My reason for posting this was to suggest ‘buyer beware’ for OOS applicants in 2018 and beyond. I am an OOS parent and I also work in the college counseling office at a local high school. I acknowledge that Cal Poly doesn’t owe OOS students a good deal, but I do think a tuition increase would have been viewed a lot more favorably than this fee. I do think it is fair to expect Cal Poly to be totally transparent to their OOS admits regarding this fee, both in terms of where the money goes and how much it will cost over a four to five year undergraduate program. This fee is in addition to any tuition increases that will be incurred.
As a parent, I have followed the Cal Poly parent forums and there seems to be a lot of unanswered questions and confusion. It seems like a plan not ready for prime time. One example is how this fee will affect current architecture students. A university statement said the fee won’t affect current students unless they exceed 200 credits; the credit requirement for an architecture degree is 225 credits, so what happens when current students hit 200 credits? Will this year’s freshman cohort have to pay an additional $8k in their fifth year? Will the incoming OOS architecture admits pay an extra $2k for all five years of the program or will they pay $2k for four years and $8k for their fifth year? I think it would be unfair for Cal Poly to add this fee to any current student but I definitely believe Cal Poly owes the 2018 admits full transparency before the May 1 commit date, which means they have to better define the policy and decide if they are really going to roll out the program this year.
In my professional role, I guess only time will tell whether Cal Poly can attract OOS applicants at a much higher cost. I personally don’t believe the school has the national reputation or prestige to attract OOS students if they charge 90% of UC costs. From my experience, most of the OOS applicants are drawn to two departments: architecture and engineering. Cal Poly has an excellent reputation (well deserved) in both, but a big part of the attraction was the opportunity to receive a top quality education at a bargain price. If Cal Poly gets to 90% of UC prices (at current rates, UCSB OOS tuition and fees are $42,423; at 90%, Cal Poly’s would be $38,181), I think the high performing OOS students Cal Poly currently attracts will have many other options costing the same or less. Cal Poly, after years of actively recruiting OOS students, is rumored to be discontinuing the Outreach Scholarship for OOS students as well. This compounds the increase in costs. The numbers of classes and faculty haven’t kept pace with the increased enrollment. It is a big struggle to get classes and many students have to resort to taking GE classes at another institution. The cost of living in SLO is very high. The increased enrollment has strained the town-gown relationship. The proposed fee does nothing to help alleviate these problems. I think it’s very possible the perceived cost-benefit ratio will shift for OOS applicants.
My son loved his time at Cal Poly and he got an excellent education there. I just don’t know if it would have been his first choice or even an option without the scholarship and with an additional $8k fee. I think it’s the class of 2021 that will be the real test.