What other options aside from Illinois State for an average student (Illinois is home state)? 2.5 GPA 24 on practice ACT. Out of state tuition isn’t really an option. Major not declared, yet. My son really wants to attend University of Iowa, but I’m not really willing to pay the extra $ if he’s not working to potential, yet I’m also concerned Illinois State isn’t the best environment for him to be motivated. Any thoughts on Illinois State?
Maybe he’d shape up more at a CC? Transfer to Iowa would then be a carrot and motivator.
Illinois State is a really good school. I have a cousin who graduated from there. What are your concerns about it?
Cost of attendance is just under $24K; Iowa is $40K for out-of-state. I know ISU isn’t Iowa, but . . . $64K over 4 years, that’s a lot. That would pay for over 2 years of most graduate programs at Iowa, even without an assistantship.
If he could get that GPA up to a 3.0, he would qualify for merit money at University of Illinois - Springfield even with a 24. Western might be a possibility, although I wouldn’t send my kid there unless he wanted to major in law enforcement. Southern might work as well, but I still think ISU is better.
Have you looked at MSEP schools? You generally qualify for about 150% of in-state tuition, which helps (unfortunately, the state of Iowa doesn’t participate). He could probably get into IUPUI with those numbers.
Illinois has some very decent community colleges. It would not be a bad idea to start there.
what’s wrong with Illinois State? my wife went there and did well enough to transfer to Illinois and graduate with a BS in Chem Engineering. that’s why schools like ISU exist – to serve Illinois students.
Another Illinois resident here. We had our oldest go to community college first. She’s solidly an average student, and we don’t have enough money to pay our EFC.
Things that were good: she worked during the school year and summers and matured a lot. Value of a dollar and all that, and seeing adults in low paying jobs and wanting more for herself. For classes that were very hard for her (math), she took her time, taking a couple remedial math classes at first, then college level.
She got involved in SGA (Student Government Association) and surprising us all, ran for office and was elected. Then she got experience sitting in board meetings, interacting with adult administrators on campus, plus trips to Student Gov’t Conferences across the country.
Her experience at community college gave her a lot of confidence and the drive to continue at a four year. She transferred down to UIUC and is thriving!