Garbage--Real offroading!

[gibbons]

Still dealing with the huge guilt of not being able to afford $250K for MIT :( for our son who got accepted, we let him buy a $6,000 bicycle (he works at a bike shop and got a screamin' deal). He was so excited that while building it, he left the very expensive carbon fiber seatpost and limited edition titanium railed seat in the box and ran the box out to the dumpster. And naturally, the once-a-month dumpster pick-up happened about 10 minutes later. :eek:

We discovered the error about 2 hours later. I called the trash hauling service, and they said that Bo had just dumped the load at the landfill. Crap! I jumped in the XC and raced to the landfill, I didn't have time to go get the truck. Once there, I asked the operators if I could drive down to the unload area and look around. Imagine what they thought of me, as I am sitting there in a station wagon, when all the other patrons are in 4x4 trucks. They let me go in, probably thinking it would be really funny to watch this knucklehead bury his car in the deep garbage and then drag it out with their caterpillars (you have to drive over previous layers of garbage in the landfill).

So in I go. Bouncing, bobbing, spinning, dragging. No problem, even without DSTC :) ! I pulled up where the trucks were unloading and got out. The guy in the truck next to me says, "stupid, what are you doing???" It was my brother unloading a bunch of yard trimmings, talk about coincidental timing. I combed the hot, smelly garbage in my slacks and dress shoes for a while and gave up. Dang!

Pulling in to the dump, I was pretty focused on the bike parts. When I was leaving, I focused on the car's capabilities plowing through the slick, uneven, unpredictably matted garbage. Ya know, these cars are amazing. I will have to add "excellent in garbage" to my Nokian reviews.

If you don't have anywhere to test your car off-road, take 'er to the local land-fill dump. You will be impressed. ;)

[SYS]

"If you don't have anywhere to test your car off-road, take 'er to the local land-fill dump."

No thanks! :)

[Filibuster]

$250k for MIT is expensive. How expensive are other universities in the US?

I've heard that the education at MIT is not much better than at other Universities but of course the name is great. And some professors are great. I met MIT professor Haywood once. A cool man who has written some famous books on our dear Internal Combustion Engine.

[SYS]

Oh, MIT is just an average when it comes to the cost of education at private institutions. It doesn't even appear at the top 10 most expensive colleges and universities in the U.S.

http://money.cnn.com/2004/10/21/pf/college/expensive_colleges/

MIT is also known as "Made In Taiwan" because of so many Asian students attending there. :D

It's one great institution albeit I hate the way the campus looks. It looks more like a factory than a campus.

(Funny and true story: I used to visit MIT's tennis complex during summer nights way back in early '90s, and we'd get shot at with air balloons filled with water. We couldn't figure out where these were coming from through dark surroundings, but we learned later that some MIT frat boys designed a water balloons launcher and they were launching at us from a nearby frat house. Really pissed me off then...)

[gibbons]

Yeah, considering interest on loans just during the school period, it would be $250K. His older brother got accepted to Johns Hopkins, we couldn't afford that either. Their little brother is the smartest of the bunch, I wonder what he will do. I think they apply to these schools just to prove what a crumby provider I am.

[littlewaywelt]

Yeah, considering interest on loans just during the school period, it would be $250K. His older brother got accepted to Johns Hopkins, we couldn't afford that either. Their little brother is the smartest of the bunch, I wonder what he will do. I think they apply to these schools just to prove what a crumby provider I am.

You love your boys and they know it. If they are smart they'll get ahead if they go to a state university or an ivy. Just be the best Dad you can be and it will all work out.

Have they looked into grant programs and financial aid?

[SYS]

Yeah, considering interest on loans just during the school period, it would be $250K. His older brother got accepted to Johns Hopkins, we couldn't afford that either. Their little brother is the smartest of the bunch, I wonder what he will do. I think they apply to these schools just to prove what a crumby provider I am.

Both excellent schools. Obviously you brought them up very well. With their intelligence, I don't think it really matters which schools they go to. With the ridiculous expenses of sending our kids to college nowadays, I'm already worried about my two boys who are 8 and 6 even though I started on their systematic college savings about two years ago. Compare to college bound kids nowadays mine was a real bargain years ago!!

[skibo]

$250k for MIT is expensive. How expensive are other universities in the US?

I've heard that the education at MIT is not much better than at other Universities but of course the name is great. And some professors are great. I met MIT professor Haywood once. A cool man who has written some famous books on our dear Internal Combustion Engine.


My kids are only 1 and 4, but I'm already sweating their eventual college costs. It seems to me that the private universities seems to plateau at around $40,000(US)/year, including tuition, room and board. Interstingly, this number seems to be about the same for the biggest names (Harvard, MIT, etc) as well as the second tier of private schools (RPI, RIT, C-MU).

Gibbons says he's including loan interest in his $250k number, and maybe travel as well, as I believe he lives quite far from MIT.

Still and all, I recall many moons ago as I looked at 2 colleges - 1 public and 1 private - being told that almost no-one pays the full 'sticker price' and it is often the case that a family's out of pocket expenses are no more at a pricey school, as they may qualify for more financial aid. I believe this is still somewhat the case, depending upon your circumstance.

[gibbons]

Sorry, I know this is an XC forum, not a school forum. But....we did all the forms and applications and it came down to the fact that I make too much for assistance, but not enough to actually pay for it. MIT was going to be $45K cash right now. He is going to take a 2 year leave after his first year, so his senior year in 6 years would have been $57K given the 5% increase per year the school promised.

MIT guy will be going to the University of Utah to study biomechanical engineering for free on a scholarship. He wants to be a professor. JH guy will be at Utah State University studying biological engineering on a full everything scholarship, too. He wants to be an orthopedist. Yeah, they're good kids and I know they love me and my wife.

The XC still has mud on the tires up to the rims and on the cladding. It looks pretty burly, I think I will leave it on a for a while. I am getting curious, now, though, I would like to take this car to Moab UT (red rock desert) and do a few easy jeep trails.

[SYS]

For being either a professor or an orthopedist, what's more important is which grad school they graduate from...

I took my family through Moab, Utah, on July 2-3 with our XC70. It's a beautiful place, although our visit was just limited to the Arches NP and Moab. Enjoy the trip!!