college tuition

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steve88
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Joined: Thu Jul 26, 2007 9:42 am

college tuition

Post by steve88 »

Is $25000/yr for tuition reasonable for a state university? Engineering major?
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gatorking
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Location: MA

Re: college tuition

Post by gatorking »

It depends on which State U, but my first thought is NO. Add cost of housing and food etc. and you are looking at 35000/yr.
MnD
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Re: college tuition

Post by MnD »

That's in the mid-higher end range of total cost of attendance (tuition, fees, room board, books, spending money) for in-state state U's in engineering.
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Grt2bOutdoors
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Re: college tuition

Post by Grt2bOutdoors »

That is the going rate for Rutgers in NJ. If you went to Stevens Institute of Technology (private) - double it!!!
The State University of New York with room and board runs around $20K in-state and $26-$27K out of state.

It really is ridiculous to have to pay $100K for a 4 year degree - engineering or basketweaving, still crazy!
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Randomize
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Re: college tuition

Post by Randomize »

steve88 wrote:Is $25000/yr for tuition reasonable for a state university? Engineering major?
If you're starting out as a freshman and plan on going to grad school, the best bang for your buck is to go J.C. and then State U and then spend some of that money you saved on a top-shelf grad school; people won't care where your undergrad came from if you went to Cal for grad school.

If you don't plan on doing grad school, then a top-shelf school for your undergrad may make sense. If it's a state school, it should accept J.C. transfers but some of the top programs do not so be sure to check. JUCOs get a bad rap but they're a great deal and nobody will care where you went Freshman/Sophmore years as long as you graduate from a real university.

If this isn't a top-shelf state school, you may think real hard about going elsewhere. For that sort of money, you could just about pay for a mid-level private.
reggiesimpson
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Re: college tuition

Post by reggiesimpson »

Grt2bOutdoors wrote:That is the going rate for Rutgers in NJ. If you went to Stevens Institute of Technology (private) - double it!!!
The State University of New York with room and board runs around $20K in-state and $26-$27K out of state.

It really is ridiculous to have to pay $100K for a 4 year degree - engineering or basketweaving, still crazy!
Yup, my son paid about $80,000 for 4 years at his state school. I read in todays WSJ that a couple of Senators are pushing for a bill to require Colleges to publish what there grads are making after they are done. Outcome studies. Virginia is already doing it and more states are catching on. Its about time. Parents and students have been left in the dark for way too long regarding the "hard" value of their education IMO.
NorCalDad
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Re: college tuition

Post by NorCalDad »

reggiesimpson wrote:
Grt2bOutdoors wrote:That is the going rate for Rutgers in NJ. If you went to Stevens Institute of Technology (private) - double it!!!
The State University of New York with room and board runs around $20K in-state and $26-$27K out of state.

It really is ridiculous to have to pay $100K for a 4 year degree - engineering or basketweaving, still crazy!
Yup, my son paid about $80,000 for 4 years at his state school. I read in todays WSJ that a couple of Senators are pushing for a bill to require Colleges to publish what there grads are making after they are done. Outcome studies. Virginia is already doing it and more states are catching on. Its about time. Parents and students have been left in the dark for way too long regarding the "hard" value of their education IMO.
That's a positive step, but that data is worthless unless someone polices it. Just look at what lower-tier law schools did for years with their salary data before the law school bubble popped and potential students got smart.
MnD
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Re: college tuition

Post by MnD »

reggiesimpson wrote:Yup, my son paid about $80,000 for 4 years at his state school. I read in todays WSJ that a couple of Senators are pushing for a bill to require Colleges to publish what there grads are making after they are done. Outcome studies. Virginia is already doing it and more states are catching on. Its about time. Parents and students have been left in the dark for way too long regarding the "hard" value of their education IMO.
http://www.payscale.com/college-education-value
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reggiesimpson
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Re: college tuition

Post by reggiesimpson »

MnD wrote:
reggiesimpson wrote:Yup, my son paid about $80,000 for 4 years at his state school. I read in todays WSJ that a couple of Senators are pushing for a bill to require Colleges to publish what there grads are making after they are done. Outcome studies. Virginia is already doing it and more states are catching on. Its about time. Parents and students have been left in the dark for way too long regarding the "hard" value of their education IMO.
http://www.payscale.com/college-education-value
Thanks. It looks like a decent State school pays. Now if i can only get my Son to pay me back?..................installments would be fine Son.
Jordana
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Re: college tuition

Post by Jordana »

I'd say yes. My state is one of the more expensive state university systems and I presume you can't move to another state and disrupt your family. An engineering degree will make your child marketable--and what more could a parent want? The expensive private schools are now running $65,000 to $70,000 inclusive. If you don't have to sweat to keep your student in this school, then don't. Also, look at all the fees. Sometimes the tuition is lower but the fees can be a couple thousand dollars (I have 3 kids in college or grad school and am in the thick of it now.)
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HomerJ
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Re: college tuition

Post by HomerJ »

Grt2bOutdoors wrote:That is the going rate for Rutgers in NJ. If you went to Stevens Institute of Technology (private) - double it!!!
The State University of New York with room and board runs around $20K in-state and $26-$27K out of state.

It really is ridiculous to have to pay $100K for a 4 year degree - engineering or basketweaving, still crazy!
You have GOT to move out of the NorthEast...

Unversity of Missouri Science & Technology still costs less than $10k a year in tuition and books for in-state residents.

And I always hear you always moaning about property taxes... My parents pay $600 a year in property taxes for 110 acres in Southern Missouri, and even I, in Kansas City, only pay $4k a year in property taxes (on a $500,000 house).

Move to the Mid-west, take a 20% cut in pay, but watch your living expenses and taxes drop 50%. :) :)
MathWizard
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Re: college tuition

Post by MathWizard »

About $20K/year for in-state public, land grant school with an engineering major.
About $28K for an out-of-state land grant school. (Usually xxxx State or State A&M)

How about looking at:
http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T ... /index.php

I don't know which are engineering schools, but you can probably guess by the name.
Having one son in college, and another on the way, the figures in the kiplinger article appear not to
include personal expenses, for which I have seen estimates of about $2K-$3K per year. I included
personal expenses in my estimate above.
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Taz
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Re: college tuition

Post by Taz »

Perhaps, state schools should charge MORE for non- STEM majors since we need more technical graduates! Anyway, there are quite a few decent state engineering schools although it does depend on the particular area of study..

As FL residents, we primarily looked at:

(total estimated cost)

GA Tech - great engineering school
Resident - $22,254
Non-resident - $41,558

Univ of Florida - very good engineering school
Resident - $20,580
Non-resident - $42,360

A third school, Univ of NM, out of the blue offered a full ride (tuition, room board, + iPad!) to my son as he is a Merit Finalist. BUT, the school's engineering program is not (IMO) was good as the two above. Plus, if he gets below a 3.3 he would lose the scholarship for the next semester. I think he likes the idea of get a full scholarship but we think Florida is the happy medium & already have tuition covered. It's not as if we are going to give him the 529 money to spend.

FYI - for parents not yet in the breech, not all schools give anything for being a National Merit Finalist; other schools go recruiting & to offer very nice packages for semi-finalists to bring in quality out-of-state students. Just depends.
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HomerJ
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Re: college tuition

Post by HomerJ »

Taz wrote:Perhaps, state schools should charge MORE for non- STEM majors since we need more technical graduates! Anyway, there are quite a few decent state engineering schools although it does depend on the particular area of study..

As FL residents, we primarily looked at:

(total estimated cost)

GA Tech - great engineering school
Resident - $22,254
Non-resident - $41,558

Univ of Florida - very good engineering school
Resident - $20,580
Non-resident - $42,360

A third school, Univ of NM, out of the blue offered a full ride (tuition, room board, + iPad!) to my son as he is a Merit Finalist. BUT, the school's engineering program is not (IMO) was good as the two above. Plus, if he gets below a 3.3 he would lose the scholarship for the next semester. I think he likes the idea of get a full scholarship but we think Florida is the happy medium & already have tuition covered. It's not as if we are going to give him the 529 money to spend.

FYI - for parents not yet in the breech, not all schools give anything for being a National Merit Finalist; other schools go recruiting & to offer very nice packages for semi-finalists to bring in quality out-of-state students. Just depends.

Note those are TOTAL costs above... those include $10k for room and board. Tuition at many good state engineering schools is still in the $8k-$12k range for in state residents. As far as I'm concerned, there should be a test for every HS graduate who wants to pay for a private school.

"Question 1 - Are you willing to pay 3x more for a college degree than you have to?"

If they answer "Yes", they fail the test and are told "You are too stupid to go to college"
NYBoglehead
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Re: college tuition

Post by NYBoglehead »

HomerJ wrote:
Grt2bOutdoors wrote:That is the going rate for Rutgers in NJ. If you went to Stevens Institute of Technology (private) - double it!!!
The State University of New York with room and board runs around $20K in-state and $26-$27K out of state.

It really is ridiculous to have to pay $100K for a 4 year degree - engineering or basketweaving, still crazy!
You have GOT to move out of the NorthEast...

Unversity of Missouri Science & Technology still costs less than $10k a year in tuition and books for in-state residents.

And I always hear you always moaning about property taxes... My parents pay $600 a year in property taxes for 110 acres in Southern Missouri, and even I, in Kansas City, only pay $4k a year in property taxes (on a $500,000 house).

Move to the Mid-west, take a 20% cut in pay, but watch your living expenses and taxes drop 50%. :) :)
Very tempted, but can't get the whole family to come with me! Not to knock Missouri, but if I'm relocating I'm going to Texas.

OP, engineering is probably the best field you can go into right now. While that amount does some seem like a lot, that's the going rate. There is absolutely no reason why your student can't get a part-time job while in school (even 10 hours/wk helps, and I KNOW that even the most diligent student can spare 10 hours/wk) and working full-time at a summer job will help immensely.
Last edited by NYBoglehead on Tue Feb 12, 2013 6:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
rec7
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Re: college tuition

Post by rec7 »

Texas tuition is even better than Missouri.
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