If you're committed to going to a college and you get admitted an Ivy, you should absolutely go. Nowadays most of their financial aid plans are fantastic, the p

If you're committed to going to a college and you get admitted an Ivy, you should absolutely go. Nowadays most of their financial aid plans are fantastic, the professors are amazing, you're surrounded by brilliant people and the reputation is a great perk when finding a job. Princeton, for example, has financial aid for 60% of its students and the average grant covers 96% of tuition for undergraduates. 75% of students graduate debt free. It's hard to compare other deals to that. Source: http://www.princeton.edu/admission/financialaid/ http://www.princeton.edu/admission/financialaid/ And of course, many top tier non-Ivy schools are similarly awesome by these criterias and should be grouped together with them in this discussion. That said, the concept of "going to a good school" is absolutely overrated by employers, as is the concept of needing to go to through a four year liberal arts education. I know many hackers with a high school education who could run rings around some of my ex-classmates when doing honest-to-god software engineering. However, what college education lacks in practicality, it makes up for it in the experience. Having four years to learn what you want and having fun with brilliant young people? Sounds awesome, sign me up again.