So I currently live in Buffalo, NY and i wanna go out of state for college because I feel like itd be a fun experience and its just always been something I wanted to do. Im a junior right now and ive just began looking. I have a 3.0. Ive been considering looking into the south for college (texas, louisiana, everywhere around there) but i always hear that its super racist and homophobic. Im white and straight but its still not something id want to be aroud if it really is a common thing down south. Id consider the midwest too, i just dont know much about the midwest so if you have any suggestions let me know. Id possibly consider the northeast but buffalo is super cold and snowy so itd be nice if wherever i went was at least a litttle better in the winter. I cant consider any states in the west like cali, oregon, etc because its just too far i wouldnt be able to visit home a lot. Keep in mind im only an average student no ap’s or anything.
Thanks!!
Have you talked with your family about college costs?
Yeah i have a little. Theyre not thrilled with the out of state costs. Were gonna see if we get any financial aid
The schools that give the best need based aid require pretty strong stats to get in. You need good stats to get merit aid, too. Each college has a net price calculator in the website you can run. I’d take a good look at the SUNY system. They are likely to be your best deal. You can move to another state to work after finishing college.
So your parents are willing to spend $40K to $60K per year for you to go out of state?
Most public schools will not fund OOS students because the funding comes from the state. That means no financial aid if you are not a resident.
Private schools have more money but they also cost a lot more.
The only real way to get some funding is to have really high stats and grades and find a school willing to fund you for your grades. A 3.0 just doesn’t cut it.
Don’t let what people say about the south get to you. In a lot of ways, it’s a lot more diverse and accepting than the north in my opinion. What kind of school do you want? Small or large? Rural or urban? Sports? Also, schools in the south and Midwest will be almost as hard to get to as schools in California. A plane ride is a plane ride. If you want to be able to visit home more frequently than 3 or 4 times a year, you need to be looking at schools in the northeast that are a comfortable drive.
Midwest schools that are middle/ large that could could get into are Illinois state, Western Illinois, maybe DePaul. Smaller side could be elmhurst college, Butler university, St Louis university (SLU)
Yes, there are several good midwest schools that would get less snow than Buffalo! Also there is a federal college navigator website that might be useful. You could search on size, location, etc. just google search college navigator.
Paying out of state tuition for pubic schools, or full sticker price (up to $65,000 per YEAR) would be a lot of money for your parents if your main reason is “itd be a fun experience.” If it were mostly about fun, I imagine your parents could also find fun ways to spend that much money 
Seriously, I do think you could have fun, meet a lot of diverse people and get a good education at an in-state school. Going far away in and of itself can be educational, but you can always do that after you graduate…or maybe travel/work/do internships out of state during your college summers. Maybe you could do a semester abroad while studying instate at a CUNY. Maybe you could go to school for two years at a community college, work hard at grades, and use money saved to transfer further away. Just brainstorming.
Studying as hard as you can NOW to raise your GPA as much as possible above a 3.0, and also prepping hard for ACTs/SATs is the best thing you can do to raise your chances to get acceptances to schools you like whether in or out of NY (and maybe some merit aid IF you don’t apply to reachy schools.) To expect merit aid you would need scores and GPA higher than the average scores of any given school. There are threads on CC containing info on average scores of various schools…I don’t know the names of these offhand but you can do a search here or ask.
If you are serious about this, there is a thread in the Parents Forum of CC that might help you to get ideas called “Parents of the HS class of 2017- 3.0-3.4. GPA”. Acceptances are rolling in for these seniors and you can read lists of where they got in, whether/how much merit aid, and what their stats are. Keep in mind that many of the students listed did take AP courses, may have outstanding ECs and recommendations/essays along with their grades.
IF your parents can and will pay a high sticker price maybe a regional college or university might be a fit for you. If you go just a little further south, to Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, Delaware, you might feel you were a little bit away from home (with possibly a bit less snow than Buffalo ) while still being a not-too difficult drive away. Look up lists of CTCL (Colleges that Change Lives) schools and “A+ Schools for B Students.”
In the end, no one here can suggest actual schools for you yet, as you are a little vague. We would need to know more: what your ACT/SAT scores are (or likely to be based on practice tests you take,) what your parents can and will REALISTICALLY pay, what you think you would like to study, what your strengths and weaknesses are, what are your extracurriculars or awards are, if any, whether you’re thinking about large or small schools, urban or rural, etc. Is it possible for you to visit some colleges/universities in your area just to get a sense of what you like? You may be surprised to find something in-state that you could get excited about without going far away.
Good luck and work hard!
One more thing to think about, @melisnb: you call yourself an average student. Is that average ability, or average effort?Have you worked very hard to achieve your 3.0 average ( you may have) or have you sort of coasted so far in high school? I think an average cost for an in-state school is plenty for your parents to pay of their hard-earned money if you have put forth average effort. If you are asking them to pay over-the-top expenses for a higher-than-necessary education then maybe you need to show an equal amount of work and dedication. Something to keep in mind while talking with parents about this. Please don’t be too frustrated with them if they must limit your choices. College is unbelievably expensive, and they will need money to retire on.
I’d be careful about labeling entire regions of the U.S. as racist/homophobic. Every college is different, as is every community.
I will put in a plug for Florida Southern, a small private liberal arts college that is very generous with their financial aid. Also they’ve just added Sahlen’s hotdogs to the local Publix down here, so there’s that.
The weather is very nice in Florida about 95 percent of the time. Whenever we get that rare gray day, I wake up and say, “hey, it looks like Buffalo today!”
If you want a fun time in college, look into Big Ten schools, especially University of Iowa, University of Minnesota, Ohio State, and Indiana University