We live in New York, my daughter has always wanted to go away for college since she graduated hs back in 2014… she took time off from school but she finally went back and is almost done with community college. She will have 42 credits at the end of next semester(spring 2018), and she will graduate in the fall 2018(December grad) and begin her junior year in the spring 2019. However, she has to apply to colleges this summer.
her gpa is a 3.2, lets say she increases it to a 3.4 or it drops down to a 3.0 what are her chances of getting accepted to any out of state college? Specifically in the south. You can add NY colleges here too just in case for back up.
She (you can help but it is her show) needs to look at the student stats for various schools. State flagships may be out of reach but every state has several other choices. She needs to figure out her major because she will be jumping right into it. She needs to figure out which state, school sizes and locations and all of the considerations new freshmen are evaluating. Some schools are easier to get into than others within a state, have different demographics (eg commuter, mostly instate locals…), school cultures, majors offered, costs of attendance (don’t forget transportation and dorm/apt costs) et al.
Depending on the school she could be in for a culture shock. Plus weather. So many options she will need to narrow the list of hundreds by focusing on what is most important to her. She should use her HS test scores and gpa as a rough guideline for where she will be at her academic level. It is fine to be in the lower quartile (1/4 of students are) but she should figure out if she would need to work harder than she is comfortable doing.
She needs to look at her probable major and see requirements and available courses compared to other choices. She also needs to find out how many of her credits will transfer.
University of North Carolina Wilmington, UNC Greensboro, Florida State, U. Kentucky are popular out of state choices at our public HS. But check NPCs carefully, your cheapest options are instate.
Think about what she wants to do when she graduates and where she wants to land. Most of our Kentucky and some Florida grads go home for jobs, whereas NC has good jobs in banking, high tech, healthcare, and education in the Raleigh, Charlotte areas.
She wants to be an Educaton major, and I don’t want her to go to our far out in the south. Maybe like Georgia or Alabama would be okay because her sister from her dads side lives in Tennessee so if anything was to happen with her or if she feels home sick she can go to her house if anything instead of coming back all the way to New York. And, also Florida would be good too because my brother lives there. I was thinking maybe she could get a scholarship? I know oos scholarships are hard to get, that’s why I’m trying to push her to bring up her gpa these last 2 semesters if possible. There’s no way I could pay the full ride for an out of state school. However, I don’t want her to be too upset if she’s not able to get into an out of state school like she wants to.
It would be very hard to get a scholarship as an out of state transfer student at a public school. There might be some smaller private schools that might offer them.
If she wants to teach, she needs to think seriously about where she wants to wind up. Different states have different testing and licensing requirements and there may not always be reciprocity. Look for NCATE accreditation as it may be easier to gain reciprocity. Check the requirements for each state for initial certification, licensing and retention of credentials.
My D attended a 5 year program at a SUNY school. It was a direct admit after the first semester, so she didn’t have to deal with applying to grad school and she was able to take her first semester (of 3) of grad classes at undergraduate tuition.
Another thing to think about is job security and tenure. In NYC and most of NYS that I am familiar with, once a teacher gets tenure, they pretty much have to kill the principal or sleep with students to lose their jobs. In other areas, teachers get a contract every year or so and aren’t guaranteed to be rehired. One of my friends, in California, found herself looking for new jobs every other year, often due to budget issues, sometimes because she is a strong woman who doesn’t handle incompetent admins well.
Also, in many places, teachers don’t get paid excessively well, so you might not want a lot of student debt. There may be some programs that forgive debt if you teach in certain areas or subjects but I last explored these almost 10 years ago. Once D decided on a SUNY, she didn’t have to rely on loans. I would venture a guess that some of these programs may face cuts or elimination in the new tax bill fight.
Once she goes past a day’s drive it won’t matter how far south she goes. Do NOT count on any scholarships- her grades are not spectacular.
Ditto on the where she plans to work. Teachers need to meet state requirements and every state has some unique to them. A class in state history/geography is one.
Is it really worth the OOS tuition for an average college in a field one can get an equally good education at an instate college? The urge to leave home territory is understandable but that can be done a bit later.
btw- you live in “New York”. Are you a NYC dweller whose world view forgets that New York state is large and has many opportunities to get away and still be instate? There is a quite different (and nicer in some ways) culture outside of the NYC area. Your D can get hundreds of miles away and get a quality public college education. Why pay more for less? More of her CC college credits are likely to transfer instate as well.
if your D plans on becoming a teacher, she would be better served to go to college in NYS, especially if she plans on coming back to NY to teach.
Like @wis75 stated, between 4-year colleges in the CUNY/SUNY system where she could possibly complete an ed degree in her own back yard, she has plenty of options going as far as Plattsburgh (near) the Canadian border, to CUNY, which are in every borough in NYC, to colleges on LI, she has plenty of options that may end up being affordable to your family, whether or not she gets a scholarship.
In addition with initiatives like SUNY GER and CUNY Required Core/Flexible Core and College option, she can easily transfer without a loss of credits
If your family makes less than 110k (2018-2019) or 125k (2019-2020), she would still be eligible for the excelsior scholarship which would cover her tuition (after applying any TAP/PELL that she would be eligible to receive).
If you are not eligible, she can go away to a SUNY school for a fraction of the cost of paying OOS tuition, room and board elsewhere.
She can also apply to for a Teach grant through HESC in NYS (which can offset the NYS tuition cost)
She if she is attending CC in NYC/LI/Westchester and you just want to burn cash, she can even look at the CCTOP program at NYU (scholarship for half of their financial need)
You need to let us know your budget before we can give any meaningful suggestions. It is highly unlikely to get merit aid as a transfer student. If money is an issue, now is the time to find an affordable and appropriate school. Your D can always move south on her own dime once she gets a job.
You need to let us know your budget before we can give any meaningful suggestions. It is highly unlikely to get merit aid as a transfer student.
There are many NYS public schools where she could live away from home at a more reasonable price. And a number of the SUNY schools are very strong in education.
My annual salary is 50,000. I’m not taking out loans for her because I’m already in debt myself with college loans, everything will be under her name. If she goes to an oos I need it be affordable so she wont be so much debt once shes done. If anything, she will go to a suny.
Also keep in mind that many states require teachers to get a Master’s within a specific timeframe after graduation (some places it’s ten years; in our school system, it’s five years). There are no Pell Grants for that – that’s going to come out of her pocket, too (likely in loans).
Without a co-signer, it is highly unlikely that she is going to school OOS because it will not be affordable.
As a junior, she can only borrow $7500 in her own name. Anything over this amount will need a co-signer.
If she is Pell eligible, then she will get PELL. Highly unlikely that there will be any additional aid the $7500 she can borrow from the federal government and then private loans. She will easily rack up more than 50K over the next 2 years paying OOS tuition/fees/room & board.
The most affordable option is to attend a 4 year school (SUNY/CUNY) that is commutable where she will get free tuition. When she finishes she can get a job and live wherever she is willing to pay to live.
Florida Southern offers scholarships to transfer students. Minimum GPA for a scholarship is 2.75, and the amounts go up with a higher GPA. It’s a small private school that is strong in education and business, among others.
Finances need to be discussed upfront before dream schools are contemplated. The reality for most students is that they go to an affordable instate public U, even top tier students. Transportation costs can add up. You are lucky to have many good options in your home state.
Scholarships may be there and the amounts may seem impressive but the bottom line is the out of pocket costs for everything- tuition, fees, room and board, books, travel, sundries, entertainment, food… are what matter.