<p>This chart was just released by the U. of Delaware. It compares in-state and out-of-state tuition list prices for Penn State, U. Del and various other universities in the eastern US.</p>
<p>There are "list prices" - colleges vary greatly in the amounts of merit and need based aid they offer. Penn State and Pitt continue to have the highest in-state tuition rates in the nation, and Penn State is known for weak financial aid.</p>
<p>It also is worth noting that there are large variations between universities in total food and housing costs. Generally, universities in large cities have higher food and housing costs.</p>
<p>The Pitt/Penn State tuition only looks reasonable when comparing OOS and private school rates. In-state, it’s a big failure compared to other well-regarded flagships like UNC, GA Tech, and even UVA.</p>
<p>The problem with state-owned schools in PA is that they don’t offer a full range of programs. For example, none of them offer engineering.</p>
<p>Also, this comparison only shows base tuition and fee rates. Many public universities are charging higher tuition and fees for various programs, such as business and engineering.</p>
<p>The Governor has complained that the Pa. state-owned universities produce far more teachers than can ever be absorbed. That is particularly true because his budgets have resulted in the elimination of over 15,000 teaching positions in public schools in Pa. </p>
<p>Kutztown U. of PA. about 10 years ago wanted to start an engineering school using a large former ATT research complex that was vacant at the time. However, they couldn’t raise the funding.</p>
<p>There is some kind of engineering program at Lock Haven U, in cooperation with PSU. I don’t know the details. </p>
<p>It was heartening to see that the governor was not able to push through the latest round of proposed cuts to the PSU budget. I was ready for the closure of a couple of branch campuses in parts of the state that strongly supported Corbett.</p>
<p>Lock Haven has a 3-2 engineering program with Penn State UP or Behrend, apparently run out of the LHU Physics department. Another route, which can be done in 4 years, is to start engineering at a PSU (or Pitt) branch campus and then transfer to the main campus for the final 2 years.</p>
<p>It would take a significant investment in labs and faculty to start in-house engineering at one of the state-owned schools. That kind of investment would never be made in today’s political climate.</p>
<p>The PA public options for engineering education are at least workable now, considering that engineering graduates have more ability to pay back loans than many other graduates. But if Pitt goes private and especially if PSU follows a “Cornell model”, we will have a problem. Right now, there are much better deals to be had out of state for good students. PA loses because those graduates are more likely to stay out of state.</p>
<p>We do pick up a lot of engineering students from New York and New Jersey, along with their tuition dollars. One of the Rutgers’ engineering deans was quoted complaining about PSU “poaching” many of their top students.</p>
<p>Penn State gets very little funding (about 5% of it’s budget) from the state. It’s not a state school despite the name. I’ve always viewed it as the expensive option it is, and yes, there have been a lot of out-of-state options that have been more attractive. PA chooses to fund their senior programs at the expense of their higher education. That has been the historical choice - independent of who the current governor is. The only practical way to get tuition levels down to the national average would be to cut funding to senior citizens, attack the pensions of state employees, or significantly raise taxes on everyone to fund college students. That is probably not a great plan to win an election.
Jobs and job salaries are a function of supply and demand, not a question of what is right or who is deserving or entitled. </p>
<p>If you disagree with the way the university is priced, then send your kids somewhere else. Personally, I think the university is still a great value compared to the private engineering schools, and arguably provides a better experience. Engineering is expensive, and there does not seem to be any dearth of students trying to enroll in these programs. PSU is not going to be cheap in the foreseeable future. Changing politicians will not change that.</p>
