people making that much money aren’t buying those things though. Should they not get to take a yearly vacation or have the newest iPhone? My point was that not every cent they make needs to go towards food, electricity, or education
It really comes down to whether you consider higher ed a luxury good or investment in the future of society.
If you take the attitude that it’s a luxury good, then sure, paying for college is like paying for a vacation. But looking at the bifurcated higher ed system in PA as an example, it sure seems like the attitude is “trades for the poor” as it doesn’t look like the PASSHE schools are designed to send kids in to PhD programs. I’d be curious to know how many of the tens of thousands of PASSHE grads each year ever get a PhD.
2 Likes
I don’t think every institution has to have as its mission “sending kids for a PhD”. To me this is a ludicrous objective. How about how many PASSHE grads end up in the top quartile of wage earners?
If my own state started to overhaul our state/regional college system (not the flagship) to move more grads into doctorate programs I’d be writing letters to my representatives. I’d rather see more low income kids getting Bachelor’s degrees- if they are qualified and prepared- than more doctorates. And I’d every rather see more HS graduates being able to read, compute and write at grade level rather than seeing our community college system devoted to remedial HS work.
5 Likes
very good point about the PhD thing especially since financial aid is always limited for graduate programs. Lets make sure low income students get a good education for their bachelors degree instead of teaching them how to get into an institution they can’t afford
1 Like
That’s fine if there is a pathway for a lower SES kid who if fully capable of contributing advancements to society and has the capability and desire to get a PhD to do so. Or, heck, yes, even make it in to the top decile in earnings. From the College Scorecard (so these are kids who received fin aid), average salary 5-10 years out by major (among the majors that have enough grads to have an average listed) at Indiana U of Pennsylvania range from 18-60k. Highest salary are from the nursing majors (who’s salaries don’t have wide variance). The ranges for PSU-main are 11-98k.
I agree to try a dedicated feed for this… but one thought is that your family didn’t file the required FAFSA and/or CSS. If you did (or your parents) this information should be available to you and it is good to understand the information on it. It is my understanding that Columbia (from their FA site) is more generous then other FA policies and it may be that your paperwork isn’t filed or your parents have more than you think! btw you would of received the email of your EFC for your family if the paperwork was filed by your parents as it uses the students email address. You can check if you CSS was started by going to your college board account. Best wishes!
1 Like
Any STEM PhD program worth attending is fully-funded. I’d say that’s true of social science PhD programs as well.
We have found a Canadian University to be a great bargain. DS18 was a 99.9th percentile who never wanted to play the build-a-college-admission game, and we were full pay. He got some good merit offers but most were at small LACs in the middle of nowhere and he wanted to be in a city. He went to McGill for less than the cost of our in-state flagship. Montreal is a great city and affordable – $500 a month for his share of a spacious 2-bedroom apartment. The student population is large and varied, so most find their friend group (he did, and he never found it easy to fit in). Plus McGill, unlike many US colleges, accepts all APs and college-in-the-high-school credits. So he started as a year 2 and had the freedom to branch out and try new things academically. The are certainly disadvantages – terrible bureaucracy, poor COVID response, absolutely no hand-holding and some huge classes in some subjects, but for us it has been a great choice.
4 Likes
over 45% of their students are international. That’s a lot of financial support to help the UK students!
Yeah, the scenario here is that among Game Design / 3d Animation, Purdue and Utah and Virginia Tech are highly ranked, far better than top tier publics (i.e. UNC, UVA, who do not even have these sort of programs). There are some great ones in California, but she did not want to go that far, not to mention, aiming for those amazing California schools as an OOS is it’s own low odds gamble.
I would say that the no hand holding is fairly standard even for US colleges. That is more of a large/public versus small/private thing. My oldest attends Binghamton U, and unless the student does a lot of the chasing themselves around courses/major requirements and career center, the school doesn’t know you exist. With smaller, expensive private schools, you may get that scenario where the career center is checking in proactively with every student. COVID response at colleges in the US has been extremely school specific, and very very different. Some schools are blowing it off, others are so locked down it’s like prison. We’re seeing massive variation, and not just state by state, but also by individual schools within states.
As someone with a kid that needs to decide by May 1st on a college, we’re surprised that some schools (like RIT) do campus tours, complete with tours of inside of the buildings. Other schools are entirely locked down and say “watch our video and there is nothing else you can see”. Some are in between. I personally agree with RIT, and I think it’s insane that some of these schools will not allow visits in any form. They are likely to lose our business, and I am sure I am not alone here. My daughter has little interest in picking a school based solely on a “staged” YouTube video. I’m shocked that more schools do not get this. The tour we took at RIT was fantastic, as it was one tour guide just for our family, full masks, and distanced from anyone, but it did allow us to see the place she would potentially go.
I think you made a great move. I think my kids would actually be happier in many other countries than here, as they have a more socialized/European view on life, with a focus on quality of life over sheer capitalism, but the distance has been a concern (for Europe or Asia), Canada seems to be a nice happy medium there. It’s too late for us however in this process as we have one already in and another 5 weeks from a decision.
2 Likes
However, in-state FA in PA (including PASSHE schools) is not good, and Pennsylvania geography limits commutability range for campuses and students outside of the major cities.
Some majors, like engineering majors, are also scarce at PASSHE schools.
2 Likes
At the Scottish unis, the number of Scottish students is capped. Essentially the Scottish government gives a certain number of scholarships for Scots at all the Scottish unis and the unis are free to admit however many Internationals they want.
Unless being among Mormons is a problem, or there are special aspects to some of the other programs that you think are worth the extra cost, I probably would pick Utah. I probably would prefer living in SLC over W Lafayette, Blacksburg, Worcester, outside Albany, or Rochester myself. But it is also her life. I’d offer to give her the difference in costs if she picks one of the cheaper options.
1 Like
I don’t think Hank has the difference in costs. He mentioned cosigning $60k-80k in loans for each of his children.
Ah, in that case, definitely choose one of the cheaper options. Looking at pictures, Champlain looks to be in a very pretty location. SLC is pretty nice too.
Blacksburg makes lists of best places to live, best places to retire so some will disagree with you on that one. I think it’s lovely and a great place to spend four years for college but everyone obviously has their own preferences. Cost for college though is a different story and is very important to most people, of course.
Oh, I forgot about MSU. They have a great basketball team (traditionally) and school spirit (VTech rates highly in that department too, but IMO, costs too much).
Hank’s example raises another (and good) point. While, sure, someone without means in PA could attend a PASSHE to become a nurse, if they are intent on game design or some other niche field, they are out of luck. In fact, most kids that aren’t well-off and live outside the states that actually have publics that offer game design would be out of luck.
Meanwhile, in Europe, if they can get in to one of several dozen game design programs located in different countries, they merely have to be able to afford their living expenses for 3 years.
Lehigh Carbon Community College in Pennsylvania has a game design degree. Can stop at Associates degree or transfer to a 4 year college from there .
2 Likes