For some reason I have always had this desire to go to college out of state. I live in Colorado, and both of my parents are teachers (mom is part time teacher). They make about 80-90k combined. I have been looking at schools east. I don’t really know what I want to study, but environmental design, environmental law, law, and aerospace science are all interests of mine. The number of schools in the east is almost overwhelming and if I decide to go east, how do I even begin to choose a school? Is it even worth looking out of state anyways?
I’m stressed out because I want to go to a college that is in good academic standings, and is regarded as somewhat prestigious. The only problem with that is I did not do so hot on my ACT score. 28 composite. Any suggestions for schools that I should at least look into?
Have you asked your parents how much they can afford to pay towards college? Have you had this discussion with your parents that you want to go out-of-state?
Would you consider going to a neighboring state? Some states offer in-state tuition to neighboring states.
Yes, the college process is a lot to take in. Are you a high school senior? Some of the early deadlines have passed or are coming up soon depending on the school.
Another option is to go to a local community college and transfer.
I am a high school senior, and the deadlines for college are January 1, 2017.
I have talked to my parents, and my dad is supportive of my decision to go out of state, but my mom is hesitant. I have looked at neighboring states but was looking to get out of the midwest,
Is it worth going out of state if I don’t even know what I want to study?
In my opinion you have to consider what degree you want to get, and what you want to get out of it. For example, if somebody asked me if they should spend 40k+ a year to get a fine arts or religious studies degree I’d say save your money. You have to consider the kind of ROI you’d get for your degree. Generally speaking, law & engineering graduates make a good amount of money, which puts you in better standing than others. You should also consider what kind of ROI you’d get if you picked certain out-of-state schools.
For example, if you get your degree in engineering from MIT, you’re probably going to make more money than most schools inside of Colorado. Or if you get a Law degree from a prestigious school you’ll probably make more money than if you get your law degree from CO State Fort Collins.
Furthermore, are you desperate to get our of state to a particular place? Or do you just want to cut the umbilical cord a little bit? Some schools offer guaranteed merit aid to people who meet certain requirements.
Eastern colleges commonly enroll at least 70% of their students from out of state. Should you be inclined toward attending a school in the region, you would be following a path well worn by others across the country.
At the very least, it doesn’t hurt to apply to out of state schools. You have a good GPA so you never know who would give you aid and how much!
If you run the college match tool on colleges.niche.com or on this website you can get a rough list of some of the schools you might be interested in. You can decide which states you’d rather be in, whether it’s rural or urban, etc.
@rjoyn99 - Seriously look at the Western University Exchange. As a fellow Coloradoan, my S has reviewed the entire list and there are many very good schools that offer a tuition discount to member states. The states covered by WUE are Alaska, Hawaii California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Idaho, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota. Schools like Boise State, Wyoming & Nevada Reno are actually cheaper than staying in state at CSU or CU Boulder.
You get a book on college admissions such as “Admission Matters” and follow the process. It usually starts with your parents filling out a FAFSA estimator and checking to see if they can actually pay the expected amount. Then you start to pick the type of school(s) that are a fit for you: large or small, urban or suburban or rural, with specific emphasis or opportunities (a marching band, greek system, outdoors program, whatever) that you like. There are also guides that talk about campus atmosphere for hundreds of schools; different colleges can have different “feels”. Once you know what you’re looking for you start to compare your grades and scores to find schools that are reaches, matches, safeties.
Anyone suggesting schools for you without knowing you and your preferences is akin to throwing darts at a college list.
Take a look at Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE) schools - they offer reduced OOS tuition for member states. However, some have restrictions with respect to major or offer limited funds, first come-first serve.
Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico, and Washington offer affordable options, but then again, I don’t know if living there would be all that different than living in Colorado, unless you went to someplace like Western Washington, which is located on the coast.
I would go out of state only if the quality were equal or greater and the cost were equal or less than my in-state options, or if I were looking for a specific major that wasn’t offered in-state. The Colorado public universities are going to be difficult to beat for quality/price.
Unfortunately, merit scholarships will be hard to find with a 28 ACT at many of the east coast public schools and most offer little to no need-based aid for OOS students.
Try the super match program that is on this website for your ideal majors and see what you find.
To me, it seems like cost and practicality should be a predominant factor in your decision making. You don’t have a specific reason for applying to any particular institution out east at present, so there’s no specific benefit that can be pointed to, other than broadening your experience geographically. I don’t know which colleges are in Colorado or neighboring states with reciprocity, but I’m guessing they have a nice array of choices and diversity of students. You’ll do just as well starting out in Colorado and then either transferring or doing graduate studies out of state should you want to at that time. Your perspective on things is going to change a lot once you start college. So my recommendation would be to make sure you apply at the safeties/reaches in Colorado, then also at the others you have an interest in on the East coast, then weigh the various offers in the spring and see what makes sense to you and your parents. Any particular benefit of one college or state over another is very amorphous at this point. A lot of students make their way out East, that’s true, but I’m betting a lot of people on the East coast would also love to be in Colorado if they had the choice.
Run the estimator, run some college search lists, read a book if you have no particular place you want to be besides OOS. Remember, applying to schools is a pretty low cost in the grand scheme of things compared to the cost of attendance. It doesn’t hurt to have some schools that are financial reaches particularly if you’re excited about the school because it has an awesome program or cool campus.
For a strong public university in the East such as the University of Maryland, you might be paying a net cost premium of ~$20K/year compared to Boulder, for programs that aren’t necessarily much better and a location that is less attractive. Pubic universities typically don’t give very good need-based aid to out of state students.
The net cost comparison might be more favorable (after need-based aid) for a private university such as Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (where your ACT score is within the median band for admitted students). But again, I think you’d be getting a less attractive college town than Boulder.
There are many other OOS options (including small liberal arts colleges like Lafayette College, another school where your ACT is within the median band.) However, they take time to research, which is harder if you don’t already have some ideas about what you want in terms of location, size, net price, etc. That may be one reason why most college students attend public universities within 100 miles of home.
If you do decide to pursue OOS options, then you can find lots of help on this site.
Like everyone else says, I think it depends on a lot of factors, including the kind of financial aid that you’re offered at other schools and the quality of public schools in your state. In your case, not only do you have CU-Boulder (excellent school) and Colorado State (great school) but you also have Colorado School of Mines, an excellent public science and engineering school in Colorado. They have lots of programs of study across environmental design and physical/aerospace science. They also have coursework in the social sciences and humanities that will fill your interests in law, such as the minor in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Policy.
So I think you should definitely apply to CU-Boulder, Colorado State and Mines, and then maybe add some schools that you really have a liking for outside of Colorado - maybe 1-2 WUE schools and then some private schools that offer good financial aid.
You have mentioned how much your parents make but how much will they be able to contribute? You can only take out the federal loan which starts at $5500/yr.
Since your parents are teachers, do they teach at a university or community college. If so you might get a discount on tuition.
Look into Alabama! They offer lots of merit aid and you’d get at least 1/2 of tuition paid for with your stats alone. It also has pretty good 4 year grad rates and job placement. University of South Carolina is also known to give out lots of merit aid.
I think re WUE, that you won’t have any better options on that list than you have instate really. CO doesn’t offer up its top schools or programs to the WUE (sadly for the other WUE states). OOS for the sake of it is great if you have the $$, that ACT isn’t going to get you any great scholarships to schools better than you would have instate. Merit aid means being at the top of the academic pile for that school, that might mean you get only get merit aid at a cost.