<p>I really really would like to move out of state and go to college. I believe that it would be the best opportunity for me, and the school I want to go to offers the program that I want and has actually sent me things about the program, but the school that is closest to home hasn't sent me anything about the area I want to study in. </p>
<p>I've always wanted to go out of state for college, and just leave the town I live in. But my parents (mainly my mom) don't want me to leave, or they want me to stay in my town for a year and go to the local university. No matter what I do my mom seems to just be constantly pushing for me to go there even though I've told her that I don't want to do that. I don't know how to convince her that I should go out of state. Is there anything I can do to change her mind or ease it a little bit about going away? </p>
<p>First, find out if the objection is due to the actual or perceived financial cost of private or out-of-state public schools relative to that of the nearby school they want you to attend. Would they still want you to attend the nearby school even if a more distant school were less expensive due to scholarships and financial aid? Have you and they had an honest talk about college financing where they tell you the limit of what they will contribute (not “we’ll try to make it work” or other vague answers) and run some net price calculators (including the local school and any other schools under consideration)?</p>
<p>About academic programs at each school, you can easily find out about them from the schools’ web sites.</p>
<p>Sending information or not is not the criteria to use for judging a school. Some try to recruit to boost their programs, others don’t need to to attract the best students. </p>
<p>As above- find out if finances are the main reason for your parents views. Even if you end up in town the best thing for you is to live on campus and have the total freshman college student experience instead of being a commuter. I am so glad I was able to manage that- I would have missed so much otherwise. Calculate costs based on living on campus- the costs of commuting in time and money need to be considered if your parents think that is an option. Do not forget activities and being with friends outside of the academic day.</p>
<p>Investigate several schools and compare various possible majors courses et al. You can then approach your parents with concrete reasons why one school may be better for you.</p>
<p>However, it appears that many parents are much more willing to subsidize the at-home commuter student’s cost of food, utilities, and transportation than write a check for the dorm and meal plan. While colleges that list commuter budgets typically show a difference of about $7,000 to $8,000 between the commuter budget and the dorm budget, many students posting here find the difference to be about $12,000 due to the greater parental subsidy for being an at-home commuter.</p>
<p>It is the case that the cost of an at-home commuter student can vary significantly, based on the family situation. Distance from the school and whether the student needs to drive a car are significant variables in the transportation costs. Having to have an extra car, car insurance, maintenance, and fuel for the student, plus any parking and toll expenses, can be significantly more expensive than if the student can get to school a cheaper way. Of course, a long distance commute, particularly driving a car, is likely to have a negative effect on the student both academically and socially, compared to living on-campus or near-campus.</p>
<p>Do you have the credentials to get a merit-based scholarship at an OOS school or does your family have enough income/savings to finance OOS costs? Leaving your town for leaving’s sake isn’t exactly a compelling argument to a parent. Your mom may not want you to leave town for financial reasons. Talk to your family about college costs first.</p>
<p>The school that I want to go to is about $3000 more than the one in state, and my parents do not want me to live on campus at the one closeby, so I would commuting from home. If I moved out to go to the other school, I would also be commuting because a friend in that state has offered to let me live there to avoid the high costs of room and board. I have been applying for as many scholarships as I can, and money will still be an issue, yes, but it would still be an issue even if I went to the school nearby. </p>
<p>The school nearby seems to mainly be a military sort of school, and when I have tried to talk to them about the program I want to go into, they don’t exactly have much to say, and yes I’ve looked it up on the website. I don’t know if I have the creditials for a merit-based scholarship, but I have been looking up good scholarships that I can apply for. </p>
<p>I don’t really want to leave just for leavings sake, I’ve never wanted to go to the school closeby, because I feel like it wouldn’t give me the education or surroundings that I’m looking for. I’m actually going to talk to my mom tomorrow about the cost issue, and try to reason it out with her. </p>
“Seems”? It sounds like you really haven’t bothered to learn much about this college.
Again, you need to do your research. They either have the program or they don’t. You can learn what you need to know from reading up on the course requirements for the program, reviewing the courses from the online catalog descriptions, determining how many are offered and how frequently, etc. No one is keeping secrets from you.</p>
<p>Have you visited both colleges? Once you’re at the campuses, you can ask about how many graduate each year from the program you’re interested in and how easily they find jobs after graduation. Basically, if you want to pull together convincing arguments to use with your parents, you’ll need to become much better informed about both options. </p>
<p>The school nearby IS a military school. They have a drill field and are known as ‘The Military College of Georgia’, which is where I live. I have read up on the courses for both schools, and they both have the program that I want (Creative/Professional Writing), but what I mean about talking to people about it is I have actually gone to visit the college closeby and tried to talk to them with a friend about the English department and what it has to offer, but they were more concerned with talking to my friend about the field she was interested in, Nursing. So yes I have done my homework, I’ve compared the college’s together on multiple websites and looked at the courses offered from each for the path I want to go into, and compared the tuitions and costs of both. I haven’t visited the other college because it is a few states away. </p>
<p>My friend won’t be moving anytime soon, and I know this because she lives with her parents and has no plans to leave. Before I make my decision, I am going to be sure that the situation will work out, because I don’t want to be stuck without a college to go to after May 1st. </p>
<p>I took a very quick look at the University of North Georgia website and it looks like only 750 students out of 16,000 are enrolled in the cadet program. So, yes, there’s a military school contained within the university, but I don’t see how that would affect you one way or the other. And if you didn’t catch that statistic, it shows you do still need to read more. </p>
<p>If you want to learn more about the writing program than you can determine from the school’s published materials, you’ll have to make an appointment with someone in the College of Arts and Letters. If your friend was discussing the nursing program, she may have been speaking with someone in the College of Health Sciences and Professions who wouldn’t have much to say about your interests. It may be that UNG isn’t the right school for you, but you don’t yet know enough to make a convincing case that it isn’t. You need more substantive points to discuss with your parents, because merely wanting to move out of state is not a compelling reason to spend more money.</p>