<p>I got rejected from my state university (University of Washington). The other big state university, Washington State, doesn't have the program I want to do. Penn State only offered me a few thousand in unsub and sub loans. I'm wondering if Penn State is worth the price or should I just go to my local community college and hopefully transfer to UW? My parents said that they could pay for it (and even discouraged me from going to CC) since they have been saving money wherever they could since I was born and for the fact that I am an only-child. However, we are not rich and I don't know if college is worth this price.</p>
<p>What is your major? PSU is a great school with lots of opportunities, but I would hesitate to pay that much.</p>
<p>I want to do statistics with biostatistics concentration.</p>
<p>Penn State is a great school but not worth $46k/yr IMHO. I would not pay that much even if I could afford it.</p>
<p>Can u tell me why do u think Penn State is nt worth that money? And secondly i would say rockycrrab go to a community college work hard and enter UW. Penn State’s stats program is no where near UW’s as far as i noe.</p>
<p>@rockycrrab, I don’t think there is a single answer for this question. As an OOS parent who is paying for Penn State (son is studying business and I am very impressed with Smeal), I think it is worth it, but obviously it depends on your family’s resources, what you want to study, and your other options. Last year as parents we paid $32,500 for Penn State. My son took out $5,500 in loans and paid for his books and incidentals/spending money from the money he had saved and earned during the summer. I believe he should contribute and have some skin in the game. I think $46K seems high based on what we paid last year, although we obviously expect an increase every year. This does not include travel but we can drive to PSU, although it’s a long ride. We had to compare these costs to schools such at Northeastern, which was approx. $15K higher per year. And we didn’t think our state school met his needs. So for us it is worth it, but for you it may be worth going to CC for a year and transferring to UW or another good school that is less expensive then Penn State. Good luck!</p>
<p>I, too, am wondering this. Though my son received a Provost award, he has also been accepted to one of our state universities (SUNY Albany) in the honors program with a 4500 scholarship. As we don’t qualify for any financial aid, our net cost for Penn State is about $36-38K and for Albany about 15k. He is completely unsure of what he wants to do, though he was accepted into Smeal at PSU. He isn’t an avid “rah, rah” sports fan, though he is very involved in sports. I am trying to justify the additional expense and having a hard time…I’m pretty sure he will go to grad school and I don’t see where SUNY Albany and PSU would be viewed much differently by graduate schools. Any feedback would be most appreciated!</p>
<p>What we did is place a limit on what we were willing to spend and then let our kids pick. If it were going after the lowest cost, most of my kids could have gone for free and commuted to local schools, and, yes, still gotten a good solid education and most likely have been viewed the same by graduate schools. The one in college now who put his nose up to the local option and now knows a number of kids who went that route sees that it was a pretty good deal and kids are doing well and enjoying their lives with this choice. He picked differently. He also turned down SUNY Albany, and frankly from a major and career standpoint he would have been better off there or at the local school. He picked an OOS public because he liked that whole experience package that he could see getting there. So did his brother. So, yes, I am paying $35K for an OOS public and did the same for some privates for my other kids because I gave them that choice and they took it. How any family wants to deal with this is really a personal matter. It’s a bit tough on a kid when he thinks he has full choice and then all of a sudden parents are throwing the money aspect in the face when it wasn’t an issue up front. My kids had not trouble throwing out the schools that were $60K; those they knew were not affordable. But when they met the $35K mark that we had set out there, they just figured we’d keep our end of the deal. We did not say we were going to weigh the prices once we saw them. We said we’d pay $35K. </p>
<p>Clearly if my son had gone to Albany, we would have paid the whole thing, and anything he made summers and part time would be pure gravy. He could even get a car. We’d be able to pay for a lot f extras with the difference in cost. Had he commuted, he would have definitely gotten a car paid for by us, gladly and an allowance. He’d be one of the rich kids on campus. Instead, he scrimps, and is working part time during the year, looking at a cheap off campus place next year, and will be working this summer getting as many hours as he can, and his bank account is still going to be at low levels. We pay what we agree to do so, (and a little more, it always comes to more when you visit and pick up things for them) and he had to make up the difference. He took out some loans last year, but has paid 1/3 of them off and expects to do so by the end of the summer. He learned very quickly last year how things happen and you can end up needing more money than planned. He did not expect to have to borrow, but did when a combination of events struck. So far, fingers crossed, things are better this year.</p>
<p>Thanks cptofthehouse. I had also considered a $$$ cut off mark and we had talked about him having a “set” amount of money - though what that amount is hasn’t yet been determined. Yours is a good approach. My son isn’t jumping up and down about either of the two schools though he likes them both - that is one of the reasons why I am wondering if it is really worth it and whether it makes a difference at the end of theday.</p>
<p>OP, I would pick PSU over CC, especially since your parents encourage it. Yes, UW is well known for your major but there is no guarantee you will be able to transfer. On the other hand, if your get good grades you can also transfer from PSU to UW. The experience is worth one year of higher tuition, IMHO.</p>
<p>For transfer, you might also want to consider other schools that are strong in your major but have lower OOS cost, such as Minnesota, Iowa State, NC State, etc.</p>
<p>I’d suggest going to your cc then transferring. Our community colleges in pa will let you move to another state college after two years. I’m not sure if that’s the same for other states.</p>
<p>I personally don’t even think Penn state is worth their in state tuition yet alone out of state, but that’s just me. Obviously thousands of people each year disagree with that. :)</p>
<p>Sent from my DROID BIONIC using CC</p>
<p>Really depends on the major. For us, it’s worth the out of state tuition because PSU is one of the top (of very few) schools that offer my son’s degree program.</p>
<p>If they can pay it, and are willing to, (assuming not in loans) and are still able to live comfortably then why not?</p>
<p>I dont think any school is worth a serious amount of debt, and our definition of that is more debt than you might reasonably make in your first year of work. PSU is a great school, with many great qualities but SO are many other schools. Especially for undecided students, I would be very hesitant to spend that kind of money. No school can guarantee you a job, no school can guarantee you contentment and happiness and success. You work for those, and the variable is how hard you work, not where you go. People worry too much about getting in, and not enough about getting out.</p>
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<p>Absolutely agree!</p>
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<p>Because unless the parents have a huge amount of money saved, it’ll be like $184,000 for all four years. Probably more because of travel expenses, books/supplies, and tuition rises.</p>
<p>If you can afford PSU, then by all means, go for it! But if you have to take out massive amounts of loan, I don’t think it’s worth it whatsoever. Agreeing with @greenbutton, “No school can guarantee you a job, no school can guarantee you contentment and happiness and success.”</p>
<p>Plus, UW is a great school, if not better, and you’ll be saving a lot of money if you do CC and transfer w/ IS tuition. </p>
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OP, I understand that your parents said they could pay for it but how much in loans would they be taking out at your expense? I’m also an only child so I have the same luxury as you and understand your situation (I really wanted to go to PSU w/ OOS tuition too). We are upper-middle class and still could not afford PSU without taking out some loans. It is an expensive school for OOS students.</p>
<p>Are you parents like mine where they don’t like the idea of CC because they look down upon it? Lol, jw, because my parents encouraged me to go to PSU rather than CC–>transfer too because they hated CCs /that/ much.</p>