Our family’s metric is to allow for each child $26-$30K debt total for four years.
The logic behind this is 1) they can possibly afford a private, possibly higher quality education if they choose; 2) they have some “skin in the game” financially; 3) the average debt for students is about $33K, so this level of debt is a bargain; 4) the debt is not so great that they can’t pay it back in a reasonably comfortable way.
Purdue or IWU 4 years $80k.
IUPUI DPT Program [downtown Indy Indiana / Purdue] under $60k does not include room and board [I included U of E room and board as they listed it as option and not sure if have to stay on campus to keep merit scholarship through doctoral program]…so she’d have housing/food expenses…
$140k for 7 years PLUS housing and food for 3 years.
Thanks all. Great food for thought.
Look north across the border.
American colleges are busy charging middle and upper-middle class families high tuitions to help pay the tuition for
other students, whether low-income or preferred for other reasons.
A lot of Canadian schools have rolling admissions(not too late for them ! ) and with current exchange rates tuition, fees, room and board can come in around $25,000/yr. U.S.
We are doing it right now.
^Yes, and that can be all federal loans, which have more protections than private ones.
@CourtneyThurston I believe this poster is talking about scholarships offered by the colleges. The OP thought those scholarships would be larger than they have been. In most cases, true merit awards directly from the colleges are the best bet for this kind of student.
The issue here…this student didn’t apply to colleges where there is generous merit money.
Add to that, the consideration for the DPT degree.
My opinion…$157,000 in debt is a LOT of debt.
http://www.ysu.edu/academics/honors-college/scholarships Another possibility with an application deadline of February 15th is Youngstown State. I don’t know much about their Physical Therapy program but my daughter graduated this spring with a biology major. It is one of the most affordable state schools in Ohio and offers generous scholarships.
i’d like to keep this discussion to scholarships, or possible schools I can still apply to to get more merit aid.
i was just venting about the merit scholarships and hoping I was missing a magical scholarship.
For everyone giving this OP a tough time for lack of forethought, just think that it took at least SOME planning to put aside 200K for college education, something 95%+ of the US population could not not realistically achieve.
@TnTWalter D1 did the 3+3 at Evansville. Great program! I strongly encourage your daughter to take advantage of a direct admit opportunity. Students with direct admit will not have to undergo the stress of taking the GRE or applying to grad programs which are very selective. The gpa that direct admits have to maintain is not high as that needed by applicants going via the 4 year BS then 3 year DPT route ( though from what I have observed the majority of direct admit DPT students still always pushed for those A’s). Doing a 3+3 program means one less year of room and board and tuition plus, a factor people often overlook, earning a salary one year earlier. You need to plan for paying for room and board in the summers when your daughter is doing clinicals. If she is lucky enough to have clinicals near to home or near a relative where she can live for free that helps! My daughter had 2 clinicals out of state; for one of them a classmate’s parents graciously hosted her. We have hosted 2 grad students doing clinicals. As I recall, UE had a few scholarships that were awarded after freshman year but, in D1’s case, not huge. Also check into local scholarships in your community that help students in the healthcare fields; there are a couple in our town that each provide $1000 or so per year to maybe a half dozen students.
D2 graduated from UIndy’s direct admit OT program and we have 2 family friends who are grad’s of their 3+3 PT program. UIndy does have a few DPT grad assistant positions (not sure if that is the exact title) that reduce tuition. Those positions are very competitive. Many DPT grads are graduating with staggering debt and entering a field that does not pay as much as you would think.
If you have any questions that I could help you with regarding those two schools, feel free to PM me.
I forgot to add re: UE D1 did not have to remain in university housing the last two years of the 3+3 to maintain the scholarship (she had a full tuition scholarship so I always felt the undergrad on campus residency requirement was reasonable. I do not know what stipulations there are for scholarships that are less than full tuition)
@TnTWalter I pm’d you
@Marigrow, it’s not that easy, I doubt that Canadian universities would be less than $20k for US students, but after a bachelor degree, her D would have to apply to US DPT programs, these might require that the coursework prerequisites were taken at a US school.
My niece is a PT, and did her grad and undergrad at different schools because she didn’t know that is what she wanted to do when she started. It worked out very well for her, and she was able to get in-state tuition at all but one of the schools she was accepted to. How? She wrote a nice letter and asked for it. That simple.
So looking at it from this point of view, unless the 3 + 3 option is the deciding factor, this might open up a number of other options for her - schools that don’t have a PT school but solid undergrad program in Bio or something similar.
Please don’t post misleading information @shermizzle . At the vast majority of public universities, this would NOT get a student instate tuition.
OP here…
D1 just competed for 1 of 12 full scholarships at UINDY…i think about 45 honors students were invited. We haven’t heard yet if she’s one of them. But she would still then have the doctoral part to pay for…it’s not one of her favorite schools but obviously she’s willing to consider it if she gets selected. I can’t remember what her current scholarship amount is…I’ll have to look. $15k per year but I believe only UG.
She was accepted into UINDY SLU and U of E and Findlay direct entry 3 + 3 DPT programs and the honors colleges at these. Saving a year is a perk as is not having to go through this all over again [she’s already admitted into doctoral program].
Thanks for all help. Going back through to read tips.
UAB…
so I did the net cost at UAB…and it’s $21,909 a year after the $15k scholarship…so doesn’t seem worth it when she’s never visited and there are at least 2 schools she likes here that are the same or less…or am i doing it wrong?
OP again…Canada you said about $25k per year…which is were I’m at or less for several…Purdue, Evansville, IWU, Taylor [just above]…
hoosier…bummer. we should have applied to IUPUI. She thought about it but didn’t…would have been nice to see if she would have been offered a full tuition there…
sign. lessons learned hurt man!
MISS State U…she’d get $17k but it’s $36k out of state per year…so again…not seeing reason to apply.
Michigan State? They offer $15,000 per year for OOS students admitted to the Honors College. If she’s offered a Professorial Assistantship, there is an OOS tuition waiver that equalizes to the in-state rate. The PA is also worth $2500. I would email Dr. Bess German, the Associate Dean of the Honors College, and see what they might have available. Their awards stack, so combining those along with a scholarship from the College that she’s entering might get you to that full tuition threshold. I think Room and Board was around $10,000 this year.
room and board for the year was about $10,200 this year at Michigan State. It’s worth contacting them if you think she’d be interested - they have been working hard to attract high achieving students. All 3 of my son’s roommates (and him, for that matter) are from surrounding states: Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa and Ohio.