<p>I know one of the main differences is cost but wanted to know if Vassar provides a higher quality of education for the price. My son is interested in the sciences, especially physics. I know both are very good schools. He would fit in at both socially( he is fairly liberal and very open minded). He likes the campus feel of LAC's which is why he did not apply to techincal schools(except RPI). Any Thoughts would be appreciated.</p>
<p>i think he’ll find a more international and quirky crowd at vassar. i would also say that vassar is much more well-known outside the NY/tristate area, so that can only help. i have good friends at both and recently visited vasvas and really liked it. can he visit both schools? i think that’ll help him decide.</p>
<p>We visted Geneseo last summer and he liked it, was one of his top choices. Will visit Vassar in the coming weeks. Geneseo is 7-8 hours from home, Vassra about 2 and 1/2</p>
<p>Vassar has half the students, a beautiful campus, is better known, famous alumni, and a student teacher ratio of 8:1…so you do get something for the extra money. Is it worth the extra money? I don’t think so…not for me.</p>
<p>It’s totally worth the extra money. Why would you give up on Vassar?</p>
<p>I would give up on Vassar if I was planning on attending graduate school and needed the funds to do so. Vassar is an amazing school though!</p>
<p>I attended NYU for grad and was very happy when I graduated Geneseo debt free! I made up for it in grad school though :)</p>
<p>If you feel like you can afford it, I would definitely go with Vassar.</p>
<p>haha GeneseoGrad, totally true; NYU is so expensive…
But Vassar is really worth the money in terms of social networking and experience though…</p>
<p>Not to mention, it helps to come from a big name school.</p>
<p>Assume you pay full tuition and all direct cost at Geneseo: $15,845</p>
<p>Vassar direct cost: $51,470</p>
<p>Borrow the difference to pay for Vassar: $35,625 and $142,500 for 4 years.</p>
<p>A 10 year loan at 5% has monthly payments of $2906.20 </p>
<p>Total payments for 10 year loan: $348,744</p>
<p>This example shows how expensive Vassar really is. Even if you don’t have to borrow the difference for Vassar the opportunity costs for $142,500 are tremendous. The future value is in excess of 216,000 at 5%. Imagine if that extra $142,500 were used to start a business, buy a home, go to graduate schools or even invested to provide an income. $142,500 @ 4% (10 yr Treasury bond) is $5700/annually to live on.</p>
<p>I’ve seen research reports, although I can’t source them now, which show that just as many CEO’s come from public higher education as from private.</p>
<p>Vassar financial aid is reevaluated annually. This creates a huge risk that may leave you vulnerable. </p>
<p>What you get out of your education is more a matter of you than your school. Geneseo can create an excellent educational opportunity for alot less money and risk for the future. Making a poor financial decision is a bad start.</p>
<p>After visiting Geneseo, I understand why students are willing to pay for Vassar. I have visited both campuses (several times), and now see the major differences. Geneseo may sell itself as a “public ivy”, but from my experience this is not the case. </p>
<p>Vassar students WANT to learn, pay attention and are actually interested in their classes. The students I met at Geneseo simply seemed disinterested in learning and attending class, and more interested in partying. My Geneseo experiences may have been atypical, as other students I talked to seemed to have different experiences.</p>
<p>Vassar is much more diverse than Geneseo as well. Every student I met at Geneseo was from NY, in comparison to Vassar where I met tons of International students.</p>
<p>I WILL NOT be attending Geneseo next year, even though it would cost me about $40,000/year less. I now know why Vassar is worth the extra money.</p>
<p>tiedygirl: Sorry to hear about your experience. I believe at any school you will find students who don’t take their studies seriously and unfortunately, you got paired up with those students. </p>
<p>I remember waaaaaaaaaay too many all nighters at Geneseo studying with friends. Yes we had fun but we studied just as hard. </p>
<p>You will find more international students at Vassar which is about 8% of their student body as compared to about 3% of the student body at Geneseo.</p>
<p>My son got his financial aid package last week and Vassar would only cost 3k more than Geneseo. We will go to accepted students day on the 18th so he can get his own impression, but now he seems to be focused on attending Vassar after speaking with kids at his high school. He feels Vassar is prestigious but I hope he chooses it because it is his best fit and not because of prestige. However, knowing him and reading alot of student reviews on Vassar, it would seem to fit him, but he’s the type of kid who could fit in anywhere. I have no doubt Geneseo is a fine school, but I am concerned with the SUNY budget cuts. I’ll report back on Vassar visit.</p>
<p>I though all along he would go to Geneseo but we visted Vassar this weekend and he liked it. There seems to be a real sense of community there, the college really seems to take care of the kids. One example is that each freshman is assigned to a dorm and all the freshman on that hall in the dorm eat and go to EC’s the first couple of weeks. This creates an instant group of friends and makes it easier for a freshman to adjust. They also have professors living in the dorms as well. Vassar is alot colser to our home, with financial aid is about the same price, and I assume is somewhat stronger academically. It also has a “name”, though am not sure how much value to place on that. Geneseo was a strong 2nd choice and I know is a fine school, Vassar just seems to be a better fit for him, and you can’t beat the price with financial aid.</p>
<p>“I would give up on Vassar if I was planning on attending graduate school and needed the funds to do so. Vassar is an amazing school though!”</p>
<p>Geneseograd - what makes you say this? I’ve heard that Geneseo is very supportive of its grads getting funding for graduate school, but is that to say that other schools do not do so?
My S is deliberating over Geneseo vs. Skidmore for physics/education. Your thoughts?</p>
<p>hutch, I believe what geneseograd was trying to convey is that Vassar is a very expensive school. If one plans on continuing on to a graduate program, it may be wise to choose the less expensive school for undergrad in order to save money for grad school.</p>
<p>In this case however, borghugh received an excellent financial package from Vassar which made the difference between attending Geneseo and Vassar a mere $3,000. In this case, choosing Vassar over Geneseo is an easy decision.</p>
<p>hutch, funding for graduate school has nothing to do with one’s undergraduate school. The undergraduate school does not fund a student to go on to grad school. Usually, students do not attend the same school for both their undergraduate and graduate education. As a matter of fact, graduate schools tend to prefer students that completed their undergraduate education elsewhere.</p>
<p>Don’t forget that Vassar doesn’t offer FA for all 4 years, but rather examines it annually. Now, I can’t imagine them leaving you haanging, but what a tremendous risk! In any case good luck…and well done!</p>
<p>^No school automatically offers need based FA for all for 4 years. One must file the FAFSA every year and be re-evaluated for financial aid. Why?—because a person’s financial situation changes from year to year.</p>
<p>On admitted students day we went to a financial aid presentation in addition to meeting with our financial aid officer. The question was asked, if income remains the same, will your financial aid package be similar? The answer was yes, with a corresponding increase for the annual tution increase. Of course if your income increases or decreases you package will change. They don’t seem to be a bait and switch type school. I can’t understand why it’s a tremondous risk, all things being equal, why would colleges offer less financial aid based upon the same income data. Wouldn’t they get a rep for being that type of school with financial aid? Vassar uses the CSS profile as well to base there financial aid package.</p>
<p>Of course it’s not a risk, whoever said that is misleading you. If any college did that, their reputation would go down the toilet and would be looked down upon for lying.
They have to do it every year, what if someone can pay it all one year then bankrupts the next? Or can pay none at all one year and all of it the next? It wouldn’t be fair otherwise.</p>
<p>I’m not misleading to OP. My information is based upon a student I know who goes there, and what the parents have told me of their experience. They are not happy with FA. Don’t really have information on thier particulars. I don’t have first hand experience and only offered an opinion with the hope that the OP would obtain all the information necessary and not wind up with more debt than anticipated, or constantly complaining about Vassar FA…like my friends. Regrets to the OP for my comments and best wishes at Vassar for your student.</p>