Just crunched the new numbers. So depressing. I think S18 will still apply as it is guaranteed but wow, almost certainly won’t be his cheapest option now.
Can’t imagine the class next year will be anywhere close to as big…
I emailed NM office at OU about 2018 NMF package, got the response quickly but it wasn’t very clear - it could be interpreted in different ways (I am talking about tuition and fees, the $4,200 room elimination is self-explanatory). So I replied with my interpretation of the new costs, and asked if they could either confirm my numbers, or point out mistakes, or just give me total for OOS tuition and fees and room and board. Don’t count books, travel, etc. I never heard back, it’s been 2 weeks.
Very disappointed. It feels like they know people are unhappy but don’t know how to communicate it. I don’t quite understand that - they are selling a product, and all I want to know is its price, that’s all. They are not going to hurt my feelings, just tell me how much it’s going to cost our family to send my D to your school.
@tallgrass Unfortunately in real world it is never that easy and straight forward. They can provide estimate only. It is similar to purchase experience with car or what it will cost to remove 2 wisdom teeth with anesthesia or hip surgery or read the simple AT&T telephone bill with all the line items?
So far based on this thread post, this is what I could infer. From 2018, the tuition cost will add around $9k / year for OOS since OOS has to pay the in state tuition minus some $10k aid for 5 years. To give a feel for estimate, currently and in future you will also have around $5k per year (for 30 credits) various course and lab or technology specific fees.
As others mentioned you can apply for both external (local community) and OU internal scholarships which may vary from $1k to $2-3k and you can apply for multiple scholarships. You can take up many part time work and can earn around $10/hour.
So far my D is very happy with OU. This year she moved to an apt, plans to take some part time OU work, got $1k scholarship and plan to apply to 1 more which is $1.5k. So around $5k or so she will get this year which will cover all the misc. fees and expenses and mostly we don’t have to shell out any thing except for the flight fares few times this year.
@GoldenRock With all due respect, I have to disagree with you on this one, as it is not really that complicated and comparison with hip surgery is not appropriate.
The school knows exactly what their invoice will look like, with the exception of some fees. The school also knows how various scholarships are going to be applied and what the final bill will look like, since these are costs completely within their control – tuition, fees, room and board (on campus).
Other costs are within parents’ control – transportation, medical, personal expenses etc. – so I want these separated from the above category. I don’t mind if the school takes a shot to estimate these, but I really want to know what THEIR charges are going to be. Most schools have no issues with that.
Here is a perfect example of what I mean – OU NMF package for 2018:
https://ou.edu/content/dam/recruitment/downloads/NMpackage_2018_NonRes.pdf
The very first line says this: “Waives 100% of non-resident tuition”.
What that means to me is exactly what it says – it waves 100% of non-resident tuition. There is no other way to interprete that!
Under second heading, it says this: “Partial resident tuition waiver of $2,000 per year”.
I cannot make sense of it – can you? It raises more questions than it answers.
Based on feedback of great folks here on CC, it appears that OU is making OOS NMF students IS, and than offering $2K/year scholarship. If that’s indeed the case, than the wording at the top needs to be changed to something like “Waives 100% DIFFERENCE between resident and non-resident tuition”. Than it is clear what they mean. In fact, most public schools offer that type of scholarship, and that’s how it is worded – precisely so that parents cannot later claim they were promised OOS tuition waiver!
Again, I am not whining type of person – all I asked the school was to provide clarification. The school responded with $4.2K room scholarship elimination, and the exact wording on tuition changes from this flyer. When I asked for clarification, I got no answer. What that tells me is that they either don’t care (hard to imagine after wonderful visit), don’t know themselves (though they appeared very competent), or are just affraid to spell out bad news completely (most likely). It’s just bad communication all around…
I agree with @tallgrass
Just tell us what it costs. My estimate is somewhere around 18k first year, and then who freaking knows. Sigh.
Go here:
http://www.ou.edu/bursar/tuition_fees/calculator.html
Input what classes you are taking
since you have 100% tuition waiver just say you are an OK resident
subtract $4375 a semester (the $1000 a semester scholarship, the $2750 per semester scholarship and the $625 a semester) then you have the one time technology/text book $1500 and the study abroad $1500
I don’t see the $625/semester on the OOS award list. The $1000 and the $2750 yes. Maybe you are counting the NMF “cash stipend” there? So yes, using that calculator I get about 14-18K the first year (depending on #credits and courses chosen).
@Booajo Yes, the $625 a semester is the $5K cash stipend divided by 8 semesters
@booajo Does 14-18k the first year include room and board?
@3scoutsmom
That’s essentially what I did - I assumed IS costs and subtracted the scholarships. I typed it all in an email and asked “Did I do my calculations correctly? Did I make correct assumptions?” Something to that effect. That’s the follow up email I never received reply to.
I am coming up with about 12-13K, their website says 16K. I wanted to know if my calculations are too low, or if 16K already covers incidentals like travel etc. which would mean I am in the ballpark.
But again - I am just making assumption OOS NMF student is being treated as an IS student. Their website is not clear at all, and their communication is neither. I am going by what strangers on the internet are saying…
@tallgrass Hi, I’m a just graduated NMF from OU. The package that they are switching to is essentially identical to the old package that NMF from my year and earlier got.
You are in the ballpark on your estimates. I paid around $9k + incidentals to add up to around $12k. With the increase in fees and inflation, that falls in line with your numbers.
I will say that those numbers did not stay constant. My freshman year was by far my most expensive, as I did not yet have other scholarships through the university and the dorms are wayyyyy overpriced compared to other housing options in Norman. My junior and senior year, my tuition bill and fees for each semester as an OOS NMF were always less than $2k before additional scholarships or stipends. There were some semesters I actually received money back from OU because of my additional scholarships and stipends, which many NMF students are very competitive for. This is not to say that you should plan on it (never want to plan on receiving money that far in advance), but it was a nice benefit to me.
In addition, I want to apologize on behalf of the National Scholars office. They’re usually incredibly helpful and responsive. My guess is that right now they’re very busy planning and setting up the move-in events for the new freshmen.
Happy to answer any other financial questions re: National Merit or other scholarships that any of you have.
@3lovingmom yes, total cost.
@WoolScarves It is interesting. Do you mean to say for your year (2013) the award was only the difference between OOS and IS tuition (essentially you need to pay IS fees if you are OOS)? So some students in between 2013 and 2018 got lucky with the enhanced award package then!
@GoldenRock Yes, our class was really upset when we saw that the class after us got a significant bump in scholarship (only half joking). OU hoped to increase the number of NM students they were bringing in, but they’ve had an absolutely huge number the past few years. The scholarships all come directly from President Boren’s own discretionary fund. My guess is that the number of scholarships they were giving out was unsustainable, so now they’re dropping to the level that they were during my year.