Cost of Attendance.

pilot2012
Fri, 07 Nov 2014 18:30:09 +0000

To LTL. I’ve never advocated going into tremendous/crippling debt for a Bachelor’s degree. It’s fine that you and your son chose a different school last year based on price. That said, with all due respect, I find your broad-brush/101 cost analysis bordering on misleading. Indeed, since you don’t have a student matriculating at Penn State you have no first-hand knowledge.

So, here is one additional data point. It may come as a surprise to you that in addition to “those loans or modest grants” and “THOSE” numbers that were adamantly touted to be used by the University reps, there are those students who receive their tuition bills with a remarkable surprise bonus: without application, Penn State has awarded them scholarships.

Just some further general enlightenment – It may further come as a surprise to you that those students, in most cases, will have the opportunity to personally meet and thank scholarship sponsors, cementing connections/creating dividends. It may, incidentally, surprise you that corporate partners/alumni provide one-on-one mentoring for those students, particularly in the area of career development. Finally, it may come as a surprise to you that those students have the advantage of utilizing a formidable alumni networking system and availing themselves of an exceptional career fair.

I don’t want to speak for dadinator, but maybe he was keying in on the word estimate.

Lastly, advocating only applying to schools based on what one can afford is so very short-sighted. With merit/financial need money, DD graduated from a ~$60k per year school for a total (four years) out-of-pocket of ~$28k. She saved a lot of money by applying to a school we couldn’t afford.