Penn State is not fully state funded. Did you get any scholarships from them? Did you save for college in a PA 529 account? If you did you could have subtracted your contribution to that every year from your PA taxable income (up to a limit, I think it is $10,000 a year). Also PA does not count your PA 529 balance as an asset for state grant calculation, unlike FAFSA. I would be careful to leave the workforce fully after 8 years, can you go to college part time and still work?
Not much of your taxes were actually going to PSU. PSU may be a public univ, but the reason it has high instate tuition is because it gets little money from the state.
Your state taxes (which is the amount that you’re talking about), have been going to a variety of state concerns, probably primarily K-12 public education.
BTW…in eight years, how much have you paid in STATE taxes? (don’t include fed taxes or FICA)
You might want to start at a CC to save on costs. The tuition at PSU is high.
I agree that you should try to work part-time while going to school. You might qualify for the tuition tax credit. Not sure though…look into that.
Will you be living with parents or someone? The cost to go to PSU is about $30k when you include living expenses. Are you saying that you have $120k saved? plus summer costs?
Cyclo…you are getting some of your “taxes back”. If you were not a tax paying resident of PA, your cost of attendance would be almost double what you are paying.
^^^
Excellent point!!! That is the point of paying state taxes AND getting the instate rate!!!
Anyway…at a minimum, this future student needs to work part-time during the school year, and full time during summers. If his employer will help pay for college, then he needs to continue with that job, while going to school.
I can’t imagine that he’s got $120k+ saved unless it’s from another source. There WILL be other expenses that come up other than schooling…car, gas, car repairs, insurance, clothing, entertainment, etc, etc.
Wow that is incredible amount of savings. No one gives college free because you pay taxes. We all pay taxes and it gets used for many things.
What is in your control is picking a college with a good price. There are lower cost colleges than Penn State. There are colleges that give full and half tuition for stats. That is the main way to lower tuition. Seems you are already through the process of applying but if you are still looking you can get suggestions.
Federal Aid: Pell grant for very low income, loans at favorable rates up to loan limits 9,500 freshman yr for independents
State aid: if available. You may have qualified in the state you lived and worked in http://www.fafsa.com/student-financial-aid/state-based-financial-aid?code=PA
University aid: need based or merit award at time of admission offer
Outside scholarships: from foundations, rotary, 4H, etc larger ones mostly based on low inocme
tax deduction: mentioned above.
I have never heard of a school that allows you to go to class on and off on any schedule on demand.
Have you considered schools with a Co-op program? You would work every other term beginning after your sophomore year. You get paid for the co-op terms, but yes, that would mean your total time would be five years instead of four to complete a bachelors.
However, the money you earn during the co-op term can be either saved or used to pay the following term. You could use your 529 first, and then dip into your other savings.
wow! You’ve saved $180k in 8 years? Or did I misunderstand the 8 years part and that is only the time you worked in PA (did you work in another state first and started saving then?)
What do you do for a living?
You’re probably older than I first thought. If you are, I’m guessing that you’ll be living in an apt by yourself, so your living costs will be higher than a typical college kid’s.
The amount that you’ve paid in fed taxes is really irrelevant to the PSU tuition. PSU is not a fed school, it’s a PA school.
When you say PSU, do you mean the main campus? I realize that you probably want to get settled one time in an apt and stay put for 4 years so the idea of going to a CC for 2 years (cheaper) and then transferring may not be attractive.
If his income drops to nearly zero while he is in school, he might become eligible for some federal or state aid, e.g. unemployment/food stamps/Obamacare. Some of us consider those income redistribution programs to be a tax incentive.
I don’t think you can get food stamps and unemployment at the same time and f you are also attending school.
If you are attending school, you need to be working 20 hrs a week, which would negate your unemployment.
He also would have to get laid off in most cases rather than fired or quit work to receive unemployment benefits.
Don’t ask me about health care as I haven’t had to negotiate that yet.
I worked about 5 years doing farm work and landscaping (I also worked in a small coal testing facility because of my interest in chemistry) I started at 14 and at 19 I joined the oilfield , I am now 22.
I did live with my parents but other than free food and a place to sleep and study I was not given any financial help, but really these past 3 years I have worked in PA , OH , WV , ND , AK .
I do have a 2 and 2 schedule but I have worked 300+ days for 3 years doing 6 and 10 week hitches non stop
I have been on the north slope for 6 months now and have not seen my home aside for 3 weeks off in Anchorage combined I have been working the whole time.
I have considered going to CC for prerequisites but Penn State has a satellite campus (Greater Allegheny) about a mile from my grandmas house which she has agreed to let me live at until I transfer to the main campus
Sorry if I’m ignorant on how this works, but do you need a GED if you didn’t graduate from high school and would Penn State expect you to take the SAT before admitting you?
If you are looking at Greater Allegheny CC, do they have an articulation agreement with University of Pittsburgh or Penn State? Both would be good for chemical engineering. School of Engineering has even more stringent admission criteria I would expect than other majors. If you left school at 14 how are you going to make up the math and science you missed in high school that is a prerequisite to engineering?
