A lot of the issue in comparing other big flagship schools in other states to Penn State is the misperception that Penn State is a state school. It is not. It is ‘state related’, like Pitt and Temple. Lots of people think people that point this out are being petty, but it’s actually a HUGE issue when it comes to costs. Penn State receives 5% of it’s funding from the state. Compare that with Ohio State and WVU which are both TRUE state schools, which get the majority of their funding from the state.
Penn State walks the line between being Public and Private. Comparing Penn State to Ohio State or WVU is like comparing Penn State to IUP or West Chester University tuition. The latter are both actual state schools and as such, their tuition is lower and ability to offer state funds is higher.
Penn State doesn’t give much, if any, need based aid. They give even less merit aid - at least at the beginning. Different colleges within Penn State DO give funding once you are there if you have certain grades etc…My niece (a Junior) got a full ride this year from the college of Ag, but she is a 4.0 student as well.
Run the NPC for all colleges you are interested in BEFORE you apply - because for it to be a surprise that Penn State will be paid for with loans and savings at this point is heartbreaking.
@STEM2017 I would encourage you to follow Penn State Financial Aid on twitter. They post scholarships and opportunities to apply there. Also, beat the bushes a little – if your kid is a writer, there are some random scholarships that are not need based. My D was an AAU athlete - and got a $2,500 scholarship last year from AAU. She is not a college athlete and isn’t even a club athlete at Penn State (75 girls tried out for 8 spots on the club team). Every little bit helps.
@STEM2017 – Just our experience: DS was in Schreyer Honors and also received two 2-year Departmental scholarships. He did not apply for the Departmental scholarship (there was no notification) it just appeared on his statement. He also applied for outside scholarships, was awarded two more and we stacked them. He had to achieve an acceptable GPA to maintain the scholarships for four years. As an aside, he did NOT want to write the essays, applications, etc., but it was an incredible lesson for him to see the ROI. He more willingly wrote thank you letters.
Agree with @lucyvanpelt – every little bit helps! There are some tremendous scholarships at PSU. I would investigate PSU Scholarship page. Good Luck!
@lucyvanpelt and @pilot2012 This is very encouraging. S is applying for about a dozen outside scholarships for his freshman year - most of them would be one-time gifts. Hopefully he will be awarded $5 or $10k. Then next year he can go for PSU money and possibly an RA role to help with the costs. He really loved the school and now understands what he must do to help make it happen. Thanks for the info.
Here’s another interesting one – Ranking of the state’s top 10 schools by best average starting salary:
Carnegie Mellon University | $70,900
University of Pennsylvania | $68,10
Lehigh University | $65,400
Bucknell University | $62,300
Thomas Jefferson University | $61,800
Lafayette College | $61,500
Villanova University | $61,400
Drexel University | $58,400
Penn State University- Main Campus | $55,200
Penn State University- Eerie-Behrend College | $55,200
I would bet that if you pulled out the data from the engineering college at Penn State Main Campus, it would compete with Carnegie Mellon and Lehigh (both essentially engineering schools).
Daughter just received financial aid notification. Received merit scholarship of $5000/yr from College of Engineering (OOS). This was a pleasant surprise.
@stem2017 – Just an add on to the CMU. My kids were accepted to CMU, but the financial aid wasn’t enough. Plus, we couldn’t calculate/guarantee future financial aid because of changing financial need (one kid graduating before the other). Our goal was no debt.
@ScientificRocket – Great! My son had his scholarships for all four years – hope that is the case for your daughter.
The cost of college is real. I would encourage everyone to find scholarships out there - they exist. You may have to beat the bushes, but they exist.
Here are examples of a recent ones Penn State Student Aid tweeted:
The Create-A-Greeting-Card $10,000 Scholarship Contest is currently being offered by The Gallery Collection to all high school, college and university students. Submit original photo, artwork or computer graphics.
Pelican Water Sustainability Scholarship: Available to students currently enrolled in as undergrad or grad. You must have a 3.5 GPA.
Submit a 30 to 60 second video on Instagram that describes your efforts to reduce the amount of plastic you consume.
Are you a resident of the state of Ohio?
Do you have a career goal in the crude oil or natural gas industry?
Then this $1000 scholarship is for you - could be renewed for up to fours years! Application with essay due March 1, 2019
Write a 400-500 word essay for your chance to win $2500!
The topic is:
Has technology caused you to feel more included in your community, or excluded?
Tagging on to @lucyvanpelt redirecting this thread back to its intended purpose – kids received an incredible amount of scholarship $ from an outside fund. Criteria were typical gpa, references, blah, blah, but also active member of particular denomination within a specific county residence. Still amazes us. Again, every little bit helps.