Sattler College Turmoil

[Soloist]

I don't think Sattler is targeting the Boston or even New England area primarily. My impression has been that they are marketing themselves to Anabaptist/Kingdom-Christian young people from across the country. I could be wrong. Didn't they do PR tours a few years back in the major Anabaptist hubs?

Yeah that’s what I’ve been told. I think this stuff has crippled some of their marketing among the intermediate to moderate plain people though.

[RZehr]

Maybe the availability of other universities nearby helps with labs etc. that Sattler then doesn’t have to supply. Which, if Sattler was out in the sticks, real estate is cheaper, but these other resources wouldn’t be there.

[cooper]

Boston isn't a cheap place to have a university, but I don't think their grads would be getting into top medical schools if their school was in Holmes County Ohio. A place like Boston has unique opportunities for internships and networking.

[Judas Maccabeus]

Bottom line:

College has gotten just too expensive to justify the cost and lost years of income. Student debt just so unpalatable that students just don’t see the benefits. Some of the colleges here are names I know. They have hit a place where raising tuition any further results in a diminishing return. That is a really bad place to be.

[Josh]

I remain unconvinced that Sattler has discovered the magic financial formula that makes them different from everyone else.

I think they did find a magic formula: be founded and funded by a billionaire.

[Ken]

Bottom line:

College has gotten just too expensive to justify the cost and lost years of income. Student debt just so unpalatable that students just don’t see the benefits. Some of the colleges here are names I know. They have hit a place where raising tuition any further results in a diminishing return. That is a really bad place to be.

Maybe elite private colleges. But there are more options available than paying $100k per year to attend an elite private university.

For example, say there is a hypothetical young person from a modest Anabaptist family here in Washington state who is interested in nursing and wants to get a 4-year BSN degree to become an RN. How can this person accomplish this without breaking the bank?

First the state has dual-credit program called "Running Start" in which HS students can dual-enroll in local community colleges their junior and senior year of HS for free and graduate HS with a 2-year associates degree under their belt. So the first two years of their nursing degree is 100% free. https://www.sbctc.edu/colleges-staff/pr ... ing-start/

Second, This person can then enroll into any of a pretty wide variety of public 4-year nursing schools as a junior transfer student and get their degree in 2 more years. Current tuition and fees at regional state universities here in Washington runs between $7,000 and $12,000 depending on the campus. The regional schools are cheaper than the flagships. But one could go to say Eastern Washington University school of Nursing for about $8,300 per year. https://www.ewu.edu/apply/tuition/

So this person if they are living at home can get a 4-year nursing degree for about $16,600 all in. That is not nothing, but it most certainly isn't "too expensive to justify". It is perfectly feasible to borrow $4,000 per year to pay for college and earn another $5,000 per year working part time and during the summers and wind up with a fully paid for nursing degree and $8,000 worth of student loans. Assuming zero help from the parents. I ran those numbers through a student loan calculator and an $8,000 loan at the standard 10 years at 6.8% interest comes to $92.06/month. I should think that an RN could afford that. Here in Washington State the average RN makes about $45/hr. or about $90,000 per year plus benefits.

One can do the same calculation for just about any other 4-year degree from teaching to accounting.

And one doesn't even have to leave one's home community to accomplish this unless one is living in an exceedingly remote and rural corner of the state.

[Judas Maccabeus]

Bottom line:

College has gotten just too expensive to justify the cost and lost years of income. Student debt just so unpalatable that students just don’t see the benefits. Some of the colleges here are names I know. They have hit a place where raising tuition any further results in a diminishing return. That is a really bad place to be.

Maybe elite private colleges. But there are more options available than paying $100k per year to attend an elite private university.

For example, say there is a hypothetical young person from a modest Anabaptist family here in Washington state who is interested in nursing and wants to get a 4-year BSN degree to become an RN. How can this person accomplish this without breaking the bank?

First the state has dual-credit program called "Running Start" in which HS students can dual-enroll in local community colleges their junior and senior year of HS for free and graduate HS with a 2-year associates degree under their belt. So the first two years of their nursing degree is 100% free. https://www.sbctc.edu/colleges-staff/pr ... ing-start/

Second, This person can then enroll into any of a pretty wide variety of public 4-year nursing schools as a junior transfer student and get their degree in 2 more years. Current tuition and fees at regional state universities here in Washington runs between $7,000 and $12,000 depending on the campus. The regional schools are cheaper than the flagships. But one could go to say Eastern Washington University school of Nursing for about $8,300 per year. https://www.ewu.edu/apply/tuition/

So this person if they are living at home can get a 4-year nursing degree for about $16,600 all in. That is not nothing, but it most certainly isn't "too expensive to justify". It is perfectly feasible to borrow $4,000 per year to pay for college and earn another $5,000 per year working part time and during the summers and wind up with a fully paid for nursing degree and $8,000 worth of student loans. Assuming zero help from the parents. I ran those numbers through a student loan calculator and an $8,000 loan at the standard 10 years at 6.8% interest comes to $92.06/month. I should think that an RN could afford that. Here in Washington State the average RN makes about $45/hr. or about $90,000 per year plus benefits.

One can do the same calculation for just about any other 4-year degree from teaching to accounting.

And one doesn't even have to leave one's home community to accomplish this unless one is living in an exceedingly remote and rural corner of the state.

Congratulations. You have just landed on the path we are encouraging those in our constituency to take. But one can still rack up a big chunk of debt at a public university. Have you figured in mandatory fees? In my parts they are higher than tuition.

[Ken]

Bottom line:

College has gotten just too expensive to justify the cost and lost years of income. Student debt just so unpalatable that students just don’t see the benefits. Some of the colleges here are names I know. They have hit a place where raising tuition any further results in a diminishing return. That is a really bad place to be.

Maybe elite private colleges. But there are more options available than paying $100k per year to attend an elite private university.

For example, say there is a hypothetical young person from a modest Anabaptist family here in Washington state who is interested in nursing and wants to get a 4-year BSN degree to become an RN. How can this person accomplish this without breaking the bank?

First the state has dual-credit program called "Running Start" in which HS students can dual-enroll in local community colleges their junior and senior year of HS for free and graduate HS with a 2-year associates degree under their belt. So the first two years of their nursing degree is 100% free. https://www.sbctc.edu/colleges-staff/pr ... ing-start/

Second, This person can then enroll into any of a pretty wide variety of public 4-year nursing schools as a junior transfer student and get their degree in 2 more years. Current tuition and fees at regional state universities here in Washington runs between $7,000 and $12,000 depending on the campus. The regional schools are cheaper than the flagships. But one could go to say Eastern Washington University school of Nursing for about $8,300 per year. https://www.ewu.edu/apply/tuition/

So this person if they are living at home can get a 4-year nursing degree for about $16,600 all in. That is not nothing, but it most certainly isn't "too expensive to justify". It is perfectly feasible to borrow $4,000 per year to pay for college and earn another $5,000 per year working part time and during the summers and wind up with a fully paid for nursing degree and $8,000 worth of student loans. Assuming zero help from the parents. I ran those numbers through a student loan calculator and an $8,000 loan at the standard 10 years at 6.8% interest comes to $92.06/month. I should think that an RN could afford that. Here in Washington State the average RN makes about $45/hr. or about $90,000 per year plus benefits.

One can do the same calculation for just about any other 4-year degree from teaching to accounting.

And one doesn't even have to leave one's home community to accomplish this unless one is living in an exceedingly remote and rural corner of the state.

Congratulations. You have just landed on the path we are encouraging those in our constituency to take. But one can still rack up a big chunk of debt at a public university. Have you figured in mandatory fees? In my parts they are higher than tuition.

This is the route that my daughters are taking. Well, they did lots of AP classes rather than running start in HS but it amounts to the same thing. Both are starting college with mid-sophomore status.

Around here those prices include the fees. I know this because I am writing the checks. At the flagship UW in Seattle it is costing my middle daughter about $4,200 per term all in which comes to $12,600 per year. My youngest daughter will be starting at WSU in the fall for about the same price. They could have saved a few thousand by going to one of the regional schools or branch campuses. But finding the lowest cost option isn't everything. We can afford it and they do have more options at the flagship universities.

Sending either of them to expensive out of state or private universities was not really an option that we considered. We did look at out-of-state public universities. There is a reciprocal in-state tuition arrangement between about 10 western states. But neither of them found any good reason to do that. The youngest daughter had some interest in Colorado State but in the end decided it was too far away and not really worth it compared to more local options. Especially since she wants to say in the region for her career. We visited lots of private schools on college visit road trips to see what they might offer and concluded that it wasn't much for all the extra cost.

[ohio jones]

It is perfectly feasible to borrow $4,000 per year to pay for college and earn another $5,000 per year working part time and during the summers and wind up with a fully paid for nursing degree and $8,000 worth of student loans.

That's a creative interpretation of "fully paid for."

[Ken]

It is perfectly feasible to borrow $4,000 per year to pay for college and earn another $5,000 per year working part time and during the summers and wind up with a fully paid for nursing degree and $8,000 worth of student loans.

That's a creative interpretation of "fully paid for."

The tuition bills were all paid. Were they not? Are you just quibbling with semantics?

That was an example of a student with no scholarships or family assistance of any kind. And the assumption of only earning $5,000 surplus per year to put towards college. Which is probably pretty conservative. Add in any scholarships and family/community assistance and no loans are even necessary.

The point being, college isn’t unreasonably expensive if one makes prudent choices.