<p>“I would choose Wyoming over U Montana. Wyoming is pouring oil money into their higher education system with new buildings and scholarships. Montana funds higher education at one of the lowest levels in the country.”</p>
<p>Haystack, just because the state funds are low, doesn’t mean the schools are bad. (Colorado is 48th-49th out of 50 in college-level per student spending, yet Boulder is a pretty high ranking school with a couple of Nobel prize winners and strong science/engineering ties to very high level research.) </p>
<p>Montana is one of the few states in the US with a budget surplus.Last year, its governor has pledged no tuition hikes for two years. And Montana State, in particular, has excellent – and brand new! – research facilities; its new biological sciences building is on par with what you’d find at schools the caliber of Johns Hopkins. (This was something told to us by a JHU scientist, presumably he’d know.)</p>
<p>Finally, Wyoming and Montana offer its students greatly different quality-of-life. Bozeman is gorgeous, and has a ski resort 30 minutes away from campus via a free shuttle. Missoula is even prettier. No one has every used adjectives such as ‘gorgeous’ or ‘pretty’ in regards to Wyoming campuses.</p>