<p>Because we are looking out of state for schools, we know we're going to have to pay a lot of money for our son's education.</p>
<p>Unless he gets in some state school, that waives out of state tuition and allows him to pay instate, we're looking at paying about 25K for a state school.</p>
<p>Many of the private schools we're looking at are 25 to 30K.</p>
<p>So many pros and cons to look at, though.</p>
<p>Many privates have very rigid programs, with limited choice of elective courses and and freedom to choose those courses, as well as limited number of majors.</p>
<p>Many of the publics have more majors offered, honors colleges that may not be as selective as the privates, more freedom with elective choices and greater selection, but have the downside of being much larger, big sports atmosphere, big Greek atmosphere.</p>
<p>Son will probably not be a NMF, and is not a superstar, so we're not looking at big scholarships either way.</p>
<p>Any advice from any of you who are having the same dilemma, or have had the same dilemma?</p>
<p>How did you choose and why?</p>
<p>Thanks for any insight.</p>
<p>Your generalizations about private and public colleges can go both ways. Do not look at the stereotypes, look at the characteristics of the specific schools you’re interested in.</p>
<p>Another thing to note: private schools often have more money to offer, both in grants and scholarships. Something to keep in mind because public schools are losing a lot their money that they used to get from the state.</p>
<p>Both our DDs were more comfortable in a smaller setting so they chose LACs. It also helped that they are majoring in Math and English, fairly mainline programs.</p>
<p>I’m learning that no blanket statement applies to public v. private when it comes to cost. </p>
<p>My son will have only 3 Md publics on his list of apps. The rest are all OOS and private. One of his safeties is private and it could very easily end up costing less than IS. </p>
<p>It appears to me that if you want to find a value among OOS and private schools your son should apply where his stats are in the top quartile. He’s more likely to earn merit aid that way.</p>
<p>When I was a Senior in HS, I applied to all public schools (UF, FSU, etc in my state, Georgia Tech, UMich Ann Harbor, Wisconsin Madison, etc for OOS). I got something in the mail from a private school that had a free application and no essay, so I figured what the heck? I didn’t even tell my parents about it. Come time to get my financial aid packages, the private school ended up being the cheapest (Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology) since they gave me free room and board with my ROTC scholarship, whereas I’d have to pay room and board at all the public schools.</p>
<p>Lesson learned: public schools, even in-state, can be more expensive than private. My advice would be to expect little to no financial support from your in-state programs, especially if it’s the flagship school and to research private institutions that cover 100% need and that are very generous in aid - often times they have a larger endowment and more scholarships.</p>
<p>You can’t make generalizations about state schools and private schools - you really need to list the specific schools and make comparisons.</p>
<p>I’m just curious, do you think there’s a difference between the types of people who typically go to private and public schools?</p>
<p>
At Vanderbilt 60% of the students don’t qualify for need-based funds (meaning their parents probably make in excess of $200k). I was looking at Trinity today and they have a similar financial aid as Vandy (100% need) and they only have about 40% on need-based awards as well. I know I only have two data points there, but in my statistically unsound opinion I’d say that’s the biggest difference between public and private school attenders: social class.</p>
<p>I chose I large public state school (Mizzou) because I get the best of both worlds there. I have all the benefits of a large university, plus the smaller college feel via the honors college, Freshman Interest Groups/Learning communities in the dorms, the awesome journalism school, and more. You can honestly make a larger university feel as big or as small as you like, but you cant say the same for a small school. I’m out of state, but still got a nice scholarship and can even apply for residency to get in-state tuition…which I will. </p>
<p>I love how big public schools have the crazy football games, tons of classes to choose from, a sprawling, energetic campus, hundreds of clubs to join, majors to pick from–but you don’t have to participate in any of it if you don’t want to because the school is big enough where you can find others like you who dont want to…</p>
<p>Also, from my observations after visiting both public and private schools (Im in the double digits for sure…) public schools had a more laid back, friendly, and helpful student body than the private schools.</p>
<p>Basically, to get the best of both worlds, be sure to find a public university that has lots of smaller school aspects like the ones I mentioned about my school. I honestly feel like its the perfect fit for me, but if you’re overwhelmed by a large student population, you shouldn’t go to a large public school.</p>