Only In America

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
Houston Family Spends $1.5M on College For 5 Daughters

By Elicia Dover | ABC News

It's graduation day-a day that's getting quite familiar to Marc and Beverly Ostrofsky of Houston.
Today, they'll attend two graduation ceremonies, one for their daughter Shelly, 22, from Washington University in St. Louis and another for their daughter, Mary Grace, 18, from Kincaid High School. Mary Grace will head to Boston University. Kelly, 22, graduated last Sunday from Duke University. Tracy, 20, is a sophomore at University of Denver. The oldest, Maddy, 23, graduated from Berklee College of Music last year.
So what's the cost of putting five daughters through college? Ostrofsky told ABC News $60,000 to $70,000 a year, "easy-that's really conservative," Beverly Ostrofsky said.
In total, the family will spend about $1.5 million on college after taxes and that's not including graduate school. One daughter informed Marc that she now wants to seek her PhD. Marc is the best-selling author of "Get Rich Click," and a multi-millionaire from Internet businesses.
"We're fortunate that we can take care of it," Beverly said. "We decided a long time ago we didn't want the girls to take out college loans, so that was our commitment to them."
Marc and Beverly married five years ago, blending their respective daughters into one big family of college-ready girls and creating a prime illustration of the rising cost of college for families with multiple children. The Ostrofsky family said their advice to parents is to start planning and saving from the day children are born.
Beverly said they wanted their daughters to have a choice of where they wanted to go to college, but having their children spread throughout the U.S. created another expense-flying all of them home for holidays and visits. Just this week, Marc flew to North Carolina for Kelly's graduation, then to St. Louis for Shelly's graduation and hopes to make it back just in time to Houston for Mary Grace's graduation tonight.
Though the greatest expense is room and board, the family also picks up the tab for many other miscellaneous expenses such as food, clothing and three of the girls have cars.
"I've got five daughters so let's put a separate line item for shoes," Marc said. "At one point we had four different colleges going at the same time. It's a little bit hectic." Marc added he also picks up the cost of other activities such as sorority participation and athletics such as snowboarding.
With the last child leaving home for college, Marc says he and Beverly are going to "take a breather."
"It's like wipe the sweat off the brow now-it's time think about what can mom and dad do," he said.
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
With three kids in college that we pay for also, it is painful. We are fortunate that they all go to school locally so room and board is manageable.
 

NorthStar

Member
Feb 8, 2011
24,305
1,323
435
Vancouver Island, B.C. Canada
Aren't there riots in streets of Quebec over tuition hikes that are still well under ours?

Yes Amir, this is only the start of a very long political battle regarding 'education' in Quebec.
I can tell you my several opinions about it, as I am quite familiar with the Quebec government and how they rule, but I simply won't. :b

Let's just say that Jean Charest, Quebec Premier, is a total idiot! A selfish individual with his payroll and pension on his mind.
He ain't working for 'the people's benefits!
Plus the first education ministry lady (I forgot her name), have just terminated her political career (15 years), plus her post, for good! And I can totally relate with her (very nice lady by the way, and now replaced by a froot-loop one!).

I am glad to not be living in the Quebec political climat as it is a very unhealthy one, seriously!
But even here on Vancouver Island we have our own set of issues (environment, and depression from the lack of resources on the deprived and the poors).

Education is the most important thing in the entire world, and without a proper one for EVERYONE, this world of ours will be always in great turmoil. That is my honest opinion.

It is great that some people have access to it, but without the others it means not that much at the end, isn't it? ...Well, just think for a sec about it ...

Anyway, this is the most important subject of all time, and everybody is part of it.
All that we know has to be shared with everyone, and should be free in a free society, in a free world.
But reality is corrupted, blinded by the powers of money and all that sick Jazz ... No?

What you guys think? Shoot, and let's talk smartly about the biggest thing in our planet: EDUCATION.
And not just in America, but in the entire World!
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
I actually think US is way ahead of many other countries in that there is always space for someone to go and get an education. Yes, you may have to go to community college or a lesser rated University but if you want a degree, you can get it. In many countries, there is only capacity for 10 to 20% of the kids graduating from high-school. There are entrance exams akin to what exists in US for medial degree or else, you are done. In some countries, that means automatic military service if you can't go to school!

So as much as we complain about the cost of education, knock on wood it is not much worse than it could be.
 

NorthStar

Member
Feb 8, 2011
24,305
1,323
435
Vancouver Island, B.C. Canada
From the stats that I read; in American colleges and universities, cheating exams is prevalent.

And we forget the main and most important lesson of them all: put in practice what we've learned in the benefit of our societies. >>> And not of our bank accounts.

That's the problem! ...And the oil, and the power, the control, and all that out-of-tune Jazz.
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
I think the bigger problem is that we teach the kids so much useless information. I can teach you what you need to know to be a top programmer in a week. Yet when you go to get a Computer Science degree, you spend four years learning all kinds of stuff not useful for the job, and they miss some critical things that you need to know to live in corporate life. How to send email. How to communicate. How to run meetings. How to track projects. How to resolve conflicts with your peers. On and on. There is so much value put on that piece of paper that you have to waste four years getting it or else. My son right now is suffering through calculus. I can see maybe teaching a bit of that but advanced classes there are a total waste of time for a programmer who will almost never needs to know any math. Just because you are getting a "science degree," it doesn't mean you need to spend half of your time at the college learning unrelated topics to your area of profession.

Then there is the quality of teaching. I help my son with is math and these textbooks are just so awful. Half the time I solve the problem my way rather than the cryptic descriptions they give.
 

NorthStar

Member
Feb 8, 2011
24,305
1,323
435
Vancouver Island, B.C. Canada
Bingo! You hit the jackpot Amir; we first need the right things to teach our kids, and then we need to carefully pick the right teachers. And it has to be with the times we live on; this year, the year 2012 in this world we live in and with everything that there is in it and all the things that are happening and the things that need to be changed and improved.

And if we don't do that, we just continue the perpetual decadence of the world's empire.
...Total unbalance, unfairness, and the riches getting richer and the poorest getting poorer.
It just don't work!

Man has to reinvent himself each and every single day, just like taking care of your garden with the flowers, the vegetables and the fruits in it. Or like a marriage, a union between a man and a woman, two individuals, two young lovers, two older people living under the same roof and both aspiring to Peace all around them. ...The simple basic value of the human race.

We are destroying our paradise, the Earth, for immediate profits, and we are blinding ourselves to the reality, the true happiness on Earth!
Water is life and we are polluting the so little we have!

OK, those are large lines, but they are the right lines nonetheless. And we got to stop talking, stop criticizing, and look around real good, take conscience, think rationally, and act intelligently. We have to assemble the smartest teams of people, and design programs that are build towards an harmonizing world; with people truly passionate on real human values, and for all of them. ...Not only our own.

Simply put, we have to reinvent the world! Create new systems of positive incentives and values. ...For Peace, for Happiness, for Satisfaction guaranteed. The stock markets are a sickness, the banks are a big joke, the insurance companies are charlatans, the oil magnates are arrogant and blind to their own set of true values (happiness for the entire Earh's population) and environment that they keep polluting and killing people and animals and trees by doing so. The oil companies don't invest enough on securing their pipelines, oil derecks at sea and on land, oil transportation by sea, ... Just look at all the man's disasters! It is infuriating, totally unacceptable.

Japan just stop its nuclear energy program, and the last of its nuclear reactors, and his searching for new and better (for the people's health) sources of energy.

Why is it that so much money is flowing in so few pockets, and that everyone is suffering?
Why can they build secure containers, safe machinery that won't destroy us and our natural environment?
Why is it that profit takes precendence over safety, protection, and human's health?
See, that's what we have to teach ourselves and our children.

...And it is not money accumulation, and control of our resources, of our energies, of what our planet gives us already that we are partipating, sharing, giving, loving our own human race.
And stop the racism because humans have all a heart, and red blood running through their veins.
People are sick and tired all over, and they are depressed and they are committing suicides! Can you blame them? Do you know how it's like to live with ZERO income? ...And without water? Food?

We supposed to be the most intelligent animal species on Earth! Yeah, where?

Before we can educate our own children, let's educate ourselves first, and from the true beneficial teachings for the entire human race.

And it starts right here! ...And right now! ...And that's what forums, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, ... should be all about.

We're cool here, we love music, we love our movies, our audio gear, or video gear, and all that Jazz ... but that just ain't enough; we can do so much more.

There are very bright people in America; so why is it that thay don';t have the power to do things the right way? Well, it's very simple; look outside your window at your neighbor's Lamborghini, Ferrari, ... look at the castles, the mansions, the Trumps, ... the materialistic world people live in!

The legacy we leave is one of depression, corruption, wrong values, bad desires, wars, arm's dealings, oil's control, power on people, ... and this is all wrong!

So, how can we give our children the proper education???
 
Last edited:

mep

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
9,481
17
0
What amazes me is that these are "undergraduate" degrees. That and $1.50 gets you a cup of coffee

I personally think that all colleges should have to publish the percentage of their graduates that are hired in their area of study before they graduate or within one year of graduation. They should also publish the average salary you can expect to make from the degree you are pursuing. Many people graduate college with huge amounts of debt and end up with a low-paying job that has nothing to do with the degree they paid for (and are still paying for). I read an article a couple of weeks ago about people in their 60s that still owe money for student loans. They never go away. Even if you claim bankruptcy, student loan debt is never erased. Some people will take it to their graves.
 

JackD201

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
12,308
1,425
1,820
Manila, Philippines
My plan is to have my kids take their undergrads here and their masters degrees abroad. I've got two pre-teeners and a kindergarden student. I started saving 10 years ago when my second child was born.
 

jazdoc

Member Sponsor
Aug 7, 2010
3,320
730
1,200
Bellevue
We have constructed a society that places great value upon obtaining a piece of paper (a degree) rather than an education.
 

NorthStar

Member
Feb 8, 2011
24,305
1,323
435
Vancouver Island, B.C. Canada
We have constructed a society that places great value upon obtaining a piece of paper (a degree) rather than an education.

Exactly; our priorities are all over wrong.

Only very few teachers have the guts to encourage and teach the right substances attached to any suject of life.
I think, most schools (where I am anyway; Canada), are full of teachers more concerned avout their pay cheques and following the school's rules than taking the right initiative.

But the first teachings start with the parents.

Our set of laws and written rules are old (like being imprisoned), inefficient, and need to be constantly revised.
Are they doing that in the United States of America?

The rulers; the police, the judges, the lawyers, the economists, the ploticians, the stockbrokers, the bankers, the big insurers, etc. are attracted by the underground activities that pay off big chuncks of fast and easy money; and without calculating the consequences. No? Perhaps I'm wrong, and the majority of people are doing a great job that is truly beneficial for all classes and societies of our environment.
Do you think?

Anyway, reading the news every day, looking at what's going on around the world, being surrounded closely by all these people I just mentioned; it seems to me that this society of ours is completely wrong. Or am I the one who's wrong? I wanna know, and I wanna do somethin' 'bout it too.
 

NorthStar

Member
Feb 8, 2011
24,305
1,323
435
Vancouver Island, B.C. Canada
How many people live on Earth right now? Does anyone know exactly? How can you know that?

And if you ask the question to each one of them (the ones at least who can answer for their young children too): ARE YOU HAPPY?

Mmmm... dunno what the real percentage would be. Do you have an idea?

What is the true goal of a good Education? ...Making a good living, financial security, having a family, barbecues, hotdogs, baseball games, football games, hockey games, basketball games, golf games, tennis games, Olympic games? ...Two cars or four? How many houses? Smoke what? Drink what?

Yeah, that's right, only in America! :b
 

Mosin

[Industry Expert]
Mar 11, 2012
895
13
930
I suppose I am lucky because I have one son in college who pays his own way, and manages to stay on the President's List with a 4.0. He always finds some work to do that brings in cash. Sometimes, he photographs weddings or other things, and sometimes he finds an indie film to work on. The kid will cut grass before he comes to us for money. He has always been like that; he just seems to be wired that way.
 

jazdoc

Member Sponsor
Aug 7, 2010
3,320
730
1,200
Bellevue
I suppose I am lucky because I have one son in college who pays his own way, and manages to stay on the President's List with a 4.0. He always finds some work to do that brings in cash. Sometimes, he photographs weddings or other things, and sometimes he finds an indie film to work on. The kid will cut grass before he comes to us for money. He has always been like that; he just seems to be wired that way.

As compared to:

...the family also picks up the tab for many other miscellaneous expenses such as food, clothing and three of the girls have cars.
"I've got five daughters so let's put a separate line item for shoes," Marc said. "At one point we had four different colleges going at the same time. It's a little bit hectic." Marc added he also picks up the cost of other activities such as sorority participation and athletics such as snowboarding.

Interesting contrast and perhaps a metaphor for larger societal issues....and 'luck' has nothing to do with it.
 

Mosin

[Industry Expert]
Mar 11, 2012
895
13
930
Interesting contrast and perhaps a metaphor for larger societal issues....and 'luck' has nothing to do with it.

It is a contrast, but the guy with five girls is immensely successful, so he shouldn't whine too much about his costs. Also, I noticed that his oldest graduated from the Berklee College of Music. They don't let kids in there just because their parents have money, so we can safely assume that at least one of his girls is a highly motivated person. I strongly suspect that some of the others are, too. His family may be an exception to the norm.

However, there are similar sounding cases (I know some of them) where unmotivated, stupid, spoiled brats are given open credit cards by parents who really cannot afford it. They wisely (sarcasm intended) use the money to get stoned at fine universities until they transfer out, or get thrown out. Some even graduate, not that their degrees in World Peace will get them a job anyplace that I know about.
 

NorthStar

Member
Feb 8, 2011
24,305
1,323
435
Vancouver Island, B.C. Canada
Yes, study Theater and become a Jennifer Lopez of Hollywood, or a mannequin. ...Miss Universe?

...Or become a successful Facebook entrepreneur. ...With advertising for a lot of people all over.

Go to Law school, and eventually defend the O.J. Simpsons of our societies.

Become a judge and kill your wife for better retirement (Montreal).

*** Yes, in that first post, that gentleman is very well off financially; what is his job again?
I would like to see and meet his daughters; for the intellect.
 

About us

  • What’s Best Forum is THE forum for high end audio, product reviews, advice and sharing experiences on the best of everything else. This is THE place where audiophiles and audio companies discuss vintage, contemporary and new audio products, music servers, music streamers, computer audio, digital-to-analog converters, turntables, phono stages, cartridges, reel-to-reel tape machines, speakers, headphones and tube and solid-state amplification. Founded in 2010 What’s Best Forum invites intelligent and courteous people of all interests and backgrounds to describe and discuss the best of everything. From beginners to life-long hobbyists to industry professionals, we enjoy learning about new things and meeting new people, and participating in spirited debates.

Quick Navigation

User Menu

Steve Williams
Site Founder | Site Owner | Administrator
Ron Resnick
Site Co-Owner | Administrator
Julian (The Fixer)
Website Build | Marketing Managersing