So looking at my college list, I know that I love Penn state the most. I recently got in but I’m afraid to say yes to them because they haven’t offered me any money yet. I’m just wondering if I should say yes first, then wait for the money? I don’t wanna wait to late and find out there’s not room for me to get classes or dorm. Please help!
If you can’t afford to attend, then you would lose your deposit that you make if you say yes. I would wait until your financial aid package is clear.
Don’t worry about classes – you don’t schedule those until New Student Orientation, over the summer. And you don’t get assigned to an NSO until you complete the ALEKS math placement test, which plenty of people do closer to May / in May.
Housing would probably only become an issue in mid-to-late April. Sit tight for another week or two and get the financial info squared away first.
@bodangles would you happen to know how much an out of student gets from FASFA? Like an estimate?
Even an out-of-state student with an EFC of $0 would still be offered a loan of $33,000 so…not much. You can try it with your actual EFC here: https://cce.ais.psu.edu/legacy-college-cost-web/netPricePageOne.xhtml
Wow… So FASFA won’t really offer anything? @bodangles
It’s a state-related (basically public) university, so its first priority is to educate PA residents. So need-based aid, probably not much but could happen. There’s also the possibility of merit scholarships depending on your major and HS stats.
The aid info should be out pretty soon and then you’ll know for sure.
@bodangles he would still qualify for pell grant, given OP’s EFC is low enough.
@Marlene333 the FASFA EFC amount doesn’t matter except in determining eligibility for the Pell Grant. Each school dictates how much funding they will give to students based on their own individual formulas. State school tend to not give much aid to OOS students because in state students pay the taxes that fund the school while you don’t.
OP didn’t say their EFC in this thread, so I don’t know if that applies. Might help a bit if so.
I also didn’t remember that they’re not intending to go to UP, which would lower the cost by a bit for the first two years.
As I said, it should be out soon. Next couple of weeks. Then decisions can be made with all the info in hand.
- Edited to not sound so curt! -
Thanks a lot guys! I got into Abington so I was hoping the cost would be less…
@Marlene333, Your other threads indicate that you’re applying to SUNY and CUNY colleges through the EOP program. Are you a NYC resident? @sybbie719 will know if EOP students qualify for any aid.
How much can your parents pay per year without borrowing? If it’s not much OOS universities won’t be affordable, so don’t accept Penn State’s offer of admission.
What’s your FAFSA EFC? It doesn’t tell you much; if it’s ~$5,000 or less, you may qualify for a federal Pell grant of up to ~$5k/year. If your EFC is more than ~$5,000, you won’t qualify. Filing the FAFSA also makes you eligible to borrow the ~$5500/year federal student loan.
If you’re a NYS resident whose family income is less than ~$80k, you may qualify for a NYS TAP (tuition assistance) grant of up to ~$5k/year. But TAP grants can only be used at NYS colleges.
Your stats aren’t high enough to receive merit aid, so if you qualify for full Pell and TAP your max budget is ~$15k. You would still need money for books, travel, and living expenses (toiletries, spending money, etc.) during the school year. What colleges were on your list? Are there any within commuting distance? Where have you been accepted and what’s your status on the others?
No, you should not say yes because Penn State will never be affordable.
What are your stats? What do your regents scores look like (that will be a factor in the 4 year CUNY schools).
I see that you are getting information back from CUNY. Worse case scenario, if you are eligible for at least $5 in TAP or PELL, apply to the ASAP program at QCC, where you will get free tuition, books and metrocards to help you finish your associates. It will help you save some money to do your last two years at SUNY or CUNY.
Find out if you can get college discovery at QCC. If you can, roll with it graduate and transfer where your CD will turn into SEEK, EOP or HEOP when you transfer to a 4 year school.
If you are really killing it at QCC and graduate, you can apply to the CCTOP program at NYU, where the minimum you will get is half tuition for being a CC graduate (they give great FA, through CCTOP)
What is your EFC?
How much will your parents pay each year?
FAFSA is a fed application for aid. Fed aid is LOW. Free money is for low income students and isn’t very much. the Feds do not provide money to pay for students to just go anywhere they want. That would be impossibly expensive to the taxpayers.
Your family is first in line to pay. How much will they pay? What is your EFC?
Run the PSU net price calculator and copy paste the results here.
Please look again at your acceptance. are you sure you got into PSU- University Park???..the main campus??? Or did you get into a satellite campus. I find it hard to believe that you got into the main campus with your stats…
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So I have a 81 GPA (bad I know) and a sat of 900.
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Ok…I see that you did not get into PSU main. You got into Abington. It would be insane to pay OOS costs to go there.
@mom2collegekids thanks I guess for the motivation… my parents make about 17,000 a year by the way. and I literally said in my other posts Abington… never said the main campus.
The actual campus wasn’t mentioned until post 9 because I didn’t remember from your previous thread that it wasn’t University Park. Whenever someone says “Penn State” but doesn’t specify a campus, they usually mean UP, so I assumed that was the case. That’s the source of the confusion – just a misunderstanding due to missing info.
If your family’s annual income is $17k then I don’t think Penn State will be possible. One year at a branch campus costs more than that, and one year at main campus costs about 2.5 times that.
Thank you for the information :)! Helped a lot.
When some says PSU or Penn State and nothing else, it suggests main campus. That’s why confusing.
Either way, neither is affordable.
Going OOS will not be affordable. Fed aid doesn’t pay for the costs of going OOS. Fed aid doesn’t even cover most/all of instate costs.
Which NY publics accepted you?
@mom2collegekids thank you for the help. I’ve mostly gotten into out of state colleges who offered me a lot except penn state. The only cities I’ve gotten into are la guardia community college and john jay