<p>If Rutgers ever achieves the prestige of a UVA or UNCCH, more students will stay in-state. Back in the late 70s/early 80s it was moving in that direction but has since veered off course for a variety of reasons.</p>
<p>NJ high schools are among the top-rated in the country and produce strongly credentialed graduates who have available to them exceptional higher education choices. In fact, it might be an admissions liability to live in NJ, as the state’s students are over-represented at many highly ranked universities. </p>
<p>NJ has made an effort to keep talented students in-state through the NJ Stars program. The gist of it is high school seniors in the top 15% of their graduating class (due to budget cuts it may now be top 10%) can attend one of the state’s community colleges free of charge. If they graduate from the CC having maintained a certain GPA, they can matriculate to any 4-yr. state university including Rutgers, TCNJ, etc. at no cost or a very reduced tuition rate.</p>
<p>Problem is there is only one truly great school in NJ. Shame for a state with such a large population. Other than Princeton, there is not much to attract kids from other states.</p>
<p>How much would the CCs be at normal in-state price? Unless NJ CCs are expensive, a full tuition scholarship at a CC may not be that big a deal.</p>
<p>Although the CC -> state flagship route can be a good and inexpensive one for many students, a lot of students feel that starting at CC is “too low” for them and would rather go to a four year school (even one that is a poor fit and/or is expensive) as a freshman than start at a CC. This might be especially true for those so intent on going out of state.</p>
<p>ucbalumnus - I agree with you. The people I know taking advantage of the NJ Stars program had planned to stay in-state all along. The intent of the program is worthwhile, but I’m not sure it’s achieving its goal.</p>
<p>Since there aren’t enough spots in NJ colleges for NJ students, why would they want to attract kids from other states? Those kids take away spots from NJ natives. (Princeton is the exception, of course. Elite schools want to attract a population with geographic diversity.)</p>
<p>At D1s junior parent several years ago, the guidance counselors made a big point that Rutgers is NOT a safety school. Admission is quite competitive, so the smaller SUNYs are often suggested as a reasonable safety. </p>
<p>Just looking at the number, we are short at least 26,000 seats and that can’t be made up over night. The jump to the Big 10 was not just made for athletic reasons, they are also joining the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, which will propel research forward. </p>
<p>It’s a very densely populated state, so it’s hard to see how 25,000 slots can be created quickly. Possibly a 10-year plan to eat away at this shortage by increasing enrollment capacity at New Bruswick, Newark and Camdem. There’s also a good & affordable community college program, where many students can start local and transfer to Rutgers for their last 2 years. Several of D1s friends are on this track.</p>
<p>Some other popular private OOS choices for NJ freshmen, Fall 2010:</p>
<p>Drexel 611
NYU 607
Boston University 419
Syracuse 394
Saint Joseph’s 389
Villanova 367
George Washington 298
Fordham 296
Lehigh 271
Boston College 254
Northeastern 237
St. John’s 237
U Miami 202
American 198
Marist 191
Lafayette 183
Yeshiva 173
Bucknell 143
RPI 100
Tufts 82
Brandeis 73
Wake Forest 57
U Rochester 54</p>
<p>Penn State is still king of 'em all, though.</p>
<p>Barrons is right. This has been happening for decades. I was one of those NJ h/s grads who left for college in the early 70s, as did most of my friends. Very few of us who left Jersey for college ever returned to live there. I wonder if that’s still the case.</p>
<p>There are merit scholarships, but most are small. The Regents’ scholarships are awarded on merit, but the amount is based on financial need (basically replacing some student loans and assumed student work earnings or work-study with grants), or an honorary minimum for those with no or less financial need.</p>
<p>There is a highly competitive full ride Drake scholarship at Berkeley for mechanical engineering majors.</p>
<p>UCLA or UCB has a base instate cost of tuition and fees plus dorm of about $30,000. At UW Madison you are looking at about $35,000. Not a huge gap IMHO. And UC tuition is rising much faster.</p>
<p>Wisconsin’s OOS cost of attendance is $41,054 for 2012-2013. Add $1,000 for business and $1,400 for engineering. That is a significant premium over in-state Berkeley at $32,886 dorms, $28,492 off-campus, $23,772 commuter.</p>
<p>Like Barrons, I graduated from a relatively small NJ HS is the late 60’s which sent about 95% of its students to college (or junior college, as it was called back then). I also have numerous in-laws who are graduates from NJ HS. I can’t think of a single person that I know from my HS or through my in-laws that went to college in NJ. After HS you wanted to be from NJ, not in NJ.</p>
<p>NJ has many of the most competitive private and public schools in the nation (as well as some of the worst) but there are only a few really competitive colleges in NJ. </p>
<p>Also, in-state tuition is ridiculously high and there is little aid available. When I looked with my S, we found that most out of state tuition rates were comparable with our in state tuition rates. When that’s the case, looking out of state is no big deal.</p>
<p>Finally, as a parent making six figures, we are living on the financial edge in NJ mostly because of outrageous taxes therefore we have no plans to stay in NJ, though we love it, a minute longer than we have to. My company is global, I can live and work from anywhere so I will. The bottom line is that my kids should not live in NJ. It’s too expensive.</p>
<p>To explain six figures and financial edge-we spend over $20K more of income on taxes than our friends with a similar income in FL. They take vacations, we haven’t in 3 years and are taking a cheap one next year but we have to listen to timeshare offer. They are deciding between public and private schools while we pay $13k per year on property taxes so the public school better teach our kids right. I’m not complaining about my situation though, just highlighting the negative impact of punitive taxation. Hence, kids going to school out of state.</p>
<p>I read an article recently (somewhere) about the quality gap in higher education in NJ. There is tip top Princeton of course. Then you go down to Rutgers, a very good state flagship but not a Michigan or UVA or Wisconsin certainly. Add to that New Brunswick is hardly a great college town. The largest Catholic college is Seton Hall that is way down the ladder among Catholic colleges. Even the NJ Jesuit school is St. Peter’s that few outside of NJ have ever heard of.</p>
<p>The NJ Stars program is just another example of NJ trying to do the right thing and failing. The program now covers tuition only (not fees) at community college for two years. After the student graduates they can apply for the Stars II program which now offers $2500 a year for two years towards a four year degree. With instate costs at most public schools over $23,000 its not even a drop in the bucket. Many top student leave simply because OOS is much more affordable. When my D figured in both merit and need based aid, schools such as Villanova, Boston College and others were LESS expensive than Rutgers and TCNJ, both hightly ranked state schools.</p>