In dire need of some financial advice!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Penn State
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<p>Here is my situation. My oldest son will be graduating this year. We have done some college tours over the summer and and he has narrowed down his schools of choice to Penn State and Pitt. My wife and I have never really made a lot of money. She was a stay at home mom for most of the time.And now she has entered back into the work force since my yougest son has gone to Junior Highschool this year.My wife and I never went to college so this whole thing is new to us.</p>

<p>Our combined income is about 80,000 net a year. We have never been able to save a ton of money and we have lived paycheck to paycheck. Over the last 2 years we have paid down most of our debt to the point we can now start saving roughly 500 to 800 a month. Its not a lot but its a start.</p>

<p>So I started checking into the costs of Pitt and Penn State to see what exactly its going to cost to send him there. I did the calculations and they say my EFC is 13,000. Now if I am doing the math correctly this amounts to 52,000 is what we are expected to pay. After all that he still will have to pay 25,000 in loans.</p>

<p>My son is very bright and he has challenged himself in his Sophmore and Junior years making honor role every marking period. He has taken honors classes and AP classes. He has not slacked off his senior year at all taking 2 more AP classes and honors classes. Because he didn't do so well in his freshman year his GPA is 3.4. He didnt take school seriously in 9th grade otherwise his GPA would probably be a bit higher. He took his SAT's and he got an 1910. He is a band kid and plays in the Marching band, Jazz Band, and Indoor drumline.</p>

<p>This is why he wants to go to Pitt or Penn State because they offer great musical programs as well as a solid education. He is interested in engineering or some kind of science degree. He has not narrowed down any further than that because he just doesn't know what he wants to do, all he knows is he loves science.</p>

<p>So here is my dillema. First the shock of 52,000 is unbelievable to me. I realized school would be expensive but how in the world does anyone in the middle class pay this kind of money. I obviously do not want to let my son down because he has made a huge effort in school to get good grades. Am I doing the math correctly for these two schools first of all?</p>

<p>Will he qualify for any additional aid, grants or scholarships?</p>

<p>My youngest son is autistic and has been documenetd by the state as having a disability. Fortunatley for us he is high functioning but that still does not take away from the fact he will always need some assistance in his life and it is very doubtful that he could ever live on his own. Will any of this help our cause of trying to get my older son into Pitt or Penn State and not go financially broke doing so?</p>

<p>I just need some really good advice because I am very concerned at this point. Any help would be very much appreciated.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance!</p>

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<p>One quick correction our income is 80,000 gross… I wish it was net!!!</p>

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<p>(I’m a freshman out of state student now) aid at Penn State sucks. Just throwing that out there. It’s marginally better for in state students but not by much. PSU is not affordable for people unless they’re very well off or have a large outside scholarship (like I have) covering most expenses. My parents are separated and my mom who I’m a dependent with only makes 35,000 a year, and our financial aid was basically a joke. I got a 1,500 school grant, 5,500 in federal loans, and a 3,000 work study. I also won a 1,000 local alumni scholarship I had to apply for. My outside scholarship also didn’t play into our fafsa or financial aid. The FAFSA is very unforgiving, and I wouldn’t expect much with an income of 80,000. But that’s based on my own experiences. A 1910 also probably isn’t a high enough SAT for the little merit money available.</p>

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<p>These are both really good schools. Our son was accepted to both, he decided on Penn State, he’s a freshman. Penn State has increased greatly in the rankings. My advice would be if you live close enough to either school have him live at home and commute. Housing is a big expense for college and if you could save on that expense that would really help. Also have him look for any scholarships he may be qualified for. Both of our daughters graduated this past May so I feel your pain. They were both able to graduate early. Our younger daughter received a major and minor in 3 years. Tell your son to study hard for the AP exams that’s how our daughters graduated early. One daughter started college with 39 credits and the other started with 27. Good luck as your son starts this new adventure.</p>

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<p>Thank you for the advice. Etuck24 you are right. Based on everything I have read and heard Penn State is horrible with any kind of financial aid. Its a shame that a public state school has become more expensive than some private schools. I would love to send him to one of these schools but it is starting to look impossible right now. We certainly are going to try and do what we can as far as researching scholarships and such. Hopefully we can find something that may help. OR WIN THE LOTTERY LOL!!!</p>

<p>Thanks again!</p>

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<p>PADAD, Is it possible that you live near a branch campus? Many families afford a PSU education by living at home and attending a branch campus for two years, then moving up to University Park. I think about a third of the juniors in engineering are from branch campuses.</p>

<p>Pitt and PSU have the distinction of being the two most expensive public schools in the country. The asterisk is that they are actually considered “state related” and receive less funding than the PASSHE schools (Bloomsburg, Shippensburg, et al.). Less than 10% of the budget comes from the state. Tuition at the “real” state schools is about half what tuition is at Penn State.</p>

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<p>OP, just a note here — you aren’t “letting him down” by thinking about the money. My newly-minted PSU grad is living on his own largely due to having no loans---- so his paltry salary can all go to living expenses, not some bank. we just finished a parent PLUS loan, but he worked, too.</p>

<p>How do other families do it? Ours gets a tuition discount (staff benefit to offset no raises and low pay), and our kids live at home for at least part of the degree. A branch campus is a great alternative for the first two years. a cheaper school ----Ship’ or Kutztown or Cal ---- or one with generous aid ( susquehanna has a great music program and is fairly assertive with aid)</p>

<p>PSU is ghastly expensive. the financial burden on a new student can be crippling, so don’t be swayed by “wants” if they are unaffordable. You are not the first parent to wish there was a magic money tree or that the math added up differently. We’ve all been there. ( and some of us still are ! We have 2 years to go!)</p>

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<p>You might want to run the calculators at a couple of private schools which can be more generous and also may consider your family’s situation with your younger child. Case Western and Lehigh come to mind. (Both are good engineering schools.) Take a look at this thread–
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/52133-schools-known-good-merit-aid.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/52133-schools-known-good-merit-aid.html&lt;/a&gt;
and also look at the Financial Aid forum; there is a lot of good information over there.</p>

<p>Another thing to think about, were your son to major in engineering, there might be coop opportunities which would help cover some of his costs. One rule of thumb that I have read on this forum is that a student’s debt should not be greater than his first year’s salary. With a little coop income, work study and/or summer jobs, total family debt would probably be in the ballpark. The engineering grads I have known have had starting salaries between $55K and $75K.</p>

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<p>Thank you everyone this is excellent advice!! lorilc we dont live close to either main campus but we do live near a branch at Penn State. I have been running the numbers and yes that would save me about 20k the first two years. The second thing is after discussing this more on the financial aid forum… I actually am on the hook for quite a bit more than what I originally thought. It looks more like I would have to pay 24k a year. Thats WAY over what I thought my original costs would be.</p>

<p>1moremom I am starting to look at all kinds of places now and thank you for reminding me to start looking at the smaller private schools because he very well could get a better package. I am dissapointed that Penn State and Pitt are that expensive but what am I going to do at thispoint.</p>

<p>I have to sit down with him and explain that these schools might very well be way out of reach and we will have to look at some alternatives.</p>

<p>Greenbutton know any place that is hiring for office clerical work so my wife could apply LOL!! We would love for her to get in some place affiliated with Penn State or Pitt and get a cheaper ride.</p>

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<p>PADAD14, I agree with all the advice you’re getting here. There’s no doubt, that for most middle class families, the cost of sending a child to college is a shock to the system. Don’t beat yourself up for what you can’t afford–your kids are lucky to have parents who will do whatever they can to help. </p>

<p>As others have pointed out, Penn State and Pitt (along with Temple), are state affiliated, but they are not part of the PASSHE system, which is much more affordable for most families. You don’t say where you live in PA, but check out some of those schools online to see which ones offer engineering. With your son’s stats, he may even attract some merit money. </p>

<p>[Welcome</a> to the PA State System of Higher Education](<a href=“http://www.passhe.edu/Pages/default.aspx]Welcome”>Home | PA State System of Higher Education)</p>

<p>Having a few of those as more affordable options might give your son some additional options worth considering. (Just to give you an idea, in our case, the net price calculators we used said it would cost $34,000 for our son to attend Penn State UP and, alternatively, about $24,000 to attend West Chester University, one of the PASSHE schools.)</p>

<p>Penn State and Pitt are notoriously expensive for in-state students who don’t get merit awards, and plenty of families where I live in suburban Philadelphia, even affluent ones, send their kids to PASSHE schools or Temple, which has added some scholarships recently and has a very good engineering school.</p>

<p>[Undergraduate</a> Admissions | Temple University](<a href=“http://temple.edu/admissions/undergraduate]Undergraduate”>Temple University Admissions | Admissions)</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

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<p>[Penn</a> State - Careers: Job Opportunities](<a href=“http://www.psu.jobs/Search/Opportunities.html]Penn”>http://www.psu.jobs/Search/Opportunities.html)</p>

<p>You have to have one year of employment, i believe, in order to qualify for the tuition grant (room and board are not part of it). The tuition grant requires good academic standing and is only for one bachelor’s degree.</p>

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<p>24K for in-state (on top of the student’s loans) sounds high, but that’s immaterial. The posts that really are heart breaking are those of parents beating themselves up for not being able to send their kids to “that dream school”. Please don’t. From what you describe you are financially healthy, but far from affluent. Considering your income, saving 500-800 a month is quite good. But as I think you know, this level of savings is essential for retirement and unexpected expenses (medical, loss of a job etc.). If you commit all of your savings for college, and “make it work” what would happen if you were hit with an unexpected loss of income or expense? I’ve never had to do this, but I can only imagine how terrible it would be to have to tell a child they can’t go back next semester. However, I was a child who had the anxiety of not knowing if I could go back. Not fun. So, here’s another perspective. Your prudence now, could be the best thing for your child.
I think you can appreciate that children play a role in this too. Higher academic performance=more merit aid. I don’t advise anyone to throw that back in their kids face during the discussion. This is something to consider in your mind before being too hard on yourself.
This is heavily debated, but a good starting point to getting merit aid is where the applicant is near the 75th percentile of applicants. Don’t waste an application fee (and time) on schools that will not be generous in the 3.4/1910 range</p>

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<p>Wait, you said your EFC is 13,000 - that’s not how much financial aid you’ll get, that means you’re expected to pay $13,000 per year. In case that makes any difference.</p>

<p>Also, put these $500-800 into retirement savings, those aren’t counted in your EFC. (You can then use them for your son if you wish but they wouldn’t be counted as assets and that’d likely decrease your EFC.)
Your younger son’s diagnosis would also be taken into account to reduce the EFC, especially if you have medical bills. Don’t buy a car this year, either, as that raises your EFC for some reason.</p>

<p>Ask your question on “the college solution” website, the financial adviser there is very knowldgeable (you may have seen/read her column for CBS).</p>

<p>Pennsylvania is one of these states where it may be cheaper to send your child to a private school than to a public university. (part of the problem is that State funding has decreased so much :s).
Check out Lehigh, Bucknell, Lafayette, Union, Trinity (CT), for engineering. Since your son would be “first gen” ( = “neither you nor your spouse graduated from a 4 year college”) colleges with holistic admissions would take that into account too and factor it in his favor.
Run the NPC’s on these websites. You’ll probably be pleasantly surprised.</p>

<p>Check out the NPC’s for the tech institutes like wpi, rit, stevens, rennselaer, rose hulman.
In addition, NM School of mining and technology; Missouri School of Science and Technology; South Dakota School of mining and technology all have fairly low costs.</p>

<p>Out of state public universities that may be worth it financially are UMN-Twin Cities and the SUNY’s (in nearby New York state).</p>

<p>As a reach, your son should apply to Haverford for physics: they have a new 4+1 program where admitted students graduate with a degree from Haverford in Physics and a Masters in Engineering from Penn (The University of Pennsylvania, the Ivy league school). It’s a definite reach for him with a 3.4 but first gen + upward trend + lots of honors/Ap classes make it worth a try because they meet need (which in your case would be considered high) and their financial aid is very, very generous. It’s the equivalent of winning the lottery. Odds are very low, but rewards are very high.</p>

<p>In PASSHE schools, Shippensburg has Computer Engineering and Software engineering; Physics with Engineering is available at West Chester.</p>

<p>Another alternative is to target private schools where his stats place him in the top 25% applicants but few of those offer engineering.</p>

<p>If your son is interested in Computer Science, that would open a lot more possibilities, especially with full-need schools.</p>

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Hi! I like your post and concerns and in the same spot. Curious where is your son going to school? My son loved psu main campus but so expensive. Even the branch campuses are only a few thousand less. My son got accepted to slippery rock honors and they have physics computer science and computational physics. But worried a degree from there isn’t as good.