Visiting SUNY Cortland

[Deerthug]

Interesting opinions from all of you. Thank you for your comments.

We just had a conversation with her during dinner about the subject. I basically said to her that she needs to look at everything surrounding both schools and that she needs to make an informed decision and that she needs to give us a rational reason as to why she likes or dislikes a particular school and not it's "because I want to go".

We told her that she needs to consider what she would be dealing with on a daily basis up there compared to down here including the weather, (and as we all know its much colder up in Cortland than down on LI during the winter ... Well okay, most winters with this past one being an exception to the norm and you long islanders know what I'm talking about).

She must also think about the opportunities presented to her down in NYC compared to being up in a small town both from what is available for her to do on a weekend as well as job placement and internship opportunities while she is in school.

She also needs to understand that going closer to home we are readily available to help her compared to her being up in Cortland where we cannot just jump on the parkway and get to her.

I do want her to go away but I want her to do so for the right reasons. What those right reasons are will be the deciding factor in her decision. Hopefully that the decision is right for my family as a whole.

Stay tuned.....

Edited April 8, 2015 by Deerthug

[Pygmy]

"Small Town"....?

Cortland is a METROPOLIS compared to where I come from....<<grin>>...

Shucks...I hear the kids up there even wear SHOES when they go to school...

[rotorooter23]

Currently living in Cortland and being around cortland since I was a kid as I grew up 15 minutes south of here, it is nothing really special. The college really helps out the city as cortland county is one of the poorest counties in ny.

[First-light]

I'm staying out of this one……lol. Tough decisions to make all around. I did 2 years at SJU and then went to Plattsburgh State. Hunting and fishing was great my last two years of school not so much the first half. lol Good luck to her and your family.

[Ford]

285. SUNY College at Cortland

 

    

LOCATION: Cortland, NY

VALUE GRADE/RANKING SCORE: B/3.01

ENROLLMENT: 6,345

NET PRICE OF DEGREE: $103,712

ACCEPTANCE RATE: 44%

AVERAGE H.S. GPA: 3.35

AVG. ANNUAL SALARY WITHIN 5 YRS: $38,900

WEBSITE: cortland.edu

 

 

646. St. John’s University-New York

 

    

LOCATION: Queens, NY

VALUE GRADE/RANKING SCORE: C+/2.35

ENROLLMENT: 15,840

NET PRICE OF DEGREE: $206,927

ACCEPTANCE RATE: 49%

AVERAGE H.S. GPA: 3.3

AVG. ANNUAL SALARY WITHIN 5 YRS: $45,100

WEBSITE: stjohns.edu

 

http://time.com/money/collection/moneys-best-colleges/

 

 

AVG. ANNUAL SALARY WITHIN 5 YRS: $38,900

 

Good lord this economy sucks.

[G-Man]

Forget college, 1st year on railroad 60 to 80,000. With benifits.... cost for job, high school diploma...

like Mike Rowe says you don't need college trades school and other jobs are available.

[GreeneHunter]

https://labor.ny.gov/pressreleases/apprenticeshiparchive.shtm  .... Hey ya never Know !

[steve863]

Come on guys, Deerthug was talking about his daughter in this thread.  I don't think he ever envisioned her "working on the railroad" or growing up to be a boilermaker, roofer or sheetmetal worker.  Not that there is anything wrong with these other jobs, but I don't think a lot of fathers ever pictured their daughters working in such trades.   I think a guy can get away without going to college if he has good skills in a trade.  He can surely make good money in many trades.  For females however, I really do think college is VERY important these days.  If some think making $40K within 5 years of college graduation is sad, just think what the average female without a college education will be making??  Not a pretty picture, that's for sure.

[virgil]

If she plans to live in the Long Island/NYC area after college, a St. John's degree will have a lot more influence on job prospects in this area.  I know a lot of St. John's grads who work in finance, law, broadcasting, and business.  There's a pretty strong network locally.  I don't mean any disrespect to Cortland- but, I don't think a Cortland degree would be as valuable.

[growalot]

What has not been mentioned and is of the most importance is...for the major and or second choice major she is looking to have...what is the school ranked in those areas...will getting good grades in those there get her into a top notch grad school?they need to look at the program specific ratings..turn overs and internship programs NOW.

[MountainHunter]

This definitely can be a tough situation. You want her to be where she feels most comfortable and where she feels like she fits in best. A private school is likely to have more resources in regard to programs both socially and academically.

Hopefully her decision (I do believe it is her decision if it is within the finances you have agreed to) will take into consideration proximity to home, internship and employment possibilities, reputation of the school etc.

If she has to maintain a really high GPA to maintain her academic scholarship money at St Johns that is something to consider. You want her to do well of course but you don't want her having a really high GPA requirement hanging over her head.

Best Wishes to she and your family! Our family had gone through this last year so I definitely know what you are going through.

[philoshop]

Colleges and universities aren't there to teach. They exist to provide an atmosphere for learning.

It's entirely up to the student to do the actual learning, and it's entirely up to them what they choose to learn in a given environment.

[steve863]

Colleges and universities aren't there to teach. They exist to provide an atmosphere for learning.

It's entirely up to the student to do the actual learning, and it's entirely up to them what they choose to learn in a given environment.

 

 

Provide an atmosphere for learning and not necessarily to teach??  Is that why they are charging $40K per year on the average, only to provide a learning atmosphere??  Hell, I can set up a real nice room for my kid where they could do some learning for a lot less.  I agree that it's up to the student to learn, but for the money these colleges are getting these days, one should expect a little more than an aromatic atmosphere.  A good teacher can go a LONG way in motivating students.  If teaching wasn't important then why even need professors?  Might as well just show everyone videos of the subject matter and be done with it.  Not having to pay live professors should surely bring tuition down also.  

 

I know that it can be tough without a college degree, but these colleges are becoming quite a racket.  I think where they fail miserably is hooking up students with potential employers when the student is getting close to graduation.  In most cases they could give a crap about you once they got all your money.  They need to do a lot more in helping students find jobs and internships.  I think a student coughing up $160K or more in the 4 years would deserve at least some assistance.  And it should be for all students, not only the ones in the top 1% in GPA.

[growalot]

I Beg to differ with you on that...if a school is good, they have great ppl working with there top students to get internships..effect...Here's the bottom line...rankings count big time for them. Finances are their top priority and a good alumni net work is so very important in this regard. Happy alumni loosen their purse strings and open the money clips...

[Two Track]

Passed by Cortland when visited Cornell.  Very attractive land on the ride there (except for the cities). Stayed in Ithica when visited Cornell, didn't smell too good there, so we ruled out an Ithica college visit very quickly.  Cornell has a very nice looking campus, parking is not so great there.  There were a couple programs that my son was toying with there.

 

I have to head out to SUNY Binghamton this weekend and then Stevens Technical Institute for my kid to make his decision.    Travel time is similar. but he can take a train to get 95% of the way home from Stevens. He was at Harvard last summer for a couple courses and hoped to get accepted for this fall. 

 

Harvard was number one on his list.  He was deferred until last week when he finally got declined.  If got in, it would have been a no brainer.  But he still has 8 Harvard College credits to his name, plus all the AP classes for the last 2 years.  He is quite busy with the 4 AP classes this semester.

 

He has been accepted as a 4+1 year student at Stevens, will come out with a Masters degree in 5 years or less.

They have a good Alumni program and have a few projects with the defense dept and homeland security.  Can take a ferry over to NYC to access museums, Broadway Shows, or internships in NYC (for the Arts, business, or engineering programs).   We have a great offer on the tutition for Stevens.

 

Parking at Stevens and Harvard is tough.  Will see how Binghamton is this weekend and see what offer they will put on the table.

 

Room and board is insane from what it was in the eighties/nineties.  I could earn 3,000 - 3500 a summer to cover my own room and board for the year in college.  Now there is no way to make enough money to pay for that yourself.

 

Edited April 8, 2015 by Two Track

[MountainHunter]

Congratulations to your son Two Track! Those are fine schools. Our daughter had been accepted to Binghamton last year and had chosen not to attend. Academically it is highly regarded and I have no doubt any student who attends will receive a fine education. I don't what activities and opportunities exist off campus there. 

Good luck to  your son and your family!

Parking is not an issue at Binghamton.

Edited April 8, 2015 by MountainHunter

[Deerthug]

Wow! I never expected this thread to run this long.

Grow, you are correct that her major is a determing factor. We started with her major which is communication sciences and disorders (CSD) with her ultimate goal of becoming a speech pathologist. We started backwards and narrowed the search to those schools that offer the major. Then we weeded out those schools that were either commuter schools, i.e Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, or too far away i.e. Suny Buffalo, and those schools that did not offer her scholarships i.e Emerson, We also weeded out schools that we did not feel were in the safest of areas i.e . Elmira (no disrespect intended).

It came down to 4 out of 16 schools that accepted her. They included College of St Rose in Albany - great program, small school but the layout of the campus was not a good fit for her. Then it was Towson in Maryland (big State school)but the value for the money was not worth it. $37k for a state school?? Umm ... No way unless she wanted to come out with $40k+ in loans after 4 years. Eventually it came down to Suny Cortland, and St Johns which offered her the most merit scholarship money and additional funds to live on campus. She also got an additional $2000 for taking 18 college credit courses in HS sponsored by St Johns (which already kills one semester).

Now looking at both St John and Cortland. I called both schools and got some more information.

St Johns: Although she did not get into the CSD program I was told that if she maintains a 3.0 during her first semester she will be transfered into the CSD program for the second semester. In addition, I was told that St Johns has multiple connections throughout LI and NYC for internship placement. As far as maintaining her scholarships she needs to maintain a 3.0. I don't think that will be a problem.

Cortland: She was accepted into the CSD program. But I learned that the internships were in Syracuse or Binghamton and that there are only a handfull of spots compared to the number of students (292) in the undergrad program. When asked about how the winters are up there the woman laughed and said "We are in western NY. I'm not going to kid you it gets cold and we get a lot more snow than on LI".

So the decision will be made hopefully this weekend after we visit St Johns. There are alot of things for her to think about the next few days because whatever her decision will be, she is the one who will have to deal with the consequences both good and bad.

Edited April 9, 2015 by Deerthug

[MountainHunter]

It sounds like you have done a heck of a job on behalf of your daughter! I really respect what you have done.

[growalot]

Best to you all... What ever the decision ,I'm sure she'll be fine and do very well..Fun times..(wink/smile)

[Deerthug]

So we spent the day at St John's today.... What a beautiful campus!

And after talking about both schools for the last 3 hours the decision is...........

ST JOHN'S!!

She made this decision all on her own after weighing all the pros and cons between the schools. We did not push either way. We laid everything out on the table and she chose. We let her know that we would support whatever decision she made.

It came down to the career services department of St John's which has 10x times the amount of internship connections over Cortland; the closeness to NYC and 24/7 on campus security. And she realized she would be giving up $112,000 over four years in scholarships. She realized St John's was the right choice and that it was really a no brainer.

This was the first real adult conversation we had with her and her first adult decision. I am so very proud of her and the way she came to her decision.

The next step is contacting the St John's athletic dept with the hope of getting her onto the fencing team..... Hmmmm....

[ny hunter]

Thats awesome,my little girl is still on the fence she said she well decide by the end of the weekend.I think she is leaning toward Cortland..

[First-light]

Good for her and the family. Glad she made the decision and is on her way to a nice school. Hearing a few stories just like this over this past weekend. Not an easy decision at all. You know I spent two years at St. John's and then went on to Plattsburgh State. No reason why she an't do the same if she is not totally happy there. Like I said Plattsburgh had so much better hunting and fishing available…lol.

 

Edited April 12, 2015 by First-light