Should I transfer to my state flagship?

Transfer Students
1

<p>I'm currently a sophomore (or, will be a sophomore in less than a week) at a liberal arts school that costs my parents (in necessary fees not including books, spending money, etc.) about $18,500 a year. My state flagship I just found out (to my amazement), would cost only about $7,500 a year if I live with my grandmother for a year or two as I did this summer, or about $11,000 if I live in an apartment or house.</p>

<p>My state has a new lottery that provides a $5000 scholarship to all students who qualify for undergraduate education. I heard that my current school is going to increase their tuition each year (for ranking purposes I assume), but that my state flagship is committed to keeping their tuition the same in the coming years despite the economy and despite the scholarship.</p>

<p>So if I stayed at my current school, my parents would spend about $15,000 on average the next three years; and if I transfer, my parents would spend only about $6,000 per year.</p>

<p>Is my liberal arts school really worth the difference? My parents aren't exactly wealthy, and my dad even recently asked, "So what is your GPA?" He's asked this before. I answered, "Around a 3.00." He responded, "Ok, well can I see your grades? I don't really want to pay $18,000 a year if you're making less than stellar grades. You could be at [state flagship] making all A's with little effort." I'm not so sure that's true, but my grades probably would be a lot better if I went there.</p>

<p>So, leaving all the unsaid variables behind like how much do I like my current school, how much would I like my state flagship, how good is my state flagship, how good is my current school, etc (because I think I can account for them), what should I do? I have less than five days to decide.</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

2

<p>Just exactly what could you and your parents do with $9,000.00 a year for three years?</p>

<p>Unless your parents can pay this difference without going into debt or sacrificing their retirement fund, I see this as a no-brainer. Choose the cheaper institution. Save the money for grad school or a year abroad or a 5th year if you change your major.</p>

<p>Wishing you (and grandma) all the best.</p>

3

<p>i would say go to your state flagship depending on how good your LAC is. if it’s a really good school, then i think you got off easy paying under 20k for it when (probably) the cost is 50k. i could be completely wrong, but if it’s one of the really prestigious ones then it’s probably around there. if it’s just a random school, then definitely go to your grandma’s and go to your state school</p>

4

<p>How do you feel about leaving your current school and transferring into a new school?
If you’re OK with the idea, then I’d vote for saving money and going to the state flagship.</p>

5

<p>“Unless your parents can pay this difference without going into debt or sacrificing their retirement fund, I see this as a no-brainer. Choose the cheaper institution. Save the money for grad school or a year abroad or a 5th year if you change your major.”</p>

<p>My dad is kind of in debt and he’s being very generous by paying for everything. </p>

<p>“if it’s just a random school, then definitely go to your grandma’s and go to your state school”</p>

<p>It’s not just a random school, but it’s not an elite school. </p>

<p>“How do you feel about leaving your current school and transferring into a new school?
If you’re OK with the idea, then I’d vote for saving money and going to the state flagship.”</p>

<p>From a solely selfish perspective, I’d really rather not transfer, but I don’t think it would be terrible if I did.</p>

6

<p>

</p>

<p>I would not make this decision so quickly…it’s possible you will not be able to get accepted, enroll, and get the courses you need at state U in January. If you’re looking for financial aid, January would probably not yield much. I would return to school, commit to working hard to bring up your gpa, and apply for a transfer for junior year.</p>

<p>Btw, it’s not necessarily true that you would get a higher gpa at a state U. Depending on the univ and your major, the reverse could be true (given a similar level of effort). At large universities, the freshman/sophomore pre-req and gen-ed classes are often very large and some of them are known “weeder” classes.</p>

7

<p>“I would not make this decision so quickly…it’s possible you will not be able to get accepted, enroll, and get the courses you need at state U in January. If you’re looking for financial aid, January would probably not yield much.”</p>

<p>I think I would definitely have enough time to enroll at the state school next semester, but this semester obviously seems out of the picture.</p>

<p>“Btw, it’s not necessarily true that you would get a higher gpa at a state U.”</p>

<p>I’ve taken three courses there (an honors intro to philosophy course, calculus, and logic), and they were all pretty easy compared to my LAC… but you may be right.</p>