College Talk

[DannyLlama]

University of California Tuition Hike Approved

Gotta love it. UC Regents approve a 5% tuition increase for each of the next 5 years. At the same time, they voted nice, fat pay increases for themselves:

UC regents award 20 percent pay raises to fix executive 'injustices' - SFGate

Better to go to community college for the first 2-3 years. Save money, avoid debt.

I work at at one of the universities... I can say that it's much needed.
There has not been any "incentive" or yearly raises here for over 10 years.
The only time there is an increase is when they do adjustments.

So imagine 150 thousand people (all the California universities) not having a raise ever, while inflation is kicking everyone's ass. Has to be done.

I started here almost 4 years ago, since than I have had 2 kids and make about the same more or less. it sucks lol.

 

[AKmoney]

That sucks for the "average Joe" which might be where you fall. But still, the money's going somewhere.

Chart: The Cost of Tuition at UC, CSU Over the Years, Adjusted For Inflation | News Fix | KQED News

According to this, after adjustment for inflation, tuition and fees are between 2x-3x what they were back when I was a student from '91-'95. Something tells me today's kids aren't getting 2-3x the value that I got.

 

[BrianSD_42]

In other good news .... my kids, if I have them, will get free college at University of California or the CA State System.

This is because I am a 10% service connected Veteran and served oversees.

Thank you California !!!!

 

[Kryptoroxx]

Ya know I left without graduating 12 years ago and joined the marines. Now the downsizing is making my idea of a military retirement.....well it's on thin thin ice. Been waiting for a chance of promotion for 7 years and I'm out of time. I get one shot this coming year hopefully but if not I'm not sure what to do.

I would like to finish my degree but honestly going back will be difficult with a family along for the ride this time.

Been thinking about picking up a gs job and then going to school on the side or online.

 

[lelandr]

I think we should have 100% free college for all STEM majors. Germany does this and they are succeeding with on of the strongest manufacturing industries in the world right now. They are investing in their people and we need to do the same. I want free education - but only for degrees that will build a better America for tomorrow.

First of all, a little disclosure as I'm sort of new & don't post much. I have a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering from Auburn University (98). I work as a cold-rolling process specialist in the metals industry. I work for a big German conglomerate (or div is going into a JV with a big Japanese conglomerate in January) providing electrical & automation solutions for the metals industry.

First, my father would be interested to know if your 100% STEM degree rebate is retroactive as he paid for the majority of two engineering degrees (Lil sis is also an engineer).

Germany has not had free college degrees for several years now. They are still cheap--like 100Eur per semester, but they cost something to decrease the number of people who were just staying in college forever for free. Also, this inexpensive university system applies to all majors.

Next, while we need more engineers, we also mis-use a lot of engineers. You need technical people to maintain highly-automated modern factories, but not necessarily engineers. THIS is where Germany excels. They focus on engineering, but also on technical education (like 2-year associates degrees). The 2-year "maintenence engineering" degree is an example. From my standpoint as the person who designs the system, differential math, thermodynamics, metallurgy are important to understanding, quantifying & coding the control algorithms. For the guys who keep it running, not so much...But they do benefit from learning the engineering method of problem solving.

In the USA, an operator can be anyone old enough to work. In Germany, an operator in any industry is going to have some kind of technical apprenticeship in the industry. I can tell you from 1st-hand experience which way is better.

Furthermore, the German method starts when kids are in preschool. They are tested very young & consistently to guide which schools they attend. There are three basic tiers. Only kids who go to gynasium & progress through are eligible for college. Their classes are geared from the start based on aptitude. Kids in the middle tier tend to end up going for apprenticeships, and the bottom tier tend to end up as unskilled labor. Just remember, society critically needs janitors & trashmen as well as doctors & engineers.

I find this to be a better way than what we do here. Everyone performs differently, and the difference between the top performers & the bottom can be great. Our 1 size fits all style frustrates those at the top (not challenged enough) and the bottom (struggle fruitlessly to keep up), causing everyone to compromise.

Sorry for the long post.

 

[BrianSD_42]

It sounds like you and I are pretty much in agreement.

 

[jgmx893]

Well, heard back from Virginia Tech and it looks like I won't be getting in early decision to engineering. Basically my curriculum wasn't strong enough. So I think what I'm going to do is head there for freshman year and then transfer to Engineering after that. Still haven't heard back about Engineering from NC State or Clemson yet, but I'm thinking I'll choose VT no matter what. It's just a lot cheaper since it's in state. Plus I like it the most.

 

[Nervo19]

Quick. VCU is still taking apps. They have an engineering school and they have offered merit aid to many of my son's Robotics friends who are graduating this year. They have a lot of departmental money. I know you live in Richmond and don't want to go there but you can start there on the engineering track and transfer later. It shouldn't take long to apply since it's a Common App school. The honors dorm there is single rooms with private baths.

I thought only applying to three schools was a bad idea. NC State can only take 25% of it's class from out of state by law. The people they admit are mostly full pay and with top stats. Clemson is a flag ship state school for SC so it's probably the same story. It's not you, they have to be very selective of their out of state students to bring up their stats due to the crappy high schools in SC and NC.

Does your school have a guidance counselor? They should have done a better job advising you. George Mason, VCU and ODU are all in state schools that have engineering programs.

If you are firm on VA Tech consider their business school. My son will probably be in IT there in '16 since he does not want to build the computer, just code it. If you got waitlisted for engineering, hang in there. I do know of an aeronautics and an EE that got waitlisted and then admitted and are sophomores now. I think you have to tell them you want to stay on the waiting list. You can still pay deposit at another school while on the list. Good luck and let us know how it turns out. Maybe you'll end up helping him with his 4Runner at Tech. I don't see him on here...

 

[LittleCaesar]

Well, heard back from Virginia Tech and it looks like I won't be getting in early decision to engineering. Basically my curriculum wasn't strong enough. So I think what I'm going to do is head there for freshman year and then transfer to Engineering after that. Still haven't heard back about Engineering from NC State or Clemson yet, but I'm thinking I'll choose VT no matter what. It's just a lot cheaper since it's in state. Plus I like it the most.

That would be my plan of attack as well. Bust your rear and do well in classes. Also talk to the engineering professors and explain where you want to be as a sophomore there. A good friend of mine went to Clemson but not until as a junior; it took him an extra semester to graduate with a degree in electrical engineering. Now he works for BMW and loves it.

As Nervo19 stated, look at business classes to take for freshman credits.

 

[jgmx893]

Quick. VCU is still taking apps. They have an engineering school and they have offered merit aid to many of my son's Robotics friends who are graduating this year. They have a lot of departmental money. I know you live in Richmond and don't want to go there but you can start there on the engineering track and transfer later. It shouldn't take long to apply since it's a Common App school. The honors dorm there is single rooms with private baths.

I thought only applying to three schools was a bad idea. NC State can only take 25% of it's class from out of state by law. The people they admit are mostly full pay and with top stats. Clemson is a flag ship state school for SC so it's probably the same story. It's not you, they have to be very selective of their out of state students to bring up their stats due to the crappy high schools in SC and NC.

Does your school have a guidance counselor? They should have done a better job advising you. George Mason, VCU and ODU are all in state schools that have engineering programs.

If you are firm on VA Tech consider their business school. My son will probably be in IT there in '16 since he does not want to build the computer, just code it. If you got waitlisted for engineering, hang in there. I do know of an aeronautics and an EE that got waitlisted and then admitted and are sophomores now. I think you have to tell them you want to stay on the waiting list. You can still pay deposit at another school while on the list. Good luck and let us know how it turns out. Maybe you'll end up helping him with his 4Runner at Tech. I don't see him on here...

I honestly didn't even look at VCU. Just not my type of atmosphere and too close to home. But you're right, I could have done some engineering there and then transferred. For now it's looking like Virginia Tech is where I'll be, though. I don't have high hopes for NC State and Clemson for the reasons you mentioned. Plus I like Tech's facilities and Mechanical Engineering program the best. Applying to just those 3 schools probably was a dumb idea, but I just didn't feel excited to apply anywhere else. Maybe I'm just picky.
For now I think the plan is to go to Virginia Tech and do a general education program next year and transfer to Engineering after. I'm curious why you said to look into Business? To make it easier to transfer to Eng. or because it is a good program?
My school's counselors left it more up to me to do the research on what schools are good with engineering. I definitely could have taken more initiative or visited more colleges, but after I visited Tech I felt like that was just the right choice for me. And that was after visiting UVA, William and Mary, and looking online at a few others.
It would be cool to meet up with your son and work on the runners if we both end up at Tech. If I'm there next year I'll be joining the 4x4 club, and maybe the car club. Maybe he would be into those too.

That would be my plan of attack as well. Bust your rear and do well in classes. Also talk to the engineering professors and explain where you want to be as a sophomore there. A good friend of mine went to Clemson but not until as a junior; it took him an extra semester to graduate with a degree in electrical engineering. Now he works for BMW and loves it.

As Nervo19 stated, look at business classes to take for freshman credits.

Yea I'll definitely be making sure I'm doing as good as possible so that I can make sure I can transfer. I'll definitely be talking to counselors and professors there to get a foot in the door and get some advice on what I need to do.

 

[THatfield]

Been doing a lot of thinking lately, and with a little research, I think I have a final plan. I'm going to wrap up a couple of semesters at the local Community College and transfer to Cleveland State. They carry my major (Sports Management) and the possible internship/co-op opportunities in Cleveland will also be a plus. I'm also looking forward to getting out of dodge and away from some people. I'll either be dorming at CleState or getting an apartment with my brother who goes to Case Western.

I'm pretty pumped. Looking forward to ironing out the details with my advisors and figuring out just how much longer before I can head for the Erie shore. :juggle:

 

[Nervo19]

I'm curious why you said to look into Business? To make it easier to transfer to Eng. or because it is a good program?
QUOTE]

I was mistaking. I thought VT would not let you transfer into engineering. Some schools you can't. The better strategy is to take as much of the curriculum as they allow. I happened across this thread, called "Deferred from VT Engineering" and this lady outlines what her son did:

The thread is here:
Deferred from VT Early Decision and Later Accepted in VT College of Engineering? - College Confidential

"My son was deferred from early engineering in 2013 and got in University studies during RD (second choice). We knew he wanted to continue to pursue the engineering degree, so he prepared over the summer before admissions to take an intro. engineering course at a VA community college that met the requirements and would qualify as a transfer credit course at VA Tech since he would not qualify to take the course at VT during his freshman fall semester (restricted to engineering freshmen only). He took all the other courses during his first semester that the engineering students were taking, thus keeping himself on the same path. He requested to change majors after his fall freshman semester since he had fulfilled all the requirements, and became an official engineering student in time for the freshman spring semester.
If you check out some of my past postings you will see more info. about the process my son went thru. You have to plan well and plan in advance in order for this to work well for you or it could mean extra semesters for your student if they fall behind the engineering students before making that internal transition.
Check out this link for specifics on the internal transfer process"

Into Engineering - Department of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech


Hope it helps.

 

[Omar RVA]

I honestly didn't even look at VCU. Just not my type of atmosphere and too close to home. But you're right, I could have done some engineering there and then transferred. For now it's looking like Virginia Tech is where I'll be, though. I don't have high hopes for NC State and Clemson for the reasons you mentioned. Plus I like Tech's facilities and Mechanical Engineering program the best. Applying to just those 3 schools probably was a dumb idea, but I just didn't feel excited to apply anywhere else. Maybe I'm just picky.
For now I think the plan is to go to Virginia Tech and do a general education program next year and transfer to Engineering after. I'm curious why you said to look into Business? To make it easier to transfer to Eng. or because it is a good program?
My school's counselors left it more up to me to do the research on what schools are good with engineering. I definitely could have taken more initiative or visited more colleges, but after I visited Tech I felt like that was just the right choice for me. And that was after visiting UVA, William and Mary, and looking online at a few others.
It would be cool to meet up with your son and work on the runners if we both end up at Tech. If I'm there next year I'll be joining the 4x4 club, and maybe the car club. Maybe he would be into those too.

Yea I'll definitely be making sure I'm doing as good as possible so that I can make sure I can transfer. I'll definitely be talking to counselors and professors there to get a foot in the door and get some advice on what I need to do.

I noticed your situation and wanted to offer some help if I could. I graduated from VT with my B.S. Civil Engineering and Minor in Math in May 2011. Sorry to hear that your high school counselors left you hanging on this one. Feel free to ask me/PM whatever questions you might have about the engineering curriculum and VT/Blacksburg in general. One of the big things that drew me there was the natural beauty of the campus as well as all the outdoor recreation available so close to campus.

While going to Tech in the fall and hoping to transfer into engineering is one path into the ME program, I would like to note a few caveats and another option. The caveats are that the "general ed." type courses that you would take your first year in the engineering program are MOSTLY different than the gen ed. courses the rest of the university takes. For example, physics for non engineers has a different course number than physics for engineers; they won't accept the latter as a required prerequisite course for your future engineering coursework. The other issue is that these courses are absolutely full to the brim with the amount of incoming engineers VT sees. When I was there as a freshmen in fall '06, I knew plenty of engineers who couldn't even get into their freshmen sciences, and engineering majors are given preference. Making a mistake here would set you back at least a year, as each of the sciences and maths are offered over two semesters (the first half is typically fall only, the second half is typically spring only). I knew a few folks in my classes who tried this approach and were there 6 years (which equates to a lot of extra money). Take a look at this awful course selection sheet from the ME department. Most of the other engineering departments use a simple check sheet, but these are the courses you need to try to take to hit the ground running.

The other option I wanted to note was going to JSarge or another community college for your first year or two. The VCCS (VA community college system) has a deal with all the major public universities in the state. If you do well (like straight As; not as bad as you might think) for 2 years at any of the VCCS schools, you will get accepted (through the transfer process) to pretty much any of the big public universities. I knew quite a few folks in my 3rd and 4th year at VT who did just that - and saved a LOT of money in the process. They missed out on some of the freshmen experiences one can have at a larger, secluded university like Tech, but they have the same degree I do, and less debt. I would call up J. Sergeant Reynolds and see if they still have the same program in place.

Sorry for the novel above, but I wanted to be thorough. Best of luck and again, feel free to ask me for help whenever you need it.

OA

Post note: upon doing more research on VT's current engineering curriculum, I've noticed they are further distinguishing general math courses between engineers and non engineers (in particular in the math department). This should be more reason to tread carefully when selecting your courses.

 

[jgmx893]

Omar, thanks for the input. Selecting the "right" classes that I would need to transfer is definitely confusing, thanks for giving your experience with the process as well as the flowchart. Freshmen year I'll have to talk with counselors and professors to make sure I'm picking the right classes. Last thing I want is to spend 6 years there. I wouldn't like to spend more than I have to, but also want to just be in one place for the 4 years. Don't think I want to try to do JSarge at this point. I would feel too stressed to make good grades just to transfer somewhere that I could have gone in the first place (even if it was be general education). If for some reason I'm not accepted into general education at Tech, I guess I'll have to do something like that though.

 

[jgmx893]

Somewhat surprisingly to me, since I last posted on here I have been accepted into Clemson and NC State for Engineering. Now just waiting to hear back from Virginia Tech, which is still my favorite. They've been making me stress too much with their long waiting times haha. I'll have to look more into Clemson, since they're supposed to have a pretty good Mechanical program. I honestly applied there without looking much at the school, so I should do more research. Anyone else here that's a senior in HS and has heard back from schools?

 

[LittleCaesar]

As per my avatar you can see how much I like Clemson, having lived in South Carolina for a number of years. Too many friends and relatives that went there for me to count on my hands and feet. That said, I didn't matriculate there because I received a full scholarship from a liberal arts college (not the wisest move in going there) and my SAT math scores were anemic enough to make me run from Clemson to the safe haven of the written word, though I am an internal account auditor by trade now. I am twenty years out of applying for college, and don't miss it.

Either school is great. Clemson seems to have a fast track to getting their brightest students who have an automotive interest to work at BMW in Greer, SC. One of my best friends works for BMW, yet he is working in their corporate office in Munich. Plus you have to learn German, and quickly at that. NC State tends to learn more to applied engineering applications, but I do know some students from there who ended up at BMW as well.

Don't give up though on VT. Omar had some excellent advice for you.

 

[jgmx893]

As per my avatar you can see how much I like Clemson, having lived in South Carolina for a number of years. Too many friends and relatives that went there for me to count on my hands and feet. That said, I didn't matriculate there because I received a full scholarship from a liberal arts college (not the wisest move in going there) and my SAT math scores were anemic enough to make me run from Clemson to the safe haven of the written word, though I am an internal account auditor by trade now. I am twenty years out of applying for college, and don't miss it.

Either school is great. Clemson seems to have a fast track to getting their brightest students who have an automotive interest to work at BMW in Greer, SC. One of my best friends works for BMW, yet he is working in their corporate office in Munich. Plus you have to learn German, and quickly at that. NC State tends to learn more to applied engineering applications, but I do know some students from there who ended up at BMW as well.

Don't give up though on VT. Omar had some excellent advice for you.

Thanks for the reply, and again thanks Omar for the advice. I heard about the connections with BMW and I think Toyota is in Georgia. I'll definitely have to do some research on the automotive connections and any specialized engineering for that there.
Definitely won't give up on VT, might end up going there as I've stated even if I don't get accepted straight into Eng. Would be a ton cheaper to try to transfer to Eng. after the fact that try to go to Clemson and start Eng. off the bat.

 

[jgmx893]

After much thinking and getting my financial aid statements I've decided to go to NC State! Anyone else on here go there or live around Raleigh? I noticed that Uwharrie is about an hour and a half away so hopefully I'll be getting out there and running some trails/camping every once in a while.

 

[zopperman]

After much thinking and getting my financial aid statements I've decided to go to NC State! Anyone else on here go there or live around Raleigh? I noticed that Uwharrie is about an hour and a half away so hopefully I'll be getting out there and running some trails/camping every once in a while.

Congrats. I love the Raleigh area. Good luck.

 

[Nervo19]

Congratulations. Good choice.