<p>Should post this at all 3 schools but I have spent the most time here. Or maybe I will post all three. But please try to be unbiased if you can. Obviously most of you are at Syracuse so love it I hope... but in alphabetical order
Penn State - $40,000 after financial aid(only loans) Business/Marketing hopefully Sapphire Leadership Program (will not know till mid April)
Syracuse - $43,000 (loans plus $10,000 grant) after financial aid Dual Whitman/Marketing NH/PR
UCONN - 20,000 after financial aid (I am not even including loans in this one) Business/Marketing.
As you can see many pros/cons. Son wakes up with a different choice every day. We have discussed ranking, cost, living, recruitability, weather, and every other thing you can think of. He has visited all three. Syracuse and UCONN twice. Thanks in advance. I know it is hard to pick for someone you don't know but maybe someone has insight knowing more than just Syracuse that we don't know. Obviously wants a job when he graduates. May or may not go to grad school. I am thinking may not at this moment but that is because he says no thinking 6 years is a long time.
Thanks
Overwhelmed Mom also know as Whale 18</p>
<p>Hi whale18,</p>
<p>although i am by no means an expert in these kinds of decisions, i do think economics should be a very serious consideration for your family. unless you are wealthy enough that the family could take on a very large portion of the cost for either syracuse or penn state, UConn sounds like a smart choice. Syracuse is a great school and so is Penn State, but it isn’t as if going to UConn will actually hinder your son from getting a great education. All three schools have strong reputations which should be able to get him into grad school or a job. speaking of grad school, i would suggest not getting in too deep in debt beforehand. depending on your son’s field, grad school may be a very expensive operation. you wouldn’t want to go into grad school, or life, already having the $160,000+ of debt which it sounds like Syracuse or Penn State would create. in fact, even if you were able to pay half of that for your son, he would still owe $80,000 which, although possible, is quite a debt to overcome. On the other hand, if your son was to attend UConn and you were able to pay just $10,000 per year, he would only come out around $40,000 in debt which is very manageable.</p>
<p>i don’t mean to paint a bleak picture, though. any of these schools will offer your son a strong education if he pursues it. if you have the money, syracuse or penn state are certainly great options. if you don’t have the money, it’s a gamble which could limit your son’s opportunities in the future.</p>
<p>Money is definitely an issue. We have a Freshman at Cornell (we thought we would get more financial aid with 2 in but PSU was certainly a disappointment) and a Freshman in HS. I agree to come out owing nothing is a huge plus. Otherwise like you said he would owe over 80,000 at graduation. Too many people lately have painted UCONN as a dead end school (recruiter friends, family in financial world). I am of the 1/2 glass full and say its right time/right place make the most of it. Of course I want best for him. Is Newhouse name worth 23,000? Is PSU recruitment worth 20,000? Husband feels some guilt that we spend 30,000 plus on Cornell son (he did get good financial aid and scholarships) but I look it as maybe it is money we could give him for grad or downpayment on house (he says it won’t work that way). Son at Cornell who was looking wall street all the way and by the way is doing fantastic (3.8) and was 4.0 in major courses (electives were a little lower), playing intramural sports, working at gym, VP of frat pledge class etc is now deciding he might want law. So now we know we may have law school for him.
PS UCONN wins!!! People have to know who UCONN are if you follow basketball. We are in NJ and my son is sports, music, entertainment fanatic. He wants to be marketing, broadcasting, management for something like that. New House will get him internships, but I think you can market yourself too.
Thanks for being unbiased. Right now I am leaning UCONN, son Syracuse, husband PSU for recruiting even though he is syracuse grad and Cornell son leaning PSU after creating spreadsheet lol and daughter anything but UCONN because she wants to go to UCONN. haha loves it there. PS Daughter is the smartest of the three and will have the best resume. She is a type 1 diabetic and we travel the country mentoring people for a pharmaceutical company. She is a Wallenberg honoree and has been a JDRF delegate at Childrens congress in DC all before 14. Hate diabetes but she has done more in her life so far that I think she will be fine.
Again thanks for the unbiased opinion. I appreciate it.
Patti (who was happy UCONN won) but we will see…<br>
PS You are right about all schools offering great things… that is the problem. So not cut and dry if you eliminate money.</p>
<p>I would go with UConn if money is at all an issue. It’s a great school, great sports, nice campus, IMO roughly on a par with Syracuse academically (I know this is a Syracuse forum and some will object). My son applied to UMass Amherst (instate), UConn, Syracuse and Delaware and got into all of them (for engineering). We have pretty much ruled out UConn because I don’t feel it’s worth twice the cost of UMass for engineering (he got no aid from UConn), even though it’s probably the premier public U in New England (although UMass does rank slightly higher for engineering). We have also ruled out Syracuse because even with the merit scholarship he got, it would still cost about $45,000, which is just not affordable for us. As far as internships go, you might contact the UConn careers office and see what they offer. UConn has a great alumni network in the Northeast, although it’s not as national as the Syracuse alumni network.</p>
<p>For what it is worth … I am a parent of two college students (one graduate). I live in PA and our “forward thinking” governor has proposed cutting funding more than 50% for Penn State (as you probably know it is not a state school but a state funded school). Even if it is not that much, expect tuition hikes to continue at a rapid rate, and I would think that out of state tuition would be hit even harder. Just something to consider. No doubt from a connections standpoint, PSU is outstanding. When you talk about Syracuse there are two top level programs - Architecture and Newhouse. So if journalism or broadcasting is the career he wants to pursue, seems like you should give serious consideration to Syracuse. (My daughter is in architecture at Syracuse - loves it!) I really cannot give an opinion for UConn - but know Penn State and Syracuse.</p>