<p>I don't want to go in-state, though. Is it bad that I'm looking at the SUNY schools? They seem so much cheaper than a lot of other schools. I know that private schools give out a ton of money, but my chances for merit-based scholarships are very low. Thoughts? Is anyone else doing this alone?</p>
<p>If you're paying for college pretty much by yourself, do you really have much of a choice? Now, if you really want to go out-of-state, I'm sure there's a college that would give you substantial merit aid, but it may not be academically on par with some of the SUNY schools.</p>
<p>What are your stats?</p>
<p>I'm sure Binghamton, Albany, Stony Brook, Buffalo, College of Environmental Science, or Arts & Sciences - Geneseo will offer what you want.</p>
<p>There really aren't any public in-state schools that will give me what I want. </p>
<p>I'm not a New York resident. I'm saying that I'd like to go to a SUNY school anyway, and I'm trying to figure out if that's the lowest cost school I'll be able to find.</p>
<p>Might be worth moving to a state that has an interesting array of state colleges (Michigan, Ohio, Virginia, Georgia, and Texas come to mind) and work for a year or so to get state residency and then go to one of the in-state schools. The SUNY schools don't seem to have a lot of out-of-state students clammoring to get in.</p>
<p>I found the OP's stats on another thread, and am posting them to help everyone give her advice that would be most useful.</p>
<p>I think that she will have an extremely difficult time getting enough $ from out of state publics for her to pay her own way through college. The priority for out of state publics is giving $ to their own state residents, whose taxes support the college. Some such colleges --particularly some flagships -- will give wonderful merit aid to extremely qualified out of state students, but the OP's stats don't put her in that category.</p>
<p>Still, she has possibilities. As someone mentioned, she could try moving to a state that she wants to attend college in, and then doing what she needs to do to establish residency so she can attend college there at the in-state rate. Colleges vary in their residency requirements, so she should check the websites of the out of state public universities that interest her.</p>
<p>She also could consider doing Americorps for a year or two. In this fulltime volunteer program, she'd get close to $800 a month to live on, and after a year of service, she'd get about $4,700 to use for college. She could do Americorps for up to 2 years, thus getting about $9,400 for college.</p>
<p>Some private colleges are very generous with students who qualify for need-based aid who also have done significant volunteer work. Wofford College in S.C. comes to mind. If she checks the website under their financial aid or merit scholarship section, the OP can find the info. Once she sees the name of that particular merit scholarship program, she could use Google to find other colleges that offer it.</p>
<p>If she would be comfortable in a Christian college in Kentucky and if she qualifies for need-based aid, Berea College offers free tuition to all students who qualify for admission and qualify for need-based aid. </p>
<p>I think that the OP's stats are good enough for Wofford and Berea. Her community service with the concert also would be impressive to colleges offering community service-based merit aid. </p>
<p>The OP also could go to community college for 2 years, making sure that she's taking the coursework that would allow her to transfer to a 4-year college, and after 2 years, she could transfer. That would keep her college costs low. If her grades are good, she also may qualify for merit aid as a transfer -- something that some public universities offer to students transferring from community colleges in the public u's state.</p>
<p>Before taking the time and $ to apply to colleges, check the financial aid section of their web pages to find out what your chances are of getting the amount of aid that you need. It also is worth it to pay $15 to fully access US News on-line college guide site because it gives financial aid breakdowns for most colleges. This includes info about what percentage of students who qualify for aid at the college get it, and what percentage of that aid is in loans, and what percentage of their need is covered on average by the students' financial aid packages.</p>
<p>"GPA:</p>
<p>Weighted - 3.44
Unweighted - Around 3.2</p>
<p>I'm in the top two-fifths of my class.</p>
<p>SAT: 1250/1900: 650 V 600 M 650 W</p>
<p>Senior Schedule:
Semester 1: Honors Econ/Gov, Advanced Choral Ensemble, Mentorship, Honors Chemistry
Semester 2: Honors World Literature, Visual Arts I, Senior Psychology B, Statistics</p>
<p>No AP courses
At least two honors courses every semester</p>
<p>Clubs/ECs:
- Secretary of Book Club: 11, 12
- Secretary of Young Democrats: 9, 10, 11, 12
- Secretary of Chorus and member of the class every semester; member of the advanced ensemble for the last three: 9, 10, 11, 12
- Foreign Language Club board member: 10, 11, 12
- Environmental Action League: 9, 10, 11, 12</p>
<p>Last summer, five friends and I put together what we called the Concert for Kenya. We invited a Beatles cover band and used a local park. In total, we raised $2000 and collected clothes and other needed items.</p>
<p>Job:
- 20 hours a week at a local cafe.
- Worked for a casting director in Los Angeles over the summer.
- Steady babysitting job for the last four years.</p>
<p>I'm applying to:
University of Vermont
UC - Santa Cruz
Skidmore
The Evergreen State College
SUNY University of Buffalo
SUNY Geneseo
SUNY Plattsburgh
Eugene Lang College"</p>
<p>What is wrong with going to school in your state? If you dont have the money you dont have the money and do you really want to have the burden of debt when you graduate?</p>
<p>And SUNY, as above stated, isnt a state system sought after by out of staters. Seriously, stay in state. I have the same ambition to go out of state, but have figured it is useless to accumulate debt. It will hinder your job choices, further schooling and possible little luxuries out of school such as a car or your own apartment. Job choices may be hindered becuase instead focus will be on finding a job that will help repay debt instead of finding a job that interests you. And further schooling? Then you would have to question wether or not to continue and amount more debt</p>
<p>This will all depend on your state though. Say going to a UC which is 6k, but when living costs are factored in, the end result is a total cost just slightly less than going out of state to AZ or Iowa, and equivalent to a SUNY. But then options such as cal states make the costs more affordable.</p>
<p>What state do you live in by the way and what is the reason out of state is a must</p>
<p>if you wouldnt mind working part time doing the entire year, which i think shoudl equate to $10,000, or full time in summer to bring things to about $13,000, the SUNY system would really be the best choice and you could graduate with a moderate amount of debt between 16-26k, depending on how much you work</p>
<p>Vermont and UCSC equals i really be paying my ass off for many many years</p>
<p>More info posted elsewhere by the OP:
"My unweighted GPA is a 3.2, and my weighted is a 3.44. I'm aware that this isn't an impressive stat. My SAT score is a 1900: 600 M 650 V 650 W. A possible major I'm looking into is Anthropology, maybe with a minor in Museum Studies. I'd love to study abroad in Ireland; my first intended major was European Studies, but it seems few colleges offer it.</p>
<p>I'd like to apply to a few public universities and a few LACs, particularly in the north and the New England area. I'll need plenty of financial aid. I'd love a college that is environmentally conscious and much more liberal than where I'm from, which is a snotty, rich area of Georgia."</p>
<p>You live in Georgia! You are so lucky because I imagine that you'll qualify for the Hope scholarship for in state residents. That would help make it much easier for you to afford college than for you to go out of state.</p>
<p>Remember that if you go to places like Vermont and NY like you are considering, your college costs would be higher than in-state because of having to pay transportation fees as well as paying for warmer clothing than you need in Georgia.</p>
<p>If you want to experience another area of the country, you may be able to do that during college by going on out of state summer internships. You also could choose to go to grad school out of state.</p>
<p>I don't know why you'd prefer to go to the public out of state colleges that you're considering when most are ranked about the same or lower than U Ga.</p>
<p>Elsewhere, you've posted that you'd prefer attending a college in an urban area. Many of the colleges that you're considering are in very small cities or towns that are fairly isolated -- particularly during the winter when due to weather, it can be difficult to travel.</p>
<p>I'm having the same problems affording out of state tuition, and working on several solutions or workarounds</p>
<p>check for something like the Academic Common Market, there's an exchange program like that for every region in the U.S.</p>
<p>You might find the right school and right program and still only need to pay in-state tuition.</p>