The st Augustine dilemma

[wjs010]

Okay so I have a problem I need to solve ASAP. I woke up this morning to an interview invitation at the San Marcos campus. Several months ago, I would have been happy because thats the first school I applied to and now Steve is giving me a chance. But now after reading more and more I am sad because of tuition. Can someone reassure me the tuition for an out of state student. I'm from Louisiana , and it would be an expensive trek to travel there for an interview.

I thought tuition was like 12 k a semester , so 108 k for tuition total, PLUS living expenses and other fees.
I'm waiting to hear if I got into SBU( I wish they would hurry and tell me! ) because I believe tuition there is $66 k. That's a lot different. Yes I'm sure st Augustine is great but can someone help me? Im being realistic about tuition. I don't think one has to go to the best and most expensive school to get a good education.

PS, would it be smart to email sbu and tell them I got an interview at USA but really would rather attend sbu? Or would that be unethical? Lol thank you for reading I'm do nervous trying to decide!


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[fejin757]

From all of your postings, it sounds like you need to sit down and do some research.

St Aug in Florida - total program tuition - 76k
San Marcos - total program tuition - about 90k

Keep in mind that they finish 8 months faster so you won't have as much in living expenses and you will also have, potentially, 8 months of income as a Physical therapist. If you're other program is only 10k different in tuition, it's not really that much.

It's great to get advice from SDN, but you need to contact these schools for more info. You also need to sit down and budget and decide what you can afford and what you're willing to spend for the DPT. Good luck.

 

[adh28]

Also, remember St. Augustine is a private school, so though expensive it won't matter if you live out of state or not! Good luck

 

[fejin757]

And I forgot. St. Augustine will require you to have a co-signer! Ask if your parents, or someone, is on board for co-signing a 60k loan for you

My dad gave me the craziest look when I told him the details lol.

 

[wjs010]

Lol. Yea i know I was researching today. I don't think THAT would be a problem as long as you get a job before you get out and follow that 12 month rule. But st Augustine doesn't do the grad plus loan apparently and I've heard that it is better. Also I keep hearing about the loan forgiveness but I think you have to do public service to get that. I'll have to look more on that. Is there any possibility USA could transfer me to Florida? Or should I even ask


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[blewis15]

Grad plus isn't necessarily better in all cases. It's a fixed 7.9% interest rate. You can probably get a lower rate through a private loan through sally mae smart option. The fine prints for all loans are different though.

 

[wjs010]

Yea true. I was thinking about how that forgiveness loan works. Seems like one would pay for their tuition three times over that 30 yr period, garantes that will be a more relaxed 30 yr period than if you tried to pay it all in 10 years. Either way I should have applied to the fl campus lol . Anybody ever heard of them letting people switch? Since school is just a business I highly doubt it!


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[blewis15]

You should really call them and see how they can help you with that. I'm sure they would accommodate you since you are showing them you are still sticking with USA. I'm from California, so I'm going to apply to the SD campus. It is pricey, but for California, that is expected. Even the cheaper State schools, which are supposed to be so much cheaper than privates, are still like 75k for the entire program. However that number is expected to steadily increase year after year as a direct result of the state budget crisis that is just getting worse.

 

[wjs010]

Blewis, are all of the schools there starting dpt? I think loma Linda still offers mpt and is much cheaper than you mentioned.


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[wjs010]

Oh and I understand how calling them makes sense, but I'm afraid to give them any reason to believe I don't want to attend there


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[angl88]

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Look at your quote at the end of every post .............Is your goal to start now or reapply in the next cycle?
There is not any reason you can't follow up with USA as you have been invited for an interview and if accepted to your other school turn them down.
Additionally, if you are going to wait until the next cycle then you want to apply early and in a smart way. You are looking at lots of different tuition rates and schools. I think you also need to factor in the average GPA and GRE of accepted students at these schools . If your GPA is significantly lower you have to develop a strategy ........Do I apply to a different school, do I repeat classes etc. As I understand it each school receives far more applicants than they do slots for admission and it seems like the least expensive schools have alot of competition Remember there is also a cost to waiting BUT it may be worth it if you improve your GPA and go to the school you really want Good Luck

 

[football23]

What class was your interview for? Was it for the spring start?

 

[blewis15]

wjs, all indications point to loma linda offering a DPT. I don't think any schools in CA are offering mpt anymore. The loma linda dpt tuition is 87k total, but when you slap on mandatory campus quarterly fees that comes out to 92600. USA is not the most expensive dpt school in CA. Western U, USC, UOP (and maybe SF) all have higher tuition and are longer programs. I'm fairly confident that USA will allow you to switch campuses if there is available room, you just have to communicate that to them.

football23, are you applying for spring start?

 

[CristianoParese]

USA allows you to transfer campuses after the 3rd term i think, as long as you are in good academic standing

 

[blewis15]

I think in the case of wjs is that he hasn't even started, so he wouldn't have to "transfer". he has just been invited for an interview for the SD campus but he wants to attend the FL campus?

 

[wjs010]

What class was your interview for? Was it for the spring start?

It better not be for this spring because may 11 is the interview. That would be really ****ed up. Honestly I want it to be for the start in january but I think it'll be for the fall. I don't know how the hell I'm gonna make it to that interview lol


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[wjs010]

I think in the case of wjs is that he hasn't even started, so he wouldn't have to "transfer". he has just been invited for an interview for the SD campus but he wants to attend the FL campus?

If ceistiano is correct and the tuition does go down if I move to fl, then id be down for that ! Yea you're right I haven't started I only got invited for interview.


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[wjs010]

wjs, all indications point to loma linda offering a DPT. I don't think any schools in CA are offering mpt anymore. The loma linda dpt tuition is 87k total, but when you slap on mandatory campus quarterly fees that comes out to 92600. USA is not the most expensive dpt school in CA. Western U, USC, UOP (and maybe SF) all have higher tuition and are longer programs. I'm fairly confident that USA will allow you to switch campuses if there is available room, you just have to communicate that to them.

football23, are you applying for spring start?

Damn I had no idea loma was that much. I knew USC and the other private schools were way up there. I guess I does make USA seem a little better. Lol but not really. Azusa is pretty expensive. Theres a school in Virginia called Hampton and its tuition $48 k. Alabama state is $42 k. And that's out of state!


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[Maya2015]

Switch to the new Austin campus. Tuition is $82,000 total and they still have spots available for Sept 2012. It shouldn't be hard to get them to transfer your application. I know that tuition is high but you will also graduate 8 months or more before other DPT students so you'll be able to make up the difference with the extra salary.

I also wanted to let you know that I applied for the Sallie Mae loan and got a 7% interest rate with is only .2% more than the 6.8% government loans. They will also reduce your interest rate .25% if you sign up for direct deposit which reduces it to 6.75%.

 

[wjs010]

Switch to the new Austin campus. Tuition is $82,000 total and they still have spots available for Sept 2012. It shouldn't be hard to get them to transfer your application. I know that tuition is high but you will also graduate 8 months or more before other DPT students so you'll be able to make up the difference with the extra salary.

I also wanted to let you know that I applied for the Sallie Mae loan and got a 7% interest rate with is only .2% more than the 6.8% government loans. They will also reduce your interest rate .25% if you sign up for direct deposit which reduces it to 6.75%.

Can I get it switched for sure? I'll email Steve Jones ASAP if I can. You know the reason I didn't apply to the Austin campus? Because I thought it was only for military. I had only heard about the SD and FL campuses. So are you saying the Sallie Mai loan is good? I've been researching and I thought it was supposedly a bad thing that USA doesn't have the grad plus loan...the small print is hard to understand. I thought private loans were the best. Maybe I'm wrong about it all. Thank you for the info.

 

[Maya2015]

All I know is that the SD and FL campuses are more popular since Austin is new. So I'm sure they would love to switch a good candidate from the SD or FL campuses where they have waiting lists to the Austin campus which they are still filling up.

I think the government loans are still better if you can get them but the private loans aren't much worse. Like I said it was only .2% different for me

Can I get it switched for sure? I'll email Steve Jones ASAP if I can. You know the reason I didn't apply to the Austin campus? Because I thought it was only for military. I had only heard about the SD and FL campuses. So are you saying the Sallie Mai loan is good? I've been researching and I thought it was supposedly a bad thing that USA doesn't have the grad plus loan...the small print is hard to understand. I thought private loans were the best. Maybe I'm wrong about it all. Thank you for the info.

 

[wjs010]

All I know is that the SD and FL campuses are more popular since Austin is new. So I'm sure they would love to switch a good candidate from the SD or FL campuses where they have waiting lists to the Austin campus which they are still filling up.

I think the government loans are still better if you can get them but the private loans aren't much worse. Like I said it was only .2% different for me

on that note, I just emailed Steve. I'll see what he says. It's not much, but that's $8k less than SD.

 

[SondraK]

The $8k tuition difference doesn't seem like much but the cost of housing here in San Diego is pretty high compared to Austin. If I had the opportunity, I would switch to the Austin campus but I'm tied here to San Diego so I'll have to stick to the higher tuition and rent.

 

[TIZ10]

Hi Maya2015 - Just wondering if you had a co-signer when applying for the Sallie Mae smart option loan? I need to apply for it soon for the SD campus...

All I know is that the SD and FL campuses are more popular since Austin is new. So I'm sure they would love to switch a good candidate from the SD or FL campuses where they have waiting lists to the Austin campus which they are still filling up.

I think the government loans are still better if you can get them but the private loans aren't much worse. Like I said it was only .2% different for me

 

[Maya2015]

I had a cosigner. I don't know if it's required but I bet it helps.

 

[Rallen13]

I also start at St. Augustine in the Fall at the Austin campus and applied for the Sallie Mae Loan with a cosigner. I think the cosigner helped my interest rate to be a lot lower than it probably would have been with just me credit. Not that my credit is bad, I just don't have a lot of established credit. My rate was about the same.

 

[wjs010]

What if one has zero credit? Does a cosigner with higher income make the interest lower ? My dad makes around 300k so I was curious


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[Rallen13]

If your Dad has good credit along with that amount of income you should have no problem getting approved with him as a cosigner for a very good interest rate. If he has credit issues then that might be a problem. But with that amount of income and a decent credit score I think you should be okay.

 

[wjs010]

If your Dad has good credit along with that amount of income you should have no problem getting approved with him as a cosigner for a very good interest rate. If he has credit issues then that might be a problem. But with that amount of income and a decent credit score I think you should be okay.

Thanks. I don't think he had credit problems. I am SO on the fence about USA. I'm going to the interview but I just don't think I can go to the school. If the tuition and cost of living we're like the Florida campus, I would reconsider


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[fejin757]

Are you kidding me. Your dad makes 300k a year? and you're worried about St. Augustine's tuition....pshhhhhhhhh

What does he do to make that kind of money? I need to switch fields hahaha

 

[wjs010]

Are you kidding me. Your dad makes 300k a year? and you're worried about St. Augustine's tuition....pshhhhhhhhh

What does he do to make that kind of money? I need to switch fields hahaha

Yea but he cant pay for my tuition. He handled my in state undergrad, so now I have to pay grad. He is an insurance defense attorney. Idk how he makes that much. I guess cause he's almost 60 and worked in the same firm for so long. But then again some lawyers are jobless. He grew up poor so that's probably whyhes not that way now.


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[BlueBlue8]

You can go to San Marcos, interview, get accepted and ask for them to transfer your admission to the Florida campus. The only thing is lets say you are accepted for September class in San Marcos. Well you may have to defer admission to Florida until May the following year. I would strongly encourage you to pursue acceptance into LSU if at all possible. There are quite a few Louisiana students at the Florida St. Aug campus, and I suspect this is because LSU is extremely competitive with limited spots.

 

[wjs010]

You can go to San Marcos, interview, get accepted and ask for them to transfer your admission to the Florida campus. The only thing is lets say you are accepted for September class in San Marcos. Well you may have to defer admission to Florida until May the following year. I would strongly encourage you to pursue acceptance into LSU if at all possible. There are quite a few Louisiana students at the Florida St. Aug campus, and I suspect this is because LSU is extremely competitive with limited spots.

Hopefully they actually can transfer me. Yes LSUhs is rediculously hard to get into. Thanks


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