My daughter’s portal was just updated and she didn’t get into the main campus but have been offered admission in 3 other campuses. Not sure what to make of it yet!!
I didn’t realize they had 3 other campus after consolidation. Fort Wayne, Northwest, … do they consider IUPUI as a campus? Or the Polytechs?
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It’s Polytech as 3rd
@srparent15 For an OOS student, Purdue tuition + room & board is ~$29K + ~12K = ~$41K. For the same OOS student, UIUC tuition + room & board is $39K + ~12K = ~$51K. That’s a $10K base difference. I’d assume books, supplies and other expenses would be comparable between both. In fact, for instate students doing FYE, Purdue tuition is only $10K while UIUC ENGINEERING students instate tuition is $21K! Just doing my research for my son who has gotten into both Purdue FYE and UIUC Grainger School of Engineering. We are OOS 
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Actually the difference for OOS at Purdue, vs OOS at UIUC is a lot more than 10k. Again, take a look at the COA for UIUC Tuition, Undergraduate Admissions, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
For Illinois residents for Engineering it’s about $38,176, for OOS you’re looking at $55,966 and for International it’s $61,314. The one thing you can waive is the health insurance which is about $723/semester if your own insurance meets the requirements of the University.
At $41k for Purdue OOS compared to $56k for UIUC OOS basically you can go and graduate from Purdue in 4 years, for less than 3 years at UIUC OOS. UIUC will lock in the tuition rate as well at whatever you start at which is nice, but again the dorm they price out is an avg dorm and moderate meal plan so if your student wants a/c or more meals, factor that in as well. I have not had a chance to check those things out at Purdue but being from IL I know that the cost to attend to two as an IL resident vs OOS at Purdue is a wash. The difference however for an Illinois resident is that UIUC CS program is better than Purdue and for other Engineering you’re admitted to the majors which can be a plus or a negative depending how easy it is to switch majors. I like the exploratory option (FYE) at Purdue tbh as so many kids change majors it’s hard at 18 to be 100% what you want.
The COA for Purdue OOS is actually ~$46K (based on the financial aid letter). Yes, that is $10K lesser than COA of UIUC, which adds up to ~$40K for all 4 years (and possibly more based all the dorm/meal plan details that you mentioned); I agree that Purdue FYE helps students switch engineering majors, but can’t students switch majors in UIUC? I would be particularly interested in comparisons between Purdue CE and UIUC CE. Per US News website, UIUC CE is ranked 5th while Purdue CE is ranked 12th. According to http://csrankings.org/, UIUC CS is ranked 2nd while Purdue CS is ranked 16th. So, I can understand CS program difference, but not able to fully understand CE program difference between Purdue and UIUC.
Are you sure that’s what your financial aid letter says? I looked up ours and besides the fact that ours only says $43,724, the tuition and room and board for 2021-2022 are actually the exact same as this year. The rest are $10 differences in a few of the other categories, a $60 direct loan fee, and something for $2,050 called “differential fees” which are not defined and I don’t know if that’s part of a loan or not. The UIUC COA don’t list the loan origination fees either so any costs attributable to financial aid weren’t included in UIUC numbers in that link. THis $43,724 number includes the $2,050 number and the $60 number. When taken out you’re back to the $41k. We are actually not taking financial aid so I can’t really say what your difference is one way or the other and again since the $2,050 isn’t defined, I don’t know what it is, if it’s related to a loan or if the numbers they give for 2021 are really not the actual numbers, but regardless people should be careful when looking at the true cost.
One thing people do need to consider as well which I mentioned previously is if their student joins any clubs (if they cost $) and things like Greek life. My kids that are greek life the differences in the cost between their schools is in the thousands. In one case it was way more than I ever could have imagined and not something I had budgeted for. It threw me for a loop, and then there were a lot of extras with that too. That was accounted for in the monthly money given to my students each month but again all has to be accounted for when kids go to school. Many can spend their summer earnings 123 and out of it by the second or third month of school if not careful.
My D is a junior and never had a COA above $42K.
Heard it’s extremely difficult if not entirely impossible, to change major in UIUC, don’t know whether it’s easier in Purdue?
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Purdue you need to go through CODO process for Engineering and CS
Not sure about other majors
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No idea. My 3 older kids have many friends who have changed majors in Engineering, including going into CS, but in a school where it’s not an easy transfer, it can be a risky move and Engineering at UIUC is not an easy path for some. The math and science courses for those not prepared can be extremely difficult.
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Differential fees are basically extra tuition for engineering and business.
Thank you! Does CS have that? I assume not since that is School of Science.
My son just graduated in CS in May. I don’t think it was there but honestly can’t remember.
Congratulations on his graduation!!
Yes we have Differential fee for CS as well
Thanks. This got me finally to look up the breakdown and yep there it was! Very good to know. So many of their schools have it, it would be easier if they just charge it for everyone!
To those who engaged in the conversation about the true cost being closer to $43k vs $40k while not a huge difference, it’s still different and good to know so thanks!!
No plane needed if my son goes here and the amount of savings on that alone is huge! Worrying about days to fly home it checked bags and when to book flights etc is such a headache.
@srparent15 My son’s financial aid letter shows total cost as $45,754 and it is for Fees & Tuition ($28,794), Differential Fees ($2,050), Housing & Food ($10,030), Books & Supplies ($1,010), Travel Expenses ($2,280), Miscellaneous expenses ($1,530) and Direct loan fees ($60). I don’t what this “Differential Fees” means. If we take the UNSUB loan of $5,500, the cost after loans is $40,254. My son didn’t get any scholarship/merit aid. Is your $43,724 lower because of scholarship/merit aid?
UIUC will give their financial award (including scholarships/merit aid) after mid March. So, we will have to wait until then to do a true comparison of “true cost of attendance”.
Virginia Tech gave my son a $3K scholarship per year, but the estimate total COA there is almost ~$47K even after factoring the $3K scholarship per year! Apparently, they have something called “college-based fees” of $2,000 that bumps the base “tuition + fees + college-based-fees” to ~$35K. Purdue’s “fees + tuition + differential fees” add up to ~$31K.
All these three colleges (purdue, uiuc, Virginia Tech) are in the 600 to 900+ mile distance range and so we have to worry about all those flight bookings and related uncertainties!
Can anyone explain what is DIFFERENTIAL FEES is, in layman terms? Google gives me a legal mumbo jumbo answer which only confuses me more 
Additional cost for this particular course.
Could be labs or about anything related.