If he, and you, are really unsure about Honors at Ship, perhaps he can visit and sit in on a regular class and also an honors class to get a feel for the difference.
@MYOS1634 The automatic transfer and automatic scholarships at Pitt Bradford would also be very appealing, especially since the first two years would be much cheaper than Ship. - When I ran the NPC, the net price is $23,243. (Scholarship aid was $5,500) How did you determine it would be much cheaper than Ship? Thank you for your kind words about my son’s academic qualities.
Direct costs at Ship are roughly $23,000; your son got a $2,000 scholarship due to his academic achievement, so = $21,000.
At Pitt-B, direct costs are $23,000 and he’s eligible for $7,500 actually (new rate for his stats for Fall 2018) - therefore, it stands to reason that Pitt Bradford is $5,500 cheaper than Ship. (You could even try and save some of that in a bank account to help pay for the subsequent 2 years at Pitt-Main).
http://www.upb.pitt.edu/PApanther/
If you are a Pennsylvania resident, you may be eligible to receive a Panther Scholarship.
For Fall 2018 - Spring 2019.
If you plan to live on campus, you may be eligible for a $7,500 annual scholarship if you:
Are a new, admitted freshman and plan to enroll full time
Have a cumulative high school GPA of at least 2.5 (with college prep course work)
Have a combined SAT* score of 1230 (new test) or greater (or ACT score of 25 or greater)
The above scholarship is not automatic, but he’s so much above the threshold required that he’s very, very, very likely to get it.
@Collegefrazzled if you go through the previous posts, I linked to cost information and scholarship information for you for Pitt Bradford there.
They have a $7,500 scholarship for students with your son’s stats, if living on campus.
But the transfer to Pitt main would not be guaranteed I think. It requires a 3.0 GPA in the first year engineering curriculum for once, and he would need to apply as a transfer.
You should clarify how this works with both schools.
His scholarship at Ship requires at most a 2.8 GPA I think. I can’t seem to load the scholarship page right now.
Cost at Ship: $23,000 for tuition, fees, room and board (seems like they only have suite-style housing?).
Aid: $2,000 scholarship
Net cost: $21,000
Find out if he can get additional scholarships for engineering, honors, etc?
Schedule a visit with engineering and honors college. Find out outcomes of current students in computer engineering (retention rate, GPA, internship opportunities?).
Pitt Bradford
$23,500 for tuition, fees, room and board
Aid:$7,500 scholarship
Net cost: $16,000
Find out how transfer from Pitt Bradford to Pitt main would work
Tuition and fees in engineering at Pitt would be about $20,000
Housing off campus in a shared apartment maybe $700 a month? Plus food. So maybe $10,000 a year.
Free bus pass for Pitt students.
If only one semester of classes and one of COOP in junior and senior year, tuition would only be due in the semester classes are taken, coop semester has a nominal fee I think.
But he could earn money for housing or tuition possibly during coops.
He might need to take another year of classes, if he does 2 coop semesters, would have to see.
You said you can contribute about $5,000 a year, your son can borrow $5,500 in freshman year,$6,500 in sophomore year and $7,500 in junior and senior year (half of that per semester).
He can try and earn $3,000 in the summer
You might qualify for the AOTC education tax credit, that’s up to $2,500 for four years.
@MYOS1634 Thank you for this information. Looks like the NPC uses the $5,500 scholarship amount. I will have to call Pitt. According to PItt’s website, his application to the main campus will have to be deactivated. I plan on calling them because right now I just want to find out the cost for the branch campuses. See below:
Can I apply and/or be considered for admission to more than one campus? I have been admitted to one regional campus and would like to be considered for admission to a different one. Can I do that?
Yes, you can be considered for admission to more than one campus, but you can maintain only one active application at any given time. If you are admitted to one campus then wish to be considered for admission to another campus, you must contact the campus you have been admitted to and request that campus forward your application to your preferred campus. Your application will be deactivated at the initial campus and activated for your preferred campus. You do not need to complete an additional application or pay another application fee.
The way things are looking right now I think his best bet is to attend Ship. I am hoping he is eligible for additional scholarships. According to their Admissions office they are still reviewing. They also informed me that their Engineering department does not offer scholarships. Perhaps when he is an upperclassman they will.
Can you explain your reasoning as to why Ship seems better?
I’m not seeing it because
- $16,000 sounds better than $21,000.
- graduating from Pitt is better than graduating from Ship.
I am missing something.
This is very good news regarding the “activated” system; he doesn’t have to apply to Pitt Bradford, just switch his application! It means he needs to understand he’s not going to Pitt Main Fall 2018 and “deactivate” it to switch it to Pitt-Bradford, but it’s his best bet to graduate from Swanson School of Engineering. Ultimately, isn’t where he graduates from more important than where he’s from?
Below: How the “relocation” (ie., seamless “transfer”) works - he would NOT file a transfer application but go through a “relocation” where he has priority and it’s near-automatic. (They keep the right to turn down a student who had to retake several core classes, for instance.)
“You’ll start your bachelor of science degree in engineering on our campus, successfully completing the prerequisites to the junior year, and completing the degree at the Swanson School of Engineering at the Pittsburgh campus.
You will have to complete 60-72 credits at Pitt-Bradford, have a grade point average of at least 3.0 in your first-year engineering courses, and have a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0 before you will be considered for admission to the baccalaureate degree program at the Swanson School of Engineering in Pittsburgh if space is available. The first year of study is common to all engineering majors. Students pursuing bioengineering must relocate to the Swanson School of Engineering after completing 34 credits with a GPA of 3.50 or better. Students pursuing industrial engineering must relocate to the Swanson School of Engineering after completing 36 credits with a GPA of 3.0 or better.”
http://www.upb.pitt.edu/engineering/
While it’s not guaranteed and a 3.0 in Engineering isn’t as easy as in HS, the requirements sound pretty straightforward. They even have a path for students who didn’t complete pre-reqs in HS and scored below 500 in Math. Obviously he can’t goof off, but he’s done well so far - as long as he has good time management skills and promises you he’ll keep partying to the weekends only, there’s no reason he shouldn’t make it.
Keep in mind that he gets credit for any AP 3 or 4 so he already has quite a few credits. For instance, if he got a 4 on his Calc AB exam, he’s got 4 credits. 8 credits if he got a 3 on his Calc BC exam, or 4 on AP Chem. 3 credits (each) for a 3 on AP English Language or AP Gov or APES. 6 credits (each) for a 3 on APUSH or AP World or AP Euro or AP German or AP French or AP Spanish.
http://www.upb.pitt.edu/uploadedFiles/People_and_Offices/Offices/Registrar_and_Student_Accounts/External%20Exam%20Credit%20Policy.pdf
You can find the cost for the branch campuses by looking that the information in #164 clicking on the link provided in #162 . You don’t need to call them.
@Collegefrazzled I remember, when looking at college for DS that Ship had a very extensive scholarship page.
You would have to go through it, sometimes they don’t get updated like they should.
http://www.ship.edu/globalassets/financial-aid/freshmen-scholarship-table-03.08.2017.pdf
Also, when my friend’s son was admitted to ESU, another Passhe school, she called the school directly to see if there were other scholarships available. As their acceptances came through, and some kids declined, her son was awarded additional scholarships. So might be worth pursuing that as well?
Does look like Ship no longer has the cheaper dorms, which is unfortunate as it definitely saves money to have the option of the older style. They also have a CS & Engineering LLC as something your son could consider as well if not Honors housing.
http://www.ship.edu/housing/living-learning-communities/the_cs_and_engineering_deck/
That LLC sounds great.
Calling about extra scholarships is a great idea too.
(Has he applied to Honors yet? Being in Honors typically yields scholarships.)
Yes, the engineering LLC sounds like a good idea, for mentoring by older students, forming study groups.
At IUP they said they have extra scholarships available for honors college, so I thought it wouldn’t hurt to ask if that is the case at Ship, and since OP’s son’s stats are so much higher than average.
I just noticed this thread, and I see you are comparing costs, but to your original question, both of our daughters were in the Swanson School of engineering at Pitt. There were many opportunities for both of them. Pitt is a large school, but gives the feel of a small school. This is our first year since 2010 that we haven’t had a student there, and we really miss it.
@FlyMeToTheMoon thank you Pitt is my son’s first choice but we can’t afford the tuition. Thinking of Shippensburg or possibly transferring from a branch canpus to save money
@FlyMeToTheMoon, I don’t think anyone here doubts the great education that can be had at Pitt, but it is just way too expensive for many families.
DS was accepted in 2015 but only received $5K in merit as a high stat kid. He is at Bama on Presidential & engineering scholarships. It is a shame that the costs are so prohibitive and really good students have to look elsewhere or risk taking on massive debt.
@MYOS1634 Not being guaranteed admission to the main campus would concern me, especially since it seems very dependent on “available space.” Do the branch campuses offer the same level of available co-ops? & the ability to finish the degree there?
As far as I know, this is mostly for students who had to retake several core classes after failing them - they got a 3.0 but the several attempts are a poor omen so Swanson wants to feel free to turn them down if they wish. (Keep in mind that some students attempt the program without hs precalculus and a sat math score in the 400s.) Op can check but afaik there’s no problem for students who reach the required grades in one try. That’s why they call it ‘relocating’.
Ship and Pitt Bradford are similar in terms of academics but the big difference is that an engineering student from Pitt Bradford graduates from Swanson and has thus access to that network. Bonus, it’s cheaper…
I think it might be worth it to apply to Penn State Behrend as well. They have several ABET accredited engineering bachelor degrees.
There might be scholarships as well, often more attainable at the branch campuses than main.
I would do it soon.
And add any new schools that S is applying to to the FAFSA.
This is a concern of mine because it does state if space is available. There is no guarantee so we will be in a really bad situation if he attends Bradford campus and cannot go to the main campus. Also, I know he does great academically right now but what if he doesn’t maintain a 3.0?
PSU Erie Behrend has ABET accredited computer, electrical, industrial, mechanical, and software engineering:
http://main.abet.org/aps/AccreditedProgramsDetails.aspx?OrganizationID=294
However, it looks like the in-state costs are about $28k before financial aid and scholarships.
- call Pitt Bradford. Share your son’s stats and your concern about his not being able to continue at Swanson. Ask for percentages.
- at worst, if he doesn’t have a 3.0 at the end of his first year, he can transfer to Ship (he’d need a 2.5) and you’d still have saved $5,500. He wouldn’t be worse off if he doesn’t do well…but could potentially be much better off if he continues doing well.