<p>For illinois residents, the expected costs are 29,000! This is honestly ridiculous for an instate school. University</a> of Illinois Financial Aid: Undergraduate Resident 2009-2010 Cost. Similar schools like Wisconsin and Indiana are 10,000 cheaper. Even Indiana is cheaper out of state. Pair that with the fact the U of I offers almost no scholarships, U of I may end up getting off my list.</p>
<p>Yup, it’s not cheap at all for a big in-state public. Common misconception.</p>
<p>Indiana is cheaper because it is an inferior school that doesn’t have a big engineering program to feed money into. Wisconsin is cheaper because… well I don’t know why since it is a great school. Wisconsin is cheaper because Illinois is way too expensive. How is that for an explanation? haha.</p>
<p>Haha yea ive wanted to go to u of i for a long time, and I though"I’m instate, itll be alot cheaper than alot of other schools!" Guess not. =[</p>
<p>I assume you mean engineering, lab sciences and business, which have additional tuition above other majors. Note, that is a total estimate all costs including room and board, books, and spending money. Also, as to tuition each freshman class is locked in for four years at the rate they begin with. Definitely higher than many but others don’t lock in tuition.</p>
<p>Me personally, I wouldn’t dare take the school off my list. It’s a great school, great college town, etc…</p>
<p>Note: I’m a out of state prospective student</p>
<p>If it cheers you up at all, housing doesn’t have to be the $9000 they say. After the first year, live in an apartment. For the first year, at least one private certified house (Europa House) is much cheaper. I wish I had known about Europa House because I hate dorm food.</p>
<p>Also, most people don’t spend anywhere near that on books and supplies. And if you are frugal, ‘other expenses’ is much less.</p>
<p>That is obscene.</p>
<p>Yeah, Wisconsin does look [really</a> cheap](<a href=“http://www.admissions.wisc.edu/costs.php]really”>http://www.admissions.wisc.edu/costs.php) in comparison. Incidentally, does anybody know why Minnesota residents get special status for tuition at UW?</p>
<p>Before you make a judgement be sure to take a good look. Wisconsin raised their tuition considerably last year with some initiative that is ongoing. Remember that the tuition that you pay at Illinois is locked it…it can make a big difference. You can count on at least a 6-10% increase each year at WI and other schools…do the math.</p>
<p>Here you go - take a look. It’s already led to new faculty hires and expansion of high demand classes. Some kids weren’t graduating on time costing more for that 5th year.</p>
<p>[About</a> the Madison Initiative Madison Initiative for Undergraduates](<a href=“http://madisoninitiative.wisc.edu/about/]About”>http://madisoninitiative.wisc.edu/about/)</p>
<p>Reciprocity between MN and WI is a long time agreement. There has been discussion of doing so with Illinois, but I’m pretty sure it’s an exchange; you pay the in state tuition of your home state at the out of state school and there needs to be an equal number of students going each direction for it to work. I don’t know if that’s possible between IL and WI.</p>
<p>Illinois does not have reciprocity with any state for admission and currently has no intent of doing so. Under Minn and Wis agreement, a student pays whichever in-state tuition is higher if he attends in the other state. In other words, if Wisc in-state tuition is higher than Minn then Minn residents pay Wisconsin’s when attending Wisc and Wisc residents also pay Wisc tuition if attending Minn.</p>
<p>My final cost for U of I business was like 32k. I applied to two other schools that gave me enough aid so that the cost of their school was mid-30k. It didn’t make me want to go to U of I too badly. They gave me no financial or merit aid. I understand the lack of merit aid because they may be saving it for EXTREMELY compeitive students, but no financial aid for an in-state student? Not worth it, unless you’re doing engineering.</p>
<p>I used Illinois financial aid calculater and the aid for need base in-state students I thought was great.</p>
<p>^That is not what I have seen even using that calculator.</p>
<p>Wisconsin’s Madison Initiative ends up adding $7,500 to the cost over 4 years for OOS students (excluding Minnesotans). There’s no mention of what happens if a student takes longer than 4 years to graduate, but the yearly increase is $750 so it would stand to reason that the 5th year’s Initiative tuition surcharge would be $3,750 - bringing the total surcharge cost up to $11,250. PLUS, the tuition will ALSO increase 5-6% every year, whereas UIUC’s tuition freezes at your freshman year cost. UW-Madison IS cheap for Wisconsin and Minnesota students, but it’s more expensive than UIUC is for Illinois students.</p>
<p>We should know… the Madison Initiative, which was foisted on students AFTER application season last year, was the straw that broke the camel’s back and made it too expensive for my D2 to attend. UW-Madison was her top choice, and that was a crushing blow. Live and learn, and move on… Good thing UIUC was a very close 2nd. :D</p>
<p>I should probably add that it was VERY interesting to see that UW-Madison has dropped a few rankings and is now tied with UIUC in the US News rankings:
[National</a> Universities Rankings - Best Colleges - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/national-universities-rankings/page+2]National”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/national-universities-rankings/page+2)
[Top</a> Public Schools - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/national-top-public]Top”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/national-top-public)</p>
<p>Dude, Illinois residents can go to the University of Minnesota for ~5K cheaper OOS than UIUC instate. And can you really even compare Champaign to Minneapolis?</p>
<p>UT Austin is not far under that amount for in-state, depending on your major.</p>
<p>The state of Illinois is over $4 billion in debt. They have raided the state employees pension fund the last few years to attempt to balance the budget. This year’s budget did not fund the MAP (monetary award program) until a week ago, and the government still does not know how they are going to pay for it. This year’s budget also was only good for 8 months, they have not determined how they will fund the last four months of the fiscal year. The state is in serious financial trouble, they will not be handing out money when students continue to apply and attend UIUC and pay the current costs. I don’t see this changing at all in the future, UIUC has no reason to change the status quo.</p>