@w00pw00p Just be sure to budget for 10-15% tuition increases for incoming OOS freshman and 5-6% increases for returning non-resident students.
It would just be nice for more schools to limit increases for returning students to be in line with inflation, or to cap them altogether like UIUC. It’s easy to find the total cost of attendance and multiply by 4 to estimate costs, but families that do that will have a nasty surprise when they find tuition increasing by over 5% and housing sometimes even more. Thankfully at least some of the university-owned apartments didn’t have the huge increases again this year like they did last year.
@mwmomtwins agree we are looking more closely at some of the schools with aggressive oos scholarships and a slightly higher total cost year one but knowing it is capped for all 4 years. Fortunately we get the instate rate (from wisconsin) but even that increase could be high
They have been talking about this for years since MN was a bargain for a lot of OOS especially for engineering. This has been a very calculated plan to raise revenue. MN built their engineering program by keeping rates low. With so many applicants these days to engineering I don’t think this will hurt them but might hurt people that can’t afford to go to college
As for UIUC they gave our instate kid nothing for engineering. He’s at Michigan now. When the tuition rates raises so does what he gets. Maybe MN will follow that lead.
They could easily accomplish their financial goals by increasing tuition only for incoming freshman (who do have a choice), while capping increases for returning students to inflation. For anyone who was paying attention to past year increases or official emails, the 5.5% increase for returning OOS students is not a surprise, but that still doesn’t mean they had to do it. That extra 3% above cost-of-living can add thousands extra over 4 years with compounding. My guess is that many college presidents and boards are basically like state and federal legislatures; most are completely out of touch with the reality of average families or how seemingly small increases can affect typical students.
As for UIUC, I do wonder where all the big 4-year merit scholarships go. They certainly aren’t based on objective academic measures, at least in my experience of from other accounts I’ve seen. With no public information or accountability, I sure hope it’s not like the admissions scandal a few years back. Still, the cap on tuition for returning students is a model for all schools.
UIUC commitment https://admissions.illinois.edu/commitment is not going to help UMN.
Personally have nothing to with UMN, but not a fan of surprise cost increases after a commitment.
UMN, needs to look beyond mid-western states to increase revenue. This price increase move has a potential on incoming OOS students quality (don’t have other better options), current students would have no choice but to take with grain of salt (high performing OOS students may jump ship to other better options)
What you are missing is that it used to be a serious bargain, and now not quite as much. We came in within a few k of our in-state options after merit aid, and are happy.
I personally think the only thing that will make UMN more appealing to OOS kids is a better climate. The winters are seriously intimidating to people in most of the country.
“What you are missing is that it used to be a serious bargain, and now not quite as much.”
- Yep. The party's over and people are still complaining about it, instead of being happy that OOS is still less than other big 10 and comes with better scholarships. Where else were they planning to go had they not gotten in? If in-state at your local flagship is now cheaper you can always transfer back there. Quityerfussin'
“I personally think the only thing that will make UMN more appealing to OOS kids is a better climate. The winters are seriously intimidating to people in most of the country.”
- This is imaginery. I've lived both in Chicago and the TC metro and the latter is FAR better prepared for seriously cold weather. Tunnels, enclosed walkways and indoor parking is the NORM here. There is also a higher engagement with healthy outdoor activity as well as gorgeous lakes and regional parks right in the metro. If folks are too intimidated to get outside and cheer on the XC skiiers zipping down Hennepin Ave. in Feb - well, that's just too bad for them.
I pay a lot of money to UIUC and UMN, far more than enough to justify any complaints about questionable policies;-) It’s not mutually exclusive such that you can only be happy for your child being able to attend a great school or be justified in pointing out the fundamentally poor choices made by that school’s president and board members. Turns out, you can rightfully do both! Similarly, my son is doing great at UIUC, but I still lament how awful the football and basketball programs have become since I attended. Weird, I know, though I realize he could always transfer to Michigan or Wisconsin if that was the most important factor lol.
@brooklynlydia My daughter agrees. Loves the school, does not love the climate. And that from someone who grew up in the far-less-prepared-for-seriously-cold-weather Chicago area.
@ illinoisx3 My son is a freshman. He keeps telling us “I like the cold weather” and we parents (who did our grad work in Madison) quietly refrain from saying “you have no … clue, son” We also are loving the school and appreciate the well-priced education he is getting.
@JBStillFlying - not sure I understand your comment. It doesn’t really matter why people are afraid of the frigid weather
because many are. I live in a town where elementary school recess is cancelled when temps drop below 40. Not a lot of applications to the Twin Cities.
Although certainly not obligatory, a college education is expensive (readily available money from the fed. govt. in the form of students loans is no help). The returns to a college education, especially in programs such as business, nursing, engineering, and so forth, have increased even more. It seems that all institutions are making poor decisions and are “out of touch” - probably due to the same reasons that posters on other threads wondering why their pretty good stats haven’t resulted in an admission decision by now. Competitive colleges are facing a higher - not lower - demand for their services. When the demand curve shifts up, the relative price goes up - it doesn’t stay anchored to “cost of living.”
The significant growth of the Twin Cities over the past 10-20 years suggests that many seem to be able to handle the weather OK here. In contrast, Chicago’s more balmy climate doesn’t seem to be able to keep its residents from moving out of the city (or out of the state . . . ). Still, when you are among the educationally elite (as is anyone attending a selective institution), you can perhaps make it an issue. Most people would consider that a nice problem to have.
“not sure I understand your comment. It doesn’t really matter why people are afraid of the frigid weather
because many are. I live in a town where elementary school recess is cancelled when temps drop below 40. Not a lot of applications to the Twin Cities.”
@brooklynlydia - not doubting the perception, just the common sense of it. So none of those children own a coat or hat? That might have more to do with socio economic status than fear of weather. Guessing too that none of them head to VT or CO for a ski vacay?
Update: Some locales have better reasons not to send their kids up to MN for college, including great in-state flagships and tuition, and an abundance of low-cost privates. Even a higher cost private can be doable if transportation costs aren’t that high.
no matter what UMN does, they can’t do anything about in-state T’Wolves, Twins and Vikings. :)) :))
“When the demand curve shifts up, the relative price goes up - it doesn’t stay anchored to “cost of living.””
For private, for-profit business, sure. We’re talking about a state-funded educational service where such rules don’t have to apply exactly as they do in business. A responsible public institution could easily move up the demand curve to maximize revenue only by adjusting costs for incoming freshman while keeping costs for returning students tied to inflation or even flat (like UIUC and many others that offer fixed-rate tuition for four years). Based on the article that started this thread, UMN-TC has already reached the point where the huge increases are costing corresponding net revenue to fall. Further large increases above inflation, especially for returning students, do seem arbitrary and yes, even out-of-touch with how these unnecessary additional tuition hikes above cost-of-living increases affect returning students and their families.
“The significant growth of the Twin Cities over the past 10-20 years suggests that many seem to be able to handle the weather OK here. In contrast, Chicago’s more balmy climate doesn’t seem to be able to keep its residents from moving out of the city (or out of the state . . . ).”
True. Handling the weather and liking it are definitely not the same thing, though. We may join the line of people getting out of Illinois at some point soon, perhaps even to Minnesota. But it won’t be for the weather!
“We’re talking about a state-funded educational service where such rules don’t have to apply exactly as they do in business. A responsible public institution could easily move up the demand curve to maximize revenue only by adjusting costs for incoming freshman while keeping costs for returning students tied to inflation or even flat (like UIUC and many others that offer fixed-rate tuition for four years).”
- UMN is definitely being a responsible public institution to those stake holders that fund it. So is UIUC - to its own stake holders. Both charge significantly more for OOS, and UMN has some catching up to do. In a few years, you will probably see less of a year-over-year increase for returning and even for new students. During the "catch-up" phase, you will see higher increases. While state institutions are competing on a national market for the best students, they don't have a public mandate to stick to the tuition practices of their neighbors. If they did, Michigan wouldn't be charging close to $50,000 for OOS.
“Based on the article that started this thread, UMN-TC has already reached the point where the huge increases are costing corresponding net revenue to fall. Further large increases above inflation, especially for returning students, do seem arbitrary and yes, even out-of-touch with how these unnecessary additional tuition hikes above cost-of-living increases affect returning students and their families.”
- IIRC, the 5.5% increase was a cap. So now they are at - not above - the cap. Not sure what the issue is. Do you feel that you've been misled in some way, or are you just dissatisfied with the continued plan to sally forth and raise tuition further? It's still a pretty good deal by any reasonable standard, especially if merit is in the picture.
Due to the U’s higgledy-piggledy rolling-admissions process, many with decent stats are on hold right now, and others with clearly eligible stats and application are on hold for honors. Something’s holding them up. Admissions knows how many in-state students will be applying; the wildcard is the OOS pool. If OOS numbers were truly down, you’d think that some of these other decisions would move along a bit faster. Hopefully we will know more as we approach Jan. 31.
“We may join the line of people getting out of Illinois at some point soon, perhaps even to Minnesota. But it won’t be for the weather!”
- We were just out to dinner tonight and as usual I didn't bring a coat (not necessary as I rarely need to walk more than a minute or so outside). Nippy! We've had a warmer than usual fall and December but Old Man Winter blew into town over the Holiday break. The upside is that we had a beautiful white Christmas this year. The lakes probably aren't as frozen as they should be so while the requisite number of ice huts are out, I'm a bit skeptical that it's safe.
" IIRC, the 5.5% increase was a cap. So now they are at - not above - the cap. Not sure what the issue is. Do you feel that you’ve been misled in some way, or are you just dissatisfied with the continued plan to sally forth and raise tuition further?"
I can only restate what I’ve said already. I think it’s crappy for any college, especially a public one, to raise costs for returning students significantly above the rate of inflation. Simple as that. With good management, all revenue targets could easily be met with larger increases only on incoming freshman, who have more flexibility to choose another school. Personally, I’ve followed the issue so I have planned for their poor fiscal management. At this point, my comments here are mainly so that these threads alert other families of this trend, because I suspect the majority of returning OOS students will be saddled with a lot of unexpected debt because of it.
I got accepted to CLA but have yet to receive my scholarship letter. But with higher tuition will there be more scholarship opportunities for OOS kids like me
They did raise the maximum OOS merit award from $10K to $15K, presumably to partially offset tuition increases. That would almost cover the difference between resident and non-resident tuition in 2019-2020. I don’t know if the number of National Scholarship awards is increased or not, but perhaps @JBStillFlying has heard. More OOS merit awards would be one way to increase revenue and to counter declining non-resident enrollments, so hopefully this is the case, good luck!
There have been some 15K awards given out - not sure if they are National specifically but that scholarship does indeed go as high as $15K. Over the past few years they have not only increased but have also varied the scholarship award (currently at $2.5, 5, 10, or $15k) perhaps to reach more OOS’ers with some money. It’s highly likely that there are more $2.5k recipients than $15k recipients. So - there may be a greater number of merit awards given out. Not sure that the overall pool of money has changed much, however.
We got our scholarship from UofM today for $5,000 per year. How generous of them! No thank you. We are out of state and this was her first choice of schools but no way am I paying their ridiculous price increases with a low corresponding scholarship. (she is a great student FYI and in the Honors College). If they want to be competitive within in the Big 10 I suggest they get their rankings up to match the schools who are charging in that range. Illinois which is a much higher ranked school is almost $10,000 cheaper (Indiana matched Illinois tuition and Iowa came in lower though their rankings lag a little)…bye bye Minnesota. Hope it all works out for you!