<p>@piroud321 </p>
<p>lol…you wrote a lot, but I’m still not sure how much the prepaid will pay for an OOS school? $6k? more? less? </p>
<p>Anyway, what are her stats? Maybe we can find a spirited pretty OOS school that will give her some merit to bring down cost.</p>
<p>Have her look at schools like U S. Dakota or U New Mexico. UNM is generous with merit. Both have big Div I football. </p>
<p>You’re resigned to pay for books, fees, room and board, etc (so about $15k per year)…so how much MORE would you be willing to pay for tuition? $5k per year more? more? less? </p>
<p>If she gets $6k per year from the Prepaid, and you will pay $15k per year for room, board, books, fees, etc…and you’ll pay an additional $5k for tuition, then that’s $26k. If she took out a student loan of $5500, then that’s $31k. that gives her more choices.</p>
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One way it can be affected is by class size. These vary depending on school, even among the Florida Publics. Check out the percentage of classes under 20 and the percentage of classes 40 and above.
Flagler has excellent ratios but you wouldn’t find similar conditions at large public universities; still, it’d be a good starting point for an “optimal” situation, then go from there.
You can help your daughter check out these criteria through CollegeData for example, or present a spread sheet with the results you’ve found.
The Florida Publics are overcrowded, leading to the requirement students should be enrolled for one summer on campus to leave some space for the Fall (which can be a problem if they have to work and it has to be taken care of quickly since summer research/internships would take over after Junior Year), plus the requirement of taking classes online (and since many students didn’t do well in that format, it’s now required for graduation from a FL public high school so that students are all “trained” in online learning before they go to university). However, as far as I know, majors aren’t impacted the way they’ve been/are in California.
Some OOS universities may thus have better learning conditions. Not to the tune of 40K though, but for 5K? Might be worth exploring.
Another aspect of the experience can be if your daughter can get into an Honors COllege.
What are her stats (GPA, ACT score)?
Honors College at a large university automatically changes the classroom experience, providing with more guidance, more discussion-based learning, and many perks. Needless to say, it’s easier to get into FIU Honors than into UF Honors. 
At some universities, she may experience a different cultural mix - and she may get a little boost (including financially) if she’s attending school far away.
This would matter more to private colleges, but would also affect publics.
For instance, Appalachian State would be a good mix, with snow/mountains, football, relatively low tuition, potential for Honors (depending on her stats). So, you could say that Appalachian State is different enough from Florida schools that it’s worth applying, if only to see if she qualifies for Honors and merit aid.</p>
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<p>More than one… University of South Dakota, South Dakota State, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.</p>
<p>I’d like to echo the suggestion of FSU. Absolutely gorgeous campus and football. It’s my personal favorite of the state U’s so far.</p>
<p>@MYOS1634 Just an FYI - The figure you listed for West Chester is instate tuition. OOS tuition is more than double that amount.</p>
<p>Don’t they have a scholarship for OOS students with a 3.5, that reduces tuition to in-state? (I may confuse with another school and/or it may have existed and has been cancelled.) I will check later.
Anyway, there are lots of ways OP can show his/her daughter that she has choices as long as there’s a rationale: a variety of Florida schools (including directionals’ Honors Programs), private FL schools, OOS schols that provide added value at a good cost…</p>
<p>MYOS - West Chester has become increasingly competitive to get in and I do not believe there is any program to reduce tuition to in-state. Further, it is not mostly commuter, a lot of kids live in off campus housing, but that is different than living at home and commuting.</p>
<p>I would not advise looking at Ursinus or Muhlenberg etc if the student wants a large environment and does not want to pay $40k + Those are very tiny schools and do not give much aid. Even if she could be persuaded to look at a LAC, I would suggest something along the lines of 3-4,000 on campus, not 1-2000.</p>
<p>^ Ursinus actually has very good merit aid even for modest stats if the applicant adds to geographical diversity.
But overall the point is that there will be trade offs if OP’s daughter wants to go OOS at a reasonable cost - smaller campus, colder or hotter weather, no football team, far from a city or in a city, etc, etc. It may well turn out that OP’s daughter likes Florida publics better if those are the trade offs 
It can be done but considering her in-state choices, there needs to be something different for her parents to be willing to pay extra otherwise, if it’s FSU/Auburn (similar schools), it’s understandable her parent doesn’t want to pay 40K.</p>
<p>Has OP said D has a 3.5? I can’t find that anywhere. Auburn still gives OOS merit at 29 + 3.5 and OP says she doesn’t qualify for merit, so D is missing one of those benchmarks, or both. OP says D may not get into UF and doesn’t have the record to apply to elites. Perhaps D knows she may not get into UF and wants a rah-rah college with similar name recognition. I don’t know much about these schools, but Auburn looks to be easier to get into from the CDS. It’s too bad, as it is difficult for children to understand that their actions or lack of action over the years will result in a restriction of choice that they don’t even know they want until the choice is upon them. Hindsight bites.</p>
<p>I think D is extremely lucky to have parents who have put money aside to pay for college and should appreciate that. She does have choices in Florida. If she wants more choices, she should figure out how to make something else work with the resources the parents have made available to her, and the school record she has compiled, not be expecting them to pay more than they have long planned. She is lucky that community college and living at home is not her only choice. Just my opinion.</p>
<p>Florida State has a “First Year Abroad” program where freshman start their college careers with a study abroad experience, either for a semester or the full year. She could have an international adventure and still make a wise financial choice.</p>
<p>I think there is lots of good advice here, but in the end it comes down to knowing our children. D will not get into UF and may not even get into FSU. Like any florida student, if she wanted those schools bad enogh, she could attend the community colleges that feed directly into those schools. D wants to go away to school for her freshman year. Fine. There is also ucf, usf, unf, fau. One thing she did not do which we repeatedly requested she do, is prepare for the sat or acts. . . So she simply did not score competitively enough for a school like uf or maybe fsu. (600 plus math, 500 plus reading) Celest is right. They make decisions and then live with the consequences. And now she will have to understand without any chance of merit aid that she will have to attend those schools within our financial guidelines. Reading these threads…lots of parents with very high performing kids. D is simply not there… She can attend fsu if she gets in, or a directional…do well, spend a year abroad…something she also wants to do, or transfer. The more I think about it and review the cost of colleges, sending her out of state makes no sense. What does she gain from going to the non national or non big name schools out of state? She will be far from home, the cost of travel, etc. Plus the added cost of tuition for schools that likely will not provide any more benefit than the Florida schools. Thinking about this has been a good exercise for me so I can discuss all this with dd.</p>
<p>" One thing she did not do which we repeatedly requested she do, is prepare for the sat or acts. . " - Ok then. If she is not interested in going the extra mile, it’s obviously not that big a deal to her. I say… Take advantage of your opportunities in state. </p>
<p>^ I agree.
If all she sees in college is an opportunity to go to football games and isn’t willing to increase her SAT score, no reason she should just go to Auburn when there are perfectly good football games in Florida 
But DO give her choices: Honors at FIU isn’t hard to get into and it’s different from UNF or UWF, for instance. For a B student Flagler and Eckerd are both excellent choices, as is UTampa. Eckerd in particular does a great job with B student, helping them get more motivated and pushing those B kids to mature into excelling. Between FL publics and privates she’d have many choices (granted, the private would be smaller, which would be a big drawback for a football-motivated kid, but based on what you say of her state of mind, they may help her succeed better with more personal attention and smaller classes - for the same reason, I don’t think UCF would be a good pick as it’s gigantic and it’s all too easy to fall through the cracks if one is not internally-driven) .
The options I presented, by the way, were meant for the daughter to see that all cost-effective alternatives have downsides.</p>
<p>You wrote:</p>
<p>“What does she want to do? She is not sure, but she would like to get her degree . . . maybe in business or communications, and then move to a very large North Eastern City (if not California). My advice to her is go to the State School . . get her degree . . . if she chooses to go to Grad School in the North East, we will be able to help her out, but that the goal is to get her degree and get out of College with zero debt.”</p>
<p>I think this advice is spot on.</p>
<p>I’m not in a business or communications department myself (so I could be woefully mistaken), but my impression is that the content of these degrees would be similar no matter where you go.</p>
<p>A private LAC may have the benefit of somewhat smaller classes, but you will pay for this.</p>
<p>Fro OOS option, you may check some privates that are very well known for great Merit awards. They do not take IS vs OOS into consideration.</p>
<p>Good luck with the talk, OP. </p>
<p>Our educational system strongly favors those who fit easily into our educational structures Who develop strong focus at an early age. Who require little sleep. Are able to manage complicated scheduling and direction early, have high executive functioning, etc. As we all know. </p>
<p>Some people really are late bloomers and just need to be kids at the time in their life when they are kids. They may find it impossible to force themselves to sit for practice sessions for a test that they can barely tolerate sitting through the actual version of. All the schoolwork organization that comes so easily to some, eludes them. Development cannot be forced and it comes when it is time. I don’t know your D, but she may well mature into a great student type someday, or anyway become competent at something she loves even if the student part is not easy. Luckily our system does allow for this. The agreements that many state schools have with CCs for admission after a year or 2 is very helpful to kids who are maturing mentally about the time they graduate high school and allows them a way to segue into traditional college life seamlessly. For some others, the development may come later. Still, our system doesn’t completely shut people out. But those who develop very late may not get the traditional fun dorm college experience. </p>
<p>Just mean to say that she’ll be fine I’m sure and it’s good she has parents who are thinking about this and trying to make it happen for her somewhere.</p>
<p>Here;s another option: a BRIBE! Share the savings with her. Offer a new car as a graduation gift (or even a car when she becomes a junior). Or set a yearly amount that you can afford and if she spends less, she gets the difference.</p>
<p>(I, personally, don’t approve of bribes for kids…)
It wouldn’t be possible to share the savings with her, since the money isn’t there per se.
the “set a yearly amount, and she spends less, she gets the difference” would probably work with a kid. I’d add: you get the difference for educational-related expenses (study abroad, unpaid internship housing elsewhere) during college, and whatever’s left, cash at graduation. To encourage education and graduation :D</p>
<p>Our problem was solved today. D received an acceptance letter from Florida Directional U. And she seems very happy. Perfect size . . maybe 14K students, and located in North Florida where it is colder. Has a lot available to her, including foreign exchange programs, Sororities, etc. She will be close to home, just a few hours away if she gets homesick, and her tuition and fees are taken care of for four years, with dorm taken care of her Freshman year. No more talk about Auburn or Out-Of-State. I think she was concerned that she would not be accepted into a decent Public University, and maybe that is why she was talking out of state, . . partly because they are so competitive in Florida these days because of their low cost. She is still applying to FSU, because it of course has football, but now the pressure is off. Problem solved. :-). She now has her life planned out. UG degree in Florida, and then off to NYC. Personally, I think she needed maturing anyway before she left for the Big City.</p>
<p>:) Congratulations! this is awesome. 
Thanks for letting us know.
(I heard that FAU is adding football? and it may be easier to get into than UNF.)
But regardless of whether she gets into FSU… she’s going to college!
And costs will be taken care of. What an enviable position to be in!</p>