<p>I live in NC and of course am going to apply to UNC, but if I dont get into UNC i want to look at other options than NC state, even though it is a good school. I am interested in some OOS publics like Georgia Tech, U of Florida, U of Maryland, and maybe U of Georgia, U of SC, FSU and Clemson. Is it true that going to an OOS public is more expensive than going to a private college? My parents income is roughly in the range of 70-100k, im guessing. I know it is under 100k for sure though. So I was wondering if I would be able to qualify for a decent amount of finical aid to a private university because i have been told that my parents income is too much for a public OOS to give me enough aid to bring tuition cost as close to the in state rate as possible. Any information on this topic would be greatly appreciated, Thanks!</p>
<p>Some privates will provide aid related to their EFC calculations and that aid could very well be better than the other schools you’ve listed. There are some publics that are members of the Academic Common Market that will give a NC a break on tuition. <a href=“http://www.sreb.org/page/1304/academic_common_market.html[/url]”>Academic Common Market - Southern Regional Education Board;
<p>DD applied to and was accepted at U of South Carolina. She had very good high school stats and received a McKissick Scholarship that was $2000 a year AND reduced her tuition costs to instate rates for the full four years. For her, this was the LEAST expensive bottom line cost for us of any of the schools to which she applied. (she didn’t go there but that’s another whole thread).</p>
<p>Depending on your GPA, and SAT or ACT scores, you could receive some good MERIT aid from an out of state public university.</p>
<p>I also know that U of MD offers merit aid to very high achieving OOS students. So does U of Delaware, and so does U of Alabama. These are based on the strength of your application.</p>
<p>As the others have said, it is possible. It really depends on your test scores and grades, and how desirable you are to said colleges. As a general rule, most OOS schools are NOT generous at all to kids not from their own state as they have to provide for them first. UNC Chapel Hill is one of the few state schools that guarantee to meet need, so it is unlikely for most kids to even get need met at their own state schools, much less for OOS kids. </p>
<p>However, if you can meet the criteria for merit money at some state schools, it is possible to get a cost that may match your own state school costs, though your state, NC’s is going to be tough to beat. In our case, our own state schools offered the lowest costs for our kids, even without any awards. </p>
<p>In your case, depending on how your family income falls on the tax forms and what assets your family has, you may be eligible for some financial aid from privates. There are private schools that meet most or all of need as they define it, and you may want to run your family numbers through an institutional calculator to get some idea what your family is expected to contribute. For some families in that income range, a private school with financial aid ends up close in cost or even less expensive than in state options. </p>
<p>My son is going to an OOS public, and though it does cost more than our in state colleges, it is still far less than most privates would cost us, and is within our affordability range. </p>
<p>What I did notice when looking at a number of state schools is that the ones well known outside of the state did tend to have hefty OOS premiums to them that other schools in that same state may not have attached. </p>
<p>Georgia Tech has some great merit awards but they are very competitive, you have to apply to the program separately for the generous Presidential awards, the deadline is early. My son was accepted there but did not get any merit aid at all, and the OOS cost for GT is high.</p>
<p>Another one for TOP students is Pitt…they have some great merit awards for top admits.</p>
<p>A number of state schools do have some generous scholarships for top students. My neighbor’s son is going to Indiana University for less than half of what a SUNY would cost him. He got a nice merit award from there. But the sticker price for OOSers there is $40K+, I have been told, though less than many privates that are coming in close to the $60K mark. The OOS publics are sadly rapidly becoming out of our price range.</p>
<p>Well I would mostly limit the OOS publics i would want to go to to the South East, including Maryland. (NC, SC, GA, FL, maybe others like AL and TX) but have been looking at some private colleges up north(Villanova, Carnegie Mellon) But I would only rank my academics as average(3.5 GPA, 28 ACT). Do they looks at more than academics for OOS aid. I am varsity and captain on track and Cross Country, have an internship, part time job, run a small business, NHS, and volunteer. So is it possible for someone like me to get enough aid to where I can go for somewhat close to the in state rate? If i get into UNC or get an ROTC scholarship I wont have to worry about this, but I like to think ahead. Also do you have a better chance of getting a good amount of aid if I went to a school like USF or UCF where I am on the uper percentile vs a school like U of Florida were I am almost below average. Thanks!</p>
<p>Your chances of getting money are higher when you are in the upper percentiles in academic stats. Though there are some state schools that have more holistic admissions criteria, with many of the large schools, it’s a numbers thing. They do not look at much more than academic stats unless you are on a special list as an athletic recruit or other specialty group that looks for candidates.</p>
<p>Even with reasonably high stats, it doesn’t mean an OOS school is going to be generous. In my day, I had very generous merit/aid packages from all schools except the one OOS which admitted me but offered me zilch in funds. My son’s close friend is going to Purdue this fall and he is in the upper echelon for stats there, but did not get any money though he did from some private colleges.</p>
<p>Many public universities post their scholarships on their websites. Many post the “minimum” stats requirements to qualify for those scholarships. Some scholarships award automatically at those stats, some are competitive and some are discretionary. You’ll have to do some research to answer your question. The federal aid is pretty much going to be the same anywhere you go and most likely it will be all loans. So “financial aid” for you will need to be merit based aid. Some states have merit aid programs that are transportable to other states but most require that the money be used in state.</p>
<p>More important than figuring out what colleges is for you and your parents to sit down and figure out what they will be expected to pay at a minimum. So run those financial aid calculators! And definitely ask your parents how much they plan to contribute. Then start doing your finaid research.</p>
<p>There are also many, many threads you can read about kids looking low cost education, merit based financial aid, etc. just use the search feature.</p>
<p>Some OOS public schools give tuition discounts or even in-state tuition to students living in bordering/regional states. This can make those schools very affordable and a lot less than private colleges. It will really depend on the school so you’ll have to do a lot of research about what the schools you’re interested in offer.</p>
<p>Cheaper to Go to Private or Out of State (OSS) Public?</p>
<p>There’s no one answer for this.</p>
<p>If you go to an OOS public that doesn’t give you big merit or aid for their high costs, then going there will be expensive.</p>
<p>If you go to an OOS public that gives you a big merit scholarship for your stats, then going there may be cheaper than your own instate public. I know many kids who attend our state’s flagship with big merit scholarships and it’s MUCH cheaper than their instate schools. </p>
<p>Not all privates give great aid or merit.</p>
<p>What are your stats?</p>
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<p>Chapel Hill and merit money from neighboring states will be a stretch. Add NC State to your list. With a great first semester, you might be able to transfer into UNCCH – my niece got in that way.</p>
<p>Well I would mostly limit the OOS publics i would want to go to to the South East, including Maryland. (NC, SC, GA, FL, maybe others like AL and TX) but have been looking at some private colleges up north(Villanova, Carnegie Mellon) But I would only rank my academics as average(3.5 GPA, 28 ACT). Do they looks at more than academics for OOS aid.</p>
<p>Well, you’re kind of in that “gray area” …You have good stats, but not the kind that usually get great merit or get accepted to the schools that give awesome aid.</p>
<p>If you test again and get higher scores (take the ACT as well), then you’d have better choices.</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon???</p>
<p>Your test scores are in the bottom quartile – CMU has a range of 29-33. Moreover, CMU is kinda the anti-CH. UNC is a public liberal arts colleges, with little engineering. CMU is all math-science all the time (yes they also have a small theater and comm program.)</p>
<p>Moreover, CMU does not meet full financial need. If you need a lot of aid, this is not the place to look. Unless you bring a big hook, CMU is probably not worth the app fee.</p>
<p>yah the more i think about it, the more in think im not even going to apply to Carnegie, i knew it would be a reach from the very beginning but i do understand that they dont give the “most” money for aid. I do plan on applying to nc state as more of a safe school, and it is still a very good school and I have no problem going there, just looking at options. I plan on majoring in either, Computer Science, Economics, Finance, or Biomedical Engineering. So should I go to the college websites that I am interested in and look at there scholarships/aid individually to see what i can come up with?</p>
<p>sjbd,</p>
<p>If you plan to go to UNC if you get accepted, then, I would suggest you not waste your time searching for an out of state option that is close in cost to your in-state options. If you get accepted to UNC it sounds as if you’ll go there. If you don’t get accepted as an in-state student then the chances of you garnering significant $$$ to offset OOS tuition would be unlikely. I think you would do better to research programs in-state as back-ups to your UNC plan. NC State is a good school. There are many other state schools that will save you money and provide you with a great education. </p>
<p>The bottom line here is that if you don’t get accepted as an in-state applicant to UNC I think you will find it unlikely to garner significant merit aid from OOS Publics. I think your efforts might be better spent researching which UNC schools have programs that would meet your needs.</p>
<p>I live in NC. Daughter just graduated from UNC-G. Son will be attending U. of Alabama in the fall (National Merit Scholarship). Just so you know from whence the advice comes.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>*So should I go to the college websites that I am interested in and look at there scholarships/aid individually to see what i can come up with? *</p>
<p>Yes…</p>
<p>But…understand that if you need a good amount of merit scholarships, then your stats need to be well within the top 25% of the school. </p>
<p>Unless you retest and get your scores up or look at lower ranked schools, you’re going to find it hard to get big scholarships with an ACT 28.</p>
<p>I’m looking at UA-Huntsville…a school with very good engineering, very generousw with merit, ranked 3rd tier (old style ranking)…and with an ACT 28, you’d only get… $3k-4k per year. That hardly puts a dent in the total OOS cost to go there. </p>
<p>Miss State might give you an OOS tuition waiver, but you’d have to pay the rest. </p>
<p>How much will your family pay? You need to “do that math”. If your family will pay $10k per year…that will cover room and board at many schools. However, that would mean that you’d need a full tuition scholarship to cover your tuition.</p>
<p>Yes UNC is my number 1 choice! But just to clarify what you are saying. You are saying that only the top tier students who are OOS at public universities are going to be able to receive any significant amount of aid? and a 3.5, 28 ACT guy like me isnt going to get to much? Wouldnt it still be worth it to see though, because UNC has some pretty high admissions standards. A school like FSU my ACT scores are 75th percentile so wouldnt that mean i have a shot at some aid? Thanks again for all the information everyone!</p>
<p>mom2collegekids,
I have a little under 20k for college saved up from my parents, enough to cover an entire year without any aid to any instate school. But I have recently been talking to family members and they say they can help “significantly” so i really dont know how much that is. I am also applying for ROTC scholarships, so if i can secure one of those i can go anywhere i get accepted. But even if I dont get a scholarship I plan on doing ROTC and the chances of receiving a 3 year scholarship are higher than a 4 year and then I would only be responsible for 1 year of payment for OOS. Like i said ill probably end up in state unless i get a ROTC scholarship. But i just want to look at options OOS to see what is possible. Should I stop wasting my time? Also should i look at some of the more well known private schools that meet a high percentage of need?</p>
<p>I have a little under 20k for college saved up from my parents, enough to cover an entire year without any aid to any instate school. But I have recently been talking to family members and they say they can help “significantly” so i really dont know how much that is.</p>
<p>You can’t look at how much you have for “one year”…you have to look at the full 4 years.</p>
<p>Well, you need to politely explain to these family members that you need an annual dollar value so that you can plan accordingly. You need to know if the amount that they give you will be a “one time” thing or an annual amount. </p>
<p>It sounds like your parents have about $5k per year for college. If you can get your various family members to commit to amounts that will total $10k per year ($40k total ), then that gives you $15k per year. With a student loan, you’d have instate costs covered.</p>
<p>If your relatives can commit to a lot more, you’ll have more options. </p>
<p>You don’t want a situation where you have the funds for year 1, but not for after.</p>