Pitt is a great school and great location. Assuming he stays in computer engineering he should be able to re-pay the $35K in loans without a lot of pain. However, that is a difficult major and he may end up switching out.
I would certainly offer to have him cover the difference with the direct student loan and maybe a loan from you. There are lots of opportunities for jobs in Pittsburgh so he should be able to earn spending money. And more opportunities for internships. If he doesn’t want to have any debt, then that would be his decision.
@thumper1 OP couldn’t find the Best & Worst Passhe thread that is on here, so my link was for OP.
Yes, Pitt would be the best school for engineering, BUT, OP stated they would have to go into TREMENDOUS debt and is very stressed out. Clearly Pitt is not affordable.
Personally, I would have the DS take another look at York, which offered merit & probably ends up more than Ship, but probably significantly less than Pitt. (Pitt also charges higher tuition for engineering)
And I had not heard that Ship was ever in danger of closing either.
But the OP then said the cost difference was $35K TOTAL for the four years. The student could cover most of that with direct student loans and work. Not really unaffordable (at least to some of us), unless the 35K difference is AFTER loans to the student. That places the burden on the family.
@mom2and@bester listed the rates and there is a $10K per year difference before any scholarships. So that would actually be a $48K difference over 4 years.
That is just the difference, I assumed the DS would already be using the student loans & work to cover some of the initial costs, leaving a huge gap needing to be filled via “tremendous debt.”
Hoping that the OP comes back to clarify the financial constraints.
Shippensburg only has ABET accreditation for its computer engineering programs. If that is NOT what that student wants to do…or if there is a chance he will want to switch to a different type of engineering…Shippensburg does NOT have ABET accreditation.
@Collegefrazzled does your son have any other pending applications that might turn into affordable acceptances?
Thank you everyone. Unfortunately we would have to take out loans with both colleges. We don’t have a college fund.For the 4 years, Shippensburg would be $95K ( this includes his $8k scholarship) and Pitt would be 130K for Tuition and Room and Board. It ends up being a 35K difference and this does not include loan interest. He wants to go for computer engineering. He does not want to attend York which would be cheaper because of his scholarships there. I don’t want to force him to go to York if he won’t be happy there. Hope this helps
We may be able to use 10K to 15K of our savings. I am afraid to take the risk of consigning for private loans if he is unable to pay especially if the loans end up totaling so much. Pitt costs $33K Year and Ship is $24K (already deducting $2K annual scholarship). I did not include books or spending money.
Can you list the net cost and financial aid offer for each college?
I apologize for confusing Ship with other PASSHE schools that have been in danger of closing (due to the state’s disinvestment, costly investment in nice residence halls, and fewer HS students in PA to draw from, plus competition from the branch campuses).
What about attending a branch campus ? It’d be cheaper and he could get a scholarship too. What about PSU Erie and Pitt Johnstown? These have better funding than PASSHE schools and should be roughly the same cost.
@MYOS1634 thank you - I didn’t get the financial aid letters from the colleges yet. I am just going by what I know by looking up the college tuition and federal loan amounts. He was already accepted to the main campus. This is where he wants to go. We have already gone to the Open House
Are these branch campuses going to offer significant savings over the main campuses.
Now if the student could commute to a branch campus, there could be savings there, but if student doesn’t even want to consider York, living at home and commuting might not be all that appealing, even with the opportunity to transfer to main for last 2 years.
The idea of the branch campuses is that all credits transfer seamlessly.
For Pitt Johnstown, tuition+fees+R/B totals about 24K and your son would be eligible for $5,500 in scholarship (before loans and any state grant - do check PHEAA ← am not certain of accronym). http://www.upj.pitt.edu/en/admissions/academic-scholarships-for-incoming-freshmen/
Is there any college he can commute to that offers the major he wants?
Is it really Pitt Main or Ship, no consideration of any intermediate college?
@MYOS1634 I might check into that. He has friends going to the main campus but maybe this is an option. Are youb referring to the federal loan? Unfortunately the only college here would be Penn State branch campus and he does not want to go there. Thank you. I wish there was a way to contact Engineering graduates from Ship.
Here is something that helped me when my kids were comparing programs, I contacted 2-3 recent graduates of those programs on LinkedIn and asked a few questions about their experience while in college and after graduation, what was important to them and what wasn’t etc. We found some really great information that way. It was also reassuring to me as a parent to know that things turned out well for them :). You might want to give it a shot.
I have a Pitt student (Nursing) and I work in IT. So far we really like Pitt, the student body and the city (we are from NJ) so I can definitely recommend the school. For a student going into computer engineering, thumper1 makes great points about Internship opportunities and recruitment on campus. The cost difference will be felt but if he applies himself, will not be the end of the world in the long term. It has to be considered in the context of the value of each program. Our field is very practical, internships and part-time jobs are hugely important and often lead to the first job after graduation. Also, many companies recruit most of their entry level employees from a few specific schools. I know nothing about Ship but a city location typically comes with better such opportunities. If that is true here, Pitt’s graduates might possibly have higher starting salaries (something worth researching) which would in turn help with repaying the loan.