<p>sk8rmom,
thank you for that link. I had no idea that this was available. My D’s school has done nothing to support this. It appears that every HS in NYS is entitled to get the big award if criteria is met. My D got a Regents diploma with Honors and was ranked 4 in her class, she could have had a shot.</p>
<p>hudson- I was being a bit sarcastic about the Big Time sports at SUNY, but I was proud and Happy that Cortland got the Division 3 Title. Too bad game wasn’t shown on ESPN- but I think it was covered upstate and on CBS college sports network.
d # 1 is cornell grad- so may try to catch the Division 1 finals on ESPN this afternoon.
Go Big Red!!</p>
<p>In my area (long island), it’s not mandated that each kid apply to a SUNY school, but as the initial application process is so quick and easy (one application for up to (7?) schools and of course the individual supplements if applicable), most kids do apply to at least one or 2 as a safety. Though it was unlikely that d # 1 was going to a SUNY school, she applied to Albany and Bing just to cover all bases. IMO, I think it foolhardy not to apply to at least one SUNY match school just to have a financial safety.
Maybe too many guidance counselors have seen instances where kids applied to private colleges and didn’t get the FA packages that they were expecting. Therefore having a financial safety in hand may be a smart move for most new yorkers.</p>
<p>Hudson, how do the SUNYs “nudge” GCs to increase applications?</p>
<p>I was one of those few OOS students who opted to attend a SUNY. In my case it was Binghamton. Back then the upstate economy was even worse than now and Binghamton was a small, ugly little town with no attractions for a college kid. Then there was the bad weather - basically a whole school year of cold, clouds and of course plenty of snow. For good or bad, the drinking age was 18. So we drank for fun, for something to do and to kill the boredom. The place was so depressing, even the administration decided to help out by rolling in kegs of free beer most weekends. Well at least some of us drank. Others were determined to make it into med school and did nothing but study. They would complain because the library would close at 5pm on Saturday. The education was cheap. I guess it would qualify was good - but so depressing and lifeless.</p>
<p>Years later I found myself as a NYS resident with a kid looking at colleges. I tried to be positive as we visited a bunch of the SUNYs, including Binghamton. There were a few new buildings, but basically nothing had changed. It still looked the same - 1970’s institutional architecture. Just put up a fence and it could be a prison instead of a college. It even seemed worse than when I went there. I guess all the budget cuts haven’t helped.</p>
<p>We looked at Binghamton, but my daughter was not interested. I think edad hits a few of the reasons. The 70s architecture just doesn’t compare to many other college campuses and many of the SUNY schools have that square brick look. Hey how shallow is that?</p>
<p>As far as marketing, the SUNYs did send an email to my son a few weeks ago. They had reps from various SUNYs come to NJ to recruit (of course they did now that they raised their OOS tuition by 2700/year). My son did not attend.</p>
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<p>Even before the OOS tuition hike, some SUNYs had a specific pot of money for OOS scholarships set aside. Others SUNYs do not do this (I asked). Perhaps that has something to do with it. Some SUNYS do offer merit money if you have certain stats, whether you are from instate or OOS.</p>
<p>Both of my daughters’ schools required all students to apply to one SUNY and one CUNY.</p>
<p>D2 despised Binghamton and Stonybrook. She’s going to apply to New Paltz under duress.</p>
<p>Zooser, that is outrageous – is this a public school? Do they pay the application fees? It is one thing for a parent to say, I am sorry child, we can not afford for you to go anyone other than SUNY (unless you get finaid which we do not have to co-sign for), quite another for the school to require applications.</p>
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One was private and one is public. The public offers fee waivers for kids who qualify. It’s a very poor school (in terms of the students’ finances), so many/most kids qualify.</p>
<p>I know the intent is good, but I deeply resent it. We decided to add on a SUNY in case something happens to my job, but that’s our decision. We are toying with adding a CUNY, but none of them is quite right. If we decide not to add one, they can, well, you know!</p>
<p>As it stands now, we have no list at all. She has disliked every school we’ve visited for reasons good and bad.</p>
<p>What is her prospective major? Likes/dislikes?</p>
<p>Sunys are just not well known. When we first moved here 10 years ago, I had no idea what NY’s state schools were. I knew all of the midwestern big schools without thinking more than a beat, but all I knew what that NYU was NOT a state school, but private which is a lot more than a lot of folks from the midwest know.</p>
<p>First of all, none of the state schools in the North East are that well known. How much do any of us know about the U of Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, etc? NY’s schools are even more complicated because there really is no flagship school, and the schools are not big. The closest to flagship status is SUNY Buffalo with only 17,000 undergrads. Also the sports teams are not nationally known. On top of all of that, the schools tend to have a large commuter and suitcase population. </p>
<p>Kids tend to go to schools familiar to them, where some friends go, and have a name. Not all kids, but most. By dividing the state schools into many factions, NY does not really have a school that has the name recognition. </p>
<p>I think the marketing is abysmal out of state. I am surprised the Geneseo doesn’t get more acclaim. Binghamton is an excellent choice for many kids I know. And UB (Buffalo) is a great school–I have one who just graduated there, and though it was not my choice for him, I have to say they did a top notch job with him, and he was not an easy one. The attention he got there was better than what I have seen at many private schools that brag about how personal things are for the students. He was in a small department which made a big difference in terms of attention.</p>
<p>Cost too high for what they deliver and no incentives for OOS students to attend; even for in-state students, the price is far higher when compared to other large state systems and quality of education. Often times, grant+scholarship $ can make it cheaper for a NYS student to go to school out of state!</p>
<p>We could not get better deals than SUNYs for our kids. Their low sticker price for instate students along with merit awards that were offered made them by far the best deal financially. I do not know how out of staters fare in financial aid and merit money. </p>
<p>When we looked at state schools outside of NY, they were about equivalent to private schools with merit money for my last son. There were a few exceptions; some Virginia schools were good financial deals, but two of the SUNYs came out by far the least expensive route for us. He did not end up going to either of them, but it gave us a idea of what he could get in the college market. </p>
<p>My son who just graduated from a SUNY cost us about $50K altogether for college which I though was an excellent deal for a BFA. They were also very helpful to him in finding summer work and projects. He earned an a good wage (over $10/hr) working on campus any time he needed some extra cash. The housing offered to him as an upper classman was superb, though fool as he was, he turned it down to live in the student ghetto where his monthly rent + utilities was under $300 a month. Lots of cheap places to live in Buffalo. He is having no problem finding work this summer.</p>
<p>cptofthehouse, I didn’t mean to infere that the SUNY schools aren’t a good deal-they offer a great education at a great price for some kids in some majors. It’s just when compared with,say California, they do little to entice students from other places.</p>
<p>SUNY schools are a great value with a solid education for in-state students, exactly as they were intended to be…considering NY tax dollars fund them, hence, NY in-state students can and should benefit the most from them.</p>
<p>kayf, she’s interested in classics and medieval studies.</p>
<p>Likes? Nothing. Dislikes? Everything. So frustrated. She’s visited a bunch of schools and has found fault with everything.</p>
<p>^^zmom–would she consider Barnard?</p>
<p>SHe’s definitely applying to Barnard and is competitive, but she’s a white, middle-class, local girl, so we’re not too optimistic. She seems to have the idea that if she ignores this she can stay in high school forever.</p>
<p>z-mom, I feel your pain and am about to strangle my own D with the same attitude. She acts like a completely different kid every time we visit the college she’ll attend next year (UBuffalo) - people are very pleasant there but she won’t ask questions, finds fault with everything and acts like she hates it. She had a number of choices but got a great offer from UB and they’re very strong (nationally recognized) in her program. I’m sure she’ll really like it there when she settles in. I think you hit the nail on the head - too big a change, too stressful, easier to deal with it by not dealing with it.</p>
<p>Good luck sk8rmom! We know a bunch of kids at Buffalo and all are happy and doing well. Very well, actually. I’d be satisfied at this point if she’d just pick a few places to apply to. We’re not there yet.</p>