<p>@soccersara, yes it was. We would never seek to deceive prospective applicants or their families when it comes to admission or financial aid practices.</p>
<p>I was just starting to plan a campus visit to W & M. This school has been on our list for a while. As an OOS, I expect the tuition to be higher but reviewing these threads, I see that this is not affordable. We would not qualify for need but I was hoping some merit scholarships would be available. Merit seems very limited as well. Saves me a trip and avoids disappointment to my D who would probably fall in love with the school. This seems to be the same case with UVA, which I currently see is about 67-69K OOS. That seems quite steep for a Public. Older D graduated from UNC OOS last year and even without aid, did not even reach these levels. Unless I misunderstood, will have to go back to looking at private schools.
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<p><a href=“http://www.wm.edu/admission/financialaid/tuition/index.php?svr=web”>http://www.wm.edu/admission/financialaid/tuition/index.php?svr=web</a></p>
<p>The current estimated cost of attendance at W&M for an OOS student is approximately $52,000 per year, including tuition, fees, room, board, and an estimated $3,300 for books, travel, and incidentals. It seems to be approximately the same at UVA: <a href=“http://www.admission.virginia.edu/admission/tuition”>http://www.admission.virginia.edu/admission/tuition</a> Barring frequent long-distance travel and other special needs, I don’t understand why the figure cited above is $15-17K higher than the school estimate.</p>
<p>There are OOS publics more generous with merit aid - Alabama, Arizona, Miami of Ohio, etc. Pittsburgh is fairly pricey but also offers generous merit aid to top applicants. Public schools often do come in at a higher cost for OOS students, but only those with the resources and desire to provide generous merit. It just makes the search that much more complex.</p>
<p>Frazzled1, I see where I went wrong. UVA splits out the room and board and then adds it back in on the tuition table. Therefore, I duplicated the cost of room and board. You are right, it is similar to W & M. Thank you for suggesting other OOS publics with more generous aid. We will look at those as well. It is all very complex indeed. </p>
<p>Very simple W&M and UVA do not need to give as much financial aid to attract students because they are in such high demand. So they don’t. Period. When you see the articles on what a value UVA and W&M are it is only true if you fall into a particular category - if you are a Virginia resident and have to pay 100% the cost out of pocket then UVA and W&M are a bargain. For the rest of us UVA and W&M are no different than any other school. Shop around - my daughter did and got an out of state public university for less than 1/2 the cost with the scholarships they offered her. UVA & W&M on the other hand offer scholarships to the top .01% of attendees only. </p>
<p>Clarification - Shop around - my daughter did and got an out of state public university for less than 1/2 the cost of what UVA and W&M cost at in state price with the scholarships they offered her.</p>
<p>
Not exactly. W&M doesn’t provide aid to meet the need of OOS residents because it can’t, not because it doesn’t need to. (Harvard wouldn’t “need to” provide any finaid at all if what mattered was simply the demand, yet it does.) I have been following W&M’s finances for a long time. As a state school, it offers VA residents an excellent tuition rate, despite the fact that the state of Virginia provides less than 12 percent of its annual budget. Even so, as a state school, it makes complete sense that its finaid resources are preferentially reserved for Virginia students.</p>
<p>Unless its policy has changed within the last year, UVA is one of only two public universities that meet full need for all undergrads, except international students. </p>
<p>All in W&M is 43,000 OOS, cheaper than the average Private school of the same caliber by about 12K</p>
<p>I know a young man at W&M with a $5K merit award. That the school is about $10K less in COA to comparable private schools that did not give ANY merit aid, makes this a good deal. If student can stick to COA, the cost per year is about $47K with merit. In our case, that would have been just barely doable with student taking out Direct loans and working summers and school year so that we, the parents, pay what we say we can. Two kids at DS’s schools are considering Michigan with $10K in award money. Michigan is about $10K less than some of the other schools in consideration in terms of OOS COA, and then the additional merit brings the cost down so that for the 3 Rs of Ratings, Recognition and Reputatiion, it’s their best value. </p>
<p>But even at full price for OOS, W&M is less than a number of like schools. What would one consider like schools, and the cost to them? </p>
<p>"W&M does not give as much financial aid, need based or merit based to instate or out of state students because it doesn’t have too… " Okay so they can’t afford it - the net is the same, less financial aid.</p>
<p>In regards to the merit scholarship W&M was very blunt during our tour that have limited merit scholarships. From the W&M website - </p>
<p>What types of merit aid are available from the College of William & Mary? From W&M web site -</p>
<p>------ There are three merit scholarships; each is handled through the Admission Office.</p>
<p>One of the three merit scholarships is for 4 people, of the merit scholarships is for a “handful” of applicants and the other is a $3000 stipend given to the top 10% of attendees. None are for $5,000 so I have my doubts that the Merit scholarship was directly from W&M for the person mentioned above. </p>
<p>I live in Virginia and have friends, or friends of friends who attend W&M. The same story - very limited need based financial aid, no merit based financial aid (obviously my friends did not meet W&M scholarship criteria)…</p>
<p>Is the 20K plus out of pocket in-state the best value if you have to pay cash or loans? My answer is no because if you can get into W&M than you can get merit based scholarships at other schools that reduce the COA way below W&M. I hold UVA in the same light.</p>
<p>W&M has a beautiful campus, provides a nice residential program for the students and … Fill in the dotted line with - academically W&M is better than X school because? </p>
<p>Many private schools will offer merit scholarships where public colleges will not. Without applying my daughter was offered $20,000 per year scholarships and possibly more at several local/regional schools. All from GPA and ACT scores. The costs in some cases were still prohibitive for private colleges, $60K - $20K still equals $40K. There is a thread on CC that shows the schools that offer guaranteed scholarships based off a certain level of performance, and some that have alternative ways of paying for colleges. It is worthy reading as it really makes you wonder is W&M or UVA or Duke worth it at full cost if your child can get a significantly reduced tuition at another college.</p>
<p>It depends on the student if W&M is “worth” it. My D2 had other options that were far less expensive - through merit and through financial aid. W&M is the best place for her. It is not easy to pay for her schooling but we both think it’s worth it. W&M has a very bright and motivated student body without the cut throat competition she was looking to avoid. The students are very committed in their clubs/volunteer activities which fosters a cohesive community. The straight non-partier student is not the exception and there is still room and acceptance of the partier kids too. There are numerous other attributes that make W&M special (not the least of which- the professors) but it is wholeheartedly “worth” it for this OOS student and family. </p>
<p>@eusriso, your d has a terrific merit scholarship at a great school - UA. She’ll have great professors, talented classmates, and many opportunities for success, all at a cost you can afford and consider reasonable. Congratulations.</p>
<p>I don’t understand the point of criticizing W&M for not being UA. Many students (and parents) will prefer one over the other, and they’re not wrong to do so. The fact that W&M can’t meet full need for OOS students, and doesn’t offer many merit scholarships (and none automatically, for GPA/SAT scores) doesn’t negate the fact that it’s a school full of motivated, high-achieving students, who will get a great education from the outstanding faculty there and go on to professional success. </p>
<p>We scrimped hard to send two kids to W&M from OOS, and would do it again without hesitation. We knew we could send them to other schools for less money, but we thought the cost of W&M was worth it. It’s fine to say “W&M is too expensive for us so I’m glad my kid doesn’t want to stay on the waitlist.” Those of us who see the value in a W&M education probably won’t convince you that the school is worth as much as an automatic scholarship somewhere else. But W&M students almost certainly have other options, including less expensive ones, when it comes to choosing a school.</p>
<p>BTW, W&M has the second-highest 4- and 6-year graduation rates of any public school in the country (second only to UVA). The freshman retention rate is also impressive - 95 percent (and UVA’s is 97 percent).</p>
<p><a href=“Education Data Initiative: College Costs & Student Loan Research”>Education Data Initiative: College Costs & Student Loan Research;
<p>This searchable database is a great source of information about grad rates, freshmen retention, student loan default rates, etc. W&M looks great by these measures.</p>
<p>@frazzled1<br>
How did they come up with cost per student? WM is at $19k and Yale is #1 at $156k?</p>
<p>According to the site, the cost per student is:
<a href=“Education Data Initiative: College Costs & Student Loan Research”>Education Data Initiative: College Costs & Student Loan Research; So it appears to be a measure of direct spending to educate students, separate from research, scholarships, public service, and the other spending that takes up much of a university’s budget.</p>
<p>My OOS DD was offered a very generous $28K in grant aid by W&M, much more than we expected given the discussion on this thread. She was also offered the Monroe stipend.</p>
<p>Mamag2855 - W&M has changed their awarding of FA for OOS students this year. In previous years they would award up to 80% of need after EFC and student contribution of $11,400. Now they have reduced the student portion to $7,400 but the maximum grant aid for OOS students is limited to 25% of cost (@ $12,500). So if you are in the sweet spot where your EFC is @ $32,000 you may have your need met. For those with low EFC’s you will have a large gap. I figure this will be a benefit to those families making $120,000 and up but for families below this amount it will be too expensive.</p>
<p>Still unclear about how she was offered 28K in grant aid as OOS (this year, she would be entering as a freshman this fall) she was also offered various loans in addition to the grant aid - maybe they meet more need for Monroe Scholars?</p>
<p>Maybe we still have hope 
Hoping for the best since WM is son’s first choice.
At least son has backup plan… Flagship state school one state below, where they are providing aid from the difference of EFC and COA.
And our flagship state school where the COA is under $20k</p>