<p>I really like UW and Madison when I was up there last summer. But I heard they are stingy with giving out merit aid to freshman, especially OOS kids. Do they offer tuition waivers, to bring the cost down to in-state rates? I'm assuming not, but who knows.
My stats are pretty good, but not blow you away good. 3.8UW GPA, 4.2W, 31-32 ACT, Eagle Scout, a few other things.</p>
<p>Would it be possible to bring tuition $10k-ish a year?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>DOWN to 10K a year?! Surely you jest. </p>
<p>That 21K OOS tuition figure (except for you MN Gopherites, who have reciprocity) looks to be pretty well established for freshman. As a parent, I've tried every which way to knock that down. And my D has similar if not slightly better stats than yours. </p>
<p>Get this--the College of Letters & Science sent an EMail to my daughter this Monday saying that she is eligible to fill out their scholarship application, as long as it's submitted by the 6th. That's right, four days to do it. To boot, their website bluntly states that most of these scholarships are for Wisconsin residents, and they only gave 10 scholarships to out-of-state students in the 2008-2009 school year.</p>
<p>Whether this is right or wrong is a moot point. However, I have heard rumors that if the OOS student keeps his/her nose clean and GPA up, some money opens up for subsequent years.</p>
<p>Bottom line? If attending, plan on you or your folks forking out 33K to UW.</p>
<p>I have heard the mantra that you can get money after your first year from your major department so I asked the parents of kids from our town about this (most of them were very good students) and not one reported receiving a dime. There basically is no merit money available for OOS students and if you go there you should expect this for all four years.</p>
<p>...yeah, this kind of sucks.</p>
<p>Did you know that Wisconsin residents pay one of the highest income tax rates in the country? We're not about to increase our taxes to subsidize OOS students. Also, like many or most states, the tanking economy has led to the need to find budget cuts- so far not as severe as in some states so the UW system should remain in good/decent shape. Try any sources you can through your HS and look up your local UW alumni association- they're just about everywhere in the country- for scholarships. There are kids with stats to get into UW and who can't afford an instate Madison education and settle for other state schools.</p>
<p>Your high tax friends to the west at U MN are very generous with aid, but then they don't have many students from the east coast and the north shore as applicants. BTW the UW alumni associations around the U.S. can offer a little help, but not enough to make a real difference.</p>
<p>Don't get defensive, wis75. If we didn't think Madison was a great environment, even at the OOS numbers, we wouldn't be thinking of sending our kids there. Obviously the Board of Regents have crunched the numbers & have decided they don't need to give these scholarships out--to their credit, at least they say it on their website. </p>
<p>Also, their confidence is bolstered by the fact that UW-Madison has supplanted Ann Arbor has the new HYPS reject 'safety school'. They think 33K's a bargain compared to the 50K+ they'd be shelling out annually at the privates out East. And maybe it is...</p>
<p>When push comes to shove, sometime before the drop-dead date May 1, wife & I will sit down with D, look at the bottom lines of all the acceptances times four, and make a final decision whether Madison is worth an extra $40-60K over four years. Should be interesting.</p>
<p>Take a look at the Wisconsin tuition compared to similar institutions...It is considerably lower than Michigan and Illinois (for OOS students)...so Wisconsin can either keep tuition low or offer more scholarships. Considering the quality of education you get, it is an exceptional value!</p>
<p>Shortly after my post I saw in the news where the UW Foundation is freezing payments, including scholarship money they usually give out, due to the huge losses in their endowment funds (not sure when this starts- next fall?). There is going to be a demarcation line of where students went to college- before/after the financial meltdown- for future historians to note.</p>
<p>So the COA for OOS kids is about ~31k, right? </p>
<p>And If I need aid, I should probably cross UW off the list? I’m a pretty good student, good ECs, etc…but not exceptional.</p>
<p>And I don’t need a terrible amount of aid, if I could get the COA <25k, I’d be really happy. </p>
<p>…or am I just dreaming?</p>
<p>From what I have read coollege, there is basically no scholarships for incoming freshman and yes COA is 31k I would guess. (Depends on your travel there and where you live)</p>
<p>However, one you choose a major and get into your school, there is aid given out by the departments. I think this is done so that you actually prove yourself first at Madison. You can also look at your local alum society, and I think fraternities offer scholarships if you are interested in Greek life.</p>
<p>Ah, this thread is really depressing! I am from Minnesota (and Chippewa Lac du Flambeau in N. WI) and got full-tuition + $800 + $1500 for engineering…hmmm, this is strange. I feel for all of you “OOS” people; rather, those who don’t get reciprocity. ;).</p>
<p>This certainly is an area UW needs to improve. What they need to do first is get the law changed so they can use some tuition $$$$ to fund scholarships as many other schools already do. Biddy Martin just proposed such a program-along with tuition hikes.</p>
<p>[news:</a> University of Wisconsin-Madison tuition hike proposed](<a href=“captimes.com | The Capital Times: Madison WI News”>captimes.com | The Capital Times: Madison WI News)</p>
<p>From the article: “Out-of-state students would pay a $750 supplemental charge next fall, and it would increase by that amount for the following three years.” That’s a total of $7,500 over 4 years for OOSers. PLUS a 5-6% tuition hike.</p>
<p>Ouch! What a way to kick us when we’re down. :(</p>
<p>Well, it’s a done deal, D chose Madison, so supplemental or not, we’ll be paying it.</p>
<p>The costs notwithstanding, I am happy about it because it appears to be a perfect fit for her. She fell in love with UW-Madison from the first time she saw it, during the walking tour in a raging blizzard. We still haven’t been there when it’s been over twenty degrees.</p>
<p>A couple trips ago D sat in on some classes–to her, they were informative, challenging, but not beyond her scope of knowledge. I’m confident she’ll be surrounded by intelligent kids too–the admission requirements make sure of that.</p>
<p>And from the NW suburbs of Chicago, it’s a 2 hour trip up Hwy. 12, a nice drive.</p>
<p>You’re closer than a lot of Wis residents!</p>
<p>Question: Do Illinois residents have reciprocity like Minnesota residents?</p>
<p>
No, they don’t.</p>
<p>If they did they would have to rename UW-Madison the UW-North Shore</p>
<p>Well, how is MN different?</p>