Is Penn State worth $300K?

[Anonymous]

The thing is, NoVA kids cannot fill all the slots at the top in state colleges —they might have a great application and still be rejected. This forces many parents to sent their kids OOS. Those kids would love to be at VATech, UVA, W&M, probably. The competition is fierce for NoVA kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. DC does not want in state for a specific reason, and I don't blame them.

Yes, we can "afford" the $300K, but it will wipe out all of DC's inheritance, which they are willing to do, but they are 17 and not exactly aware of financial consequences of such a decision.

My question is, "is it worth $300K". It's the summer start that's adding an extra $20K, and although that's about 6% or so of the total, it still adds to putting the budget over. Quite frankly, I didn't expect summer start to be so pricey.

They did apply to and get merit aid from small private colleges, but they aren't as keen on those, and those colleges aren't as good for the major (it's not CS).

My understanding is that PSU has an amazing alumni network, and that is no small thing. Also, IF DC decides to change majors (which I could see happening), I'm thinking PSU would be better for that, too.

But the aid from GMU is also no small thing, and yes, I'm aware of the GPA requirements.

We are so torn about this decision. Overall, I do think PSU is better but is it "better" for $300k?

Quit mentioning 300,000. It is 300,000 minus the cost of GMU.

I would encourage your child to apply to some other flagship schools so you have another option that is similar to Penn State. It seems like DC wants a football school. I bet Iowa comes in under GMU. Last year my kid was all in around 34-35 and he was TO and a good but not great student. Maybe Minnesota? Kentucky has auto merit. Same with WVU. Mizzou offers in-state tuition after a year. What about Temple? It isn't that expensive.

People love Penn State. I get it. DS is probably going there next year but we are in-state.

The major is not a popular major, and most colleges, even large flagships, don't offer it. That's why we are limited to schools like GMU or Penn State. If it weren't for the major, then yes, we would've looked a lot of other less expensive oos.

Is majoring in this major the only path to being able to work in a desired career? Is there another way to get there?

[Anonymous]

Only ego sends you to Penn State for 4 years instead of using community college first or using AP/DE to skip a year.

[Anonymous]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk_Iie0ZyAk

28-year-old Kera Cheney works for the government, lives in a basement apartment with her BF in San Francisco, and stresses about college loans. She owes about 280K in student loan from Penn State, probably with a useless degree. That was three years ago. In today money, it is well over 300K.

That's what you get with a Penn State degree for 300K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk_Iie0ZyAk

28-year-old Kera Cheney works for the government, lives in a basement apartment with her BF in San Francisco, and stresses about college loans. She owes about 280K in student loan from Penn State, probably with a useless degree. That was three years ago. In today money, it is well over 300K.

That's what you get with a Penn State degree for 300K.

First of all, SF is incredibly expensive, and working for the government doesn't pay well. So, if you have loans, don't live in one of the most expensive cities in the world and work for the government.

Secondly, we don't need loans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. DC does not want in state for a specific reason, and I don't blame them.

Yes, we can "afford" the $300K, but it will wipe out all of DC's inheritance, which they are willing to do, but they are 17 and not exactly aware of financial consequences of such a decision.

My question is, "is it worth $300K". It's the summer start that's adding an extra $20K, and although that's about 6% or so of the total, it still adds to putting the budget over. Quite frankly, I didn't expect summer start to be so pricey.

They did apply to and get merit aid from small private colleges, but they aren't as keen on those, and those colleges aren't as good for the major (it's not CS).

My understanding is that PSU has an amazing alumni network, and that is no small thing. Also, IF DC decides to change majors (which I could see happening), I'm thinking PSU would be better for that, too.

But the aid from GMU is also no small thing, and yes, I'm aware of the GPA requirements.

We are so torn about this decision. Overall, I do think PSU is better but is it "better" for $300k?

Quit mentioning 300,000. It is 300,000 minus the cost of GMU.

I would encourage your child to apply to some other flagship schools so you have another option that is similar to Penn State. It seems like DC wants a football school. I bet Iowa comes in under GMU. Last year my kid was all in around 34-35 and he was TO and a good but not great student. Maybe Minnesota? Kentucky has auto merit. Same with WVU. Mizzou offers in-state tuition after a year. What about Temple? It isn't that expensive.

People love Penn State. I get it. DS is probably going there next year but we are in-state.

The major is not a popular major, and most colleges, even large flagships, don't offer it. That's why we are limited to schools like GMU or Penn State. If it weren't for the major, then yes, we would've looked a lot of other less expensive oos.

Is majoring in this major the only path to being able to work in a desired career? Is there another way to get there?

That's a good question. I think there are other pathways to get there, but DC doesn't want to major in those other pathways as it would be a lot harder and does not focus on certain aspects of the career path.

[Anonymous]

No, it’s not.

And, while GMU might not have a rabid alum network, it’s still a huge school near a major city so access to mentors & internships is there.

If you’d specify major, there might be other ideas for big rah rah school options if GMU is a hard sell.

I’d show your child how the leftover inheritance can impact mortgage payment. It can have a massive impact on your life for decades. Particularly if desire career isn’t super high paying

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another troll thread. Penn Staye costs about $250K for four years, not 300k

OP here. DC got admitted to summer start, which is about $20K. PA raises tuition by 4% per year, and then there's the expected 3% per year inflation on col.

Below is just tuition and fees. Add in housing and meals, and you can easily reach $300K with a summer start. I did the math, and it all came out to about $300K for 4yrs + summer.

https://tuition.psu.edu/estimated-future-tuition-and-fee-rates


GMU just gave DC more merit aid, which will bring the cost down to basically to in state coa. We aren't really looking at in state due to the nature of their desired major. GMU is better than our in state alternative for that major. Plus, DC just really does not want to be in state, and that in state is seriously like HS 2.0 which they are trying to get away from (too many social issues and bad blood).

We don't need loans for the $300K, but that's a heavy price tag for a good but not amazing oos public. They even got good merit aid from the smaller private colleges, but DC doesn't want too small. DC wants the vibe of Penn State. They only applied to these colleges because of the major.

DC is not a "go getter", at least not yet. Who knows, maybe they will flourish in college, but right now, no, they aren't like that.

yes, we will go to admitted students day at GMU. And yes, we have talked extensively of what it will mean to be basically flat broke when they graduate (the types of internships they would get does not pay).

They know they may have to live at home after graduation. This is a 17 yr old who is not that mature yet and has some impulse issues, so it's difficult for us to convince DC that being flat broke out of college is no small thing.

At the same time, I don't want DC to be miserable for the four years they are in college. I tried to explain to them how miserable they would be being flat broke (I know because I experienced it), but it's hard for DC to really picture it.

Doesn't summer start include some for-credit courses? With those courses, and hopefully, some AP or dual enrollment credits, your DC should be able to finish early and save a semester's tution that way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I echo a PP about the alumni network. Especially now that it will be harder than ever to find a job. I have one at PSU sophomore STEM and has told me that the recruiting events are HUGE. His friends that are seniors already have jobs lined up. He has had many opportunities to do cool things like intern for happy valley united and learn about the NIL industry. Although he has no interest in this field, he met so many alumni donors at various events, collected contact info, made a lot of friends and just had lots of fun. He has some phenomenal professors, and some that aren’t as great, but he can lean on the learning and teaching assistants for help. Always things going on the campus, lots of energy. He didn’t get into his dream school. Got into 2nd choice. PSU was his safety. After touring all the schools. 2nd choice was knocked out (BC for anyone curious). PSU jumped to the top. Got a scholarship thru honors college. On the flipside my DD is at UMD. Great school, much nicer honors college dorms, better food, but she laments about how “the vibe” isn’t like PSU. Go to the admitted students day. That will be very helpful in helping make the decision.

This!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The question is not whether Penn State is worth $300K, it it whether it is worth $100K more than your next best option.

Since the next best option is GMU, which (and I may be wrong about this) is not known for a strong campus community or alumni network, I would say maybe Penn State is worth the extra money.

Penn State is known to be very accepting of AP and other credit. You may see if DC is able to graduate early (or do a semester focused on research/ and internship without paying tuition) to bring down your costs.

Agreed this is a mistitled thread. Besides GMU, what other schools are options? And what are their total costs? Then you can really evaluate the differences. (Which in the PSU vs GMU discussion, is $100k)

In this case, the cost difference would be about $150K due to the generous merit aid from GMU. Penn State is now basically double the cost of GMU with all the merit aid from them.

This conversation goes a lot smoother if you can tell us what the major is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The question is not whether Penn State is worth $300K, it it whether it is worth $100K more than your next best option.

Since the next best option is GMU, which (and I may be wrong about this) is not known for a strong campus community or alumni network, I would say maybe Penn State is worth the extra money.

Penn State is known to be very accepting of AP and other credit. You may see if DC is able to graduate early (or do a semester focused on research/ and internship without paying tuition) to bring down your costs.

Summer is a great time to start and ease into a large university environment before the fall. It is a lot of fun too. With APs and summer you might be able to graduate early. If you have a year round apartment as an upperclassman, you can take classes another summer and maybe graduate a year early.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Only ego sends you to Penn State for 4 years instead of using community college first or using AP/DE to skip a year.

BS. Penn State is not unlike any flagship OOS school. Why not do community college for any school in that case?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The question is not whether Penn State is worth $300K, it it whether it is worth $100K more than your next best option.

Since the next best option is GMU, which (and I may be wrong about this) is not known for a strong campus community or alumni network, I would say maybe Penn State is worth the extra money.

Penn State is known to be very accepting of AP and other credit. You may see if DC is able to graduate early (or do a semester focused on research/ and internship without paying tuition) to bring down your costs.

Summer is a great time to start and ease into a large university environment before the fall. It is a lot of fun too. With APs and summer you might be able to graduate early. If you have a year round apartment as an upperclassman, you can take classes another summer and maybe graduate a year early.

Good point. DC has at least 3 AP scores they can use. So that would be like 5 classes with the two classes in the summer, which would equal one semester. That's like $35K or so. I guess that offsets the summer start $20K. Thanks for bringing that up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Only ego sends you to Penn State for 4 years instead of using community college first or using AP/DE to skip a year.

BS. Penn State is not unlike any flagship OOS school. Why not do community college for any school in that case?

I did not have a good college experience. I went to a no name state u and commuted. I grew up lower income.

I want my kids to have a better college experience than I did.

The only way DC would do cc is if they got bad grades at university. I am not paying even $17K per semester for bad grades.

[Anonymous]

The thing is, Penn State alumni network is huge, but because of that, it doesn’t mean that it’s that deep. If that many went to Penn State, it’s not like you’re super close with any of them as an alumni.

I think Penn State is as valuable as many other out of state public schools. It’s fine, it’s a huge school and you can get out of it what you need to out of it. It’s not worth going into tons of debt for though.

I get wanting to go to a four-year college experience and not wanting to transfer from a community college. I’m lucky enough that my kid can go to four years full pay to some colleges with no loans, so I don’t want them to have to do something like transfer anyway if they don’t have to or don’t have their heart set on a particular selective college.

All this is to say, maybe think twice about taking out 100% loans for any college that if the cost of Penn State, especially OOS.