<p>I have tried to tell myself I am okay with going in state (University of Arizona) for undergrad and then grad school somewhere else in order to save money, but the truth is I really really REALLY want to go to the University of Washington. If it makes a difference, I'm planning on getting my BSN and then my NP. I have no doubt that I would be accepted, because my stats are above or well above their averages, but I've heard terrible things about the aid they give to OOS students (read: none). </p>
<p>Stats
-4.0 UW GPA
-2030 SAT/ 32 ACT
-Heavy course load (nearly all honors or AP)
-I don't have very good ECs but I have held a job for 9 months working 10-30 hours/week</p>
<p>And I also happen to be a white female from an upper middle class family. So no aid for me.</p>
<p>Is it possible for me to be able to afford UW? If so, how? If not, how can I cope with going to a school where I don't feel I'll be happy or comfortable? Thanks in advance for any advice</p>
<p>If you can pay the full price of attending UW as an out of state student, then yes, you can afford it. If you need aid above and beyond the Direct Loan…then probably not.</p>
<p>Two years ago, our dd applied and was accepted to UW with similar stats, and her EC’s were phenomenal: Sports, community awards, etc. Plus, we are URM. But because we’re from California, she wasn’t given a dime. So, she stayed in-state.<br>
UW is funded by Washington taxpayers. They are not going to fund an OOS student no matter how great the achievements and stats. Momma and Daddy have to fund the tuition and fees.</p>
<p>There are some merit scholarships at the UW now exclusively for out of state students. They are not huge, but they do help reduce the out of state tuition differential. Here is what it says on their website:</p>
<p>Purple and Gold Scholarships</p>
<p>All admitted U.S. students are automatically considered for this four-year scholarship. For autumn 2014, scholarship amounts range from $4,000 to $9,000 per year ($16,000 to $36,000 over four years) and were awarded to about one half of U.S. students who are not residents of Washington State. </p>
<p>So keep UW on your list if that scholarship may make it affordable for you and your family.</p>
Please realize you weren’t getting any aid anyway. The most you could earn is the $5500 loan as a freshman and <$6000 in a Pell Grant. That would have required an EFC <$6K which would mean an income <$40k (I know some students who would like to swap with you). That will not bridge the gap to UW.</p>
<p>How do you cope? By adjusting your attitude. You go to the school looking to meet friends and getting involved in some activities, you enjoy learning in a field that you are interested in, and remember that you are there first and foremost to get an education and prepare for a career.</p>
<p>What you can do is research what is needed to get in state status for UW after the first year. I seem to remember that Washington is a school that has less draconian rules for the such and with foreplanning, it can be done. Missou is another such school. But, bear in mind that a school change its policies any time they want.</p>
<p>OOS publics or any school that charges a premium over what you and your family can afford and when you can’t get money out of them to make up the difference are luxuries, pure and simple. Also if you want to be a RN, it might benefit you to get this in your home state or neighboring one in terms of certification and being in the loop if you intend to return to practice there. Not a huge consideration, but something that is a benefit for you to stay in state.</p>
<p>From all indications, you aren’t going to get much fin aid from UW as an OOSer. DOn’t know if their NPC distinguishes instate vs OOS, but you might want to give it a whirl to see what it comes up with. Don’t know if you are in the running for any sizeable merit there.</p>
<p>If you want to apply there and see if some thing does come up to make it affordable, do so. SOmetimes things do happen to make it a possibility. Just be aware that it is a lottery ticket, and that you have affordable options that will take you in the mix. To pine and hope over something that is a long shot for admissions, money or whatever reasons, happens. Can’t control those emotions. But gather info on those options that are surere shots so that you can get emotionally invested in those too. I see a lot of kids who just focus most of their attention and aspirations to long shots for whatever reason, and it seems distasteful and foreign to them when the time comes to focus on the realistic choices that are often quite good and many others’ dream choices. </p>
<p>State schools DO NOT CHARGE PREMIUMS to OOS students. They discount in-state students because the parents are already supporting the school through income taxes. </p>
<p>Regardless of the reasons, the OOS additional charge is often referred to as the OOS “premium”. Whether the family of any student in any state is supporting the state or the other way around ,which can also be the case, a state is set up to give its residents college options at a certain cost with the state government supporting some of the costs. That support is often, though not always, based on the face that this is something that the state wants to provide to its residents. Just like no tuition is charged for public school for those within the school district or other schools with certain arrangements that have been set up. You want to send your child to a k-12 school outside of your school district assigned to you based on your address, unless some agreements or exceptions are in place, and you meet them, you are likely to pay an out of district charges. in my area, it’s quite hefty, $17K a year More than the OOS surcharge that the SUNY’s charge, I believe, and more than I am currently paying for my son to attend an OOS public university. </p>
<p>That’s the way the system is set up presently. It’s the status quo, and we all have to work within it unless we can find exceptions to which we can qualify.</p>
<p>Aside from the affordability, given that you aren’t likely to be offered any financial aid other than loans, going to the UW with the goal of getting a BSN (without an acceptable second choice major) is a pretty dicey plan. Students apply to the nursing program after two years of prerequisites/general ed classes. There are many, many more applicants than spaces in the program, and many excellent students do not get in.</p>
<p>This is just one anecdote re: how hard it is to get into the UW nursing program: A girl we’ve known since she was in kindergarten went to the UW with the intention of studying nursing. She was an excellent student - one of those kids who is being encouraged in middle school to skip high school and go straight to the UW. (She didn’t do that.) In spite of excellent grades in all the prerequisite courses at the UW, when it came time to apply for the nursing program, she was rejected. She majored in something else health related. She went on to apply to medical school after graduation, and was accepted at the UW medical school, as well as Yale and others. So she had the credentials to get into top medical schools, but not the UW nursing school.</p>
<p>If you really are set on being a nurse, in my opinion you would be better off going to a school where you apply to the nursing program as a freshman admit: The ones I know about are here in the Northwest: Gonzaga, U of Portland, SPU, Seattle U, Pacific Lutheran. There are still no guarantees with those programs - it is still possible to not be allowed to continue in the program if you don’t do well in the early courses, but the odds are better. You might be eligible for merit scholarships at those schools that would make them more affordable as well. </p>
<p>I don’t know anything about nursing programs in Arizona, but another route is to get your RN at a community college, then get the BSN by enrolling in an RN to BN program.</p>
<p>That is a bit misleading. She obviously had the credentials to get into UW’s BSN program, but seats were too limited. </p>
<p>And when she applied to med schools, she was an older student…likely with an even more impressive resume of GPA, MCAT and medically-related ECs. </p>
<p>The other post about “OOS premiums” is correct. Publics don’t charge a premium for OOS students. OOS students are charged the “real price”. Instate students are given a discount because of parents’ contribution thru their tax dollars. …But I can see why sometimes the OOS cost seems like a premium.</p>
<p>Since OOS students are charged the “real cost” since their families aren’t tax-payers, it makes little sense for publics to cover those costs with their own very limited need-based aid. Why bother to charge the full price if the schools then have to dip into their very limited funds and hand out big grants? </p>
<p>My older DD is in a nursing program at a state U. Our flagship U has, as described above, very limited seats for the BSN program. We know several who applied and were denied entry even though they had excellent credentials. When we asked our med/health occ friends about nursing programs, they said to pick the school based on NCLEX pass rate and the ratio of precepts to students in the clinical setting. BSN programs are so highly regulated that the curriculum is about the same wherever you go. My DD selected a school near Nashville. Several of the clinicals are at Vanderbilt University Hospital and the NCLEX pass-rate for her school is higher than Vandy’s.</p>
<p>I don’t know the ramifications of everything I’m about to suggest relative to the BSN application after two years but as to how to afford it: Work for a couple years and don’t go now. I really mean it. I think one of the biggest disservices we do kids is make them think they HAVE to go to college right after HS. Work for a couple of years (multiple jobs if needed), save every dime you can, and while you’re doing that you might be able to get some courses out of the way at your local CC (if that works out with the BSN app).</p>
<p>I know living at home for a couple years while working and ticking off some courses at CC may not be what you want, but if you want your dream of going to UW it sounds like you’re going to have to think outside the box to make it happen. If your dream is to go to college right after HS, then it will likely not be UW. If your dream is to go to UW right after high school, it sounds like there’s a slim chance of that.</p>
<p>Very few people get things exactly as they want, especially when it comes to college. You have to decide what’s really important to you. Life’s a matter of trade-offs.</p>