<p>Penn State is my number 1 school and I love everything about it.</p>
<p>I was just wondering if anyone that went to/is at Penn State could tell me whether they thought Penn State is worth 38,000 a year.</p>
<p>Thanks is advance!</p>
<p>Wall Street Journal says yes, but it’s ultimately your decision</p>
<p>If your parents could pay it off without loans then its worth it, but if you’ll have to take out loans then in-state is a better option.</p>
<p>This is a personal decision obvioulsy, but to me it is. I’m willing to pay $40,000 a year even with mostly all of it from loans.</p>
<p>What are your other options?</p>
<p>Thanks for all the responses! :)</p>
<p>My family would be able to afford Penn State, but 38,000 is still a lot of money for college lol. </p>
<p>My other (top) choices are
Stony Brook
Binghamton
Albany</p>
<p>I’m from CT…but have no interest in UConn.</p>
<p>Jme462- My son is faced with similar choices…in our house it is a family decision as we will be paying. Unfortunately, since Penn State is not likely to offer a competitive package- he will probably attend Udel with a generous merit scholarship or Bing - in state for us.</p>
<p>Since they are both out of state for you, the financial difference is much less - and since your parents are willing and able to pay - Penn State would be a great choice!</p>
<p>If you choose Penn State I’m sure you will get a quality education- and have a great time. Your other options will offer you a similar level of education- and you will probably have a good deal of fun - minus the football experience</p>
<p>If you are planning to attend graduate school don’t forget that cost of attendance when making fiscal decisions. In addition if you are looking for “name recognition” Its the graduate school name that will stand out for employers.</p>
<p>izodliquify-its worth it for your parents to go into debt but not you??? REALLY???</p>
<p>This is purely personal. If parents could pay $38,000 a year, it’s well and good for a student and he is lucky. A student who utilize all the opportunities of the university he can achieve something. One more thing one has to keep in mind, that don’t think about the ranks of Universities think about the caliber in you and students can achieve goal from any state university if they take the opportunity from that university.</p>
<p>The SUNY schools are at least $10K less than Penn St as an OOS ($25K vs. $38K). That’s a big difference. what you get at Penn St is big time football & school spirit that is not the same as the SUNY schools. </p>
<p>Also Penn State is about 30% OOS students which creates a nice mix. Not sure about the SUNY - but I’m guessing 90% are New Yorkers. If you think the 50K over 4 yrs is worth it- then go for it. Penn St has tremendous school spirit that you will be proud of forever, as long as you don’t squander the opportunity once you are there.</p>
<p>Thank you all for all of your insights!!
I have a lot of thinking to do…I’m visiting all three schools (plus Hofstra) before I make my final decision. :)</p>
<p>It’s worth it for us, and we are paying for it ourselves. Penn State had the atmosphere, the academic program, and the specific ECs that my son was looking for. It was - and still is - the right decision.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that you may not find out what PSU is actually going to cost this year until after PA approves a budget. That often times does not happen until July/August after you have already committed. The COA might be substantially more expensive this year than last. Something to consider…</p>
<p>Aglages- thanks for mentioning that. Do you know when PA will pass their budget? I know UConn is facing the same problem.
I really hope it doesn’t go up too much more- 38,000 is quite a lot already! :)</p>
<p>Grcxx3- I agree with everything you said about Penn State- it’s the reason why PSU is my #1 school.</p>
<p>I don’t think they will pass Corbett’s proposed budget as written; it is still early in the process.</p>
<p>Why wouldn’t Corbett’s budget get passed? Republicans control the state congress.</p>
<p>There are months of negotiations, lobbying, and backroom dealing that will be done over the next few months. I doubt all of the republicans agree with such a drastic cut to PSU and when Spanier et al., make it clear to the thick-headed…erm…i mean conservatives how important PSU is to the State they will have to rethink the cuts.</p>
<p>I understand what you’re saying, I just don’t see that many Republicans openly opposing the Governor. I’ve read countless articles with lots of state Republicans who applauded the proposal. They also can’t appear to favor Penn State when many other colleges are facing cuts as well, so if they gave candy to us, they’d have to give candy to all the other schools too. And Corbett loves his candy.</p>
<p>I think it is safe to assume that it will be at least June before the PA budget is approved and quite likely a month or two later. Just my opinion but I would plan for the worse (budget being passed as proposed) and anticipate a healthy (10+%) tuition increase. Even if not this year then over 4 years it would not be difficult to believe tuition will increase by at least that much and perhaps by 20+%. PSU is a great school but you have to decide whether it is worth the price and whether you can afford the likely increases in the future. Good Luck!</p>
<p>Honestly, after researching tuition increases, etc. I see Penn State full COA for next year at nearer to $40 - 41k. We are also in similar boat. PSU was my daughter’s early 1st choice. She was accepted in Jan., but as an OOS it’s looking like a very expensive option and her loans would be larger at PSU than if she chooses one of the other 2 east coast state flagships she is considering. I think it’s a great school, and it will be a hard decision for this student and her family.</p>