<p>I'm from PA and was looking at the California State Universities. I wouldn't be able to afford the tuition, so I was hoping on getting merit based scholarships (I've had straight A's through high school, ranked 2nd in my class, and pretty high SAT scores and good extracurriculars). Then on the website for the schools, it says that the "Percent of scholarship aid awarded to out-of-state students is 0%". Do state schools never give out scholarships/merit based aid to out of state students? I'm really confused about that.
Thanks a lot for any help!</p>
<p>On the whole, it is more difficult for an out-of-state student to get scholarship money from a PUBLIC university. That is not true for a private university. It is also easier to get money in some states rather than others.</p>
<p>California is going through a terrible financial crisis and their university systems are getting hit hard. Don’t expect much help for out of state students.</p>
<p>The theory is that state schools are supported mainly by taxes paid by their own residents, so there is little or no extra money to support out-of-state students.</p>
<p>These policies, on the national level, doesn’t make any sense though. If all states abolished their price discrimination in basis of residency status, students would increase their mobility and, hipotheticaly, attend schools where they would feel better.</p>
<p>Of course, South Dakota taxpayers’ money would be funding some Mississippian students, but some students from SD would also benefit from funding in California, some californians would flock to New Hampsire and so on.</p>
<p>^^ Since public schools are funded (in part) by state funds this will never happen. The closest this occurs is in regional agreements among states.</p>
<p>OP, don’t plan on getting any $.</p>
<p>europegrad:</p>
<p>It won’t work that way. Most OOS kids will “flock” to top OOS schools, such as Cal-Berkeley, UCLA, UMich, UVa and the like. There is almost zero reason to attend a public college in Vermont when any Cal State or UC will do and is much closer to home.</p>
<p>There days the CA state schools barely have grants for instate students, everything has been cut dramatically. While I’ve seen a few OOS students get small amounts of scholarship money at some UCs, it does not happen at all at CSUs.</p>
<p>Bottom line, don’t count on anything significant. These schools now want more OOS students for the money–full payers.</p>
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<p>I agree with the above posters that for the CA, merit scholarships and need based FA for OOS students is little to nothing. But if in the quote above you’re referring to ALL states, there are some exceptions.</p>
<p>There are a few exceptions for the very tip top students, most of whom would be competitive candidates at the most selective colleges in the nation. UMichigan’s Shipman scholarship is an example, it’s a full ride for OOSers and used as an incentive to lure top students to UM. </p>
<p>There are also several state universities who give merit awards (sometimes significant amounts) to NM scholars. And there are state schools that give merit money to OOS students in lesser amounts.</p>
<p>Some states do. However, the CSU system is currently having severe budget issues, and as such, there is no money for aid for out of students now, even if there ever has been in the past.</p>