This may be a very silly question to ask, but how does financial aid work for OOS students at state schools? I understand there is both federal financial aid and state financial aid. Do OOS students get less aid at state schools than instate students receive?
Also, does the difference between out of state and instate financial aid vary by school? Are some public schools known for giving more aid to OOS students than other schools?
Which OOS schools are you targeting?
I am mostly interested in Michigan and UCLA.
UCLA gives little to no financial aid for OOS applicants. The UC’s offer good need-based aid for in-state students due to the Cal grant system and the Blue and Gold scholarships which makes them affordable to CA residents. The UC’s offer very competitive merit scholarships to OOS students but they are drop in the bucket in comparison to overall costs. UCLA’s regents scholarship is around $2000/year. Assume as an OOS applicant, you would be close to Full pay for UCLA. For OOS students, California private universities would be the better targets for FA.
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Thanks for the info. I will look into some more private schools. Is this the same with all/most states?
In general public universities will give in-state residents the best financial aid since the residents pay taxes which support these public schools. I am only familiar with the California public universities such as the UC’s and Cal states. You would need to look at the cost of attendance for any school of interest to determine affordability.
Every school should have a net price calculator available on their website which can help you determine your costs. Exceptions are if your parents are divorced or your parents own a business where the NPC may not be accurate.
Private universities do not have the resident restrictions so being OOS has no bearing on your FA.
Financial aid does vary by school. Some will offer only need-based aid, some will offer merit aid and some offer a combination of both.
Arizona State University comes to mind for being a good public school option along with the University of New Mexico.
Do you have financial need? You might get some need based aid from Michigan, but thwt all depends on your parents incomes and assets. Michigan uses both the FAFSA and CSS Profile. And they don’t guarantee to meet full need for OOS students.
Some state schools like Alabama and Ohio State offer merit scholarships for high performing HS students. And as you read above the UCs don’t really offer FA to OOS students. There is no firm rule. You would need to check each school. If you provide your stats, home state and how much your family can afford the group here can come up with some alternatives.
Several states have aid for their resident students outside the college itself, like Georgia Hope/Zell Miller, Florida Bright Futures, Colorado ($77 per credit for residents). Others have grants or merit scholarships just for OOS (Wyoming Brown and Gold, New Mexico Amigo). Some give instate tuition for those who earn scholarships (Texas).
There are states in programs with neighboring states to give either instate tuition (Minn/Wis) or a reduced rate (WUE for the western states), and Maine that will give you your instate rate.
It’s really up to the school/state.
Michigan meets full need for OOS students with family income less than $95k, and gives pretty good aid to OOS students with incomes higher than that who are otherwise eligible. Pro tip: Use the net price calculator fore EACH college you are interested in to get an idea of how much FA you might get.
UCLA will not give you any financial aid. They admit OOS students so they can get the extra tuition.
Michigan offers financial aid packages to OOS students whose families make 95k or less.
In most cases, public universities do not offer any need-based financial aid to OOS applicants. OOS applicants can receive merit aid (participate in scholarship competitions).
Have you run the Net Price Calculator on all colleges you applied to?
There are some colleges that do give aid to OOS students. CA schools don’t.
The thing at public universities for OOS students is that aid doesn’t usually cover the differential between the in and out of state costs. There is a reason schools charge more for OOS students…they expect them to pay more.
There are good merit awards at some public universities that are for OOS as well as instate students. Alabama, Arizona, U of New Mexico offer guaranteed merit based in stats. Places like Pitt and U of South Carolina offer competitive merit awards to OOS students.
UVA and UNC-CH pledge to meet the full need for all accepted students, including OOS, but OOS acceptance is a challenge.
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