Posted on 10/26/2017 9:14:24 AM PDT by 2banana
Looking for some advice/guidance from the smart folks here.
I have a child who is a junior at Penn State at State College and another child who is a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia (UPenn pre-med).
I am currently deployed (National Guard) on a year-long US Army combat deployment with American and Afghan Special Forces in Afghanistan.
My Penn State child decided to join the Pennsylvania National Guard to help pay for college and take a financial burden off our family. His dates for BASIC/AIT are Summer 2017 - Spring 2018.
When we informed UPenn that Penn State child would be in BASIC/AIT and not at Penn State for this time period, they raised our Expected Family Contribution (ETC) by $20,000 for this school year for a total of $58,000+.
It is totally unaffordable and we would have never sent our child there if we had know this ahead of time.
This seems unfair on several levels with the prevalent issue in that the University of Pennsylvania is actually punishing our family for serving in the US military. And ironically, the $20,000 increase in the ETC is far more than Penn State child will receive in his military educational assistance once he comes back to finish at Penn State.
Any IDEAS?
I feel stuck and about worthless 10,000 miles away from home.
About the only idea is to pull UPenn child out of Spring, 2018 semester to wait for Penn State child to get back and have them both go back to college in the Fall, 2018 when the ETC should, hopefully, go back to "normal."
Thank you for all ideas.
Tell them o go black face and they will probably have to pay nothing.
Yes contact your local congressman and both Senators.
That should do it for you.
Sorry for the sarcasm above but the atmosphere of most universities today, thanks to progressive administrations, is anti military and anti white and anti conservative. Tell them to come to Texas and enroll in Texas A&M. They are not like that.
God bless for your service and I hope you find a solution soon!
Write, call, text, tweet and e-mail Fox News. Locally and nationally.
Shame them! It is one of the most effective ways of getting liberal colleges to back down.
As a Pennsylvanian I have not had much luck with politicians unless it’s an election year. And even then not much.
Good luck!
Pat Toomey (RINO) & Bob Casey Jr (islamist facilitator)
Good luck.
But thanks for your service.
Unfortunately the formula they use does not reward “doing the right thing”.
My divorce saved me a ton of money in college expenses for my two daughters. If I were still married I’d be leveraged out by now. Now I am seeing both girls graduating with all bills paid. It is not free, but certainly seems that way seeing that the original bills are 60K+ a year.
Yes, that’s how they operate. They see another XX sum of money available (from other child not in school) and to them, it just means you can contribute more. The simplest answer is probably - you should not have told UPenn in the first place your other child was entering BASIC. That child is still on Penn State rolls, are they not?
Anyway how to approach it now?
U Penn is an Ivy. They have more money than God. The typical figure is that at least 50% of kids there don’t even apply for any financial aid. Have your child go of financial aid office and tell them 1) we were 100% honest in your reporting, now you are being penalized, 2) Dad is on active duty, 3) Sibling at Penn State joined NG because of lack of money, so family money isn’t there, 4) Child explains he/she having to deal with this myself, if I can’t resolve I will possibly need to drop out. They don’t want your child to have to drop out.
Explain, and argue and don’t give up, be polite yet firm. These are bureaucrats, so squeaky wheel gets the oil. Best immediate source is to have your child approach financial aid office. Have thoughts and argument well prepared. If you don’t get satisfactory result, take it up the chain, all the way to Univ. President if necessary.
I do not think an outside force like a Congressmen will help much, certainly not in the short term. Work the U Penn system.
Schools like U Penn love to tell everyone that they will meet the financial need of EVERY student. Make them live up to it.
Maybe Penn State is not the place for your child to be educated at. Try Hillsdale College.... or one of several other fine private schools that actually teach and not just indoctrinate into the leftist social mentality.
Also, you get what you pay for.
Thanks for your service and that of your offspring.
PGR88.
Very good post and my child has already done most of what you suggest.
The financial aid office won’t budge. Their only response is “MORE LOANS!”
The UPenn VA office just punts everything back to the financial aid office.
I have emailed the President of UPenn. No word yet.
We have been polite yet firm.
I will become more squeaky as we go on.
News media is next.
State NG usually has funds for scholarships.
State schools should be paid 100% for NG members.
Penn State is NOT a state school.
Believe it or not.
It is a “state affiliated” school.
+++++
State schools should be paid 100% for NG members.
My dad used to call it “State Pen”
They are your children, but I would not call either a child. < /nitpick >
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