My Visit to Penn State University-Questions-
 

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 :rolleyes: 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 :eek:

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.

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.

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.)

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!

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

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.

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

Not worth it for that school.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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'.

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."

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.

TV contracts, bowl revenue, ticket and merch sales, licensing and donations.

edit: Ticket sales in particular don't sound like much when taken at face value but they come with a "donation" to the 12th Man Foundation at A&M and similar athletic organizations for other schools. When you're looking at an average of $1-2K donation per seat x 40,000 seats you're looking at an absolutely huge amount of revenue.

I went the community college/state school route about 10 years ago. Not dime in loans (50% me, 50% parents). I make >$100k/year now...and I give 99.99% credit of that due to getting an internship during my junior year of college. Sure the degree and background got me in the door but like was said before, the degree means something the first day, after that it's what you know.

I don't care if you're a computer engineering major at MIT or a liberal arts major at BFE U, GET AN INTERNSHIP ANY WAY YOU CAN! Paid or not, nights/weekends whatever it takes, do what you need to do to show them what you can do!

Thank you everyone! looks like we made the right choice ( at least for now lol)


You are EXACTLY right!! I was told the same thing from someone inside the university, and as a coincidence they just finished building a 16 Million stadium.

My opinion is that during high school, teachers, counseling teams, and general culture of the schools are pushing and pushing and continue to push kids about going to a prestigious schools. If you ask many kids, they do not think much of state schools. Around here, unless its a Cal poly, other then that, most will make some kind of face at ya. going to Jr college for some is like going to jail. They are too good for that.

That may or may not be true - but it's not relevant to this thread.

We're talking about Penn State here, not a prestigious university.

So yeah, would I pay full boat out of state tuition to send my kids to a school like Penn State.

Not a chance.

Give him $200k to start a small business, instead of spending $200k to read about them.

My undergrad is from a state school in business and accounting. I was a CPA right out of school in a prestigious firm. Later went on to VP Finance/CFO type roles at major companies. I remember starting at Arthur Andersen in the mid 80's with kids from pricey private schools who had higher student loan balances than my first mortgage. We were treated no differently at work. Promotions were about common sense, grit, work ethic, social skills and wanting to do well. For graduate school, I would say school pedigree is more important. I told my kids I'd put them through a state school or contribute that much if they wanted to go somewhere more pricey. Both graduated from state schools and are doing well.

Penn State? Beaver Stadium has been there since forever.

Penn State put out a request for proposals in December for $12-20 million in improvements for the Lasch Building. According to the agenda, that project is slated for board approval in November 2015 before construction starts in December 2015. It is expected to be finished by July 2016.

I work in a Finance position. I have a degree from a pretty solid school. Many people at my level or above went to FSU, FIU, etc. A full-ride to FSU is an absolute no-brainer in my opinion.

The grad school degree, should he choose that route, is probably more important as far as the school name on the diploma, but even that is debatable. If I was hiring right now for an entry level position and your son's resume said he graduated with a 3.9 and he did a great job on the interview and could answer my technical questions, I would not hesitate to choose him over someone from Harvard who didn't impress as much during the interview.

Take the free ride- I have young kids and when they get to college time, I will want them to go free ride, or even trade school if they wish. The value proposition of $50k/yr tuition isn't there IMO.

Non-business undergrad, followed by an MBA at the best school you can get into.

At least in science, I completely disagree (except for your debatable addendum, which I competently agree with :p ). Grad school value is 100% based on your thesis and research, not who taught you. Be creative, work hard for 2 solid years and make some faculty friends and you're golden.

I did my undergrad at Illinois and my grad at DePaul, and despite not having a "name recognition" grad program, I taught and did research at FIU and Arizona. After your first job, no one even looks at the college name or the grades.

Funny, in the mid atlantic Penn State is a good school. Except for a handful of national schools, most good/decent colleges have local relevance only. The alumni connections are important, but mostly regionally and those out of the area wouldnt see that benefit.

Let me introduce you to Texas, where the alum from the Big 3 Schools (Texas A&M, U Texas, Texas Tech) are all convinced they they are God's Gift to Education and the Greater World, while the rest of us barely register that they exist...

I don't doubt that it is a "good school."

It's just not a prestigious school. Any school with an acceptance rate higher than 50%, like Penn State, cannot by definition be a prestigious school. It doesn't have the greatest applicant pool in the country, and still more than half get acceptance letters. Prestige is primarily a function of selectivity, and Penn State is not that selective.

Opinions of course vary. I think for an in-state student, with in-state tuition, it can be a very good school. Me, personally, it's not good or prestigious enough to justify out of state tuition.

I agree with that.

An amazing statistic is that there are around 4,000 colleges and universities in the US, and only around 100 or so are very selective. Maybe another 100-200 are semi-selective. Probably 3500 are basically open to anyone who wasn't a complete slacker and is willing to write the checks.

So, you're right, it's only a handful that have national relevance or prestige (maybe 30 or so).

Dam straight!:D

I went back in the 80's. finished a couple semesters then went onto something more concrete. I think it was about 5K then. My nephew graduated a few years back and is trying to find his way but is working as a server. Although some of his friends found gigs in music engineering. Best advise i can give if he's intent on going is to focus on afterschool involvment. Make sure he doesnt just go to class then back to the dorm to practice. He needs to play with others to gain experience and connections. He should be open to everything available. There are other music and art schools in the area for him to meet others as well.

Penn State is an excellent school. I have family members with educations from Virginia Tech, Vanderbilt, Brown, Cornell, as well as some lesser-known but excellent private colleges, and a sister-in-law who recently earned her doctorate from Penn State. Anyone who looks down on the education and opportunities offered at Penn State is foolish. HOWEVER, take 2 equal high school graduates who are smart and show initiative, have one start work in a trade like electrician, mason, carpenter, plumber or welder and while they work get certified in that field, and the other spend $200,000 for a bachelor's at PSU, how long until the PSU grad pays off $200,000 and has his earnings catch up to the tradesman? It can be difficult to justify on its own, much less in comparison to a fully paid for undergraduate degree. What does Penn State offer that is worth $200,000 more than a degree from FSU? How long will it take any increased earnings potential from PSU to pay off the extra $200,000? That is a tough cost to justify.