I have been wondering lately if going to school like Drexel University which requires co-ops to graduate but has a COA of about $70000 is worth it versus a college like University of Pittsburgh which has a COA of about $30000 but has no required co-ops
Especially when looking at future career like engineering where having prior experience can be be difference of looking for a job for 1 month versus looking for a job for 8months to a year.
My question is how to determine a college worth?
Just because a college does not require co-ops does not mean that you cannot seek a summer job in your field and/or take a semester leave to work. It is very common for engineers to gain work experience during school, even at schools where it is not required for graduation.
This is a bit of a tangent from comparing co-op versus non-co-op, but one measure of a college’s worth is “how much money are they spending on educating you?” (With financial aid and endowments, this is not the same as “how much money are you paying?”). I’ve been fascinated by pulling this info out of IPEDS for my daughter’s college list after seeing this lecture:
http://nber.org/feldstein_lecture_2016/feldsteinlecture_2016.html
I guarantee you a degree from Drexel is not worth 160k versus Pitt. An engineering degree is a flat paying field. Just because a school requires co-ops doesn’t mean you can’t get work experience at any other school.
There are plenty of summer internship and co-op opportunities no matter which school you go to.
College worth is a personal question no one can answer. How much are you/your parents willing to pay for an education and why. Pitt is a great school. Personally, it would not be worth 160k to go to Drexel.
^Agree.
You have listed the sticker price of each school. What is the net cost of each school after grants and scholarships? Or did you not receive any?
Well I am a transfer student looking at these two schools and my parents contribution is zero.
@TomSrOfBoston Net cost for drexel would be 30000 and pitt would be 20000 so in the end the cost become very similar.
@Jpgranier not everybody gets an internship in the summer but with drexel you are pretty much guaranteed to get a co-op
@AroundHere thank you for that link I will look into that information for each school
Son looked at Pitt engineering seriously. Talking to students, there are a lot of summer internships available in Pittsburg area and beyond. Some co-ops out there as well depending on engineering concentration. If you’re motivated to seek them out and have decent grades you stand a great chance of getting one. Most of the better (in terms of employers wanting to employ that school’s engineers) E schools have fall and spring job fairs, and you want to be very actively looking/interviewing in the fall one. That’s typically when the best internships are available. There will be some in spring as company’s economic outlooks change.
Who is paying the $30,000 a year COA for Pitt? Who would pay the $70,000 for Drexel?
You, the student, have very limited loan capability. Will your parents cosign? Or will they take out these huge loans?
@thumper1 I will be paying for room&board myself and I have money saved up for books. Then I will use federal loans to apply to the tuition. Then my mom will help pay tuition difference after institutional aid and federal/state grant aid has been applied with a combination of loans and savings.
So you have $10,000 plus saved for room and board costs for the upcoming school year? And you will be able to earn the same amount for the following year?
I can’t imagine how you will,cover the $70,000 cost for Drexel.
Pitt is an excellent school…do they give merit aid to transfer students?
You have touched upon why this process is so frustrating. There are so many variables that it is hard to determine which is a better college. Many times it simply comes down to what you can afford and which one you feel most comfortable at.
@thumper1 I will have about enough for renting off campus and for food. For the following year the if I went to Drexel then my co-op money would be more than enough money for renting off campus and for food. If I went to Pitt I would not have this opportunity.
Drexel gives a lot institutional aid bringing the costs down similar to Pitt.
Pitt does not offer merit aid to transfer students unless the student applied before as freshmen was awarded a scholarship.
You need to find out if the salary you earn at Drexel will affect need based aid.
And you will will still,have the upfront cost for your first term or two…BEFORE you coop.
In addition, Pittsburgh is a far less costly place to live than Philly.
@thumper1 I did some searching to find out if co-op money would affect EFC and I am pretty confident that it does not.
I found this from fasfa.gov website
The response indicates the total amount of taxable income the student earned under a cooperative education program in 2015. Any income earned from work under a cooperative education program offered by a postsecondary institution is excluded from need analysis in the determination of the Expected Family Contribution (EFC).
http://www.engineering.pitt.edu/coop/
Pitt has a Co-op program
Coops are available at most universities. If you follow the link posted by @mommdc, you can find the link to their upcoming career fair and companies recruiting in campus.
http://www.engineering.pitt.edu/Student/Student-Programs/Coop/Job-Fair/Current-Co-op-Job-Fair/
http://www.engineering.pitt.edu/Student/Student-Programs/Coop/Job-Fair/coop-Listing—Page-Content/
My ds cooped during college and attended a small public university. He recruited coop students for his company for several yrs and he recruited from several instate public universities for his site.
If your parents can afford both schools, I would visit them and tour the engineering facilities, inquire about co-op and internship/research opportunities related to the discipline you are intetested in, sit in on a class.
Also I believe Drexel is on a quarter system where the terms are only 10 weeks long. Pitt has 15 week semesters.
@mommdc Thank you I have visited both and liked Drexel better than Pitt. However, I will look into Pitt co-op program.