BalabustaInDaHouse: Maybe you get your info from the wrong sources…because your picture is really skewed. Maybe you’re talking only from the boy’s side of the picture (which I admittedly know nothing about, being a girl and not having any brothers who went to E”Y to learn), but as Sam2 said, this is absolutely not so with the vast majority (of girls, at least). As Sam2 said, most people go to learn. Again, it’s different for girls, the majority of whom aren’t going for an intense scholastic experience, but I don’t know a single person who went just to “have fun.” The can “have fun” in the States just fine. I’m sure there are people who have their fun there too, but why on earth do you think that that’s the majority?
Besides, all you people whining about the crazy amount of money – between all the different scholarships you can get, and the generous breaks that a LOT of places will give you, it’s almost impossible to pay the sticker price. I paid only $7,000 out of pocket, all told. If I applied for even more random Walmart scholarships and such, it probably would have been even less. (I have some friends who did apply for every scholarship under the sun and in fact did end up paying almost nothing.) If you are really paying sticker price, then you (or your child) are uninformed or stam lazy.