I’m interested in hearing reasons that other parents have paid the higher tuition, with no financial aid or scholarships. Was the OOS school significantly better academically or for prestige than your own state flagship? Was it for fit? Was it for school spirit or lifestyle considerations? Was it for a specific program? Was it because your student is interested in living in that region after graduation?
If your student has already graduated from an OOS flagship, do you think it was worth it? Would you and your student do it again?
I have a sophomore OOS and would answer yes to all your questions but one, He has no interest in settling in Michigan post graduation and couldn’t happier with his choice. My second child is a senior in high school and is also likely to go OOS and full pay this fall. The school she is interested in is better than our state flagship, but not to the same degree as her brother. She sees how happy he is and is looking for a similar experience.
Following this topic as we are currently wrestling with the same issue. D is a junior and we are in MD where our state options are limited given that UMD will be a reach. The other MD state schools are fine but lacking a few things D is looking for in a school.
We have been discussing how much over and above the in-state schools we are willing to pay for OOS schools. D is considering an education degree which makes it even more difficult to consider OOS options.
Well, we aren’t full-pay for OOS undergrad, but we will be full-pay OOS for graduate school so I’ll answer. We have a great but huge in-state option but son NEVER liked that school. Only other option in-state due to his degree was ok but didn’t have everything he wanted. He found an OOS option that gave him a program that we really couldn’t turn down. It is a guaranteed admission to vet school after 3 years undergraduate (assuming he completes the 64 hours of pre-requisites and has a 3.3 in his science pre-reqs). For the three years undergraduate he has scholarships that make the tuition very affordable. Vet school is hard to get into and with this program we know he is in. We will have to pay the OOS tuition for 4 years of vet school which is crazy but luckily we can do it (merit scholarships are minimal if you get any). This way he can relax more, concentrate on his classes (not also having to get tons of animal hours) and enjoy his undergrad. This can really help to not get burned out in vet school. So far we are very happy with our decision. The school is a perfect match. He is happy, has a 4.0 first semester and so far second semester, has a great social life, and has no problem being 12 hours from home. The down-side - he never wants to come home because he is so happy and is looking for work in that state this summer.
Currently looks like we will be paying OOS to a flagship, no aid, when we have a “flagship” in state. Why? Better school for the major, looks like a more interesting school so a better experience, and the in state option is too close to home. You only get college as a youngster once. I want DC to have a good combination of fun and academics and I think the OOS will offer a better combination of that.
I paid full pay for OOS…but because it was SUNY Binghamton and was under 30K and a Kiplinger’s top 5 for OOS Value. Also our flagship was too close for her tastes. She also wanted to end up teaching in NY state (Math major, but got a masters in Secondary Math Education).
We will be paying OOS tuition at Penn State this fall rather than flagship UMaryland. Son never wanted to go to Maryland. He loves the remote college town where PSU is located. UMaryland, while a nice campus, is located in not-so-great area AND extremely close to our house. Because of this proximity, more than 125 kids from his graduating class are going to Maryland, which also makes it unappealing for him. For his major, I think PSU has the better program. He also liked the students he met at PSU better and the overall campus feel. To us, it is worth it, but we have many friends who wouldn’t even let their kids think about anywhere else but Maryland and I can understand where they are coming from. It is a lot more money.
We have a senior at Purdue, OOS and full-pay. We live in California and we couldn’t be happier. We didn’t really make the decision on flagship (Berkeley or UCLA) vs Purdue because she didn’t apply to any UCs - she wanted to go far from home. She has had an amazing time at Purdue and is getting both educational and career opportunities well beyond our expectations. If she had gone in-state I actually think we’d have paid more and gotten less because living expenses here are so much higher and resources for undergraduates in the UCs are harder to come by.
We paid OOS tuition for DS to go to UT-Austin, my alma mater, his first year of college because we knew we could get him in-state residency for the rest of his time there. It was a long process, but UT was helpful during it. He got approved before his sophomore year, but then fell ill and had to drop out.
I should add that it’s harder to get in-state residency for UT now - we wouldn’t have been able to do it if he’d started school even a year later.
We are considering an OOS flagship because it’s half the size of our instate flagship, stronger academically, and has our daughter’s sport. We also have strong family ties to the other state. Since we would not have to take out loans for D to go there, it’s on her list.
We are not, but would have been willing to pay full price for an OOS flagship.
We had the option with acceptance to: DD#1 University of Pittsburgh (a very serious contender), Purdue (also a serious contender), Ohio University; DD#2 U of Florida, Florida State, Louisiana State U, Ole Miss, Auburn, U of South Carolina, U of Colorado.
Why would we pay full tuition at a OOS flagship? Mainly because we live in Texas and that dang top 10% thing makes it really hard for my 16% & 14% ranked kids to achieve a berth at one of our state flagships…clearly not an issue for OOS flagships who thought they were good enough and most offered some merit to attend, often bringing tuition within $10k of in-state tuition and in the case of some schools (Ohio U & Ole Miss) less than in-state tuition. I think (and I can certainly be wrong on this) the name recognition that comes with attending a flagship may carry a bit of leverage when looking for entry level jobs post graduation on a nationwide scale. And some fluff reasons such as locale, amenities etc did play a part. DD#1 is NOT at Texan at heart and couldn’t wait to move north (where she was born). In fact, having scored admission to Pitt in September of her application cycle, she never even bothered to apply in-state!
Ultimately DD#1 choose an OOS private because her desired major, direct entry DPT, was not offered within the State of Texas (of course she has since changed her major, lol). DD#2 did score a full admission berth at our in-state flagship (which was a happy surprise), Texas A&M, and that is where she has decided to attend after weighing all of her excellent options.
I was full pay for one son who did attend as as OSS student. He got a merit scholarship and the cost ended up being less than the full pay we would be at UofM and MSU. He has pretty marked SAD so was happy to send him to a state with sunny winters than keeping him here and paying more for it.
We agreed to send our D to an out of state flagship at full pay, but then she got a scholarship which brought the cost down a bit. Not anywhere near our in-state options, though.
We would definitely have done it again, it was a magnificent choice for her and there has never been a day when we were anything but thrilled with her experience and outcome.
We chose the school for two related reasons: 1. a very unique program with pretty much unlimited resources. 2. The opportunity to work closely with the most important scholar in her niche field.
DD#1 is at an OOS flagship. She could not have gotten into UF or FSU, but probably could have to UCF and all the other state schools. She didn’t want to go to school in Florida so she found a school with a similar price, even at OOS rates.
@labegg - does the Texas system of strict cutoffs by class ranking encourage people to shuffle where their kids go to high school? It would seem that there would be a pretty strong incentive for people to consider going to a high school that might not be as strong academically so that the student could be in the top 10% (and isn’t it even lower, like 7% now?) of his/her class. And then of course as a parent you’d wonder if you were doing the right thing sending them to a school where they’d possibly get a lower quality education, all so they could make that cutoff.
Even here in Florida where the state schools don’t use that type of firm cutoff system, it’s a subject of debate. Our county has a magnet school which is really fantastic. People actually move here from different parts of the country so their kids can go to this free public magnet school. But the downside is that every school has a bottom of the class. So people always wonder if they’re doing their kids a disservice being at the magnet school where it’s tougher to shine. Some people have pulled their kids out thinking it’s better to be valedictorian of an average high school rather than a B student in the bottom of the class at the magnet school. I’d imagine in Texas where being below that cutoff is a huge deal for in state college options, this debate could be even hotter.
UT Austin can set the auto admit rank threshold to what will fill about three fourths of the class (currently 7% or 6%). All other Texas publics still auto admit the top 10% from Texas high schools, and have additional auto admit categories as well.
The rank based admission system can lead to very cutthroat rank gaming, or high school policies that disadvantage inbound transfers in rank calculations.
My kid graduated from OOS public, and it was a wonderful experience for him, well worth the cost. We are in-state in Indiana, and he had just assumed he’d go to Bloomington like 30% of his high school class. But, during his 11th grade visit to campus, he was seriously underwhelmed by Admissions events, even though he had been on campus multiple times as a high school student. He has now graduated from the University of Wisconsin, and is successfully launched in his preferred career. He loved the city feel, perched on the Lake, with sailing, pond hockey in the winter etc. Internships in the capital were fabulous experience. Huge school spirit, great sports. Academically, he majored in two departments which are ranked in the top 20 where he developed close relationships with his professors, and had a superb education. We are full pay, and even with the tuition increases oer the past few years, OOS was still about $15-20k cheaper than full pay private, so we considered it a great bargain.
Although D is at a private school, he was admitted OOS to William & Mary (full pay) and would have attended there as opposed to UF. He had a scholarship at UF and full Bright Futures so we’re basically looking at full pay vs. no pay (or very little).
For S it was a combination of a lot of things, quality of education (general and within major), size, going away and experiencing life outside of FL, no HS class mates, overall opportunities, etc. Put all that together and you get some form of “fit”.
It’s a tough decision. We could afford it but it’s still a lot of money. That said, we couldn’t be more pleased with his first yr experience. He has been exposed and done some things he would never have done at UF. Just a completely different environment. We think it’s well worth the cost. Part of that is he is looking to live outside of FL after college. Is interested in Charlotte, DC or Boston.
Thank you for all of your responses so far. Very illuminating.
We never expected to be in this position, considering OOS public flagship. S applied, hoping for a giant scholarship but knowing it was a huge longshot, and not expecting to attend the school without it. The scholarship didn’t happen, but the very competitive OOS acceptance did. School is well respected and has lots of school spirit, which S would like.
We really expected S to attend a private school with merit aid, and he still may. Several decisions are still to come, and he already has several offers of merit from EA schools. But I have started to really consider that the OOS flagship at full pay may be doable. Just not sure it’s practical. As a lot of you know, it is tough to spend lots of money when there are cheaper, and excellent, other options. I know we’re lucky to have choices.
Keep the responses coming!! Great food for thought.
And actually I would have much less hesitation spending a large sum for a private school known for personalized education than for a large OOS public. Our initial thought with the current school under consideration was that the scholarship would have put S in a student population that automatically received a lot of attention and extra opportunities. Closer to the private school experience.
We are in NY and our in state flagship, Binghamton, is not very appealing to our D. We are seriously considering UMich and UVA, but it is very hard to swallow the OOS price tag when you know what the in state students are paying.
She has had an amazing time at Purdue and is getting both educational and career opportunities well beyond our expectations. If she had gone in-state I actually think we’d have paid more and gotten less because living expenses here are so much higher and resources for undergraduates in the UCs are harder to come by.