Need-based aid for OOS students at public U's?

<p>I am in the dark about this. Given the following assumptions...</p>

<p>-- our son is admitted to a public U in a neighboring state where total costs are $15K in-state and $30K out of state. </p>

<p>-- our EFC is $10K. </p>

<p>-- he doesn't qualify for any institutional merit aid, nor are there any applicable reciprocal agreements with our state's public colleges.</p>

<p>....under these circumstances, which of the following would apply? (If "none of the above," what would the correct answer be?)</p>

<p>A. Because you're OOS, no need-based aid will be forthcoming. Find some outside scholarships or prepare to fork up the full $30K.</p>

<p>B. Need-based aid will only be available to meet the difference between your EFC and in-state costs. We'll provide the same $5K that an in-state student with your EFC would get. For the extra $15K you're on your own.</p>

<p>C. We will make the same effort to meet your full need that we would if you were an in-state student. Your need-based aid package will be as close to $25K as our resources allow.</p>

<p>Depends on that particular OOS public. Some publics offer OOS tuition waivers then reducing tuition to in-state. Does the one your son applied to offer this? These waivers are usually awarded as a form of a merit award without having to award funds.</p>

<p>Most publics first priority for aid are their in-state residents however, based on the needs of the school and the desirability of your student there “might” be some assistance forthcoming. I however, would in no way count on it. More than likely I would expect a package that will “gap” or will be met with a large percentage of loans.</p>

<p>Your EFC is too high for a Pell or SEOG grant awarded from the fed so funds would be provided for the package from institutional funds or outside scholarships. </p>

<p>In your case, I hope your son had a financial “safety” on his list that he can attend if the OOS public does indeed provide him with a substantial gap.</p>

<p>Good luck. My guess is somewhere between A and B. Does the school claim to meet all of the student’s financial needs? That would dictate what they may do. </p>

<p>Kat</p>

<p>katwkittens, thanks. This is all preliminary; I’m just trying to get a handle on how to compare the costs of OOS public vs. private. All the figures I listed, including the EFC, are round numbers for simplicity’s sake; based on the couple of calculators I’ve run our numbers through, I think our actual EFC will be more like $12-13K. </p>

<p>The closest thing we’ll have to a financial safety will probably be UMass, but even there we will have several thousand $ of need, so we’ll have to see how it goes.</p>

<p>Most public universities do not meet full need. To be honest, your EFC is the minimum you will be looking at paying. It is highly likely that you actually will be paying quite a bit more than that as the schools tend to NOT meet full need. </p>

<p>Re: merit aid…you say your son won’t qualify for that. If that is the case, it is highly unlikely that you will receive an instate tuition reduction. MOST schools that offer those instate tuition reductions do so for students who very high on the stats list and have received some kind of merit aid at the school. </p>

<p>I would say that you are looking at a costly venture. I hope you have other schools on your son’s list that are financially approachable for your family, and schools where he might qualify for some merit aid.</p>

<p>Thanks, thumper1. We’re not really looking at any kind of venture just yet; we’re gathering information. What I’m hearing here is that OOS publics are likely to be a poor financial fit for us, which is pretty much what I expected, though we may still apply to one or two. We know that our EFC is the minimum we will be paying; we’re just trying to pay as little beyond that minimum as possible.</p>

<p>As for schools where my son will qualify for merit aid–we’re looking very closely at schools where he might qualify for an auditioned music scholarship. Beyond that, based on his GPA, I think merit aid will be thin on the ground, at least from schools that would be tempting alternatives to UMass.</p>

<p>Nightchef, my DD has a merit scholarship of $750 a year for music as a non-major. If your student is NOT a music major, merit awards will not be a huge amount…but every penny helps. It also depends what music “instrument” your son has. If he is a trumpet player, he’s not likely to find much merit aid (there are a LOT of trumpet players). If he is a tuba player AND the school NEEDS a tuba player, that is a different story.</p>

<p>He’s a pianist. Obviously a pianist can’t play in the school orchestra as such, so there wouldn’t be that kind of demand, but I am hearing that good pianists are in demand for things like accompanying soloists or choral groups. </p>

<p>We’ve already identified a few schools (Skidmore, GWU and Hobart) that have sizable auditioned music scholarships that don’t require the recipient to be a music major. I’m sure there are others. Of those, Skidmore and GWU are reaches, Hobart probably a match (assuming the grades don’t get any worse).</p>

<p>I am familiar with the Skidmore scholarships. They are VERY competitive. However, if this student really is a fabulous collaborative pianist, he should be able to find paying jobs as an accompanist.</p>

<p>I just posted on another thread with a similar question. Our personal experiences with OOS publics has been that they are the ones with the least number of merit awards for our kids. Also, folks I know have not gotten much from OOS schools. However, there are exceptions. If your student fits into a niche where he is much wanted, a given school regardless of whether it is a school that rarely gives complete packages, can end up being your best offer. </p>

<p>My second son was a performance major (MT), and UMich out and out said that OOS kids should not expect to get much in aid. Just the way the system there works. However, I know a kid who got a great package from there. So, clearly there are exceptions. </p>

<p>My son did get some audition scholarships but none of them were more than $5K which were barely a drop in the bucket in the private school COAs. His best deal by far was our state school where the small merit award made a nice dent in the lower state subsidized costs. Getting the big bucks is very difficult.</p>

<p>No reason why your son should not try some of those reaches. But do make sure that there are some financial safeties that fit his needs on the list as well. That is the toughest category to find for a school list.</p>