Applying for Financial Aid at a STATE SCHOOL IN ANOTHER STATE

<p>Hello. Do State Schools tend to be less generous with their financial aid packages to out-of-state students?</p>

<p>I'm considering applying to the University of Oklahoma and i'm wondering what kind of financial aid I would probably get. I am from another state AND ALSO A TRANSFER STUDENT.</p>

<p>Yes, State schools do tend to be less generous to OOS students. OU does not promise to meet full need and does not offer much (if any) need based aid from their own funds. As far as need based aid, you would probably only get whatever federal aid you are eligible for based on your EFC. Transfer merit scholarships are also much lower than those available to top freshmen.</p>

<p>Most public schools offer NO need-based aid to out-of-state students (except for money from federal programs - Pell, SEOG, work study, and subsidized loans - which as far as the school is concerned is free money). They are supported by the taxpayers of their states, and they are generally expected by those taxpayers (and the legislators who dole out tax dollars) to make tuition as affordable as possible for in-state residents.</p>

<p>Many public universities do, however, offer merit aid to out-of-state residents who qualify, sometimes a lot of merit aid. But as swimcatsmom says, the merit aid pickings for transfer students are generally rather slim.</p>

<p>Only publics that I am aware of that meet full need for oos students are UNC and UVA.</p>

<p>As everyone has stated, the pickings are usually slim and none for OOS transfers. Even schools that guarantee full need to be met to students often exclude transfers and international students as well as some other categories from that guarantee, and we are talking about the more generous schools in this country.</p>

<p>Public colleges rarely guranteee to meet need fully, even for the the students from their own states. </p>

<p>That said, it is not a blanket rule, and if your fall into a special niche, it is possible to get money from an OOS college even as a transfer. YOU have to find that niche if it even exists. Just because a school or schools in general, do not give out much money for a specific category, does not mean that YOU or any individual might not have some reason for a school to give money. </p>

<p>An example is NYU–it accepts on a need blind basis, so there are loads of kids who are gapped each year. Transfers? Even more so. But I have known students whose best package was from NYU. For whatever reason their resume was such that NYU gave them a preferred status and came up with the money, more money than other schools.</p>

<p>What you need to do to give yourself the best shot of getting any money, is to call the school and find someone who can give you a rundown on what is available to you. Call the department of your major or field of interest. Maybe, maybe, there is something there. </p>

<p>For all the talk of the California school going broke, I know someone who got an award fro UCLA (and no, it’s not the famous one in the news) Schools do come up with money for students on their wish list, but they don’t usually make the list known to the public.</p>

<p>There’s a reason WHY state schools charge higher rates to OOS students. Their families aren’t tax-payers in the state. It wouldn’t make sense if they then gave you aid to cover that higher cost. Why bother to charge higher rates then??? </p>

<p>You have a few things going against you…</p>

<p>1) You’re OOS</p>

<p>2) You’re a transfer student.</p>

<p>3) You won’t be eligible for any of the great merit scholarships for incoming frosh.</p>

<p>Your aid pkg will likely only consist of a 7500 loan. If your EFC is around $5k or less, you’d get a small Pell Grant (What is your EFC)?</p>

<p>If you can’t afford to pay $25k-30k per year to go to OU, don’t bother applying.</p>

<p>What state are you in?</p>