My Visit to Penn State University-Questions-

[juan ruiz]

Long story short, my oldest Son got accepted to the Penn State Smeal Business Program, I was told that only 800 students are accepted into that program, so to Penn State we go only to find out that the cost for out of state students is 50K a year we were told prior to our visit that the cost was 30K a year.

So my question is , do you think that is that important to graduate from a well know university? can you justify a 200K student loan to a kid that is 18 years old? On the other hand he can attend FSU for free

[masraum]

Personally, unless it's a REALLY prestigious school, I don't think it'll matter much. MIT, sure, Harvard, Yale, Cambridge, maybe. Most folks are just looking for someone with a degree. And $200k for a bachelors is insane unless that bachelors is going to have him making over 100k/yr straight out of school.

[TheMentat]

Originally Posted by masraum

Personally, unless it's a REALLY prestigious school, I don't think it'll matter much. MIT, sure, Harvard, Yale, Cambridge, maybe. Most folks are just looking for someone with a degree. And $200k for a bachelors is insane unless that bachelors is going to have him making over 100k/yr straight out of school.

My thoughts exactly. 200k??? Nuts.

[ckelly78z]

A college degree is nothing more than showing a potential employer your willingness to learn, and your enthusiasm for the field you chose. You do learn valuable information in all the classes you have to take, but most jobs that require a college degree don't really care where it's from or what your field of study was.

[SeanPizzle]

200K for an education in Small Business Program? Take the $200K and start a small business and find some business incubator/mentor retireee to learn from. Higher education is a scam unless you are getting professional training (medicine, engineer, law, etc.)

[chocolatelab]

FSU for free.

I find that day 1 it may matter where that degree came from but down the road it matters not.

Unless you have an alumni somewhere that scratches your back.

I submit there are more FSU Alumni out there than PSU Alumni out there.

Congrats by the way!

[chocolatelab]

Originally Posted by masraum

Personally, unless it's a REALLY prestigious school, I don't think it'll matter much. MIT, sure, Harvard, Yale, Cambridge, maybe. Most folks are just looking for someone with a degree. And $200k for a bachelors is insane unless that bachelors is going to have him making over 100k/yr straight out of school.

There was an article recently that Stanford guaranteed 100k out of college.

[Radioactive]

My son got accepted to Berklee College of Music, looks like about 65K a year.
260K for a degree in music.

Is he nuts.........hated to kill his dream.

[aigel]

You send him to a state school and have him knock it out of the park in undergrad. Then go to a good grad school for free (assistantship, stipend etc.) Paying big bucks for undergrad is a waste.

JMHO - not a business guy rather than high tech engineer. I know a LOT of people that went the route described in engineering and science.

Good luck to your son!

G

[jyl]

Not worth it for that school.

[Scuba Steve]

200K... assuming that it can be done in four years! Nearly endless money chasing a finite resource always works out well, so long as you're the one with the resource.

[Geneman]

i am paying 65k after tax dollars for syracuse u. liberal arts major

try NYU if yu think PSU is sticker shock.. they just raised it to 70k

[widgeon13]

Got to pay for those pricey athletic programs and stadiums.

[Scuba Steve]

Originally Posted by widgeon13

Got to pay for those pricey athletic programs and stadiums.

At Texas A&M at least, that comes from a totally separate budget. Same for salary for the coaches. It's probably the same for other state schools, at least in TX anyway.

Buildings, dorms, professors, research, staff and campus in general... now you're seeing where money goes. They're building some real palaces over there.

[widgeon13]

You can have a separate budget but where does the money come from?

[drcoastline]

Originally Posted by Geneman

i am paying 65k after tax dollars for syracuse u. liberal arts major

try NYU if yu think PSU is sticker shock.. they just raised it to 70k

Yep. I have a friend who went to NYU, he had a dual major. Smartest guy you would ever want to meet. He has never used his degree. He has been a bartender his whole life.

Another friend did his first two years at a community college. I think it was like $750.00 per year. Transferred to Rutgers for his last two years. All of his credits transferred. His degree says Rutgers University. Not Community College/Rutgers.

I never went to college I essentially retired about seven years ago at 43. I occasionally go on work-ation.

[Chocaholic]

FSU is a good school. I have hired a lot of people over the years and I can assure you, the specific school they attended had zero influence in the hiring process. Got a degree in an appropriate field? Check. Next?

Don't blow your retirement (or his) on this sales pitch.

[1990C4S]

You can't justify that sort of premium for an undergrad degree. The degree does not make the man..

You might (and I am) want to pay that for a secondary grad degree (law, medical, dentist). But not for 'small business'.

[Gogar]

Attending a prestigious university isnt about education; it's about your peers and where they came from and where they will go, and the social connections you make during your time at school.

You know what they call you if you go to Yale or Columbia and and get a C-D average? Well for the past 15 years they've called you "Mr. President."

[BReif61]

I was faced with a similar situation: $40k school or a $17k school. I took the more affordable route, and the combination of the lower cost and my willingness to trade some of the "college experience" for a relatively good paying job has benefitted me immensely in the post-college world. I was debt-free less than five years after graduation whereas my peers at work are still weighed down by their loans.

Obviously, they went to expensive "name brand" schools but yet I work right alongside them. Name recognition is not everything.