So I’ve dropped an unneeded art class since I satisfy my graduation requirement and my major (computer science) doesn’t need an extra art elective. I was wondering is there any problem with that? Would I need to go into SRAR and update it?
PSU sent our Financial Aid “Award.” Award meaning just the $5500 we are eligible to borrow from the government.
Although I did not expect much, it’s still kind of shocking to see that they literally offer zero dollars assistance. Even the NPC said we’d get $400 (lol), and I thought that might be true with two kids in college at once and a middle class income.
Nope.
$0 ?
The stories are true. ?
@OceanIsle , sorry. Pennsylvania colleges are horribly expensive compared to flagship schools In other states.
My son got the same $0. Will be hard to keep PSU on the list when he has other great options. But he said he is not ready to cross off just yet.
:O(
@OceanIsle When you say “5500 we are eligible to borrow from the government.” Do you mean the pell grant?
@rickqwert , no, I mean Stafford Loan. We are not eligible for the Pell Grant.
@OceanIsle oh ok and also the nonbillable expenses is just a guess on how much we might spend on things we need? We don’t actually have to pay that?
@rickqwert , exactly. You won’t be billed for those expenses and those numbers for books, travel, etc. will vary greatly from student to student. Just living within driving distance would have a big effect on “travel” expenses.
And I don’t want to encourage anyone to underestimate but in my experience books can be rented for much less than the schools project on these Financial Aid packages. Just today my daughter (at another college) needed a textbook. It was $82 to buy or $14 to rent. You just have to be creative and save where you can to keep costs down.
We’ll have three in college next year and S received zero as well.
Unfortunately PSU is not known for their financial aid. 
As others have mentioned, Pennsylvania is the worst when it comes to the state flagship universities. I see how much in-state students pay in other states to their flagships and it is disgraceful what we pay.
Pitt also offers minimal aid, but at least they threw in a minor scholarship and some work study, which PSU did not offer. So factoring in the additional cost for PSU summer session and getting slightly more aid from Pitt definitely tilts the scales towards Pitt right now. D and I also attended PSU accepted student day yesterday, and even with the uncharacteristically beautiful February weather in State College - it was 61 degrees and sunny - she just wasn’t all that impressed (this was her second visit). Too large, too many people for her. Oh well, she’s got to like it, not me!
@OceanIsle Same “award” here and nothing else. Also will have 2 kids in college.
The reason other state flagships are much lower cost is because they are public state schools. Penn State is not a state school. They are ‘state related’. It’s a common misconception. But it’s an important distinction to understand the cost difference. State schools get the majority of their funding from the state. Penn State gets very little of its funding from the state. In 2017-2018 Penn State received 230.4 million in funding from the state for its 5.7BILLION operating budget. Compare that to actual state schools in Pennsylvania that gets more than 90% of its funding from the state.
Pitt is also state-related so that’s why its costs are also higher. But they do offer more in the way of aid.
Either way you slice it, Pennsylvania college costs are among the highest in the nation. Penn State and Pitt are always among the most expensive public universities in the nation.
@jlhpsu Can you clarify what you mean by ‘state related’? Why don’t they get the majority of funding from the state?
I’m from CT and my daughter did get accepted to PSU but with no merit money and we don’t qualify for need based aid the entire tuition would be out of pocket and student loans.
Does anyone know if PSU gives you a letter when you visit saying you attended their program or visited so you can be excused from school?
@rickqwert Most schools do…just need to ask when you check in at the info session
Short answer: State-related schools are not state-owned. State schools are state-owned.
long answer:
They are not part of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) so they are not a state school. They are considered a land grant university. They run somewhere between a public and a private university, but they are considered a public, state-related university. Meaning, they get a small amount of funding from the state and are not owned by the state like the PASSHE schools are. This is good and bad news. Penn State, Pitt, and Temple are also state-related universities. The bad news is Penn State gives very little merit aid. Almost none. Certain colleges within Penn State will have scholarship opportunities, but they are hard to find and will not make much of a dent, especially in out of state tuition. The good news is that Penn State is a global research university with doctorate-level education and is fiscally sound unlike the PASSHE school system.
That makes sense. Thank you for clarifying.
The PSU/Pitt and Temple state related position also puts those institutions in a position where they do not have to disclose all information to the public(see Sandusky scandal). Good and bad comes with that I suppose.
Penn state also has a $3 billion endowment. Some think it should be used to lower the cost of attendance rather than just increase the earnings for the fund managers.
Why won’t Penn State use their $3.6 billion endowment to close its budgetary gap?
https://www.pennlive.com/politics/2016/03/why_wont_penn_state_use_their.html
Penn State endowment returns 7.8% for fiscal year
https://www.pionline.com/article/20181011/ONLINE/181019966/penn-state-endowment-returns-7-8-for-fiscal-year
Although PASSHE has been underfunded for years and far from perfect, it is still a good system and much more affordable that the state related options.
@rickqwert
@OceanIsle
My oldest is at another college but she just rented a textbook on Amazon for $50 and if she rented it at the school bookstore it’s over $100. She just needs to send it back to Amazon at the end of the semester. She has rented many textbooks on Amazon.