<p>and forks over $39,492 for a year at the U of M.</p>
<p>And this other New Yorker drives over to the Bursar's Office in Storrs and plunks down $33,330 for a year as a Huskie. His sister, meanwhile, is ensconced at the College of William and Mary (yep, a NY female at W&M!!) where she is paying $34,468. And their Cousin Bill from Brooklyn is attending St. Mary's College of Maryland for $31,193 per year. Then there's the West Coast, UC Berkeley to be precise, where an attending New Yorker better be a CC Kid or from Katonah because a year by the Bay will cost nearly $42,000.</p>
<p>Meanwhile those Californians, Marylanders, Virginians, Nutmeggers and Badgers who are attending New York State's premier public university --Binghamton -- will pay roughly $21,240 for a year at college. Or $20,425 at our "public ivy."</p>
<p>Does anyone else see a problem here? Granted, the out-of-state population at the SUNYs is not large. With the problems we have with the SUNY budget, however, why are we so out of whack with prevailing practices at other state university systems? How much longer can we completely ignore the "marketplace?" What are the arguments in favor of continuing to "subsidize" the attendance of non-NYS residents at the SUNYs?</p>
<p>SUNY can't charge out-of-staters $30,000 a year... yet. We don't have the national recognition. Part of the big draw of SUNY is the value. If we start jacking up the cost, we'll lose that edge.</p>
<p>We'll get there eventually, tuition-wise. It would be disastrous to raise prices quickly, though. It jumped up 25% just a few years ago, so we can't jump it up that quickly again.</p>
<p>SBUAdmissions is right of course. The problem I see is NY State's lack of reciprocity of in-state tuition rates with other states. The New England states are doing this and we in NY are out of the loop. If the SUNY's got into a similar situation, either with the New England states or with Pennsylvania and New Jersey and possibly Delaware it would increase the reputation and admission stats of the SUNY's and help to gain the national recognition that SBUAdmissions is speaking of. JMO.</p>
<p>SBU, why do we need to entice OOS applicants to SUNYS with a low OOS tuition? I see plenty of non recognizable colleges with OOS tuitions much higher than SUNYS OOS tuition. Is the main purpose of a state U to educate the students of that state?</p>
<p>Great questions. We do have some reciprocity with other states, but only in specific programs. (Most notably, SUNY Maritime, which offers in-state tuition to students in states without public maritime colleges.)</p>
<p>Realistically, when you compare our OOS tuition with the in-state rates of other states, we're pretty comparable. UConn and Rutgers are both in the $17-20,000 range for in-state residents; roughly the same that we are for them to come here. And that's part of the draw. Do you go where your friends are going, or do you branch out and be your own person? I had no interest in going where my friends were going... none of us went to the same schools at all.</p>
<p>I'd love to lower tuition to in-state rates for everyone, but that would require a heavier burden on the NYS taxpayers, which -- as a taxpayer -- I don't want.</p>
<p>Yes, the main purpose is to educate state residents. And we certainly do that. But part of that education is knowing that there's a world beyond New York State... that's part of the reason why we'll be about 15% non-NYS residents this fall, to expand that horizon so our students can take their degrees and expand their horizons.</p>
<p>Tuition will go up over time -- there's no question about it. But the system as a whole is still young, and there'd be less draw for a student to come across the border from New Jersey to pay $10,000 more than they would at, say, Rutgers. And it's important that we draw from all over the country; that's why you've heard of all these other schools, because they've had a national presence for years. Penn State can get away with that; they have a 100,000-seat football stadium. UMass can get away with that; they've had a name for years. UCLA and USC and the California schools can get away with that.</p>
<p>Not us... not yet. We'll get there, though. Up until a few years ago, though, I'd guess that the system as a whole -- at least at the undergrad level -- was probably 98% NYS residents.</p>
<p>"The problem I see is NY State's lack of reciprocity of in-state tuition rates with other states." </p>
<p>I agree. I would love it if my D could attend UCLA for $4,350 a year (excluding room and board). </p>
<p>Of course, you are referring to publics a little closer to NYS. I know that the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts has a reduced tuition option for NYS students, but there is no reciprocity for MA students who wish to attend a SUNY. SUNY Plattsburgh has the largest percentage of out-of-state students in the system -- 14%. The majority come from Vermont. Perhaps it is no coincidence but it costs a Vermonter less to attend SUNY Plattsburgh than it does to go to UVM.</p>
<p>Chris -- Does that 15% include graduate students? If it is for undergrads only that represents a MAJOR increase in non-NYers among the student body. How did you accomplish that? Is Stony Brook serving as a template for the other SUNYs? At many of the other colleges in the SUNY system fewer than 5% of the students are non-NYS residents.</p>
<p>"SUNY can't charge out-of-staters $30,000 a year... yet." </p>
<p>I don't think SUNY needs to start charging Michigan-Virginia-UCONN like comprehensive fees yet either. I do wonder why we can't begin charging out-of-state students a little more than $10,610 a year in tuition, however. This could be done incrementally over a four year period, and the increased tuition need not be assessed to OOS students already attending a SUNY. A 50% increase over 4 years would bring OOS tuition up to $15,915 -- still a relative bargain. Right now a Pennsylvania student who attends Rowan University pays nearly $27,000. The same student would pay a little more than $21,000 at Stony Brook -- a much better university in the minds of most impartial observers.</p>
<p>I don't know what our grad population is like, but I'd bet it's a lot higher than 15%. Our grad programs are quite well-known nationally.</p>
<p>Yes, we're something of a template for the SUNYs. The four university centers are all looking to draw more nationally (although I like to think living and studying in Stony Brook is a bigger draw for someone from Iowa than living in Binghamton, but I'm admittedly biased), so you'll see a higher percentage with us than you will with the smaller liberal-arts colleges. Location is a big piece; Plattsburgh is minutes from Vermont, so there's a natural draw there. I see Purchase on the road a lot in western CT, but not so much once you get out of Fairfield County.</p>
<p>Like I said, tuition will go up. They talked about it for '08-'09, but I think it got shot down. I'd much rather see it go up a little bit every year than these big chunks every few years like they've been doing; you can plan a little better that way, both as a student as well as as a college. (Is that too many "as"s? It looks funny.)</p>
<p>They've also discussed a graduated plan -- where you keep whatever your tuition is when you originally enroll -- but I believe it was dismissed as being too unwieldy from a record-keeping as well as a planning perspective.</p>
<p>As a parent who resides in NJ I can tell you that we were willing to pay just a little bit more than our instate publics for our son. He is in a public U in VA. We were unwilling to pay the cost at UVM, UCONN, and other public schools that were in the $30k range. There were good private schools that were also below the 30k bar for us (after merit and FA-middle/upper middle class). I can tell you that a friend's D attended SUNY Bing OOS and her parents made her transfer out at the end of freshman year because of cost. She is currently at Rutgers. I asked her if the price is similar, and she said that Rutgers was less instate, so much so that it was worth it for her to transfer. What could have made the big difference is her housing, but I did not get into those costs. She is on a strict budget. </p>
<p>Rutgers has a good reputation nationally. We were seekng a smaller school, which many Sunys are, but we were also looking for a student focused education rather than a research based U. We were also looking for professors who spoke English well (sorry, but for my dollar I needed to make sure that my son could understand what the professor was saying-unwilling to compromise on that), and where one could stay away from large 101 classes. We were looking for something that was doable for our wallet. We found all of that in Va. I just wish we were instate. I am jealous of those who live in VA, or NC.</p>
<p>I was pleased and surprised when my D. was offered (due to her grades and SATs) a $5,200 out-of-state tuition discount to a PA state school that she is considering. Their total cost is a bit less than ours (NY), so this would bring it down to about 15K-about the same as sending her to a SUNY. This might be a reasonable way to do it in NY- not offer instate rates to "outsiders", but some sort of "discount" to good students.</p>
<p>Northeastmom -- Is your friend's daughter living at home while she attends Rutgers? I ask this because tuition, fees, room and board at SUNY Binghamton costs an out-of-state resident about $21,250. A New Jersey resident pays on average about $20,100 for tuition, fees, room and board at Rutgers. Not really much of a difference but if she is on a tight budget an extra $1,000 per year could be a deal breaker.</p>
<p>My daughter is looking at William & Mary so I know what you are saying about being jealous of those who live in Virginia!</p>
<p>hudsonvalley, Good question, bc that is exactly what I thought! I looked up the cost of attendance at both schools to compare as well. I have a personal interest in this too (for my own son) ;)
I can tell you that she is living in a house while at Rutgers (she could not commute if she wanted to because she lives a 1-1.5 hours from campus). I believe that the house is off campus, but very close to it. I know that she is not on a meal plan and cooks (very health conscious, and I am sure she is eating mostly just grains and veggies). I know that her parents have bought and delivered staple items in bulk to save as much money on food as possible.</p>
<p>Oh, and about VA, yes it is amazing: UVA, VT, William and Mary, The U of Mary Washington, James Madison, and then George Mason offers the Washington DC option. Then there are some other schools like Christopher Newport, and Virginia Commonwealth and a couple of others. They generally offer better weather too, unless you love cold and snow! They are able to attract and need to limit their OOS students to 30% at many of these schools.</p>
<p>The cold hard truth is that SUNY has completely neglected the area of building brand equity. I can't think of another state system with so much potential that has done absolutely nothing to generate out of state name recognition. I graduated Oswego on 1993 and have been in Florida since 1996 and if i run into 1 person a month who knows what SUNY is that's a lot. People aren't going to pay for a product they don't hear about when solid named substitutes are redally available.</p>
<p>What SUNY needs to do in my opinon is abandon their current philosophy of school collegiality and focus on 1 camous, designate it the flagship, build a sports program. Then, they can spend a few years jacking up the quality of the undergraduate student body and build on their graduate and professional programs. </p>
<p>If they do none of this, the 1 thing they can do is MARKET themselves. My god, are there ANY SUNY schools that offer the recruiting of a Michigan, UCLA or UVA? Remember, I graduated Oswego and as far as undergraduate education, I honestly feel my education was top quality and better than a lot of better known colleges. However, the problem is no one knows.</p>
<p>Al was a communications major, class of '76, but started working in meteorology as an undergrad. He made a large donation (don't know the amount) this past year or so towards the new TV studio in the new Campus Center (both of which are beautiful). He has always been a huge supporter of Oswego. SUNY</a> Oswego - News & Events: 'Today' broadcasts from campus</p>
<p>Again, I love Oswego and wouldn't trade my time there for anything. The problem is that the SUNY systam has no U-Michigan, UVA, UC(fill in 2 or 3). I think winning division 1 sports teams on a campus would generate student and alumni loyalty and also drive revenue into the system. Also, how about the legislature designating a flagship campus and offering "1400 SAT and you get tuition, room and board for 4 years". Call it honors and cap it at 1,000 students for that 1campus and then market the he!! out of it. This may have initial start up costs and run at a loss, but in the long run, when rankings rise and recruiters start showing up from the likes of Boos-Alan Hamilton and Goldma Sachs seeking these students, it will start a snowball effect and serious brand equity will place the the school with the likes of the nation's finest. The entire SUNY system would benefit. I don't understand why the state has been so stubborn in keeping a low profile and watching the best and brightest pack up and move out of state. They can have their flagship University and still maintain a system of great mid sized liberal arts college. </p>
<p>Going to high school in the 80's, I remember "smart" kids who went to SUNY going to Binghamtom or Geneseo- not because it was a dream school, but because it was the best cheap school they could afford. In contrast, there are students in other states that, cost being equal, have state universities they would rather go to even if admitted to the Cornell's and Colgate's of the world. Suny has no such school. Geneseo COULD compete with mid/upper liberal arts colleges for students and more importantly recruiters on the merrits of student quality, but they do a great dis-service to the value of their degree on the open market by not marketing their strengths. I just don't get why the resistance. I know people in college who were rejected by Geneseo and admitted to Cornell. Why SUNY doesn't do a better job at advertising their strengths is completely missed by me.</p>
<p>We live in Massachusetts. My son was wait listed at New Paltz and accepted at Geneseo. I was quite surprised by this. I chalk it up to New'sweek's selection of New Paltz as hottest state school. I am concerned about the discussion here of tuition increases. New York increases tuitions in chunks and not gradually? could you elaborate on this. What would I be getting myself into financially, if my son choses Geneseo?</p>
<p>We haven't heard from U Mass, yet. At the moment, it is slightly more for him to attend Geneseo than it is for him to go to U Mass. I know U Mass is a great school. Unfortunately, my son is very biased against it...thinking it is 2nd rate. He also thinks that he will just hang ut with the same kids from town that he is currently hanging out with. . My only reservation about U Mass is the size of the school. I think my son would do better at a smaller school. (My reservation about Geneseo is all those Yankee hats! (LOL))</p>