All of the schools onthat PA list from the previous post especially Scranton are very expensive. None of them will be anywhere near the net cost of any of the NJ state schools. Don’t overextend yourself $$$. First: encourage son to pick major affording opportunity for the future —-Second: visit the nj state schools that offer the major (focus on schools with small classes where everything is in walking distance and easier to manage for your son) Consider having him apply early decision to his first choice which will increase his chances of acceptance. Don’t get blinded by perceived “prestige” or the trappings of an expensive private college, you already know your kid is not MIT bound——- pick the school that you can best afford and where he will thrive.
in terms of class size, faculty involvement, emphasis on undergrads, and results TCNJ is a absolutely fantastic option.
I wish that @njdadjets would stop issuing blanket statements that the cost of OOS schools always exceeds the cost of in-state publics. For those of us facing high in-state costs (we’re in PA, which is even pricier than NJ), there are other options–even for kids with average stats, including those who can’t get admitted to their flagships.
Schools that would come in at about the price of Ramapo or Stockton for a B student are U Maine (will match cost of flagship), Ohio U (after merit), and West Virginia (after merit). He’d need a 3.0, ACT of 22+ to get awards at Maine and WVU, ACT more like 25-26 for Ohio.
A private you might look at is Duquesne in Pittsburgh (if no objection to Catholic schools). Merit isn’t simple to predict but price might come in around $32,500 depending on his test scores and actual GPA.
The NJ suggestions are great; I just mention these as additional options.
PA is pricier than NJ??? Lol
Sure Maine and some other states will price match but your forgetting the additional cost of travel. In State public cost will ALWAYS be cheaper with few exceptions such as: the northern nj student who goes to SUNY new paltz or SUNY Poly where the out of state costs are very close to instate NJ cost. Some out of state publics are fairly generous with merit aid like U Delaware—— but then what do you do if your kid fails to meet the minimum gpa to maintain that scholarship and pulls a 2.9 and you lose that money?? In state public always the less costly option. Forgive me for my realistic take—— there are a lot of pie in the sky posters on here
Agree with the others that you (and he) need to really look into the in-state options. There are several colleges just below Rutgers and TCNJ that would be options for him as mentioned (Montclair, Rowan, Ramapo, Stockton) I agree with those that say it doesn’t really make sense to go OOS just for the sake of going OOS and paying more. However, if he has a decent SAT or can get mostly As and B+s his junior year, he may be elgible for merit aid in some OOS schools. It also may depend on the level of classes he is taking and the kind of HS he goes to. That would be up to him.
I know kids that found certain OOS schools to be no more expensive than NJ schools with some aid, including Salisbury in Maryland and Ohio University (not Ohio State).
Also, you say your income this year is down, which may provide some need-based aid (although coming from NJ where the cost of living is so high, it can be challenging to get meaningful need-based aid). If your business and income increase in future years, your need for aid may go down.
You transfer to the instate option. My daughter knew one condition of her staying at her chosen school was keeping the scholarship, which had a very doable 2.8 requirement. Should she not have taken the chance because she might not keep the scholarship, when her chances of keeping it were pretty high? Honestly, if she wasn’t getting a 2.8, the school was probably not right for her.
I agree wholeheartedly, Two. We are threeinwithfourthcomingandgradschoolslooming…lol
When our eldest applied to a top OOS public the conditions under which she could matriculate and remain were clear. The COA had to be at least comparable with our in-State publics, and she had to maintain the necessary standing to keep COA at that level.
I also agree with njdadjets that, for the most part, in-State public schools will be cheaper than OOS. This would seem to be simple math. SUNY schools average about $20k for in-State. Tough to find a better deal at an OOS. There are some schools that seem to try to compete, e.g., UMass, but there is still probably a $10k differential. Expanding the field to include OOS private schools brings in all kinds of qualitative issues, as well as the additional costs mentioned by Jets.
what if he wants to go out of state? There are some possibilities –
Someone mentioned the Uof Maine Orono price match–which is great-- but they also said that the cost of getting there is so high. I’m not so sure about that. It’s just a car-ride away from NJ. You may want to look at this college because it’s an affordable version of UVM, in my opinion. Very outdoorsy, has some great programs, and the prices really can’t be beat.
Other schools that take a 3.2-3.6 average and may even have merit include –
- Drew (woodsy campus too)
- Earlham (3.4 average is more likely but 800 acre campus and produces a lot of Ph.D. candidates)
- U of Wyoming
- SD Mines--full price OOS tuition is still reasonable compared with many other school's
- New Mexico tech
- Muhlenberg--nice happy school
- Susquehanna University -- nice happy school in pretty location.
- Goucher (use a video to apply if you want and it offers cross registration at Johns Hopkins)
- University of the Pacific
- Beloit -- LAC in southern Wisconsin, take plane to Chicago and then meet the Beloit bus. The cost of this school is much lower than average and the kids look like they are having fun. Nice happy school.
- Bard's average is 3.5 and it also has the Bard Exam for entrance. FA may not be amazing here
- Hampshire has a lower GPA requirement and he would have access to all five of the Five college consortium -- and western Mass is a beautiful location for outdoors activities.
Depending on how much he wants environmental training etc, he may want to look into Unity College in Maine; in Vermont, Green Mountain College offers a full scholarship in sustainability – http://www.greenmtn.edu/sustainabilityscholarship/ ; Marlboro College in VT offers a competition for a full scholarship – https://minds.marlboro.edu/
To check out a ball-park net price for schools, use College Navigator, a government site. You hit the “net price” tab and you can find your general income level and see the general cost for you. That’s an easy first step before running NPCs for each school.
For NJ, here is a post on ranking NJ colleges:
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/19903791
I think this give a general feel (ranking by SAT)
New Jersey Colleges SAT Scores (mid 50%)
Reading Math Writing
25% 75% 25% 75% 25% 75%
Princeton University 700 790 710 800 710 800
Stevens Institute of Technology 570 670 640 720 - -
College of New Jersey 550 650 580 680 560 670
Rutgers University, NB 520 630 560 680 540 650
NJIT 470 600 550 660 470 590
Ramapo College 490 600 510 620 500 600
Rowan University 480 590 510 630 480 580
Seton Hall University 490 590 510 610 490 600
Richard Stockton College 470 570 500 600 470 570
Monmouth University 470 560 490 580 490 580
Rutgers University, Newark 460 550 490 590 470 560
Drew University 490 620 480 600 490 610
Rutgers University, Camden 460 560 470 570 460 560
William Paterson University 450 550 470 550 - -
Fairleigh Dickinson - Florham 450 560 460 570 450 560
Fairleigh Dickinson - Metro 440 530 460 560 440 640
Montclair State University 440 530 460 540 450 540
Kean University 410 500 430 520 - -
Caldwell College 410 500 410 520 410 510
Saint Peter's College 410 510 410 520 410 510
Centenary College 400 500 400 490 - -
Rider University 420 500 400 520 420 510
I’d add Juniata to the list. They have good environmental studies program which includes field station located on the big lake 20-30 minutes from campus
Thank you again, everyone, for your insights! I’ll be referring back to this thread often.
I especially appreciate everyone who chimed in with suggestions for outdoorsy campuses or with programs that might suit my nature loving son. Very generous and kind.
Thank you.
Definitely check out Stockton. Main campus is in the woods, has an established environmental studies major, and is opening an Atlantic City campus a block from the beach.
My daughter considered UVM for grad school and did Americorps (strongly recommend) there for a summer. Through that, she met a guy from Wisconsin who is a doctoral student there. They are still together. Quite expensive and selective. I wouldn’t consider it (my daughter finished grad school at Rowan) but my daughter enjoys her visits - she’s outdoorsy, too. There, if you want a coffee or water and a sandwich, you will have a wide selection of finely crafted artisan products. Here in South Jersey, there’s Wawa. Less work, more diversity.