<p>Be thankful that you have such a good option for school. Miami of Ohio is an excellent school, and the fact that it is affordable is great news. Your experience demonstrates what I have been trying to get across to OOS UM applicants … without a merit scholarship, you will probably not be able to afford it (even with a merit scholarship, it may still be too expensive). OOS publics simply do not have the resources to meet need (with the UVA/UNC-Chapel Hill exceptions, if that does still hold true this year given the financial climate).</p>
<p>The only OOS publics that help OOS students with need-based aid are UNC-CH and UVA - which are also very hard to get into if you’re not instate. Other publics don’t even have enough money to help their own instate students “meet need”. </p>
<p>Publics charge OOS costs for a reason. It wouldn’t make a lot of sense to then cover those costs with need-based aid. </p>
<p>There are some publics that give merit, but typically a student’s stats need to be in the top 5-10% to get more than a few bucks. For instance at UMich, an ACT 30 is probably around the top 30+%, so not high enough for merit money at that school. At another school, an ACT 30 might mean free tuition or some other big scholarship. ECs are mostly only used for a tipping point for competitive scholarships. </p>
<p>UMich
Test Scores Middle 50% of First-Year Students </p>
<p>SAT Critical Reading: 590 - 690
SAT Math: 640 - 750
SAT Writing: 610 - 710
ACT Composite: 27 - 31</p>
<p>If we would’ve received enough to cover the $20,000 OOS surcharge we would have seriously considered paying the $28,000 per year to send him there because of the quality of the school and the program our son wants. He also got accepted to Bucknell University ($54,000 per year) and they offered $14,000 per year in work study and LOANS. These days I’m not sure any school is worth $160,000 (4 years) for an undergrad degree. Yes, you are right-- Miami is an excellent school and he was accepted into the Honors Program there. By going in-state public he will have little to no debt and I guess we’ll save our money for grad or law school!</p>
<p>goirish - look back at my post #4 - my son had great stats/ECs including a 34 ACT and got essentially the same fin aid offer yours did. Our EFC at that time was around $15,000. No merit money either. Classic “admit/deny”.</p>
<p>mom2collegekids - I want to add College of William & Mary to your comment about OOS publics. Our son did get significant FA from them including a nice amount of grant money. After the horrendous package from Michigan, it was a nice surprise.</p>
<p>Michigan has never been known to give generous aid to OSS students so it should not be a huge surprise to anyone…this is fairly common knowledge especially to readers of CC. Not really admit/deny at all, simply the way that university operates. It’s a public flagship and one that many students want to attend. There is no need to discount the OSS surcharge. The state subsidies are very small these days and there is little to no scholarship aid for in-state students from the state so the state public universities have their hands full dealing with the instate students with need. There are some very good competitive scholarships available but they go to a handful of students (compared to the size of the freshman class) or they are scholarships equal to 10% of less of the total annual cost. </p>
<p>The takeaway is that if a student wants to attend any OSS public it is a good idea to examine the aid practices of that institution with regard to out of state students. Some are very generous about discounting the OSS surcharge and others do very little discounting. If a student needs alot of aid to make an out of state public school affordable they should not get their heart set on attending at schools that are known not to discount.</p>
<p>Finally, UofM has a fairly high stats threshold for acceptances compared to many state flagships. I suspect those high stat/high need kids from other states will find solid financial “deals” in their state or at private colleges. UVA and UNC are both great examples of public universities with solid academic reputations that are out of state friendly with regard to financial aid. </p>
<p>As to the OP’s comment about a trick up the sleeve, if it has to do with residency requirements and Michigan please take the time to read the requirements and the paperwork required. Michigan seems to have very strict rules related to residency requirements.</p>
<p>Rockvillemom, it’s not admit/deny. There are plenty of MI resident kids who do not get any merit money with the stats your son had. A $15000 EFC for an in state student will get $5500 in Stafford loans … period. So your son got the same aid an in state student would get at his EFC. The bottom line is that UM does NOT meet need for OOS students. This is made clear in its financial aid information.</p>
<p>@momofthreeboys:</p>
<p>Yeah, their residency requirements are extremely strict. I’ve lived in Michigan my entire life and they tried to list me as a nonresident because I did a 5 week out-of-state summer program. While I didn’t have to fill out the paperwork, I still had to call them to work it out.</p>
<p>@OP: UMich doesn’t give much in the way of merit aid, either (it’s extremely competitive and the few who do get it don’t get much), so you can’t expect much more than whatever need-based aid they give you.</p>
<p>I agree with whoever said that it’s not worth the debt for a Computer Science degree. Some fields have a major salary / grad school / hiring advantage based on the name of your undergrad school, but others don’t. There probably won’t be much of a salary difference in Computer Science over schools you’ll be able to afford without debt, so there’s not much sense in taking on the debt.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yes.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Not necessarily. Shipman.</p>
<p>^</p>
<p>That’s still only about 80% of cost for in-state and 40% for out-of-state.</p>
<p>Shipman is an invitation based competitive scholarship with an interview component. The amount varies within the different ‘schools’ at UofM. I do not believe there is any “full ride” type scholarships at UofM but I could be wrong. Regardless OP after you apply to UofM there is a scholarship application form you should absolutely complete.</p>
<p>Search on Computer Science there are other good schools that you could look at where you are far more likely to get substantial aid. With a family income of $60,000 as you report you will not be eligible for Federal grants. You would be able to receive about $5500 in Stafford loans.</p>
<p>Well, dont be too discouraged uchicago2016. You might still get a surprising financial offer come next year when you apply. Like you, my family income is also under 60000, I am also going to be a first generation college student, and I also applied out of state. I applied from NJ. Like everyone here, I didn’t think I would get much financial aid, so it was surprising yesterday when I got my offer. They said the projected total cost of attendance for school year 2011-2012 will be about 48000 and they offered me 44250. To tell you the truth, I was shocked! So, like everyone else have said, keep your options open to look for the best choice academically, socially, and financially and go from there. That’s why my parents wanted me to apply to 15 schools this year. You might be surprised what’s out there for you!!!</p>
<p>I don’t know why people are surprised when most OOS publics don’t give them the need-based aid to help with their high OOS costs. Why would schools bother to charge OOS costs if they’re just going to cover those costs with need-based aid? Not only that, but publics have a first obligation to their own instate students…and they can’t meet the needs of those students, either. </p>
<p>* agree with whoever said that it’s not worth the debt for a Computer Science degree. Some fields have a major salary / grad school / hiring advantage based on the name of your undergrad school, but others don’t. There probably won’t be much of a salary difference in Computer Science over schools you’ll be able to afford without debt, so there’s not much sense in taking on the debt. *</p>
<p>Very true…no salary advantage at all.</p>
<p>Archen3…tell us more…did you get the Shipman scholarship or some other big merit scholarship? What exactly was in your aid package?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Is the Shipman no longer tuition, R&B for OOS students?? It was 4 yrs ago and there was a poster last week who is invited to the scholarship weekend this year and said it was up to a full ride. </p>
<p>If not, I still don’t think 80% and 40% can be classified as “don’t get much”, particularly when compared to the majority of other top publics. And the individual colleges also give a fair amount of merit (eg. up to 20k in LS&A). </p>
<p>m2ck, the Shipman weekend isn’t until the end of the month.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Thanks…</p>
<p>I’m wondering what was in Archen’s FA package. For an OOS student to get that much from UMich, I’m guessing that he got a big merit scholarship for super stats, an ROTC scholarship, or perhaps a URM scholarship. UMich doesn’t usually give its own money for need-based aid to OOS students.</p>
<p>I have no current knowledge of the Shipman, a couple years ago it was approx. $20,000 for LSA, $8000 toward room and board and $12,000 for tuition for a friend’s son IS for each of four years.</p>
<p>mom2collegekids, my financial aid offer consists of 24100 in umich grant, 5500 in fed grant, 3000 in work study, 2100 in fed perkins, 3500 in fed subsidized direct, and 6000 in fed unsub direct. To be specific, the cost of attendance is suppose to be about 48541 next year. So, my EFC is around 4291 next year. Of course, the email i got says it can change a little, but it should be around this number if nothing significant changes in my family situation.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>What were your stats?</p>
<p>I posted my stats a few times before but I will paste it here. It’s a little outdated with some of the numbers, but they only changed slightly so I dont think it would matter much.</p>
<p>Rank: school doest not rank but counselor said top 6% at the worse out of 450 people in my grade
GPA: 4.22 w, 3.84 u/w
standardized tests: SAT 2290(760CR, 740M, 790 W w/ 11 on essay), took for the last time
october so get the results back next thursday
ACT 34, will
take again in december if sat isn’t 2350
SAT II’s: math 2( 780), us history (700), physics(750), chemistry(710),
will take sciences again later this year b/c took them 6 months after
taking the courses
AP’s: euro history(5), us history(5), statistics(5), will take 6 more
AP tests in May
Exreacuriculars(in school): 1. spanish club 9,10,11 grades
2. Childrens specialized hospital club 11,12 to comfort kids in
local hospital
3. cinema club 9,12
4. ultimate frisbee club 9,10,12
5. cross country 9,10,11,12 w/ varsity honors
6. winter track 9,10,12 w/ varsity honors
7. spring track 9,10,11 w/ varsity honors
8. fishing and outdoors club(founder and president)
9. baseball 12 hopefully varsity
Extracurriculars(outside of school): 1. kumon learning 9,10
2. mandarin school on saturdays 9,10
3. basketball league 9,10,12(champs 9,10)
4. physics tutor for two juniors(paid)
5. volunteering in numerous things(at least 150 hours)
Awards/Honors: 1. 3 varsity letters for sports
2. commended national merit scholar w/ 214
3. national honors society 11, 12 b/c starts only in 11th grade
4. in town basketball champs(9,10)
5. numerous running medals and ribbons( our team is in the top 10 xc
teams in the northeast)
6. student of the marking period 9th grade
Work experience: inventory specialist during the summer of 2010(30 hours a week)
physics tutor for two juniors
family business requires help in the summer
Advantages: 1. taking the most rigorous course load(9 APs w/ one studied for alone)
2. come from a competitive high school that sends at least 20 kids to ivies
many to other great schools
3. first generation student since both parents went to high school in china but
thats it</p>
<p>Schools applying to: EA: MIT(top choice), Michigan, Tulane
RD: Princeton, Yale, Harvard, Cornell, UPENN, Brown, Columbia,
RPI, Carnegie Mellon, Stanford, USC, Northwestern, Wash U
St Lou</p>
<p>It is amazing that you got so much aid from Umich as an OOS student. </p>
<p>Did your SAT or ACT increase in those later tests? </p>
<p>Was any of the grant a merit scholarship? </p>
<p>I wonder if UMich is trying to be more like UNC and UVA and give more need-based aid to OOS students…or at least give it to high stats OOS students.</p>
<p>You’re still looking at $12,000 per year in loans, or a total of $48,000 over four years. Way too much. Plus the work-study component isn’t really guaranteed - you have to go out and find one of those jobs.</p>
<p>Also, the math doesn’t add up - if your FAFSA EFC is $4,291, you shouldn’t qualify for max Pell.</p>
<p>Or do you mean that the “gap” between EFC and need is $4,291?</p>