<p>Lately I have been talking to my parents and they have expressed their desire for me to go to a state school like Michigan State or a different school where I could get full tuition. They (understandably) don't think that paying $50,000 a year for a good education is realistic or necessary. In a way, I agree with them and I hate the feeling of being marketed to by colleges. </p>
<p>I am in the top 5% of my class and will get an IB diploma when I graduate high school, and I would rather be in an intellectual environment than one where students are more interested in partying than learning. However, I know if I try hard enough I could find an intellectual group of people at a less selective state school. I obviously don't want to have a bunch of student loans when I graduate, but my parents' EFC is ridiculously high and they are only willing to pay ~$10,000 out of pocket. </p>
<p>I was wondering if anyone has any experience with an honors program at a state school vs. a prestigious top 10 university. Is it worth it to shell out so much money for an undergrad. experience? Do state schools have good resources for finding jobs/internships/getting into grad school? Is the social scene okay? Is it worth it to pay for a "better" college?</p>
<p>I live in CA, so U of M would be expensive. MSU would pay full tuition/dorm/give me an allowance. I know UCs seem like an obvious choice but they’re raising tuition and my family wants to move out of the state.</p>
<p>Depending on how strong of a student you are, I know that Rice, Northwestern, Caltech, Duke and UChicago all give out merit scholarships so those are worth checking out.</p>
<p>If $40,000 over four years is the limit but your EFC is much higher than that, then you are probably limited to schools with full rides or close to full rides (either low safeties or specialty schools like the military service academies) or community college followed by transfer to a very inexpensive or local state school. Even the well known University of Alabama Presidential Scholarship still leaves about $15,000 per year in other costs. So if MSU will give you a full ride, that may be one of your few options in four year schools.</p>
<p>However, a few top schools (e.g. Harvard, Stanford) can be generous with need aid for those whom they do admit, even for family income levels much higher than one would otherwise think of as “needy”.</p>
<p>cal tech, NW do not give merit schol. duke, u chic, and rice are too hard to count on for atop-5% student (w/o knowing other stats). even jhu give a full-tuition, u mich and unc even a full-ride; but, ultra competitive.</p>
<p>msu and other schools like msu are good choice (e.g., pitt, wash & Lee) . there are too many other good schools that offer full-tuition schols, but should be a compelling candidate.</p>
<p>Full disclaimer- I’m going to be a college freshman next year, so I’m not claiming I have any kind of experience in these issues, but I’ll still give you my opinion.</p>
<p>First, YES, I do think it’s possible to find highly intellectual and motivated students like yourself at honors colleges at state schools across the country. There are plenty of other students like you in the same financial situation, that land up in the same places. </p>
<p>That being said, as posters have mentioned earlier, there are many top tier college that offer full rides/large merit awards to students of high academic calendar. A few off the top of my head are Wash U (many different scholarship programs in addition to the danforth scholars program), Emory (Emory Scholars program), University of Pittsburg (previously mentioned), USC (I forget what it’s called…regent? something like that), and many more which you can probably find online easily. </p>
<p>Also, if you’re from California the UCs are a great resource. I don’t if your parents moving will affect your in-state status. Maybe you can change your residency to a relative in california? or something along those lines?</p>
<p>First MSU is a good school and offers a great deal of choices and opportunity. However as one of 40,000+ students it is kind of sink or swim. You need to be self motivated. </p>
<p>MSU does have a well regarded honors college that provides certain advantages such as more idividualized academic program planning. MSU also has three residential colleges, James Madison (social sciences), Lyman Briggs (natural sciences) and the fairly new Arts and Humanities Residential College. Enrolling on one of these schools can make a large school like MSU more intimate. </p>
<p>MSU’s Career Service Network provides a multitude of services such as job placement and grad school planning, the school also has a big study abroad program; but as a large school serving so many students they don’t hand hold you. Students need to take the initiative to seek out the resources that they need. </p>
<p>As for the social scene; you can find pretty much anything you want from people that seem to party so much you wonder how they stay in school to people who go from dorm to class to cafeteria to library every day. There is a vibrant Greek system and hundreds of clubs. Like all Big 10 schools sports are a fun diversion.</p>
<p>Whether it is worth it to pay for a “better” college is something everyone has to answer for themselves. Most people find that ultimately college is what you make of it, no matter where you go.</p>
This may sound a bit harsh, but I think its time for you to move on from pondering these questions to facing the reality of the situation and making the best decisions going forward.</p>
<p>Your parents have put a cap of $40K on what they’ll pay for college. Regardless of whether the consensus is the experience is better at a prestigious top-10 school, you’re not going to be attending one because you can’t afford to pay for it. Your real choices are a good public or a low ranked private to which you are a candidate for sizeable merit aid (the number of which might actually be zero).</p>
<p>IMHO the questions you ought to be thinking about and asking on forums are how to find the best affordable public. What factors make one better than another? How can you make sure you get the chance to do the right things in college to best prepare for your future? What are the right things to be doing? How do I make sure I have a good social life? How do I find internships? And so on…</p>
<p>State school vs. top 10 university is not the only choice. Many very good LACs would love to have this student and would be willing to give up some significant merit scholarship money, perhaps enough to get within $10,000 of the COA.</p>