Yes, it is nice if their is a state or state related school in driving distance, but there are always going to be those kids who aren’t close enough to drive, so they have to look at a state school where they will need to dorm if they have limited finances. That is the boat we are in, so I come from that perspective. (could probably do a PSU branch, but it would require the purchase of a vehicle on top of the tuition, & oldest DD hated every minute she was there, so was not on our radar for youngest)
I still wish that commission had looked at all the state & state related branches & made some recommendations for consolidating some of them.
My D is so all over the map and so I’m constantly looking out for any scrap of information (tendrils is a great way to put it, @laralei!) … Her school does not rank, and I just found out recently that they don’t even calculate a cumulative GPA. What the heck. So I’m honestly at sea about her GPA. It was 2.98 the first year (two Cs) and 3.15 last year (no Cs - but they go by minuses, pluses, etc). She has all As so far this year. And a 27 on the ACT first time. But even though she’s better than average, we’ll need a lot of help, and our EFC is likely to be high.
PASSHE schools are the benchmark for us, academically and financially.
Handy dandy student loan debt repayment calculator. It really brings it home. All our kids should see this.
There’s also a way to search schools and see what the avg debt at graduation is (but of course, we all know that already thanks to our obsessive CDS s
@Colbound99 Regarding your question on the WCU scholarship. I talked to D18 and she was accepted to WCU near the end of October, and applied on line first week of Nov. for the scholarship. So took about a month before she got the award letter.
That link @Gatormama is always and eye opener. My kids have to take out the federal loans, but that is all they will have. DS should make out the best w/ and engineering degree, I hope!
Interesting to plug in the Penn State branch campuses. That debt is pretty high. Wonder if it’s just for the branch or if it takes into account transferring to main campus where the costs are generally higher?
@bester1 I noticed that too! I was in a bit of a rush, so thought I just might not have been entering it precisely enough.
Though most of the PASSHE schools come up when entering Pennsylvania, Slippery Rock, Lock Haven, Shippensburg, West Chester all have to be entered separately, and Cheyney doesn’t come up at all. I can see that happening, it’s so small, but PSU is very well known, so it’s absence is puzzling.
Mechanical engineering would probably be better, since it is more applicable to different fields.
The funding gap resulted from more students applying for grants, right? Since the FAFSA was available in October last year, instead of January, there was more time until May for students to apply.
For us it was a reduction of $178 for spring. It still helps to get a $3,772 total grant for the year.
That article confirms why I’ve felt drawn to Kutztown for S19, @mommdc. KU seems to be the PASSHE school focused on the arts and communications. Adding a social media theory and strategy program is another sign of this. As S wants to study English, KU would expose him to complementary programs that apply to real world employment.
I say this as a career copywriter who majored in journalism and currently writes social media copy while working closely with my employer’s marketing-focused social media strategy team. I work in financial services and we hire English majors.
STEM is not for everyone. Those pharmaceutical companies around Philly all have creative marketing departments that could use some really good writers along with the STEM professionals. Oh, and somone has to write and proofread all of those drug inserts. You go KU, add those programs!
Sounds like KU is a really good possibility for your son @InfiniteWaves. Did you already tour KU and like it?
Good link @mommdc. My only concern is the engineering degrees be ABET accredited. Read a post, somewhere(?), that one kid took the EE at Ship, which isn’t accredited, and couldn’t find a company that would hire him.
Haven’t toured KU yet, @laralei . Scheduled to do so after the winter break. Along with WCU and Ship. Millersville too as a commuting option. I’ve been trying to determine which of these options might be best for English/writing majors. One of my colleagues attended Ship. He is an excellent writer and enjoyed his Ship experience. I attended Loyola MD. He and I have the same job. So there you go. And a friend of mine who attended KU worked as television producer. A plug for PASSHE English and communications programs.
Now, ABET accreditation is another thing altogether I would imagine. I’m assuming that different PASSHE schools are accredited for different types of engineering? Are there any accredited EE programs within PASSHE?
Thanks @mommdc. I fully admit to knowing nothing about engineering programs. A search for Electrical Engineering (there are a lot versions in the drop down menu though) indicates that none of the PASSHE school are accredited but the three state-related schools are. With PSU Behrend and Hburg as the satellite options. I’m assuming that this is a motivator for students looking OOS.
