<p>Parents can't afford Out of State universities and I most likely don't fall into Merit Scholarship money</p>
<p>Should I even bother applying to out of state universities?</p>
<p>Please respond</p>
<p>^No if your family can’t afford the OOS schools</p>
<p>I did it, got great aid but was still short $3k and when you have to cough that up, it’s huge. The stress isn’t worth it believe me and I was hope it will miraculously work out for me. Best advice: look for reciprocity schools maybe</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Don’t apply to schools you know you can’t afford . . . unless you know you have a good chance of getting merit aid. That missing money isn’t going to magically appear!</p>
<p>As others have said, if you know you can’t attend, why would you apply? You’re wasting the application fee as well as fees to send test scores.</p>
<p>Look for schools you can afford. If you feel really strongly about a place where you think you might have a chance, then you can try, and you probably should. But you need to be prepared to choose the affordable U.</p>
<p>Best of luck!</p>
<p>You can try running the net price calculators on college web sites to get financial aid estimates to determine which schools are likely to be affordable, regardless of in-state versus out-of-state or public versus private.</p>
<p>First, check to see whether you are eligible for college grants from your states. In many states, it is easier to obtain state grants than federal pell grants. Then, find out if your state will allow those grants to be used at an out of state college. Many states do not allow their grants to be used out of state, or substantially reduce them if you choose an out of state school.</p>
<p>It can make a big difference in affordability. For example, in my state of PA, middle income students can receive grants of up to $4,000 a year for an in-state school, but receive nothing if they pick a college in NY or NJ.</p>
<p>Also, keep in mind that most out of state publics provide little need based aid to out of state students. The merit aid is often designed to partly off-set the additional cost of out of state tuition for the top students.</p>
<p>However, there are some public universities that do make out of state tuition affordable. These include the SUNYs in NY and some mid-western publics.</p>
<p>There are also some states that have agreements to reduce out of state tuition for residents of certain other states. Some of those agreements are open to everyone from a state, while others are tied to particular majors. These are sometimes called “compacts”.</p>
<p>Lastly, there are 2 public universities that meet 100% of documented financial need of out of state students. They are UVa and UNC-Chapel Hill. However, they are extremely competitive for out of state admissions.</p>
<p>If your parents can’t afford to send you and you don’t have the stats to get merit AND the application process is costly, then focus on schools that will work for you.</p>
<p>Will you get Bright Futures? If your SAT or ACT is still too low for that or the full amount, then work on that.</p>
<p>You can look for some schools that have SOME merit money and give them a go. Like buying lottery tickets. You are not specifying whether you mean public or private schools. Some privates, for OOS or instate might have some nice merit awards. I’ve found some Catholic schools in particular to be amenable.</p>
<p>One student I know had her heart set on coming to NYC. Manhattan College discounted costs enough for her to make it a go. Not her first choice, but she’s in the big Apple in a nice neigbhorhood studying her program at a price her family could afford. </p>
<p>My son did get some merit money that made a few private school choices just affordable, barely, but doable, and they were surprises, Most of the ones he did give a go, accepted him but did not offer him penny one. Off the table they went. But sometimes, something does come up, if the school has some money.</p>
<p>But to apply to some school where it’s clear that it will take a miracle beyond novenas to get even close to the money you need, is a waste of time.</p>