Cost of College in Wilkes-Barre

[sheena12]

Originally Posted by Mr Yuk

Huh? Schools like Bloom, ESU, Kutztown, Mansfield etc, all have about the same student population as the University of Scranton or Wilkes. Classes at the state system schools are every bit as small with individual attention as the local private colleges. Unless you're talking about PSU University Park, which isn't a true state university, although it does get a state endowment, and while more expensive than the state system schools, is still a bargain next to private schools, and offers more in the way of majors. A relatively cheap option is to go to a local PSU campus like Worthington and living at home, but the offering of bachelors degrees at the local campuses is limited (but growing).

Happen to agree with this. Many parents have something against state colleges. If your child is a very high achiever, some private colleges can give a nice financial aid package. Some can't.

If the choice were mine, for my child, going away would be very important. Private or public would not be an issue.

There are some very mediocre private schools. And some poor ones.
All things being equal, I would urge my child to avail him or her self of the singular oppertunity of going away to college as a freshman.

Private, State, close, far, does not matter. Do they have a major my child will want? Can we afford it? Will she get to experience life away from home?

This is what is important to me.

[drsmiley06]

Yea I'm not sure why some parents are against state colleges either, kinda of weird why they would think like that. Do some think state colleges don't offer a better education? Because they can't use the arguement that more parties happen at state colleges, that's simply not true. I guess there's some sense of entitlement by having gone to a private school, maybe it's bragging rights. I can tell you this, I went to Temple University for dental school and those other guys that went to Univ. of Penn, well let's just say they are way more in debt, and I do mean way more in debt too, than I'll ever be. And, trust me when I say this, their education is not any better than Temple's, or Univ. of Pitt, or any other dental school. But for some reason or another they seem to think that because the degree says Univ. of Penn they'll fare better, absolutely positively not true. It's a good school, but to go there or any other private school for the mere fact that it's a private school, well, that's just poor planning. As a few of my old professors use to say, name doesn't matter until you go to graduate school, that's where people will start paying attention to the name on the degree.

[jtab4994]

Originally Posted by drsmiley06

As a few of my old professors use to say, name doesn't matter until you go to graduate school, that's where people will start paying attention to the name on the degree.

Our son's HS guidance counselor told us the same thing. I think it's kinda cool that he can go to ESU or Bloomsburg for about the same tuition we're paying for his Catholic high school.

[J Swarthout]

Originally Posted by drsmiley06

Because they can't use the arguement that more parties happen at state colleges, that's simply not true.

I think that is debatable. As a soon to be Bloom grad I can tell you that there is an INSANE amount of drinking going on there and its getting worse. I was talking with someone who works in the emergency room there and claims every year there are more and more alcohol related vists to their ER. There is also an extreme amount of emphasis on greek. Maybe I take that view because I'm a bit older than the average college student and it all seems excessive to me now.

All in all though I think Bloom is a great school,offers a fantastic education for the money, and I'm glad I chose to go there. They have a great business school which one can almost say that its one of the best in this part of PA if you don't count Penn state main. Most people I know who have graduated within the past year were employed right after they graduated. Their business school is AACSB certified in all their majors accounting included. Accounting majors do extremely well after graduation.

Most of my classes, other than some gen ed's, are at a max of 25-30 students tops. 90% of the profs I've had have PHD's with the rest being close to having one. I know that the profs are highly encouraged to produce scholarly articles on a regular basis. I've also had a few profs that wrote the textbooks for the class being offered. I've had two profs who got their doctorate from an Ivy league university. I've had profs that taught at schools like UC Berkley, Texas tech, Temple and some other big schools like that. I would say that is on par with most private schools today with a much smaller price tag, even with budget cuts. I anticipate a decent job after graduation, being in a tech related field, with a student loan payment smaller than half of a car payment.

[Karen-P]

Heck, I paid $9k this past year for my son to attend Luzerne County Community College because we had just moved to PA! It'll cost me around $3,000 for the 2012-2013 year, and then he's considering ESU to finish his degree. That should run aroudn $7500/year.

He was thinking Kings...but he'd rather not have tons of student loans when he graduates. Wilkes was $26k, PSU would have run over $20k a year since he'd have to live on campus (they only offer his course of study out in State College, so no commuting there).

College costs are crazy.

[sheena12]

Originally Posted by drsmiley06

I just saw an article today in the local paper about how King's College in Wilkes-Barre is losing money and are thinking about offering less financial aid in the future. I'll have to go back and look at the article but I thought I saw the tuition somewhere near $28K/year and that's going up next year. I thank god I went to Bloomsburg Univ. for undergrad because that's just a crazy amount of money to spend for undergrad. I remember starting dental school at Temple Univ. in Philly and sitting next to friends who were well over $60K in debt just from undergrad, and they hadn't even started their first class in graduate school yet!

Not going to talk bad about any one particular school in the area, but these private colleges/universities are unbelievably expensive. Even with financial aid, there's no way that can cover everything and I think that's what the article what talking about in regards to lowering financial awards and raising tuition because it looks like they are losing money. Maybe they give out too much financial aid, who knows, but to me I would reconsider a school if the tuition was that expensive. Heck, nothing wrong with luzerne county community college right down the street. In fact, I started there back in the mid-90's and thought it was a great deal, even transfered most of my credits to Bloomsburg. What do others think out there, do you have children or relatives attending these high priced private schools in the area and watching them come out with enormous amount of debt?

I live here and I agree completely.

Some people in this region seem opposed to sending their children away to college and to using state schools as though they are all some how inferior.

Some state schools are inferior to some private schools, and the other way around.

Some people not just here, but every where, seem to think that the word "private" confers some form of elite status upon a college or university, when it does not.

King's is an OK college.Average. It is selective, but nothing more. There is nothing to my mind that would justify that kind of tuition for a college that is just average.
Except a free ride or a generous grant or financial aid package.

There are also people who chose a college based upon it's religious affiliation. But King's is not the only Roman Catholic college on earth.

We are paying far less for our son to go to college next year and he is going to a better school and living in a dorm.

People should also investigate how well endowed a particular college is and if it is financially solvent. Colleges can lose their accreditation if they can not prove financial solvency. It's happened before.