<p>We received our daughter's out of state COA to attend Penn State for fall of 2011 would be over $43,000. I know this factors in tuition, board, fees, airfare, books, etc..My husband I and I are just trying to figure out how it went from $36,000 on collegeboard. Would like to know if this number is realistic for any parents that have students presently attending Penn State. Thanks.</p>
<p>Wish I could help - but I’ve been afraid to add it up!!! 
</p>
<p>I guess the final tally depends on many factors - new books/used books, distance from home, # trips home, need for new/cold temp clothes, etc.</p>
<p>DS did get a small scholarship from the honors college, but everything else was on us. DS got a lot of books used, but he needed a lot of cold weather clothes (won’t have to do that next year), and while we had planned on flying him home for Thanksgiving, we had not anticipated him coming back (well, to New Orleans) in late Sept for his grandfather’s funeral.</p>
<p>So - is $43,000 realistic? Well, for us, that’s probably what we spent this first year. And next year will include a private dorm room, so that increases things. </p>
<p>Worth it? For him (degree program, band, honors college) - you bet! But it’s a lot of money and I sure wouldn’t be paying it if my child were undecided about a major!</p>
<p>@nitnat</p>
<p>I suggest you check out this link:</p>
<p><a href=“http://collegecostestimate.ais.psu.edu/cgi-bin/CollegeCostEstimate.exe/launch/CollegeCC/fullcalc[/url]”>http://collegecostestimate.ais.psu.edu/cgi-bin/CollegeCostEstimate.exe/launch/CollegeCC/fullcalc</a></p>
<p>If for some reason the number you calculate on there, and the number they sent you aren’t atleast in the same ballpark (i.e. with roughly a couple thousand dollars) I would call and ask for a breakdown.</p>
<p>$43,000 seems pretty steep, and I say this as a recent alumn, having paid out of state tuition myself (atleast for my fifth year). Something doesn’t seem right…</p>
<p>What program is your daughter going into?</p>
<p>plus spending money. there isnt much to do there, but you can take a train to New York city or washington dc.
football games
shopping for something you forgot
bedding
shipping of clothing and supplies to a from each year
food, starbucks, etc
basketball games
and much more! all the little things add up</p>
<p>But you have to remember that a lot of those are not really college costs. There will be entertainment expenses and Starbucks if she stays home. (There will also be lower food bills, hot water bills and less spent on gas (excluding what you spend getting to and from UP, which is counted as transportation expense).)</p>
<p>Warrior1183, She was accepted into Eberly college of science. We did the cost calculator that you linked with your message and we used it and it said $37,988. But then there Cost of Admission from penn state fin aid was over $43,000.</p>
<p>nitnat…</p>
<p>I would call them, and hope they can clear it up.</p>
<p>Perhaps they are anticipating the $167 million budget cuts to Penn State proposed by our new Governor? If Penn State is going to lose half of the funding that it typically receives from the state of PA, then you can bet that will be passed on to the students. COA for in state with the summer program was $38,000. Yep, Penn State is off our list.</p>
<p>We were there yesterday for an Accepted Student visit and were told that the cost of tuition next year has not been determined and they are waiting to see what the budget cuts are. Someone from the Admission department did say that they have been told it won’t be more than a 10% increase. Hope this is true!</p>
<p>We are OOS and it is going to be around $42K if D decides to go…now the gap between OOS public and private is closing…so that opens up more options than we had originally anticipated. Most public universities are facing significant budget cuts forcing higher tuitions.</p>
<p>I’d be surprised (but happy) if the increase were under 10%, given that our increase was nearly 6% last year without this big financial crisis. I suspect they are being overly optimistic.</p>
<p>Also, for parents trying to do long-term planning, keep in mind that PSU charges a higher tuition rate during junior and senior year (this is aside from any across-the-board tuition increases). The exact jump varies by college/program. I believe our son’s jumped by about $2,000.</p>
<p>The Cost of Attendence (COA) as posted by colleges and universities include non-billable expenses. They include expenses for books, travel, some incidental expenses such as laundry and so forth. The non-billable expense estimates may or may not have ANY relevance to your specific situation. You really need to look at the components of the COA estimates and see what your situation is.</p>
<p>Here are some of the specifics you need to determine in evaluating your own COA versus the schools:</p>
<p>Is your kid staying in the least expense living arrangement on campus, or the most expensive? Costs for meal plans alone can vary by a couple of thousand dollars. </p>
<p>Regarding estimates for books, we’ve had semesters where one of my kids’ books cost over $800 (and yes, that was with online used book purchases) and some semesters where one of my daughters’s books cost less than $200. It all depends on the major, courses and their cycles. </p>
<p>Does your kid do laundry every other day or do they throw everything in one washer/dryer every 4 weeks? </p>
<p>Does it cost $800 per round-trip airfare to and from the school, or is it a 45 minute car ride away?</p>
<p>I don’t think the cuts will end up being quite so draconian–</p>
<p>[Top</a> Pa. lawmaker says GOP wants more money than gov for universities, but less for welfare | Markets | Market News | Canadian Business Online](<a href=“http://www.canadianbusiness.com/markets/market_news/article.jsp?content=D9MDGNPO0]Top”>http://www.canadianbusiness.com/markets/market_news/article.jsp?content=D9MDGNPO0)</p>
<p>and salaries for (non-union) workers have been frozen. I expect the tuition increase will at least be something less than we originally feared.</p>
<p>I would like to point out that the funding being cut by the Governor would go directly toward keeping the cost of IN-STATE tuition lower than out of state tuition. As Graham Spanier said during his news conference, out of state students already pay the full price of their education. If they passed that budgetary loss onto the out of state students, by way of raising the tuition, they risk losing a much larger about of funds than if they pass it on to the in-state students.</p>
<p>In short, I doubt the discrepance has anything to do with the cut in appropriations for IN STATE tuition.</p>
<p>warrior1183, we called today and the try COA is to guide you as a real rundown for all expenses that can accrue. It’s a hard sell for us because in state here in NV would be $16,000 but d doesn’t want to go there. We all loved Penn State. But in the same breath It’s a scary thought however, to think that tuition can go keep going up equal to private university costs :~/</p>
<p>Well, tuition has gone up since I started (in 2002) but thankfully my parents were able to pay the vast majority of my first 4 years, and at the time I only had roughly $20,000 in student loans for a whole 4 years. But I decided to take a 5th year, and got a loan for the whole year myself, which more than doubled my student loan debt. I can honestly say it was worth every penny, even though paying my bills now is kinda a pain in the…well, ya know…</p>
<p>What I would suggest for you guys, is figure out the number that your family is able to pay per year, and then have you’re daughter take out loans to pay the difference. And then make sure she starts networking to find an internship as soon as possible, and eventually have a well paying job lined up for when she graduates. Help her understand how much she will have to pay per month based on what decision she makes, and please, don’t let her have a credit card until she understand how they work (this was a problem for me).</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>warrior1183, may I ask what you do now and if your degree at Penn State helped with securing that job? also, the only loans a freshman can take out are with a cosigner (us). Everything we hear is to NEVER cosign a loan :~/</p>
<p>nitnat - I have to admit, $16000 is a pretty good deal, and I would have a hard time jumping up to the obnoxious PSU price unless there was something specific that PSU offered that an in-state school didn’t.</p>
<p>For us, in-state at UT-Austin is about (lots of variations) $25,000. And even tho it offers the degree my son wants (only 20 schools in the nation offer it) - it really never entered the discussion. DS didn’t even apply - no interest and very low likelihood of acceptance if he had. So, PSU made sense for us and we have no regrets.</p>
<p>But…ours was a rather unusual case.</p>
<p>Nitnat…</p>
<p>I Majored in MIS, a Business Degree. I actually had a job while I was in college, and was on track to be promoted when i graduated. Unfortunately, I was the only one there with a business degree, and I wasn’t “running the show”. When that didn’t work out, I left to pursue coaching (I was a student athlete at PSU). I can’t say my business degree is helping right now, but my goal is to own a facility, and what I learned at Penn State will definitely help when I get there.</p>