ESM 150

Module 8

1. Overview of PSU
2. ESM is your home
3. Prepare to attend
4. UNST
5. Where you stand
6. Careers
7. Getting Involved
8. General advice
9. Assemble your plan
10. Get started

Consider this issue about money:

Financial considerations are crucial to students at PSU. Public higher education is caught in a squeeze betwen rising costs (for everything) and decreasing public support and the result has been to increase tuition. That puts more stress on students. Everyone at the university understands this is a problem and we are working on this problem.

However, that doesn't solve your problem of paying tuition. Does it?

Students pay for their education with a variety of strategies with two major components:

pay as you go - working while at school

accumulating debt - to pay back after you get a job

There are advantages and disadvantages of each approach. Finishing school without debt allows you to get on your career right away and look for the best job. However, finshishing school more quickly is better for taking related courses more closely together, without big time gaps. Spending less time in school also decreases the ancillary debt that comes from housing and transportation costs associated with school.

Consider what it would take to keep your debt load low but graduate earler. A well-planned curriculum is obviously one approach (and is the goal of this course). Can you think of other tradeoffs you could make?