- The next accreditation review was scheduled for December 31, 2020.
| SAT Test | Middle 50% |
| ERW | 490 to 580 |
| Math | 490 to 580 |
| ACT Test | Middle 50% |
| Composite | 20 to 24.5 |
With their net price calculators, many colleges and universities give an idea of what merit-based aid might accompany need-based aid. For schools that share such data, we also provide financial aid data in the Finanical Aid sections.
There are some caveats to consider when using the net price estimates:
- The net price calculation is weighted by this school's proportion of students living on- and off-campus and this school's estimate of off-campus costs, which may cause the net price methodology be a bit inconsistent from school to school.
- Parental income and student financial aid eligibility is sometimes more complicated than the simple family income number reported here.
- The net price calculation for all students is inclusive of students who received any institutional or government aid, but at the family income levels the net price only considers the tuition paid by those who qualified for federal aid.
You can get a little better guess at what you would pay by using this school's net price calculator.
It's important to remember that a school's published costs may not be indicative of what it will actually cost to attend. Time magazine wrote about this in their article Yes, you can get a college to cut its tuition price. Nonetheless, this inflation-adjusted look at the historic annual costs for tuition, fees, books, and supplies can give you an idea of the costs you might expect in the coming years. Comparing the total costs inclusive of room and board (if applicable) with the annual net price estimates in the previous tab will help you determine the financial aid package to expect.
Private and public universities' charges are difficult to compare due to the in-state and out-of-state price differences of public universities, and therefore we only compare Pennsylvania State University - Penn State Altoona to other public schools within your chosen context group.
Understanding the rules and process that determine who gets financial aid can be intimidating. Here are some quick links to help:
- Visit Pennsylvania State University - Penn State Altoona's Net Price Calculator for the most accurate estimate of your anticipated costs. Every school publishes a Net Price Calculator that does its best to give you a fair estimate of what you might expect to pay. Many calculators consider your high school record as part of the calculation. This will be far more accurate than any of the averages or published tuition values that you see here.
- FederalStudentAid, a government site that will walk you through the federal financial aid process. There are a number of kinds of student loans and other aid, and this site can walk you through all of the choices you will need to make.
Across the country, graduation rates are surprisingly low. In fact, Forbes Magazine suggests that they are unacceptably low. However, from another point of view, sometimes graduation rates simply reflect the relative preparation of the students who enter. Colleges with a mission to help people coming from less advantaged backgrounds, such as first-generation and low-income students, may have low graduation rates despite relatively strong outcomes for students who face many obstacles to success. Without the context provided in these views of completion rates, it can be tricky to separate predatory schools that take financial advantage of under-prepared students from those that are actively seeking to encourage and help those students.
For the consumer choosing a school, once you have narrowed your list to those schools that you can afford and that seem likely to admit you, consider the outcome measures in this section and choose the specific measures that best describe your plans. Very simply, schools with high graduation rates and high loan repayment rates will likely give you the best opportunity to succeed.
How might your earnings compare with other people your age? Opportunity Insights used IRS data to track almost every person born in the US in the years 1980 to 1991, and they ranked the mean (average) 2014 earnings of students who attended Pennsylvania State University - Penn State Altoona in comparison to all people in the US the same age. Although this data is now a little old, the scope of this project was awesome and gives us a glimpse at alumni performance that we cannot find until a new study of this incredible magnitude is performed.
The Equality Project found that by age 34, people's relative earnings had leveled off, so it's a good assumption that approximately 67% of the population will earn less than Pennsylvania State University - Penn State Altoona alumni.
You might notice a little earnings dip at young ages for some of the top bachelor's institutions. This coincides with the years that many alumni may be in graduate school and earning less.
Opportunity Insights studied groups of all children born in the US in the same year for each birth year from 1980 to 1991. This grouping included every single US child who had a valid SSN or ITIN (tax identification number) and could be linked to parents with non-negative income.
The incomes of all families in a birth year group are measured when the child is 15-19 and these incomes are averaged. The calculated incomes from all families in the group were arranged from smallest to largest, and divided into five groups of equal size. On the left of the diagram, you can see the relative distribution of Pennsylvania State University - Penn State Altoona's students between the family income divided into fifths formed by looking at the entire US group.
In 2014, all people from the same birth year were divided into a new set of five groups that were determined by their individual labor earnings for that year. The students from this birth year who primarily attended Pennsylvania State University - Penn State Altoona between the ages of 19 and 22 were divided into these five groups, and the percent in each group is shown on the right of the diagram.
The diagram lets you see the proportion in each original income group who travel to each earnings group, and provides some insight into the likelihood of financial success after attendance.
If you'd like to understand the nitty gritty details of this interesting data, be sure to check out the well-written Opportunity Insights report by selecting SOURCES under the figure.
Traditionally, the long-term faculty at a school are hired as Assistant Professors. After about six years, they then advance to the Associate Professor level after proving excellence in three areas: teaching, service to the institution, and significant contributions to their field of expertise. Assistant professors who are not promoted to the Associate level are usually required to leave the school. The rank of Professor is reserved for senior faculty who have demonstrated the highest standing in those three areas. The standards of excellence differ widely across institutions; nonetheless, the presence of a large proportion of faculty in the three professor ranks suggests you will be taught by faculty who are invested in their academic fields and in the school. Generally, instructors with any of the three professor titles will hold the highest possible (terminal) degree in their academic fields.
The instructor/lecturer positions are generally held by full-time faculty who are focused on teaching alone, often for lower-level classes. These positions usually require some advanced education or experience, but not the highest (terminal) degree in a given academic field. Those teaching with no academic rank may be hired to teach in mostly non-academic fields, giving skills- or vocation-based guidance.
- Basketball|Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference
- Baseball|Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference
- Cross country/track|Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference
Pennsylvania State University - Penn State Altoona has 24% of undergraduate students living on campus. Undergraduates, including freshmen, are allowed to bring cars to campus.
We are able to share a few of the choices you can make when choosing dorm space, and you'll definitely want to learn more about the school's spaces from their web site.
- Accelerated Degree
- Cooperative program
- Distance learning
- Double-major allowed
- English as a Second Language program
- External Degree Program
- Honors Program
- Independent study courses
- Internships
- Orientation program
- Student-designed major
- Study abroad
- Teacher certification programs
- Remedial services
- Academic/career counseling services
- Employment services for current students
- Placement services for program completers
- On-campus day care for children of students
- Credit for Military Training
- Dedicated point of contact for support services for veterans, military servicemembers, and their families
- Member of Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges
- Recognized student veteran organization
We have no library data for Pennsylvania State University - Penn State Altoona in spite of the fact that about 91.4 of the degrees it awards are bachelor's or higher degrees. It is unusual for a school with this focus to not have library data. In fact, about 90% of the schools that graduate at least 10% of students at the bachelor's or higher level report library information.
In the age of digital resources, a library can offer incredible support even to distance education students. For students on campus, the library is the study and meeting hub for both residential and commuting students. Through the academic libraries, students can freely access resources not available on the internet.
It is difficult to imagine a meaningful bachelor's or graduate degree program that does not require independent research projects from its students. Without academic library resources, those projects could become quite expensive and also much more difficult, because academic librarians are indispensable for guiding students toward appropriate resources for a research project. The greater fear is that a lack of library means that minimal research and outside reading is expected of students. If you're interested in attending Pennsylvania State University - Penn State Altoona, you should ask about their library resources and research expectations, and make sure that you would be receiving the academic challenges and support that you and your future reputation deserve.
How much funding does this university have for research in your discipline? This is your primary evidence of nationally-recognized scholarship coming out of this university, and provides a good indicator of the availability of research funding for graduate students and post-docs. You can select bars to drill down into the specific disciplines funded, or further into the sources of that funding. If you hover on the bars, you can see summary details. The dollar amounts reflect the institution's annual spending, inclusive of external grants.
Because this data is collected by the National Science Foundation (NSF), it is focused on traditional science-technology-engineering-mathematics (STEM) disciplines. There are only hints of funding outside of these areas.
A high proportion of international and out-of-state students speaks to reputation and offers an opportunity for diverse interactions in and out of class.
