Full time/Part time quandry

Parents Forum
1

<p>I don't know if this is the right forum, but we have been going back and forth on this.</p>

<p>DD18 is currently undeclared at a Penn State campus. </p>

<p>She wants to apply to the 2yr physical therapy assistant program. She can, if accepted, attend PS for this program. BUT,</p>

<ol>
<li><p>it will be a different campus, no longer commuter, so increased costs for dorming/room rental. </p></li>
<li><p>as she will have taken several gen ed classes this year, she will then drop to part time status or less. It looks like 7 or only 5 credits first semester, 9 credits second semester. I know this will affect her financial aid. Also fin aid officer told her she will need to start paying back her loans that first semester.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>SECOND choice: A local college, commuter, but use to have poor reputation. </p>

<ol>
<li><p>She can maintain her FT status, 12+ credits, as the program has the gen ed courses spread out over the 2 yrs, whereas PS has them mainly in first semester. </p></li>
<li><p>Seems a better fit, but very few students accepted into program and the poor reputation still lingers. </p></li>
</ol>

<p>DD would prefer PS, but finances are a huge issue. She is attending the local PS because she only had to take out $3500 in sub loans. The rest of the costs were covered by grants and scholarships. </p>

<p>I was thinking she needs to apply to both programs and see what works out best financially? However, should the reputation of the school be given more weight? Also, when we declare her on the FAFSA, do we put full time? that would be her status at the less reputable school. </p>

<p>Any thoughts on this would be appreciated. I've got a headache, and she is tired of talking about it.</p>

2

<p>This sounds like a vocational track–am I correct?
What is her ultimate goal? Newly decided to be a physical therapist assistant? Get a degree in another field? Still undecided but seems interesting?
If she wants TO BE a physical therapy assistant (2 years and then work) then go for the program at PS and don’t get waylaid by a lesser program. If her ultimate goal is still undecided and she wants a degree then continue as PS student and do not enter the program EITHER place. She could take the science courses related to that field and see if it suits her. The program won’t disappear–finish her requirements and explore a bit.<br>
She has grants and scholarships now which won’t be repeated most likely. I would encourage her to use it to her advantage and go for a degree.
It is so frustrating to not have a “life path” but 18 is young to know what you want–tons of kids aren’t ready to make that decision. This program may seem like a way to put things in place and give some direction. Find a bit of direction by taking a few more diverse courses, take some career interest tests. Don’t get totally hung up on “all the gen ed courses are done, now what?” The " now what" is you take a course in something that actually interests you. Or it doesn’t–that tells you something too.</p>

3

<p>Can she work part time while she is going to school part time? There are often many nursing aid and other health care type jobs out there, and some pay quite well. Her loans likely can be amortized over 25 years for repayment, so the burden may not be that much, and frankly that bit she repays will be a bit of relief later. </p>

<p>The bottom line, however, is whether the first option is affordable at all. Room and Board can be a big deal, $10K for many schools, and that’s not chump change, as compared to something that can be absorbed by an existing household if she commutes. </p>

<p>I suggest applying to them both and investigating all of this further. Do grads from the program that you feel does not have the rep, find jobs? Is this reality or a perception? What is the problem with this “lesser” program?</p>

4

<p>“However, should the reputation of the school be given more weight?”</p>

<p>Who is judging the reputation of the school? Your daughter? You? Or do you have some indication about what employers think?</p>

<p>For a practical training program like PT Assistant, what matters is job placement. Find out about the job placement for both of these programs.</p>

<p>If she wants to take a few extra classes, is that possible at the PSU program at the other campus? Look into that. If she has only 7 or 9 credits in her major, there would be room for a couple of fun or interesting classes outside her major that would get her up to full-time status for financial aid.</p>

5

<p>She may want to look to see that each school has the appropriate accreditation.</p>

<p>[url=&lt;a href=“Accredited PT & PTA Programs Directory”&gt;Accredited PT & PTA Programs Directory]APTA[/url</a>]</p>

6

<p>There are also reports on the pass rates for the licensure exams by students at each school. Perhaps those may be relevant, although they confound selection effects (admissions selectivity) and treatment effects (quality of education).</p>

<p><a href=“Free Resources | FSBPT”>Free Resources | FSBPT;

7

<p>If she likes Physical Therapy, why not try to become a Physical Therapist instead of an assistant to one?</p>

<p>But like another poster said, look at job placement from each of the schools.</p>

8

<p>bopper -</p>

<p>The time, energy, and money required to get through a DPT program are significantly greater than time, energy, and money required to get through a PT assistant program. This student can finish her PT Asst training in something like two years, and if her program is half-way decent, she will walk straight into a job. Since she wasn’t a direct admit to a DPT, she would need to complete four years of the pre-PT coursework in some relevant undergraduate degree program, pull excellent grades, and then apply to grad school. A grad school program for which there won’t be any aid other than student loans.</p>

<p>She could be well ahead to chose the PT Asst program instead.</p>

9

<p>I want to thank everyone for their replies. </p>

<p>Looking at the numbers, even though I think Penn State would be a better program, it would end up being out of pocket costs of between $45K-$50K for, ultimately, a 2 yr degree. Starting salary of around $35K, not bad, but not w/ the costs to get it. </p>

<p>It is not financially feasible. She will apply and see what happens, but looks like she will need to go local. It is a new program, just graduated their first class, so no real numbers to look at.<br>
It is a former CC which never had a good reputation. </p>

<p>I am hoping that since they just got accredited in the PTA program, they are committed to making it a great program.</p>

<p>I will have her contact the program director to see about clinical training sites and how their first graduating class did; there were only 15 students, and it is difficult to get into.</p>

<p>This is our first trip through the college experience, and I am blown away at the costs!!! I have already told my younger kids they will be attending CC college for their first 2 yrs.</p>

10

<p>

</p>

<p>Tell them that if they want to go somewhere else as a frosh to get their grades and test scores up to get the following:</p>

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<p>Unfortunately, if you live in Pennsylvania, college will generally be expensive, since Pennsylvania state schools tend to be expensive with poor financial aid, even for in-state students.</p>