College? (Knoxville, Chattanooga, Morristown: apartment, credit, student loans)

[mia_magination]

Lol...can't wait to see all the laughs I get on this one!

Ok, well I already know that UT is HUGE in the Knoxville area, as well as a couple smaller type colleges that probably offer a good education. My question is this...we have three children, 1 of which is already in 10TH grade and we need to start investigating a good college. He is interested in Engineering but not fully decided if this will be the main course of study. He also will be recruiting a couple friends to the college as well for fields such as Nursing and possibly Business Mgt.

Because I didn't believe this time would creep up so quickly we didn't give it much thought while we investigated our new location We have decided on Maryville for our home and found good schools for my two younger children but now need to focus on the older one.

Any thoughts on the local colleges would be greatly appreciated. I looked up UTK and saw it to be ranked highly so that is definatley on the list of schools in which to apply...but we need to have options.

When you can stop laughing at the question of "Any good colleges in Knoxville?" I would love to hear honest opinions on everything from campus life, to administration, to overall benefit/feelings of the college experiences.

THANKS!

[hiknapster]

It's not a funny question, hon. It's a great question. Hopefully you will get a lot of great answers.

By the way, we have been investigating colleges for our 11-year-old for quite awhile. She has her heart set on UT. Pellissippi is a very good community college as well, and has worked out a program with UT so that certain career paths will be able to easily transfer to UT. Also, Google Hope Scholarship for great info on our state programs regarding EXCELLENT tuition assistance. The TN Board of Regents is another website you will want to visit. Regarding engineering, also explore Tennessee Tech and for nursing also Roane State.

Welcome to our area. We've been here six years and live, breathe and bleed Orange.

[DubbleT]

My son is on yr 5 for his engineering degree at UT. It's been overall a good experience for him, but if we had to do it over again I would vote to change some things.
He enjoyed the social aspects of a large campus, Greek life, dorm living, etc.
But... I really wish he had taken some of his core classes at Pellissippi to save him some money. Or that he had given more serious consideration to TTU in Cookeville, again to save money. I think he is paying a price for the 'college experience' he wanted, and in this economy I'm not so sure it will be worth it in the long run when he could have received just as good an education, without all the bells and whistles, for less.
His opinion might differ from mine however.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by DubbleT

My son is on yr 5 for his engineering degree at UT. It's been overall a good experience for him, but if we had to do it over again I would vote to change some things.
He enjoyed the social aspects of a large campus, Greek life, dorm living, etc.
But... I really wish he had taken some of his core classes at Pellissippi to save him some money. Or that he had given more serious consideration to TTU in Cookeville, again to save money. I think he is paying a price for the 'college experience' he wanted, and in this economy I'm not so sure it will be worth it in the long run when he could have received just as good an education, without all the bells and whistles, for less.
His opinion might differ from mine however.

I can definitely understand. I'm on the faculty at UTK, but the last couple of years I've been thinking that I'd rather be on the faculty at TTU. I love UTK, but some things just seem to get in the way (such as evening basketball games during spring semester which means there's no parking on campus because on-campus parking lots are reserved for the games, or the shenanigans with our football program, or the arrogance of our administration).

Statewide, UTK freshmen have the highest ACT scores among all state universities. TTU's freshmen come in second. After they graduate, however, TTU graduates have the highest salaries of graduates of any state school (UTK comes in 2nd), and the gap widens after 15 years, according to payscale.com. While UTK receives the lion's share of state funding and is more widely known (largely because of its athletics, I might add), TTU quietly goes about offering a solid education in a safe, beautiful campus.

Tennessee Tech:

• one of the nation's 50 "Best Value" public universities (Princeton Review - 8 years in a row)
• one of the top 10 public regional universities in the South (US News)
• Best in the Southeast (Princeton Review)
• one of "America's Top 100 Best College Buys" (Institutional Research & Evaluation Inc.)
• The College of Business was included in Peterson's publication of The 237 Best Business Schools in the World, and TTU nursing graduates achieved a higher pass rate among registered nurses taking the National Council Licensure Examination last year than the state, national and Tennessee Board of Regents averages.
• TTU's graduates have the lightest debt load of any public TN university

With just under 12,000 students in a town of 30,000, TTU is not a party school but does offer plenty of opportunities for its students to get an outstanding education, be taught by real professors in small classes (not graduate students in auditoriums), find opportunities to serve and have fun, all in a campus that's just 20 minutes from waterfalls, lakes, beautiful state parks, and only an hour from Nashville and 90 minutes from Knoxville and Chattanooga.

[LisaCarol5]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

It's not a funny question, hon. It's a great question. Hopefully you will get a lot of great answers.

By the way, we have been investigating colleges for our 11-year-old for quite awhile. She has her heart set on UT. Pellissippi is a very good community college as well, and has worked out a program with UT so that certain career paths will be able to easily transfer to UT. Also, Google Hope Scholarship for great info on our state programs regarding EXCELLENT tuition assistance. The TN Board of Regents is another website you will want to visit. Regarding engineering, also explore Tennessee Tech and for nursing also Roane State.

Welcome to our area. We've been here six years and live, breathe and bleed Orange.

I completely agree with that, Pellissippi IS a great community college! Engineering would be good taken at UT in my opinion. Nursing, Walter State has a good program for that. There is one in Morristown if you don't travel to Sevierville. And Morristown's Walter State is the main campus.

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by JMT

Statewide, UTK freshmen have the highest ACT scores among all state universities. TTU's freshmen come in second. After they graduate, however, TTU graduates have the highest salaries of graduates of any state school (UTK comes in 2nd), and the gap widens after 15 years, according to payscale.com. While UTK receives the lion's share of state funding and is more widely known (largely because of its athletics, I might add), TTU quietly goes about offering a solid education in a safe, beautiful campus.

And of course that is because the graduates tend toward the technical and engineering degrees which pay higher salaries. When that list came out this was immediately noted. It had nothing to do with the quality of education being better than UT.

I just thought that this should be noted.

Someone might prefer TTU and there is nothing wrong with that, but how much of that is because of where it is located and in relation to their childhood home?

University of Tennessee accolades:

U.S. News and World Report also ranks UT graduate programs among the best in the nation for 2012. The College of Engineering's graduate program in nuclear engineering is ranked ninth nationally. The supply chain management and logistics program is ranked 10th among all national universities, and the College of Law's clinical training program is 12th nationally.
The magazine ranked UT's College of Business Administration undergraduate business program 34th in the nation among public institutions in 2011. The magazine also gives high rankings to the college's undergraduate program in supply chain management/logistics, which ranked ninth nationally and seventh among public universities. The College of Engineering undergraduate program ranked 37th among public institutions.
Several graduate programs are ranked on varying cycles but were featured in the 2012 report:
The College of Arts and Sciences physics graduate program ranked 57th nationally in 2010. The college’s computer science program ranked 63rd nationally in 2010.
UT’s information sciences program ranked 17th nationally in 2009.
The College of Arts and Sciences English graduate program ranked 71st nationally in 2009.
The School of Art’s MFA in printmaking ranked third among public universities and fourth nationally in 2008; the overall MFA program ranked 24th among public universities and 50th nationally in 2008.
The College of Social Work’s graduate program ranked 15th among public universities and 26th nationally in 2008.
UT’s public administration master’s program ranked 62nd among public universities and 80th nationally in 2008.
Forbes Magazine lists UT in its 2010 edition of "America's Best Colleges" based on quality of education and how much graduates achieve after receiving their degree. Forbes also cited UT Knoxville's College of Business Administration as 42nd out of 75 for its MBA program, on a list that contains both public and private institutions.
The Princeton Review lists UT in its 2011 edition of "The Best 373 Colleges," making the grade with just 15 percent of the nation’s four-year colleges and universities. UT also was cited for the third year in a row for its environmental efforts, scoring an 85 on the publication's "green rating."
The magazine also named the full-time MBA program one of the nation's "Best 300 Business Schools," and the College of Law one of the "Best 172 Law Schools" in its 2011 editions of those publications.
The Princeton Review also named UT a "Best Southeastern College" for its high standards and outstanding reputation among higher education institutions in the Southeast. The magazine in 2011 also ranked UT Knoxville among the 100 "Best Value Colleges" based on undergraduate academics, affordability and financial aid.

Double T, your child didn't reap any of the benefits of The Hope Scholarship or are you talking about the additional expenses of dorms and the like? Would your child still have to pay for a place to live if they attended Pellissippi? How does Hope play into that decision?

Just curious because, as I've said, we are weighing all these issues. Also taking all of this into consideration for continuing ed for adults, too.

[mia_magination]

wow, that is wonderful input...Thanks to everyone! I can't wait to share some of this info with my son and his friends I also considered the Pellipsi college as a start so I am happy to see that they have transfer availability to UTK. I am afraid of throwing him into a large University and having him be overwhelmed after the very rigorous 4 years of High School with Honor's and AP classes. I want him to feel good about the school adventure and think it may be easier to gradually advance from small college into the university after the basic's are completed...

I am very excited to investigate the mentioned colleges, thank you for all the helpful information! On the countdown to our move so this is a big relief that we picked the right spot for us

[DubbleT]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

Double T, your child didn't reap any of the benefits of The Hope Scholarship or are you talking about the additional expenses of dorms and the like? Would your child still have to pay for a place to live if they attended Pellissippi? How does Hope play into that decision?

Just curious because, as I've said, we are weighing all these issues. Also taking all of this into consideration for continuing ed for adults, too.

He had the Hope and one or two other small scholarships.
His first year most of his expenses, including dorms, were covered. I think we were about $600 shy of all expenses being covered for the year.
I wish I could tell you how the housing allowance works if you transfer from a two year to a four year, but he was adamant about not wanting to do that, so we never really looked into the details.
I'm not sure, but I think if the two year college doesn't have on campus housing the Hope doesn't give a housing allowance. At UTK I think you get the housing allowance whether you choose to live on campus or off.

I also think the scholarship changes somewhat from year to year. What my daughter was offered in the way of Hope was different than what my son was offered three years later. I think it's changed since my son started too. Who knows what it will be when you guys have kids entering. I guess the good thing is that they seem to expand on what Hope offers. For instance when my daughter started if you lost your scholarship you were done, period. Now they give you a second chance to earn it back.

My son moved out of the dorms right after freshman year and decided to make Knoxville his permanent home. He found an apartment with some friends and his expenses went up so he had a couple of part time jobs and took some student loans. He found it a little grueling to take 15 hours, while working and having the expense of living off campus year round. He's down to the minimum 12 hours a semester now and has had to repeat a class (ouch $) which is part of the reason he's now on his 5th year.
He took a class or two at Pellissippi over the summer and I really wish that he had taken more of the basic classes there while he was also taking some of the specialized engineering classes at UTK. Sort of an unofficial dual enrollment.
I think that's where the savings would have come in. Hope wouldn't have paid for those classes directly, but whatever is left from your scholarships and loans after paying the college goes to your bank account.
Pay a little less to UTK, have a little left over out of pocket for Pellissipi. One credit hour at Pellissippi right now is $183, compared to $358 at UTK. Taking 12 hours at UTK and an additional 3 hours at Pellissippi, throw in a Pellissippi summer class or two, I think would have made the most sense financially for him.
Starting out at a two year would have been preferable, but again he refused to consider that, so....
I think you are in a better position if you live in Knoxville and your kid lives at home or can come home for the summer.


As a side note a lot of his expenses were related to being in a fraternity. He chose an engineering fraternity hoping that it would be an investment in his future, job networking etc.
The fraternity was time consuming for him too, he became inactive last year so he could focus more on his classes and drop the added expense. If your kid is interested in Greek life be prepared $$$

[hiknapster]

Dubble T, thank you, again. I've been trying to get answers for things like this for quite awhile. I wonder, though, if you would get less money if they know you are going to be attending Pellissippi. My guess is you would have to do this at the last minute. Who knows.

I'm hoping that our daughter, after the mandatory first year, wants to stay at home for the following years. She says no, now, but she has a nice setup at home.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

And of course that is because the graduates tend toward the technical and engineering degrees which pay higher salaries. When that list came out this was immediately noted. It had nothing to do with the quality of education being better than UT.

I just thought that this should be noted.

Actually, TTU's College of Arts and Sciences is larger than its College of Engineering.

I've been at the University of Tennessee as a student and now as a faculty member for over 17 years. I am very familiar with its accolades, as is everyone else in Knoxville (and probably even the OP, who was merely asking for alternatives to UTK). I am very proud of UTK's accomplishments and love my job. I'll pit my department against any comparable department at any other major state university in the country. We're good.

However, a mammoth school with high-rise dorms and off-campus student housing in one of the most crime-ridden neighborhoods in the state (Fort Sanders) isn't for everyone. Considering UTK receives a heck of a lot more state funding than any other state university (even much-maligned MTSU, whose undergraduate class is now the largest in the state), it should have lots of accolades. But as most undergrads will tell you, they're tired of paying more and more tuition each year when the bulk of their lower level classes are taught my graduate teaching assistants, often in large lecture halls or even auditoriums (several freshman classes meet in the 800-seat Cox Auditorium).

Couple all of that with the mayhem that surrounds our men's athletics program (which is like a Jerry Springer show) and the never-ending nincompoopness of our arrogant administration (which needs to be on Dr. Phil), not everything is as peachey at UTK as some Knoxville boosters would like the world to believe.

In addition, UTK's campus is just ugly. Plus, I'm tired of going to a classroom to teach, only to find out there's no chalk, the audiovisual equipment doesn't work, and the a/c is on the fritz. But hey, we have a huge football stadium and the largest on-campus basketball arena in the country!