Penn State is up front about its general inability to finance students’ education for them: “Because of limited funding, Penn State cannot meet the full demonstrated financial need of all students. Students and their families have the primary responsibility for paying tuition and other costs. Education loans comprise the largest percentage of all available student aid.” https://studentaid.psu.edu/future-students
Most people have those kinds of cost constraints when it comes to colleges, and have to make choices accordingly. I wouldn’t have applied here if I didn’t live in PA. And even living in PA, I wouldn’t have attended if I hadn’t gotten enough merit (Schreyer/engineering) to make it relatively affordable. That doesn’t mean Penn State owed me money, or that the process is unfair.
Does anyone know the stats on how many Penn State UP puts on their waitlist? And how many are offered a spot after being waitlisted? I tried looking at their Common data set but the waitlist info wasn’t there.
@rhhssenior22 That’s because wait listing is new this year. They didn’t wait list in 2016 so that’s why it’s not on the common data set. I’m not sure who can answer your question other than the department that you applied to since we don’t have stats to go by for other years.
@rhhssenior22 Hmm…that’s interesting. Since 2012 (the CDS’s that are online) they only had one year where they waitlisted. I didn’t even realize they did it in 2015-2016. My guess is because it was the first year with lionpath and there was some confusion around acceptances. But that’s just a guess. Since you only have one year to go on over the last 4 to 5 years + years. I’m not sure why those people were wait listed or why they were able to come off of the wait list. Were you wait listed? For what major?
@rhhsenior22 You can still graduate from UP with a mech E degree. The same one you’d get if you started at UP and often with a higher GPA because you get the weed out classes out of the way with smaller classrooms. This can make the classes more manageable and thus a higher GPA. Which 2+2 campus were you offered? Behrend is a fantastic engineering school in it’s own right. Some of the majors there aren’t even available at UP campus. I wouldn’t dismiss it altogether because of the 2+2. Graduating from PSU engineering is a notable feat and a prestigious degree, regardless of where you start. Your degree will be from PSU. You can also call and see if you can start in either summer or change to undecided and work towards the engineering degree from there at UP. If you were waitlisted you have the stats to get in…there just wasn’t the room in that particular major.
@bester1 “second highest cost to attend college in the USA”? Syracuse, Yale, & Stanford say hi. And those are just 3 random ones out of ALL the expensive colleges in the country! Penn State is nowhere NEAR that! And Penn State gets minimal funds. At the end of the day, a Penn State degree holds more weight than a community college/other state college degree.
Anyone get an interview offer or get rejected for an interview for the BS/MBA program? anyone know the chances of making the program after getting selected for an interview? & is it hard to be selected for an interview?
Also, Yale, Stanford, or Syracuse are not public universities. The problem with Penn state is that despite minimal state funding it is supposed to be the public flagship for the state of Pennsylvania, like Umass Amherst for Massachusetts, Umn Twin Cities for Minnesota, UVA for Virginia, UC’s for California. The state of Pennsylvania wants to have a public flagship without paying for it, hence the very high cost even for residents (combination of sticker price and lack of financial aid or large merit scholarships.) This doesn’t mean Penn State isn’t a top school.
The 2+2 system is cc+flagship in other states. In Pennsylvania cc’s aren’t anything like academic colleges to prepare for flagship admission hence the reaction, but look at NOVA or Richard Bland in Virginia, or the cc ‘tag’ system in California. That’s exactly how psu York, psu Dubois or psu Greater Allegheny work, except costs in the 2+2 are much, much higher than tag.
While Behrend, Harrisburg, and Altoona are 4-year directionals in their own right, competing with and overtaking the best PASSHE schools for students and state funding in fact (@bester1), most small branches serve exactly as community colleges do in other states, IE., prepare decent but not stellar local students for the flagship and make their transfer there automatic if they meet some course and grade requirements.
“While Behrend, Harrisburg, and Altoona are 4-year directionals in their own right, competing with and overtaking the best PASSHE schools for students and state funding in fact”
Please explain @MYOS1634 how the commonwealth campuses are competing with PASSHE over state funding. PSU gets 5% of their funding from the state…which is used across it’s entire system. Not just the commonwealth campuses. The commonwealth campuses, from my understanding, do not get any additional funding from the state. And I’m grateful they don’t. The PASSHE schools are having a very difficult time right now. I’m glad PSU is not in that camp.
I can’t speak to the community college atmosphere or education in other states as I’ve not seen them. But in PA, the branch campuses at PSU are not like community colleges. Heck, even PSU New Kensington which only has about 800 students, still has 10 bachelors degrees that can be completed totally at New Kensington. PSU Fayette which has only 700 students also still has 6 bachelors degrees that can be completed there.
The reason for the difference in cost is because these commonwealth campuses still have the amenities and resources available to UP students. Also, Pitt is run the exact same way with branch campuses…although those do not have the same 2+2 program PSU has. There it’s an actual change of campus procedure…not an automatic thing for most majors. Temple is also a state related institution. Not a state school.
I would also argue that the commonwealth campuses take ‘decent but not stellar’ local students. Lots of students go to the local branch campuses to graduate with a PSU degree at less expense than living away from home. Their grades are not always the predicting factor. Even PSU New Kensington, which would certainly be considered one of the local branches with no housing available and only approx. 800 students, still has an average entrance GPA of 3.1.
I do not like to see the commonwealth campus system denigrated here because lots of students get deferred to a branch and I don’t want those students thinking that they are ending up with a community college education - when that is simply just not true.
PSU is trying to run the PASSHE schools out of business so that they can have more funding. Most of the PSU Branch campuses are what they are(you can defend them all that you want…and yes, Behrend grads do actually earn more than UP grads so it may be the best education of all) but they are expensive Community Colleges for most kids that dream of someday attending a pseudo flagship that many will likely be unable to afford or will be saddled with debt. So for average kids with middle income the choice will be stay home and go to PSU Beaver. If you get through the two year commute, you may have earned the right to go to main if you can afford it. The state of higher education in PA is a mess. That is the only point that is being made. No need to defend the PSU Community Branches. Politicians would much prefer to kick around the PASSHE schools and cut their funding then try their luck with PSU almighty. I do apologize for the harshness but that is how many common folk in the Commonwealth feel.
Point taken. Thank you. I only originally commented when a poster stated that the PASSHE schools were 95% funded by tax dollars and the truth was that it is closer to 20%. I apologize for causing concern and the point of the tread. Have a nice day.
Agree that this is a decision thread…or was intended to be from the start but certainly hasn’t really been that way from the beginning. I apologize for eclipsing the original intended target. I was trying to defend the commonwealth campus system since many here on the decision thread are ultimately deferred to one and I think the comparison with a CC is undeserved and biased.
However, I will digress from discussing the PSU vs PASSHE schools at all from this point further as one can easily see where the positions are on both sides and we likely won’t change the thinking either way. I am a “common folk in the Commonwealth” and I don’t feel the same way, and we can leave it at that, or you can go back to the PASSHE thread where there is active conversation about this topic.
I think every college should be $10,000 per year. I’m serious, make it affordable for every income bracket. Call it whatever you want, Sanderson or socialism but the better educated the masses are the better country we develop and live in.
Higher education goes against one of the fundamental aspects of a market system…that is if you pay more you get more. Which is true in almost every area of our society, except taxes and education. My degree at $50k at Year OOS is worth the same as for lower a socioeconomic student in state paying $20k. Where else can you get the same thing for that disparity in prices? Nowhere, that’s where.