I don’t know that it is ultra competitive, it is a public high school that ranges from foundation classes to the IBD, but no classes are weighted, so the non rigorous path students can sit on thier 4.0s , but the IBD program is where the top students are anyway, I am not sure how it would shake out with weighted anyway. Also I really question that any uni could make a call based on the school’s profile that I read from last year (it is revised).
Well… University of Minnesota was probably where I was going to go because it was cheap. Not anymore, I guess?
@Alfonsia My twin’s school ranks on weighted GPA. They both have 4.0 but still are both in top 4% because some kids take more AP classes. Not ranking by weighted GPA is really a penalty to kids who challenge themselves.
Did the profile under sell the school?
I think the ranking methodology really hurt your son a lot!
how do they distribute out of state tuition wavers? do I have a chance at receiving one with a 35.5 ACT?
That’s a great score @ACTSucks and it’s going to be rounded to a 36, right? 
The Gold National is awarded based on class rank - I think you have to be well within the top 10%. If that’s you, you might be “Golden”.
@Mamelot Nice pun! I’m worried if they’re really going to go up by so much per year! But these days it’s hard to be surprised. Hopefully I get the OOS waiver or partial waiver scholarship or else UMN isn’t the perfect option it used to be…
My last two kids in HS had this on their radar only because it was a value school. Being from CA, the weather is a huge negative and one of this was so-so about the city but liked their summer in Boundary Waters. But I read this article as the detail not being fleshed out but a matter of fact.
So many other schools that will now be in the same price range as Minnesota that it will undeniably diminish their OOS attendance. Kids out here are already passing Minnesota due to the weather and city environment for OSU, Indiana, Purdue, Penn State, Wisconsin and Michigan (different breed of student anyways). Too bad Nebraska is more desirable for my kids but we have a few options up our sleeve. This is just one less arrow in the quiver is all. Maybe another school will take their place and lower this OOS tuition just as MN did several years ago.
We will keep track of the situation but looks like this option is fading as a value school. Best of luck to those future Gophers and hope they take care of those OOS students that are currently Frosh/Sophs.
hehe yes, I would say I am somewhere in the top 5% of my class, though my high school does not rank. Should the lack of ranking be a concern? Given my school is top 20 nationally in academics, I think my GPA should should give them a sense of where I stand.
I agree with post #46
I will say this will hurt UMN Engineering School (CSE) because there are high quality engineering schools that will be significantly LOWER cost.
One for sure is Iowa State which is highly ranked and has a base OOS price equal to UMN today and has generous Merit Scholarships. Iowa State is primarily an engineering and agricultural school. It is equal to any in the Midwest and job placement is fantastic.
Disclaimer: I may be biased as a grad but I think current stats on line about placement back-up my comments.
http://www.engineering.iastate.edu/ecs/salaries-demographics/
@Mamelot As always, you provide a good analysis, but my (uninformed) take is that price elasticity has already been tested, and is well known by the admins. After all, there’s a clear correlation in the numbers for 2008 (when non-resident tuition rates were cut by a third), and increase in OOS enrollment. There’s equally a decline in the rate of increase when, in 2012, the rates were bumped up by 12%. I think the powers that be feel they have reached their desired IS/OOS ratio (roughly 3 to 1), and are now just going to turn the spigot off, or pull back some.
I believe that this is less about a play on economics, and more of about the politics in St.Paul. Too many out-of-staters on the rolls, and U would be hard-pressed to argue well for much needed funding.
But you can’t actually SAY that to the press… hence the mularkey about “testing price elasticity”- vague enough sounding that people won’t question it.
@Khidhala you bum me out. Here I was thinking that talking price elasticity was really cool, but you just tell me it’s nothing more than politics 
OK just kidding - I actually think you are making an economic argument - whether it’s put forth by the State of MN in terms of their bargaining with the university trustees over grand money or whether it’s initiated by the U of MN itself. I think, regardless of whether someone knows what “price elasticity” even means, that anyone looking at the OOS tuition would think “now there’s a bargain”. And you don’t have to be an economics expert to figure that now is the time to play with that number a bit. I think overall demand for UMN education has been increasing (see below) but how much longer can they expect that to go on?
It will be interesting to see what happens. I’d argue - and this is me being uninformed - that UMN is not quite the same brand that it was in 2008. What is the difference between today and 2012? Harder to say. But here are a couple things to consider about that 12% tuition increase: 1) It was probably only a couple thou, correct? (I’m just guessing that . . . ) and 2) A decline in the rate of increase is still an increase in OOS enrollments. Therefore, when they raised OOS tuition a bit, they still saw enrollments increase. Why would that be? Because something else was going on - perhaps the demand curve itself shifted out due to a better brand image or positive income effects pertaining to the applicant pool. (I’m assuming here, of course, that net tuition for OOS didn’t actually decline due to more aggressively pursuing OOS applicants through merit aid, etc. at the time).
So if the demand curve has been shifting out due to a better brand and/or increases in income, then perhaps that explains why they are looking at a much steeper increase this time - they don’t need OOS enrollments to increase anymore so it’s time to really jack up the price and see how much OOS enrollments move in the opposite direction. Of course this is just another way of saying what you already said.
Well on the same token other public schools also changed their product. Kelley school of business ranks really high, the same for University of Maryland CP. Even UMass has now reputable CS and the Isenberg school of management. Purdue for engineering etc etc. Alabama is recruiting a lot of high stats kids. University of Connecticut and Vermont extremely popular due to location. Add honor colleges with their perks too.
True! Many of these schools are significantly harder to get into as well, compared to when I went to college. And many of them have newer buildings - labs, residence halls, new gyms, etc. It makes me quite jealous of my kids. While these schools compete against one another for top students (offering tuition reductions, honor college and other perks), it’s pretty clear that they have access to funds - either through higher revenues (undergrad. tuition model) or an increase in donations from people/organizations of means. There’s a whole lot of money in the higher ed. business. And while the college-bound population has increased significantly, they aren’t building more flagships.
Even though I knew I wasn’t as qualified as other admits are (my SAT is a 2160 but my GPA is a 3.4 UW, CEHD admit), I was still hoping to get some money- Minnesota is truly where my heart is at.
However, I was offered a full-tuition scholarship by Ohio State last week, and they’re even considering covering room & board. My CEHD admissions counselor suggested sending a personal statement for additional scholarship consideration, but it seems like a shot in the dark at this point.
Whyyy, Minnesota, why? This is the school I want to attend, but I plan on going into a fairly low-pay field. I don’t want to choose OSU over Minnesota, but it looks like I might have to.
Sounds like a fantastic situation to be in, @freezycool , congratulations! I’ve seen you around the UMN threads, and I think I could tell you really liked the school. My daughter may be following you to OSU next year as well. It was I who was the big UMN fan in our family. She wasn’t so sure she would be able to deal with the winters up there, although Columbus probably only has it beat by a few degrees. Either one is going to sting a bit, since I went to UofM/UMich/Michigan.
@2muchquan Yeah! I might not be absolutely in love with Cbus or OSU, but the whole graduating-debt-free thing is a pretty sweet deal. I’m hoping for some outside aid from UMN though, so OSU can pass my $ on to someone who really deserves it.
I’ve lived in CA for most of my life, and even here my friends make fun of me for always being cold! It’s going to be an adventure 
@freezycool Congrats - That is a fantastic scholarship from a terrific school! Hope you shared this info. with U of MN so that they have a chance to respond. Have you visited OSU?
@Mamelot OSU may have me on-campus for an interview, so that’ll be my visit! I was definitely thinking of letting UMN know about the scholarship, but I’m not quite sure as to how I should go about doing it. Maybe just make them a little jealous 
I’d contact UMN and let them know what you are saying here - that you’d need to accept OSU due to the scholarship but UMN is your first choice. And that you’d really prefer not to have finances direct your decision but that the financial differences are just too large at this point. Good luck!