<p>Hi guys,
I applied to PSU UP on the 23rd of October.
I'm a US citizen, so i'm considered a domestic applicant.
My EFC is 0 after filling out the fafsa, and I qualify for the Pell grant and Stafford loan which total to around $13,000.
That leaves $27,000 left from the $40,000 including housing. How much should I expect as aid from PSU itself?</p>
<p>Edit: 1950 SAT/4.0 Gpa</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Probably nothing. Penn State is notorious for poor financial aid.</p>
<p>^^correct. The most generous Millenium scholar awards are 6,000 a year. Some colleges, like EMS, have their own awards to hand out, but if you are thinking you will be awarded 20K, that’s not going to happen. Even $13K a year of loans is awful – that’s $55-57,000 in loans just to graduate in 4 years, assuming the most modest tuition/board increases. </p>
<p>It never ceases to amaze me how many out-of-state students apply to Penn State thinking they’re going to get hefty financial aid. Penn State is expensive IN-STATE. Out-of-state tution is exhorbitant. Every student should run the net price calculator BEFORE they apply:</p>
<p><a href=“http://collegecostestimate.ais.psu.edu/cgi-bin/CollegeCostEstimate.exe/launch/CollegeCC/netpricecalc”>http://collegecostestimate.ais.psu.edu/cgi-bin/CollegeCostEstimate.exe/launch/CollegeCC/netpricecalc</a></p>
<p>When you apply to a school you have no hope of affording, all you’re doing is padding their coffers. Save your money and apply to schools you can afford!</p>
<p>Please review the 2015 costs of attending Penn State in this brochure (see p. 47 ):</p>
<p><a href=“http://issuu.com/psuadmissions/docs/viewbook_psu?e=1920582/5363115”>http://issuu.com/psuadmissions/docs/viewbook_psu?e=1920582/5363115</a></p>
<p>First- and second-year out-of-state students are charged **$46,000 a year. **</p>
<p>$40,000 is tuition, fees, room, and board.</p>
<p>$46,000 also includes an estimate of books, supplies, spending money, and travel.</p>
<p>$46,000 is $46,000, regardless of where it’s spent. We’re talking close to $200,000 for a bachelor’s degree (or more if you can’t get done in four years). Caveat emptor. </p>
<p>You should not depend on financial aid from Penn State, Mayosauce. I would caution you against that level of debt.</p>
<p>Not all first- and second-year out-of-state students are charged $46,000 a year. It says in the brochure, in all caps mind you: “For Estimating Purposes Only” </p>
<p>As an aside, it is also helpful to run the college cost calculator: <a href=“http://collegecostestimate.ais.psu.edu/cgi-bin/CollegeCostEstimate.exe/launch/CollegeCC/fullcalc”>http://collegecostestimate.ais.psu.edu/cgi-bin/CollegeCostEstimate.exe/launch/CollegeCC/fullcalc</a></p>
<p>Of course it is “for estimating purposes only.” You may be eligible for loans or some modest grants . . . or you might not. But when we attended the accepted students day last spring, the University’s reps were adamant that THOSE were the numbers you should be using as you make your decision. </p>
<p>And I already linked to that net price calculator in post #4.</p>
<p>To LTL. I’ve never advocated going into tremendous/crippling debt for a Bachelor’s degree. It’s fine that you and your son chose a different school last year based on price. That said, with all due respect, I find your broad-brush/101 cost analysis bordering on misleading. Indeed, since you don’t have a student matriculating at Penn State you have no first-hand knowledge. </p>
<p>So, here is one additional data point. It may come as a surprise to you that in addition to “those loans or modest grants” and “THOSE” numbers that were adamantly touted to be used by the University reps, there are those students who receive their tuition bills with a remarkable surprise bonus: without application, Penn State has awarded them scholarships. </p>
<p>Just some further general enlightenment – It may further come as a surprise to you that those students, in most cases, will have the opportunity to personally meet and thank scholarship sponsors, cementing connections/creating dividends. It may, incidentally, surprise you that corporate partners/alumni provide one-on-one mentoring for those students, particularly in the area of career development. Finally, it may come as a surprise to you that those students have the advantage of utilizing a formidable alumni networking system and availing themselves of an exceptional career fair. </p>
<p>I don’t want to speak for dadinator, but maybe he was keying in on the word estimate. </p>
<p>Lastly, advocating only applying to schools based on what one can afford is so very short-sighted. With merit/financial need money, DD graduated from a ~$60k per year school for a total (four years) out-of-pocket of ~$28k. She saved a lot of money by applying to a school we couldn’t afford.</p>
<p>We’re talking about Penn State here, @pilot2012, not whatever school your daughter attended–which was hardly unaffordable if it only cost you $7,000 a year!</p>
<p>Penn State and Pitt are the most expensive state schools in the country for in-state students. They’re certainly not throwing big dollars at out-of-state students.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2011/06/14/10-most-expensive-public-colleges-for-in-state-students”>http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2011/06/14/10-most-expensive-public-colleges-for-in-state-students</a></p>
<p>Yes, a lot of out-of-state kids attend Penn State, but many of them have parents who are willing and able to pay the OOS costs. Others take on a fair amount of debt, including Parent Plus loans.</p>
<p>Penn State is a great school, and if you can afford it with only Stafford loans, it’s an excellent value. But if you’re an OOS student who needs significant financial aid, it is much wiser to target in-state publics you can afford, privates with big endowments where your stats are above the 75th percentile, or (if applicable) public schools luring high-stats students with merit dollars. </p>
<p>Penn State is none of the above! </p>
<p>And there’s no need to lecture me on all the Penn State perks–I’ve got Penn State alumni in my family and was more than happy to spend the $34,000 a year for my son to earn an engineering degree there because I could afford it; he chose otherwise. I would not have spent $46,000 a year, however.</p>
<p><a href=“What Nonresidents Need to Know About Attending State Universities”>http://www.thecollegesolution.com/what-nonresidents-need-to-know-about-attending-state-universities/</a></p>
<p>Happy that you and your son selected another university based on cost and that he isn’t attending Penn State, ltl. </p>
<p>No need to get on your soapbox regarding Pitt and Penn State costs. I’ve written checks, and I’m not disputing that it is expensive. Nor have I ever advocated taking on significant debt without comprehensive cost-benefit analysis.</p>
<p>That said, you specifically discussed this issue last year and several posters stated “your mileage may vary with these costs” and “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”. You, in fact, stated “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.” It’s misleading to post assertions “you will be charged” “it costs $46,000” and it’s “close to $200,000” on some of these threads.</p>
<p>Hope your son continues to do well.</p>
<p>My apologies to Mayosauce for the digression.</p>
<p>I think it is extremely unreasonable to pay over “$200,000” to get a bachelor’s degree from Penn State. Note that this is not even a fixed amount because most students tend to take 4 1/2 - 5 years to finish their degrees. Please don’t let your son drown yourself into a pool of student loan debts. It is one of the worst you can do financially since you can’t really default on them(because it’s generally a bad idea). I strongly advise you and your son to stay at your home state institution for obvious reasons. Personally, I don’t think any academic program at Penn State is worth $200,000 plus the possibilities of student loan default. </p>
<p>There are other state universities that are academically better than and cost less than Penn State. Plus, I find many academic programs at Penn State to be “average” (I’ve seen PSU drop in 15 ranks in Engineering over the past few years) so I think your son will be better off elsewhere.</p>
<p>Good Luck!</p>
<p>Yes, @pilot2012, I did post those things. And I was grateful to hear that the cost of attending PSU wouldn’t be anywhere near the $34,000 the net price calculator was telling me . . . Only to discover a few months later, after we got our final numbers from Penn State, that the NPC was in fact much more reliable than the collective wisdom of a handful of posters in these forums. </p>
<p>In the end, who are you going to believe, the university itself or anonymous posters on an Internet forum? </p>
<p>Once we overcame the shock and accepted that number, we could make an informed decision. It’s still a good value, in my opinion, if you have the money saved or can finance it with Stafford loans and are choosing a major that will enable you to start paying off those loans after graduation. </p>
<p>I have no desire whatsoever to mislead anybody, despite what you may believe. My intent is to warn naive students who think PSU is going to provide a lot of financial aid to out-of-state students to think twice before they waste an application fee on a school that is very transparent about their NOT offering any such thing.</p>
<p>And stop claiming that my son chose another school “based on cost.” Yes, cost was a factor, but I made it clear to him if Penn State felt like the best fit for him, we’d make it happen. He simply preferred another school over Penn State. The fact that it is costing us half the price is just icing on the cake.</p>
<p>I can’t wait to transfer to PSU and be part of the best Meteorology program in the nation. I’m from NY so don’t tell me to apply to Oswego. </p>
<p>jss402, USNWR lists PSU’s four year graduation rate at 65%. Where are did you see that the majority of the students take 4.5 to five years? Also, I believe their current ranking is 19th. I’m pretty sure they were never ranked number 4.</p>
<p>1moremom, do all people just look at percentages when applying? </p>
<p>Oh and their Nuclear Engineering program is 5th in the nation. </p>
<p>I like to think that most people actually look at a lot more than percentages (and rankings) when applying.</p>
<p>My son’s department, architectural engineering, is considered one of the top two (with UTA) in the country. Their career fair typically draws more companies than the number of students graduating each year, with job placement at or near 100%. Often students have multiple offers.</p>
<p>One rule of thumb when considering taking on college debt is not take more in total than what you might reasonably expect your first year’s salary to be. For grads of PSU’s CoE I would guess that would allow borrowing something between $15K and $20 per year, depending on department, internships, etc.</p>
<p>@LTL:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Just as you rightly question the accuracy of “anonymous posters” on this forum, with all due respect, it is certainly befitting to question your analysis and intent. In fact, if your sole intent is save the “naive”, why would you misinform with statements such as “you will be charged $46,000” on this post and “but it costs $46,000 a year to attend PSU as an out-of-state student” on another. If you are so concerned with saving everyone from their own ignorance, why would you assume that everyone knows your numbers are ‘FOR ESTIMATING PURPOSES ONLY? Those are just two instances which you mislead.</p></li>
<li><p>I guess I misinterpreted your post when you stated “Good strategy, I think *** ! My son had no desire to go so far away to school either, but in the end, he had to do it to get what he wanted at a price we could afford.” Whatever.</p></li>
<li><p>On an additional note, I read on the Proposed Tuition Increase … (Parents Forum) one parent state “Soon the UC’s will be comprised of only the very wealthy and the very poor. Our D was able to go to Penn State from California at a fraction of the cost we would have paid for a UC. Very sad.” The outright initial skepticism ("how could that be???, blah, blah, blah) was frankly amusing. Turns out, she got some tremendous scholarships.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>I sincerely hope your son continues to excel at his school. </p>
<p>@1moremom – Even though my son went with a priority list and game plan to the career fair, he had a difficult time fitting in all his targeted employers – it was huge. </p>
<p>@NASA2014 – I don’t know a darned thing about the meteorology program, but I enjoy your enthusiasm. I hope there are some others who can provide some additional information for you!</p>