University of Southern California
thank you – that is what I was thinking - but then I started to wonder
California, @novicemom23kids
In response to a couple comments above:
- Temple used to be private. It and Pitt were made "state-related" in the 1960s. That means that State government does not run them, but they receive substantial state money each year to subsidize in-state tuition.
- Many of the PSSHE state-owned universities in PA. (such as Kutztown and Indiana) have adopted a nasty trick in their tuition. Their regular annual tuition only covers up to 12 credits. If you want to take more than 12 credits (including the 15 credits per semester that it typically takes to graduate within 4 years), you have to pay much higher tuition. They can therefore claim that they only increased tuition 3% when they really increased it by 25%. The funding of all of the PA. public universities was drastically cut when Gov. Corbett came into office, and the funding was only partly restored since then. The State House voted this year to not provide any additional funding to the State universities, but the State Senate is trying to add a small increase.
- The numbers quoted above for aid by Temple and Penn State are dramatic, particularly considering Penn State has a much larger total enrollment. Penn State continues to have the most expensive in-state public university tuition in the country, and several majors pay up to $4,000 a year in additional tuition beyond that. Penn State has increased their aid from paltry levels in past years. However, many private colleges and out of state publics that provide much better aid can compete with Penn State's in-state prices, because almost everyone pays Penn State's sticker price.
- Part of Temple's increased aid budget may only be a paper loss. For example, if they displace an in-state student with an out of state student with higher scores using merit aid, and the merit aid is equal to the difference between in-state vs. out of state tuition, then the University has come out even financially, with the same net revenue. That out of state student with higher scores will probably stay all 4 years, vs. the in-state student with lower scores may be more likely to drop out, so it results in more stability and less costs to recruit a replacement student. However, that example may come at the cost of serving fewer lower income urban in-state residents.
I think Charliesch’s point #4 about instate and out-of-state students is important. I know several students who have received merit scholarships to Temple and/or are heading there and they are all out-of-state. The merit did not bring them inline with instate tuition but it did affect their decision.
Feature story about the provost’s ouster in today’s Inside Higher Ed. They addressed the increased role of “value” in student choices:
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/07/07/provost-change-provokes-debate-temple-u
This article explains the funding situation with PA’s “state-related” universities (Penn State, Pitt, Temple, and Lincoln) really well:
Basketball is pretty big at Pitt. Since moving to the ACC, they pulled in $19 million in 2013-14, and probably in the mid $20s for 2014-15. That’s more than 3x Temple’s basketball revenues.
Temple, Pitt, and PSU are essentially privates who get some state funding (so akin to Cornell’s contract colleges).
PA has essentially decided not to support public higher education in that state.
^^ Exactly.
Not good news for parents who are sending kids to these schools. A lot may be transferring out if tution increases too much.
A friend’s son visited Penn State last week and was told there is lot of financial aid. I warned not to be too excited about it until the offer was in hand.
Tell him to try Penn State’s net price calculator and prepare to be disappointed.
^^I really don’t think he’d attend there anyway, but admissions is still telling people there is merit money to be had.
Someone recently reported in a thread here that their OOS kid received a pretty decent financial aid package from PSU. Perhaps they are attempting to shed their reputation (thousands more data points are needed first before reaching that conclusion, obviously).
http://www.phillymag.com/news/2016/07/12/temple-board-no-confidence-neil-theobald/
Update - The Temple Board of Trustees is now trying to get the President to resign, but he is refusing. The President then revealed that the provost was accused of sexual harrassment. The Board then said to the President - why didn’t you tell us?
This has turned into a total meltdown.
Wait, so it had nothing to do with the scholarship program?
More on the president’s seeming demise–
They’re being short-sighted in my opinion if they reduce/change the automatic scholarships, because they did a lot to increase visibility and attractivity to high stats students.
An issue of course is, as someone said in another thread, that the state of PA has currently decided to stop having a public higher education system and expects its flagships to function as if they were private entities (and defunding the directionals, which don’t offer all programs in the first place).