<p>Hey guys, I have a little problem. The problem is that my dream school is a public university outside my state of residence and thus, if I were to attend it, I would have to pay a fairly large chunk of out of state tuition. Unfortunately, my parents are adamantly refusing to pay for anything more than what it would cost to go to an in-state school. And, on top of that, they make a very substantial amount of money per year (well into six figure salary), so I won't qualify for need based aid.
So yeah, I know its a first world problem, but it's really got me down. Outside of absurdly difficult to obtain merit based scholarships (which I might be able to get, though its definitely nothing certain), is there really no way I'll be able to pay for the school I want to go to? Am I really going to have to settle for an in-state school?</p>
<p>Why do you want to go to this school? Is there a program that is unique that might have a sort of funding privately? </p>
<p>Have you considered ROTC? A few schools have ways of becoming in-state after the first year (Florida state, Utah). Does this OOS school have a reciprocity agreement with your state?</p>
<p>Dream schools are great if money is no object. Your folks have given you a cap based on in-state costs. If your stats aren’t such that your dream school is likely to give you a huge merit scholarship, then you might want to reframe this and instead ask, given my stats, and the budget my parents have defined, what colleges ARE options for me? </p>
<p>If you frame anything but your “dream” school as “settling” then you are likely to be continually disappointed in life. </p>
<p>How much are your parents budgeting for the in-state school? What state do you live in? What are your stats? What are you hoping to study, in what kind of environment. </p>
<p>I’m editing my response. From other posts, it looks like your dream school is UNC-CH. And it also looks like you are from California.</p>
<p>I guess I don’t understand your thought process. California has some outstanding public universities. Your parents will pay for you to go to a CA public university. I can’t imagine what would make UNC a more compelling school.</p>
<p>My suggestion…drop the “dream school” term. This is one college where you could thrive and be happy. There are others that can fill the bill.</p>
<p>Pick a variety of colleges to apply to. Include affordable options that you also like. Sure, apply to this OOS public also, but just be prepared to walk away if the money isn’t forthcoming.</p>
<p>Start applying to external scholarships your senior year. Then by the time the results are out, you might be surprise how many you won and it adds up.
But this is something you do in your junior year, so it might be too late for you, but anything is possible.
In addition, the cost for many students reduces drastically the second year, especially if they live in the dorms and become RA’s their second year. so there go free room and board in most schools.
Best of luck to you.</p>
<p>It would be very difficult for the OP to accumulate the $80K or so he would need over 4 years to cover that OOS tuition. Unless he is some kind of superstar (who probably would be a candidate for full merit aid at a lot of schools anyway). Don’t see that evidence. </p>
<p>And “the cost for many students reduces drastically the second year” has no basis in fact. He can’t count on getting an RA position, there is no guarantee. At some schools they are quite competitive, and who knows if he has the personality for it? A SMALL NUMBER of students are able to reduce their costs by getting an RA position. But that still won’t bring his tuition down to in-state levels.</p>
<p>California has a great public university system, many students would LOVE to be in your position with those choices. </p>
<p>As others have said, you have excellent in-state options. </p>
<p>That said, if you want to go out of state, for whatever reason, you’ll need to apply to schools at which you have guaranteed, or at least a good chance at large merit scholarships to get the cost down to around $30,000 a year. UNC has some merit money, but it is not easy to get and stats alone won’t do it. </p>
<p>My D had almost identical profile to what you’ve put up on CC, music ECS included. She was also NMF and had a higher ACT score than her SAT that matches yours. Got admitted to UNC and honors, but no merit money. It may be there is something very special about you that is not apparent in a little blurb, but if not, I would not place all hope in this school. You can apply there, but also find some others to like. </p>
<p>For example, if you are attracted to the SE part of the country, UMiami will likely give you an initial merit offer of $25,000-30,000 with acceptance and an invitation to Stamps weekend to compete for their larger scholarships. You might get scholarships from USouthCarolina. Going a bit more inland, you probably know you qualify for a full tuition scholarship at UAlabama and probably some other southern schools. UTulsa will give you adequate merit to get cost down enough and possibly more if you win one of their full rides. Look around at schools that will give you enough money to get your cost down to what you can afford. </p>
<p>If you want to experience cold weather, UMinnesota will give you at the very minimum, a scholarship that waives the OOS part of tuition, and probably more than that.</p>
<p>What makes UNC a ‘dream school’? Have you visited?</p>
<p>OP might be a junior and can apply to external scholarships. If they turn out well, then good, if not he/she can fall back on the default In-state.
The suggestions is to allow OP to do all he can to live without regrets, knowing that he/she did their best and it either worked out or not.
So OP, start applying to external scholarships that you qualify for at this time and wait for the outcome. You either win enough to attend OOS or attend In-state that you can afford.
Best of luck to you.</p>
<p>Wow, lots of responses. Thanks for all the feedback guys, even if some of it is its slightly disappointing. @thumper1 You hit it right on the head. But as to your comment about California schools, I’ve visited several of the UC’s and the CSU’s. The only ones that my parents would really allow me to go to (assuming acceptance) is Berkeley. I don’t know if I’m just being over sensitive and whiny, but the “fit” as people say, of that school is awful for me. I could never in a million years picturing myself there. </p>
<p>@celesteroberts Thanks for the insight. Unfortunately, there’s not much particularly “special” about me. Just your average strong student. But as you’ve said, and from what I’ve heard, it seems that that is not enough for a prestigious merit scholarship. Oh, and as to your question about UNC, I’m actually visiting in a few days. But right now, my high opinion of it stems mainly from internet research (which, in my defense has been pretty in depth). I love what I’ve seen about Chapel Hill as a city, since it reminds me a lot of where I grew up. I like an amount diversity in a school (which, again won’t be found in most California schools). And I also really like how students describe the environment as relatively laid back and noncompetitive. Beyond that, UNC is close to Duke, which has a strong medical school. Oh, and I really like the look of the campus. I think there’s a few other reasons that I have but I can’t list them off the top of my head. </p>
<p>Wow, ok. Reading my original post, I realize that I came of as really ungrateful and whiny. I apologize for posting something like that. It’s just that when I posted, I had just finished the “we’re not paying for that school” discussion with my parents and I was in kind of a sour mood. The problems was that I’ve never really cared which school I went to. To me, college was always just another 4 years of learning so that I could finally get out into the “real world” . UNC is the first school where I’ve actually had any sort of emotional investment in and realizing that I might not be able to go (even if I get in) was kind of crushing. So sorry guys. I hope I didn’t offend anyone with my overly b***** OP. :(</p>
<p>Of course, all this is all pending on my visit next week. I might go and decide I hate it and then look like a total idiot for posting all this stuff…</p>
<p>We’re good. 
I’d encourage you to look at some other options as well – UNC is a just plain tough admission for OOS students. What do you think your major might be?</p>
<p>Are your parents taking you on the dream school trip to UNC-CH? If so, it is a bit curious that they would allow you to visit/tour the campus, but also give you the whole ‘we are not paying for that school’ speech.</p>
<p>@bobguy,</p>
<p>Also check out this list of 4-yr univs that grant merit aid. There’s a separate lisy for LACs.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-private-colleges/index.php”>http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-private-colleges/index.php</a></p>
<p>@arabrab Probably Chemistry or Biology. I intend to go to med school. And I get the difficult OOS admission. That’s the other giant hurdle to get over :D</p>
<p>@Madison85 They’re fine with paying for it if I can cobble together enough scholarship money to cover around $18,000 (give or take) per year which is the difference between CA costs and OOS costs (not that that’s going to be easy). Plus, I’m going to visit Duke too and they approve of that school. </p>
<p>@GMTplus7 Thanks for the link. I’ll look into those too :)</p>
<p>I would second celesteroberts advice on the OOS schools. UMiami was very generous with merit aid for my son. He received the Singer which covered all the tuition. Alabama also covered the tuition. He is at Minnesota – loves it there! He knew if he wanted to go OOS, he had to cover the price difference between the tuition cost at UVA and the OOS he wanted to go to. He was very fortunate to have a lot of choices. If you intend to go to med school, please think about minimizing your undergrad debt. It would be best if you can go debt-free for the undergrad since med school is expensive. </p>
<p>Will they pay for Duke? That is more expensive than UNC with harder to win merit. </p>
<p>@celesteroberts It’s an odd situation. Financially, we can technically afford either. But they don’t want to pay more for a school that is not objectively (ie US News Rankings) better than an in state school, as they put little wieght on the fit of a school. Something like Duke, or an Ivy if I somehow get into one, they very much approve of because it can be considered superior objectively. It’s a completely reasonable outlook, I suppose, it’s just kind of a bummer :P</p>
<p>Ah, so the amount of merit you need to attend a school rises abruptly and dramatically as the the school’s US News rating falls below #20. I see. That is a complicated path for you to negotiate. If you apply to 10-15 of the top 20 schools, you’ll likely get accepted at a couple. Good luck.</p>
<p>@celesteroberts Definitely. Thanks for the help though! Just out of curiosity, as a parent whose child already went to college, how much do you value the location of an undergraduate education? Both objectively (like ratings) and subjectively (like the “fit”)? It would be cool to get an alternate perspective on all this.</p>