Ivy League college is. Students accepted to the

Ivies tend to have a passion for a liberal arts subject -- be

it poetry, Chinese history, Renaissance art, or literary

theory. Graduates follow these passions into professions

that don't necessarily pay well. Many of my classmates

from Columbia are museum curators, professors, poets,

journalists, rabbis, film critics, etc. They're at the top of

their chosen fields, yet few earn as much as a new

associate at a top law firm. I'm sure Bill Clinton brought

down the salary average of Yale Law School when he was

governor of Arkansas at $35,000 a year. How can salaries

be the criterion for excellence at Ivies, which (except for

Cornell) don't even have vocational majors?

Dante Chinni: An interesting point and true to some extent. But don't forget that people who go to the big publics often choose a career in civil service as well. Governors and state house folks often come from the state schools as well as Congress members. Take a look at where a lot of Senators are from and you'll be surprised.

Also, those in the study did apply to the Ivies, so my guess is they had a bit of that mindset as well.

As for earnings as a measure, I agree it is less than perfect, but how can one measure happiness fulfillment later in life. Money is probably the most objective meaure available.

_______________________

Arlington, Va.: Great article. i'm assuming it was focused on just undergrad education and not grad. I actually went to a large public university for my undergrad and loved it. (I had no debt upon graduation). I got my masters at a private university, and had to take out loans. Especially in this area, I have friends paying back both undergrad and grad schools loans.. I don't know how they do it. Which makes me wonder, how do salaried compare with debt payback?

Dante Chinni: Actually a few of the 1990 grads I spoke with raised this exact point. When I asked the question, the woman replied "You mean for undergrad?" almost dismissively. It was all about grad school in her mind and she got into the one she wanted.

_______________________

Washington, DC.: Hello Dante. Fabulous article -- wish my college in Massachussets was mentioned, too. I would like to know which Dante has influenced your career the most: Dante Alighieri, Daunte Culpepper or Dante Hicks from the movie Clerks? Thank you. Bill H.

Dante Chinni: Dante Pasterini... he quarterbacked the Oilers in the 1970s and 80s, but never made it to the big game.

_______________________

Washington, DC: I noticed that you only compared big name public schools? Do you think the rationale applies to "average" state universities. For ex. does the study suggest that graduates from Salisbury University or Bowie University earn just as much as grautes from the Ivies.

U of MD and UVA are 1st tier public schools. What about the other tiers, are the earnings the same?

Dante Chinni: The study I primarily looked at for the story didn't deal with the question. It was focused on kids who applied -- seriously -- to the Ivies and other select privates but wound up somewhere else.

I think the nswer is (sorry about non answer) it depends. It depends on the kid, the field of study and his or her unqiue experience at college.

_______________________

Bowie, Md: Here's what I've discovered. Attending a prestigious school will surround you with smart people to learn and network from, and will definitely open doors for you once you graduate from college because of the prestigious name and alumni contacts. Now, what you do with it is based on your own accord.

Dante Chinni: This is true. However, if you are a bright student you might be surprised at the interest a big public can have in you and the pull of the alumni network.

_______________________

Winchester, Va: Comment only.

What is amazing to me is the parents who "push" their kids to these elite universities for the sole purpose of saying to others "my son/daughter goes to Haaarvard". Kind of like the folks buying the latest expensive vehicle so everybody knows they are part of the "in" rich crowd.

Dante Chinni: I know a lot of people out there probably feel this way and sometimes there is probably some truth to it. But I think a lot of parents are simply doing what they think is bet for their kids.

I also think everyone has to take programs into account. If you know you want a career in music, look for a good music program. If you want engineering, find the right program for that. The best programs for individuals don't always to "top" schools.

_______________________

Chicago, Ill: Not really a question, but an opinion.

I grew up in the DC area and thirty years ago, I turned down a conservative prestigious university for a smaller liberal arts college, and have never regreted it. If anything, I feel I have had a more interesting life and career, primarily due to the less traditional approach of the schooling I received.

I've always felt that parents who insist on the "right schools" are basically people who are unhappy with their own lives. I wonder if their children would pick "top name" schools if there were no outside influences.

Thank God my parents let me make my own decision...

Dante Chinni: The admissions counselor I spoke with made this exact point. Kids are really feeling the pressure from their parents. One student told the counselor I spoke with something to the effect of "if you can just convince my parents I don;t need to go to Yale, I'll sleep a lot easier."

_______________________

New York: Are there regional differences in the effect of going to an Ivy? I grew up in the South. No one in my high school even considered going to an Ivy League school. I don't even think I knew what the Ivy League was then. It seems like these studies must focus on the Northeast and maybe California?

Dante Chinni: Honestly, I think the Ivy and elite private pull is much stronger in the Northeast because those states have not invested heavily in their public systems. Harvard was there long before UMass. Yale long before UConn.

In the midwest, the area I am familiar with, the publics were there before most of the privates so they have the reputation. There are obviously some very good state schools around DC and their reputations as well.

_______________________

Washington, DC: One of the things you don't address is starting at one school, particularly a community college, and then transferring into some of these more prestigious institutions. Transfer qualifications are not as rigorous, not even at the Ivies. I had the smarts but not the grades and definitely not the finances for anything but NVCC (Northern VA Comm. College) when I graduated from high school in '88. My parents who didn't own a home and made a total of about $40K/year in this area for a family of four made too much money to qualify for financial aid. I got a full time job, took classes part-time at NVCC, and finally just before I turned 24 (when you are legally independant from your parents) I transferred to William and Mary. That said, I -still- had to add an extra paragraph because at $12K/year as a nanny in '93, I made "too much" to qualify for full financial aid (meaning loans and grants). I had to explain that I was working full-time but once I transferred I would not be. I don't know how my kids will go to college, public or private, unless that get serious scholarships. My husband and I can't afford to buy a home in this area let alone save for retirement and our kids' education. It is horrible for those of us who make too much to qualify for aid but not enough to actual pay. As someone who graduated with $30K in debt and whose husband had $25K in debt, it is a severe handicap and that was at a -public- college. It is one of the reasons we don't own a home.

Dante Chinni: We really wanted to do this in the story -- find a honor society kid who went to say NoVa and transferred -- but didn't find one.

First it was hard enough tracking down the ones we found. Second, I think the world was different in 1990. The CC route wasn't as well established and other college costs hadn't yet really skyrocketed.

_______________________

Washington D.C.: Interesting article and I agree with many of your conclusions. However, I think you may have come to more substantial ones if you had segmented the schools a little further. I graduated from Georgetown and received an offer at a consulting firm where I do very well financially.

Would I have gotten this job if I had gone to another school? Maybe. But, my employer along with many others recruit on campus at GU. Many of the top schools have this benefit. Furthermore, I contribute to many of our hiring decisions here. An education from a selective school makes a difference in even getting your resume read.

All that said, I think state schools are underappreciated by many. They offer great educations and at a lower cost. Some are viewed in the same light as a school like Georgetown by employers and offer many of the same networking benefits. Unfortunately, not everyone lives in a state with a school like UVA or Michigan.

Where I see a disconnect is in the middle tier private schools. Once you have left the name schools, you lose most of the employer cache yet still retain the high tuition. Has anyone focused their analysis on a similar segmentation?

Dante Chinni: I do think that the undergrad line on the resume matters a lot when it comes to that first job. When you have no experience more employer are willing o bank on Harvard than Ohio State. So yes, let's say you get to start 10 or 15 yards ahead in the race. And who wouldn't like an early lead?

But (cliche alert) life is a marathon and over time that advantage disappears. You are judged on how you do your job and reputation you create for yourself.

The question is, is the head start worth the cost? If you're rich, who cares? But if, like most, you aren't. It's a question worth considering.

_______________________

Washington, D.C.: I don't know if you're a baseball fan, but baseball can be a great allegory for college. Teams like the New York Yankees spend HUGE money every offseason for the hottest free agents. And true, they're always pretty good. But look who they've been bounced by in the playoffs in the last 5 years: the Arizona Diamondbacks (a recent expansion team), the Florida Marlins (a wildcard team full of no-names), the Boston Red Sox (whom they trounced in the regular season), and the Anaheim Angels (twice). It just goes to show that when all is said and done, any low budget franchise can go toe-to-toe with the big money (Harvard -cough- I mean the Yankees) and be just as good and frequently better.

Dante Chinni: As a Tigers fan I have no comment... But an interesting metaphor.

I suppose we could also say that going to a less prestigious school means building a personal "farm system" when you graduate. The Yankees start out with the advantage of have team full of all stars at the start.

_______________________

Arlington, Va.: Question, not comment:

I have a question about the costs you mentioned in the article. You said that for many private colleges, less parental contribution is calculated. So the financial need is more. Is there any data whether the student's financial package to meet that need is mostly loans or are there more grants. The problem I had when applying to college was whatever my need was, the difference was made up of loans. On the other hand, the state schools gave me a merit scholarship. I've heard most elite private schools do not.

Dante Chinni: Merit scholarships are more available at the state level. If you assume everyone going to Harvard is a top-of-his-class kid, merit money isn't going to be vailable. Who's a "merit" case at Harvard?

The state schools want the brightet kids, especially those from in-state and will offer them help.

BTW, this weekend I saw Harvard was upping the amount of income at which they would offer a full ride to $60,000. So if they like you up in Cambridge and your parents make less than $60,000 you're probably headed up to Boston.

_______________________

Albany, NY: Attending and graduating from an elite college is worth its weight in gold. My daughter graduated from Vassar a few years ago. Not only did she experience a very challenging course of studies but also she developed a network of connections that has opened doors to social opportunities and employment. Plus she made friends from all over the world. A degree from an elite school smoothes the way for entry to graduate school. My advice for parents: ignore the nonsense that a lesser school is as good as an elite one. If your kid has brains and ambition, send him/her to the best college you can afford.

Dante Chinni: That is clearly a point of view. However, I think you'll find a lot of kids who go to good publics end up happy and on a fast track as well.

_______________________

Herndon, Va: I well remember staggering through the admissions process with our two sons (one graduated from William and Mary, the other is a junior at JMU). We aimed at in-state schools, but let the boys check out other ones - Syracuse, MIT, Georgia Tech, and Carnegie-Mellon, to name a few. I saw a change for the worse in the two years between the elder and the younger applying, and have no doubt it's worse yet now. The main thing to remember is, the selection process, from school to school,isn't logical. One son applied to VA Tech, JMU, and another state school we considered "safe," and was admitted by the first two and turned down by the other. Remeber, not going to an "elite" school is not the end of the world.

Dante Chinni: I spoke to the director of admissions at Harvard for this story and she relayed to me how her daughter went to Harvard but her daughter's friend who went to the same elite private high school went to Wisconsin. "It was a revelation," she said. Being at a big institution really opened her eyes and she was much richer for it.

Again, it depends on the kid.

_______________________

Washington DC - Why Does the Post Hate Good Colleges?: Sorry, but this whole "debate" is nothing but a re-hash of the Jay Mathews look-down: Harvard was for him, and his kids went to top-20 schools as well, but the rest of us should just go to George Mason and hope for employment or grad-school admission based on looks.

Tops schools are top schools in substantial part because they open doors. The "studies" to the contrary, which the Post is so fond of citing, in every case contain an independent variable which is present, by design, to modify the results.

Quit it already. Harvard really is better than Mason, and of two roughly equal students, the one who goes to Harvard will get a much, much better, life-long result than the one Mathews sends to Mason.

Dante Chinni: "Better" is an interesting word. Harvard probably has better faculty and a better class of students (than Mason or most other places for that matter).

But what is it a student needs? What are the programs he or she is interested in?

Also, I think the story pointed this out, it depends on the kid and the school. Some kids will go to Harvard and be just another (superlative) number. Another bright kid in an army of bright kids. A smart kid at the right public might get special attention and treatment.

_______________________

Silver Spring, Md: I appreciated your efforts to bring some sanity and a fresh perspective to the bizarre world that is the college-choice process. The DC area is really nuts about this stuff, partly because a lot of the adults here went to elite schools during less competitive eras, and now so many kids that want to go to elite schools live here, but the schools build their classes geographically as well as ethnically, financially, etc. The one thing that I would say to any kid who has excelled at a private school or elite suburban high school and is thinking about going to an Ivy is this: Do you think that the most valuable thing you can do with your life right now is spend more time around rich white people? There are other options, although state schools can feel way, way too close to home. Pretty challenging. My kids and I plan to go hitch-hiking instead.

Dante Chinni: A good point, though I think the Ivies are REALLY trying to diversify their pool.

I think it was Gore Vidal who regularly railed against college as a waste of time. He thought it could be done by reading books.

Of course, he never had to apply at Google either.

_______________________

Dante Chinni: Just for the record, sorry about all the spelling and grammar errors.

They aren't the result of my education, I promise. I am simply swamped with questions from all of you and typing very poorly.

_______________________

Reston, Va: I read you article with interest, and does it conclude that it doesn't really matter? I disagree with this point because I've noted that it does matter depending the field(s) you enter. For example, a Wall Street Law Firm not only looks at the top ten law schools but also the undergraduate education, preferably the top ten as well. And Wall Street Banks do also have a similar preference. Indeed you have a Princeton undergrad, attending HBS, and working on Wall Street. And if you look at local Venture Captial firms, virtually all have Ivy League degrees.

On the other hand, I've noted that in everything else: average companies, intitutions, goverment sectors, all react indifferently to academic institutions.

Dante Chinni: I think that ultimately, anyone who is smart and works hard will do OK in life -- even without the Ivy sheepskin.

Even the biggest Wall Street firm will hire someone who is go if he he proves he is. This is the nature of the United States in the 21t Century. The bottom line rules.

I think there was a time when "Harvard, son of Harvard" carried more weight. But after a few years on the job do you really think a firm will pass on a guy or gal who can bring money into the firm because he or she doesn't know the secret handshake?

_______________________

Laurel, Md: My son is going to Penn State Univ. in the fall and the tuition plus room and board is around $30,000. Though he was also accepted to in-state Towson University, the schools' music departments are very different. He, and others in the music field, feel that Penn State will offer him much more training and opportunity in classical music. I'm really just looking for reassurance that working for the next 20 years to pay for college is the right decision!

Dante Chinni: You'll know when he's playing at Carnegie I guess.

Thanks so much for all the questions. We thought there'd be interest, but didn't know we'd he this much. I'd like to stay on longer, but have two kids -- UVA(?) class of 2024 and 2026 -- that demand attention.

Hope I got to your question. Go Nats....

_______________________

Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions. washingtonpost.com is not responsible for any content posted by third parties.