<p>I keep seeing (and hearing) from folks that the in-state cost to attend Penn State is "around $20,000" a year. Seriously? The school's own Net Price Calculator is telling me it will be close to $34,000!</p>
<p>Estimated Cost of Attendance for 2013-14
Tuition And Fees $16,992
Room And Meals $10,116
Books and Supplies $1,696
Transportation $1,566
Miscellaneous $3,222
Total Cost $33,592</p>
<p>Need Calculation for 2013-14
Cost of Attendance: $33,592
Expected Family Contribution (EFC) - $33,608
Total Need $0</p>
<p>Net Cost Summary for 2013-14
Cost of Attendance: $33,592
Total ESTIMATED Scholarship and Grant Aid - $0
ESTIMATED Net Cost $33,592</p>
<p>Other Potential Types of Aid:
Total Estimated Student Loan $5,500
*Potential Parent PLUS Loan $28,092
Total Potential Other Types of Aid $33,592</p>
<p>And why, at this late date, isn't the school providing an estimate for 2014-15?</p>
<p>Thanks for any insights!</p>
<p>Penn</a> State Tuition - Tuition Calculator</p>
<p>Books and Supplies $1,696
Transportation $1,566
Miscellaneous $3,222</p>
<p>Your mileage will vary with these costs. D costs aren’t near that. She is renting her books. And I’m not sure what they consider miscellaneous. Maybe a laptop and printer? That was her graduation gift. Transportation - not sure about that either. If she wants to go to NYC thats on her dime. But the tuition and room/meal are right and will be increasing. That meal plan is a killer. She is moving off next year and can feed herself alot cheaper.</p>
<p>The only universal cost in that estimated cost of attendance is the tuition and fees. That’s generally why people might say that it costs around $20,000 a year in-state. I don’t recall if PSU requires freshmen to live on campus, but even with that there are variances in costs depending on meal plan, dorm building, etc. Without knowing exactly what you select, other people can’t really give you a valid cost estimate for your total cost of attendance. Living off-campus, exactly what books you will need, etc. - your actual expenses may be significantly different from the estimate calculator.</p>
<p>That’s also a good reason to ask folks exactly what they mean when they say it costs “around $20,000” a year. It pays to do your homework, as you yourself discovered.</p>
<p>PSU gets about 10% of its operating expenses from the state of Pennsylvania. Each budget year it’s a battle as to what the state legislature and governor will provide to higher education for that year. PSU (as well as Pitt, Temple and Lincoln) can’t, in good faith, assume how much they will get from the state in advance. That’s why there’s no cost estimate for 2014-15.</p>
<p>I don’t know what your sources are but it isn’t difficult to find accurate numbers for this year’s costs or estimates for next year’s tuition increase.</p>
<p>[Penn</a> State eyes likely tuition increases for 2014-15 | PennLive.com](<a href=“http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2013/09/penn_state_eyes_likely_tuition.html]Penn”>Penn State eyes likely tuition increases for 2014-15 - pennlive.com)</p>
<p>PSU was considered the most expensive public university for many years. This year Pitt has that distinction.</p>
<p>Thanks for walking me back from the ledge, everybody. It does sound like PSU estimates high for several of those line items so families are prepared for the ultimate bill. </p>
<p>I have a friend whose son is a freshman at PSU. She told me he got a merit scholarship that, applied over four years, is the equivalent of one year’s free tuition. This kid was not admitted to Schreyer, so it’s not Schreyer dollars. I think he had a pretty high GPA (~3.8) and around 1800 SATs, so he’s got good stats but certainly not outstanding ones. He applied as a Bio major at Eberly, where he was admitted. </p>
<p>Has anybody heard of such an award? She thinks he may have gotten it because he applied early in the fall of last year. Thanks!</p>
<p>Sounds like Millennium Scholar, although there are quite a few scholarships within individual colleges and it might be one of those. PSU financial aid is quite poor, generally.</p>
<p>Final tuition/fees are set every summer at the trustees meeting, after the state of PA finally passes a budget at the end of June. The increase is usually 2-4%. Living off campus can be significantly cheaper, not because of rent, but as someone mentioned, because of food.</p>
<p>The award most likely was the one-time provost’s award. This was given out in a very unpredictable way. Some with lesser stats got more than those with stronger (based on CC chatter). They probably selected using some admissions criteria. I think one common attribute was applying early. The awards were 6,000 a year for either two or four years.
They said it was one time. I guess there is a small chance they could repeat. Last year they were given out in November. The chance of repeating is low as the state once again did not increase the amount they gave to PSU. The sad thing is PSU considers flat funding a victory. Coupled with a tuition increase that does not match costs of running a university, I don’t see where the money is coming from. Often people compare inflation rates to tuition rates. Not a fair comparison because universities are a service-based industry, where there is a much greater weight on salaries/benefits- insurance is the biggie. Inflation rates that are published is more balanced or even weighted more on durable goods. Before you attribute the increase to salaries (versus insurance) you should know that PSU employees have had 1 raise over the previous three years (except for unions, of course). This year, they will be given a ~2% raise starting Oct 1. The start of the FY is July1. So, employees are getting 9/12 x 2% or 1.5%. I understand, university employees aren’t the only ones out there getting small raises, but the misconception that salary increases are to blame are not true</p>
<p>It is not the millennium scholars program, which is more lucrative, but geared towards minorities (although non-minorities are included).
The stats, as reported, would not make the person competitive for the MSP or the ECos scholarships (braddock). The braddock scholars typically have SATs >2200, ~3.9/4.0UW GPAs, 700+ scores on SATIIs in science and math and research experience. really, ivy league caliber students</p>
<p>
Just to clarify - that’s the most expensive public university for in-state students (Not that that is something to be proud of…)</p>
<p>Having had two daughters accepted into multiple out-of-state (OOS) public universities, trust me, PSU is not the most expensive public school for OOS students!</p>
<p>Thanks for all the info on the various scholarships out there. </p>
<p>I’m not sure if this young man was offered the scholarship when he was admitted (he did apply early) or later in the spring. His parents are pretty well off and I highly doubt they completed the FAFSA, so this would have been merit money not “financial aid.” Interesting that they chose to award it to a kid with good but not great stats who didn’t have any predetermined unmet need. One more item in a long list of “crap-shoot” results that seem to be part of the college admissions process. Clearly, it never hurts to apply as early as possible!</p>
<p>I just went back and read this thread: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1430588-penn-state-provosts-award.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1430588-penn-state-provosts-award.html</a>.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure my friend’s son was the lucky recipient of one of these Provost awards, which, while taking “merit” into account, in hindsight appears to have been based on some mysterious computer algorithm that selected certain applicants to receive a substantial discount while other, comparable kids, were left to pay full price. Not unlike what the airlines do in discounting a random percentage of seats, I suppose. </p>
<p>While I guess “one can’t win if one doesn’t play,” it also makes the guaranteed stats-based scholarships that Temple and Bama offer pretty appealing in comparison.</p>