<p>Does anyone know if UVA gives any OOS tuition waivers (to bring tuition down to in-state levels)?</p>
<p>The Financial Aid office puts packages together based on the [FAFSA[/url</a>] and [url=<a href=“https://profileonline.collegeboard.com/prf/index.jsp]CSS”>https://profileonline.collegeboard.com/prf/index.jsp]CSS</a> Profile](<a href=“http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/]FAFSA[/url”>http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/). </p>
<p>There is no “waiver” given out.</p>
<p>I have actually have never even heard of a “tuition waiver”. Did you mean to ask this, “Does UVA offer Financial Aid to OOS students?”</p>
<p>OSS tuition waivers are a fairly common form of merit scholarships with southern schools, including U of South Carolina and Clemson. This is probably what prompted the question from scmom.</p>
<p>Wow, thanks AVA55. I seriously have never heard of anything of the sort.</p>
<p>UGA gives out half and full OOS tuition waivers also</p>
<p>Schools give these waivers to attract high quality OOS applicants. Obviously UVA does not have to give incentives to do this as the quality of OOS applicants it receives is already sky high.</p>
<p>Some states like Georgia and Louisiana have programs that pay tuition for in-state residents who attend public schools in the state (HOPE and TOPS respectively). These make the top publics (UGA, GA Tech, LSU) in these states extremely attractive options for in-state students. As for South Carolina (Clemson and USC were brought up), I believe the prepaid tuition program is what makes publics so popular in-state. </p>
<p>The reason these type of programs seem to be predominant in the South is because of A. brain drain and B. lower college graduation rates in general. Southern states feel it is worth the investment to keep its top students in state so they are more likely to stay in the state post-graduation rather than flock to larger markets. Also, some of these programs have minimal academic qualifications, but the intention is simply to get more students to enroll in 4 year universities. The effect this has (speaking from my experience in Louisiana, can’t say about other states) is that standards of entry are lowered as many woefully unprepared students decide to attend college simply because tution is free. This is why public schools in these states have absolutely atrocious dropout rates.</p>
<p>In order to add some diversity/national brand recognition and to increase admission statistics (ACT/GPA etc.), these schools also offer generous scholarships to out of state students. LSU used to have a tuition waiver (up until this year), as in 100% of tuition, not just the OOS portion for every student with a 3.0+/30+ACT, those with 26 ACT + got the OOS portion waived. Unfortunately, due to budget constraints, these scholarships are not as lucrative as they once were.</p>
<p>That is how I ended up at LSU from Illinois for undergrad. But I’m looking forward to being in Charlottesville for the next 3 years, as it definitely will be a different culture and intellectual atmosphere.</p>
<p>That was probably much more than anyone needed to know, but just in case anyone was curious. Not many people out of the South are aware of this. Many cannot imagine completely free college tuition, even for individuals with modest academic credentials.</p>