<p>So here they are:</p>
<p>U Wyoming
U Idaho
Idaho State
U Utah
Utah State
U Montana
Montana State
U New Mexico
New Mexico State
U Nevada
U Alaska</p>
<p>The Question:</p>
<p>Which of these is on the cheaper side for OOS? And more importantly, I realize some of these schools are pure commuter schools, but which ones are, and which ones are more resdiential?</p>
<p>Thanks much! :)</p>
<p>bump.. come on guys, anyone have any input?</p>
<p>The University of Alaska and the University of Idaho are quite cheap as out-of-state public tuition goes... and don't say that nobody ever considers them, because those two universities were my short-list schools and I'm going to be attending the University of Alaska Fairbanks :)</p>
<p>But you are right in that all those schools are very overlooked here because this forum is so obsessed with rankings uber alles. Get past the numbers game and you'll find that the West has a lot of great public universities.</p>
<p>There are three University of Alaska branches. The flagship campus at Fairbanks is decidedly residential, while the Anchorage and Southeast (Juneau) schools are more or less commuter-oriented.</p>
<p>Fairbanks is flippin' cold (think 40-50 below in the winters) but it's a spectacular setting to learn, and you get incredible personal attention in a small-college atmosphere - enrollment is just 5,000 and 70 percent of the classes have fewer than 20 students. Yet because it's the state's major land-grant research university, there's plenty of campus amenities and life, including NCAA Division I hockey, a 1,750,000-volume library, a modern student recreation center and such.</p>
<p>The University of Idaho at Moscow is a very residential campus - and it's beautiful. I had a very hard time turning them down and I would recommend it without hesitation. A lot of school spirit and a great environment.</p>
<p>montana state and alaska have been bothering me for a while..</p>
<p>Obviously there are hundreds of regional colleges that no one has ever heard of becuase, well, they're regional. I'm assuming you mean state flagships and/or major state schools for the sake of this argument, in which case I agree with those choices. Add to that list:</p>
<p>University of North Dakota
University of South Dakota (honestly can anyone say anything about this place?)
University of West Virginia</p>
<p>University of West Virginia? Ooh, party school! ;)</p>
<p>lol, except people do consider them, since they exist.............</p>
<p>OP:</p>
<p>A fast way to compare costs is to go to College</a> Navigator - National Center for Education Statistics</p>
<p>There's a category for expenses and it's nicely broken down between in-state students and OOS students. You can quickly compare programs as well --- just the facts, not opinions, but getting a sense of how popular (enrollmentwise) programs are can be helpful. Admissions also gives a break down of the acceptance rate for men and women and also the SAT/ACT scores. You can do a lot of research quickly at this site rather than trying to search for it at each college's website.</p>
<p>Again, the main question of my post (sorry if it wasn't clear...) is if these colleges are really residential, meaning i want a place where at least 80% of the studetns do not leave every weekend... </p>
<p>but thanks again for all the info :)</p>
<p>You will find very, very few public universities with that level of on-campus residency. Most upperclassmen choose to live off-campus. Alaska-Fairbanks I think is about 40 percent and University of Idaho, 55 percent. Those are really comparatively high percentages for flagship publics. UC Berkeley, for example, is less than 20 percent.</p>
<p>Those schools never get much talk because for most kids, they are in the middle of nowhere. From where I live, if I'm gonna go to school in Montana, Idaho, Utah, or New Mexico, I might as well just go all the way to the west coast and go to USC, Berkeley, UCLA, or U. Washington.</p>
<p>You say they're in the middle of nowhere like that's a bad thing. :)</p>
<p>The student experience at huge urban flagships like USC, UCLA, Cal or UW is a far, far different one than the student experience at Idaho, Alaska Fairbanks, Wyoming or Montana, all of which are smaller institutions in comparatively small-town environments. There's probably not much cross-shopping going on. </p>
<p>I never considered any of those huge urban flagships, for example, because I've lived in an urban area my whole life - 10 minutes from Cal - and I want a different experience when I'm in college.</p>
<p>I'm not sure how you can say those are schools NO ONE ever considers. Maybe because I live in New Mexico and both of my parents went to the University of Utah. </p>
<p>But anyway, I know lots of people at UNM and NMSU who live on campus or off campus with friends. They definitely don't come home every weekend since there is a lot more to do where they are than where there parents are. But Albuquerque isn't a very exciting place. I wouldn't recommend it, but maybe some people like it. I also know someone from New Mexico who goes to U of Utah and he finds a lot to do. Also, I know someone from Ohio who goes to Utah State who definitely doesn't leave every weekend.</p>
<p>You can check collegeboard.com and check the costs. Most of them sound as if they'd LOVE to have somebody from OOS. </p>
<p>My question for you is this: why do you want to be in the middle of nowhere? :P Just out of curiosity. </p>
<p>Also, if you're considering other OOS schools, I have another one for you if you decide you kind of want to be around people. Surprisingly, Arizona State is pretty cheap for OOS students even though tons of people apply (Most colleges/universities charge >20k for tuition per year. ASU is only 17k, plus there are tons of scholarship opportunities if you bothered to try in high school.)</p>
<p>U Alaska Anchorage is cheap, less than 14,000/yr, but largely commuter (less than 10% of undergrads live on campus). U Alaska Fairbanks is more residential, as it is a smaller town, but still has a large commuter population (27% of undergrads live in dorms). It also has less than 14,000/yr tuition.</p>
<p>atrophicwhisper, just because these schools aren't in huge major cities doesn't mean the OP wouldn't be around people. Albuquerque is expanding tremendously and the valley Salt Lake is in has way too many people in it.</p>
<p>I have a friend from Wyoming who attends U of Wyoming, so I looked into it, and surprisingly the out of state scholarships were not too great.</p>