>>>I have two grandsons in high school with high GPA's who can't even think about those schools.
>>>Both of their parents are PE's who work their butts off to save as much money as they can for their kids' schooling, but those schools are just out of reach.
>>
>>Bill - FWIW, most of those top schools now have financial aid systems consisting mostly of grants, not loans, and in which they will provide a fair amount of money. Your grandsons should not rule out those schools without taking a look at the real out-of-pocket cost. Check out this site: http://www.collegedata.com/cs/promo/promo_netcost_tmpl.jhtml;jsessionid=21e48df49bf8b61e32de162c56b5adb013e8fbcf23d9e0930ed745941793c53b.e3iNbN8Pbh0Le38Kc3yQc3qNchn0n6jAmljGr0.1
>>
>>You may find that an Ivy or other top-tier school is actually cheaper in real cost than a state school.
>>
>>Tamar
>Thanks for the tip, Tamar.
>Their parents are working on that with their advisors.
>It's not without precedent.
>Sam Alito came from a middle income family here in Hamilton, (his mother, a retired HS principal, just died recently) graduated from their high school and went to Princeton.
>Their dream is to go to Princeton.
>They could commute!

If they really have portfolios good enough for an Ivy, encourage them to look at multiple schools of that class, not just Princeton. Include Amherst, Williams, Wesleyan, etc., too. Don't put all their eggs in one basket. And if there's any interest in Yale, let me know and I can set them up to talk to my son, who went there and worked in the Admissions office.

Tamar