@sparkleybarkley Make sure you join the Facebook parent page for class of 2021!!!
State universities grapple with ongoing financial pressures…
The PASSHE July 12 report will be here soon…
The hype is building for the July 12th report…
Faculty brace for consultant’s verdict on college changes…
“The most important change to help the system of higher education is unlikely to be included in the consultant’s report, he said. That would be for the state to pick up the slack on funding to make the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education substantially more affordable than other college options, Mash said.”
"“I would be hard-pressed to imagine a campus closing” based on the review, Mash said. There would be too much political controversy surrounding the move, he said.
It’s more likely that there will be program cuts and mergers of services, Mash said." (above article)
It all seems rather pointless. If they continue to cut programs, merge services, enrollment is only going to decline further, as students run from these schools. We have already narrowed our choices down due just to implementing the study!
It will just be a slow death for many of the campuses if they keep them open. I would rather see a few close and the funds transferred to the remaining schools to help lower costs. I am glad DD will be our last one going through this process.
PA Attorney General joins lawsuit against Betsy DeVos…
http://triblive.com/news/education/12481598-74/pa-attorney-general-joins-lawsuit-against-betsy-devos
I tend to think the for-profit college argument detracts from the non-profit college cost problem. Look at the shiny object, evil for-profit colleges!
Yes, they are a problem but smart people can and should steer away from them. More difficult to do with non-profit schools.
I thought some of you following this thread might have some input.
I was interested in taking D to see Lebanon Valley College. I had heard the campus was nice but I just saw some videos online that seemed dreary.
D has been unbelievably busy this summer and I want her to use her time wisely for visits, and LVC is a merit dependent college for her anyway and won’t likely be cheaper than our in-state options.
Any more thoughts about LVC?
LVC is very nice but very, very small. About 1,600 students.
Average Annual Cost
$16,789(for all colleges/universities)
$27,067(LVC cost)
ABOVE AVERAGE
National Average
By Family Income
Depending on the federal, state, or institutional grant aid available, students in your income bracket may pay more or less than the overall average costs.
Family income Average cost
$0–$30,000 $19,642
$30,001–$48,000 $21,772
$48,001–$75,000 $25,192
$75,001–$110,000 $29,101
$110,001+ $30,119
@MACmiracle I think someone earlier mentioned that you can be eligible for $5K tuition discount at LVC if you participate in some summer student program. I can’t recall the details.
Thanks, @bester1 and @Portercat .
It is a no-go financially unless D were to get one of the few full-tuition scholarships.
I did look into one of the summer programs awhile back and it was very pricey, so I let it pass.
It’s just starting to look like in-state in NJ might just offer more for the money…even with one of their top scholarships.
Today is the day they make the recommendations. They did not include the 24 Penn State Branches…they did not include the Pitt Branches…They did not include Community Colleges…The direct target is PASSHE(the most affordable 4 year option that students in PA have available to them)…
Thanks @bester1. When will the public see something, or at least a summary?
@ portercat…I hope they will release it today!!! Have not seen anything yet.
If you really want to geek out on the details, you can watch the webcast at noon: http://www.passhe.edu/inside/bog/Pages/BOG-Broadcast.aspx
Just popped in on the webcast, hard to identify who is who. More than one PASSHE administrator has recommended a tuition increase more than last year, in order not to provide a degree that was “cut to the bone”. They haven’t discussed the actual report recommendations yet as far as I can tell.
3.5% increase is being agreed around the table.
Yes…I saw that as well. This committee will recommend a 3.5% tuition increase to the entire Board tomorrow. Obviously orchestrated…all of them expect the students to carry the load. The fact that even the student reps agreed was astounding. The student reps ran right up to the Board members when it was over seeking validation of their comments. I am disappointed the students did not fight more for their peers.The fact that they compared to the tuition price to both Penn State and Pitt was ridiculous. Most sll of the committee members stated that “we are making progress” referring that the state appropriations are approaching 2005 levels. This to me was sickening. There job is to demand more for education from our state… not reward the state representatives for making progress in year 2005 terms.
Dr. Marcia Welsh(President of East Stroudsburg University) strongly deserves kudos for her comments. She directly pointed out that they simply do not have enough money, they have cut programs to the bone and it isn’t right to place the burden on the backs of students…
Report discussion starting now…my guess is that they will be more realistic about the sustainability of the institutions (not just raising tuition, so easy!)
One member of the board of governor’s admitted that this was the equivalent of pouring gravel down a widening sink hole. I liked his comment.
And was everyone surprised at the tuition amount? $7238. Doesn’t sound too bad, but nothing you see on the websites. Once you add in “fees”, that out of pocket number ranges from $9.6K to $11.5K, the latter being an additional $4K. I know those numbers are peanuts to many here on CC but that is a huge gap for us!
Real time comment - the consultant’s (guy presenting report) straight-forward realism is refreshing