I get what you’re saying, and I understand “net.” I also understand SUNY very well having graduated from one an eternity ago. But irrespective, and let’s just talk National 50 - 60 universities, all are in the same tuition ballpark before you substract out scholarship and other grants (excluding financial aid to be repaid). Case Western Reserve, U. Chicago, Washington U., Northwestern, as examples, which are in the Midwest, fall into the same category.
To use your example, yes, Perdue has a lower net. But also to be considered is the ROI after graduation from what the university offers during the 4 years (or more), such as internships, networking, etc. Of course the university will also differ for each student depending upon the area of study. If you want law school or med school, a top state university should do the trick (unless fortunate enough to get into one of the top 10 undergrad schools that best prepare a student for med school). But for engineering or business, it may not. Location will also need to be taken into consideration, depending upon the student (and parents).
There are just so many variables depending upon the student and parent. Nothing is ever easy and there is usually no right answer, unless the decision is based solely on finances.
Just curious, which one is considered a notch up?? I thought they were about the same, but I’ve been living on the West coast since college so I’m not as familiar with these schools as when I was growing up back east ¶. My son applied to both as well.
Incidentally, my husband and I are both Purdue grads. He was EE and I started in EE and switched to Pharmacy. For anyone considering Aerospace, give it very strong consideration. The history of Aeronautical and Aerospace program there is deep with alums like Neil Armstrong. Mitch Daniels has been a great President and he’s been able to keep it open with in-person classes during Covid (I think the only Big 10 school to do so, but I could be wrong). If you like college hoops, it’s awesome too!
I think the offers may also depend on where you are applying from. We are in CA, so it seems that the private schools back east know they are competing with the UC’s for the top CA students, so they will knock enough off the total cost to make the offer competitive with the in-state UC tuition costs. I would compare the full tuition to the “sticker” price on a car. Hardly anyone pays that price unless money isn’t a factor and you don’t want to haggle (or it’s an Ivy League type school that people are willing to pay full price for the prestige). Otherwise the sticker price is just that, and no one actually pays that amount. They always give some sort of “discount” or merit aid to make it more reasonable if you ask.
My husband was an engineering co-op student at Purdue and alternated between semesters on campus and co-oping at IBM in Fishkill. He lived at home nearby (southwest CT) and commuted to his job and made darn good money for a student. He was able to buy himself a new sports car, stereo, etc. and graduate pretty much debt free, move to CA and start work with a fully paid for car upon graduation.
We decided not to apply to RPI because this school is financially in trouble. You can search the articles about RPI’s financial situation, and this results in the decline in the teaching quality. We crossed out any schools that are financially shaky.
@Pusheen1 I went to both WPI and RPI and was a professor at RPI for a while. I consider them to be equal in reputation (and I believe they are about equal in selectivity) but RPI has a larger graduate program and perhaps slightly better recognition nationally. They are very different schools. WPI starting salaries are slightly higher than RPI’s but I believe that is due to proximity to eastern MA companies. I would give WPI the edge on undergraduate academics, university leadership, financial health, location, global project opportunities and quality of student life. I would give RPI an edge on graduate research and athletic facilities. There are great professors and students at both schools.
WPI has been working to increase the number of women on campus so for at least the past 4 or 5 years the merit awards have been higher (by as much as 20%) for women than men. I believe recent classes have been 40-45% women.
I’m sort of surprised someone is posting in this topic just to say that they never applied, since it’s almost trolling, but wanted to say I found this post helpful and informative. I had never assumed for a moment that a school ranked 53 in the country, with so much prestige, would be in financial trouble. I researched the schools that I thought could be in trouble that we have looked at, but this one I never bothered to look!
From what I am reading, it does sound like RPI will be ok, since their endowment is very large relative to their debt, but it does sound like they will need to take some corrective measures in their budget. They currently borrow a lot for their high-ranked research budget, and their pension program seems to be a big issue for their budget as well. They do have a stellar reputation and demand for enrollment, but I was also noticing that over the last 20 years their percentage of alumni donating has decreased significantly. It went from almost 20% of grads to single digits. Not sure what that is all about, but it is interesting as it implies either more recent graduates aren’t doing as well, or they profile as less empathetic toward their alma matta when it comes to donating.
In the end, I am not worried about their short term financial stability, but very long term this is trending in a negative direction.
Hey @Pusheen1 - Don’t get me wrong, I was basing it on rankings, average SAT and acceptance rates. RPI has slightly higher SAT averages, a notably lower acceptance rate (despite having more students), and US News has them ranked 54 (and WPI 66).
Having said that, this is relatively close, which is why I said a notch and not a tier, and I personally thus far have been more enamoured by WPI, the message they are sending to applicants and the programs they have around co-op/internships. My D of course will have the final say finances aside.
Niche - a site I like to use, has WPI as an A+ and RPI as an A, which to me is very interesting. Having said that, RPI gets an A+ for academics, professors and value, where as WPI is ranked A for those. But WPI seems to win in the “other things” like campus, location, campus food, etc.
When I speak to people who live near me, they sort of see RPI as the gold standard for engineering schools that aren’t at the MIT level, where as more people I speak to about WPI have never heard of it.
@deadspanswaggy Thank you! My financial award finally showed up today. They only sent after they received my CSS profile. I didn’t think the profile was needed to award merit. I did not get any financial aid outside of the merit. Hope that your financial award letter finally showed up also!
“They must have lower applications, and are unsure about the “test optional” kids this year.”
That statement not factual unless you can provide a link to the data. I feel the frustration you must be in with this being my third applying to college and having been deferred at Tulane this cycle. I just don’t see a point in trying to discredit another’s accomplishment. There’s plenty of room in this big world for everyone to succeed.
I didn’t discredit anyone’s accomplishments. Your child got in with a resume good enough to go without scores. Hazah! My kid has already been accepted to their first two favorite picks, so no big deal to them. They haven’t even visited RPI. They wouldn’t have applied EA, if they had paid attention to the overlap in deadlines. They would have waited to hear from other schools or keep trying to get into a test (which never opened up).
I’m paying attention to how RPI handles this, because RPI is still courting my other child who HAS scores and friends who applied. That kid is now considering applying, because they got into reach schools with EA. And their favorite schools only had ED & RD, so they are still waiting to hear.
It’s a strange application cycle due to COVID-19, but there is never rhyme or reason, at least from the parental and student perspective, when it comes to admission decisions. We all know this.
Well that’s the point of the boards, right? To speculate? And for kids to meet each other.
There is a reason for any school to extend the RD deadline this year. They did it last year too. It is being reported that many NE colleges’ applications have decreased as much as 20%. Last year some schools reopened admissions in May. They found kids wanting to stay close to home. Colleges burned through their wait lists for enrollment.
On my test optional comment, our high school would have sent out 1st semester grades just this week. So if the college is unsure about a candidate with no scores, they’ll defer.
My earlier comment was certainly not meant to downplay the accomplishments of anyone’s child.
I do not know what is happening with admissions. I know some schools are well-above applications and some are under. Some schools reported lower applicants, but then about-faced stating that many students waited until the cut-offs to submit. It’s all remains a mystery for me and I’m Big Lou (just kidding)… I’m on number 2!
I’m on 1 & 2, then done. Goodness help me, I only came here to see when decisions started dropping, so I could plan visits. My kids stopped paying attention after their initial favorites came in.
I don’t respect how RPI managed EA in its first “public” year. I guess normally this is an option open only to their medal winners. Many schools are well above on applications. Colgate had a 100% increase. Ivy leagues are up, due to hopes with test optional. High ranked publics are up 13-20%. But many schools are way down. To me pushing RD dates out, seems to be about managing their average acceptance rates and waitlist buffers. (in the big scheme of things it is good, because it means they didn’t immediately accept kids who won’t do well.)
But my comment certainly didn’t merit a “poop” emoji from a mother. I can’t even get into the mentality that needs to do that. I regret ever creating an account and posting.
I thought it was a crappy comment hence the poop emoji… I’m sorry your still upset about an emoji; Imagine a child might feel reading your comment. I’ll say this one more time for the people in the back: THIS WORLD IS BIG ENOUGH FOR EVERYONE TO FIND SUCCESS there is no need to try to diminish another’s accomplishments in the process.
