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<p>If the son is happy and the family can afford where he is at, then why is it necessary to even contemplate if he would have loved “the Ivies, Duke, MIT” more?</p>
<p>Same could be said of any other path not taken in life or road not traveled. </p>
<p>If your daughter calls and says that she’s blissfully happy at Stanford (and I hope she is!), how does she know she wouldn’t have loved Ohio State more?</p>
<p>Agreed…some OOS publics are very interested in OOS students. DD also received a fine scholarship at U of South Carolina which would have brought her cost of attendance to HALF our our instate costs here in CT. She opted for a different school for different reasons. BUT the money IS there. The scholarships at U of South Carolina also give students the instate tuition rate which is a fabulous deal. My DD did not get into the honors college at U of South Carolina which is a fine program with some great perks. Being a Capstone Scholar is also well worth it. As Cathymee pointed out, the application for the honors college and the McNair Scholarship is due on November 1. It is a VERY challenging application but well worth it for those who are selected (full tuition/room/board/laptop).</p>
<p>The other OOS top scholarships (Cooper and McKissick) were chosen based on the student application when DD applied in 2006. I don’t know whether that’s changed or not.</p>
<p>There are other publics which also provide instate tuition for scholarship recipients. U of North Texas is another school that does this (great for music majors!!).</p>
<p>As has been posted many times on CC there are many OOS public schools that will offer full tuition to a NMF as well. </p>
<p>Midwestmom2kids and rocket6louise-
Yes you are right-- U of Alabama has a wonderfully generous merit award- that includes a laptop and travel $$. This has been mentioned to the OP several times before. If he allows his s to apply, or better yet, if his s actually accepts, please get out my ice skates. Hell will have frozen over.</p>
<p>Dad II, jym makes a good point. You have been told already about places like U Alabama that give full rides to smart students like your son. Is that type of school of interest or not? Or when you say oos publics, are you only thinking of a small handful of schools?</p>
<p>Thank you, pizzagirl. DadII posted " I think I got my answer" in post #54 which, according to his old posting pattern, used to mean that he has left the thread and won’t return. If, however, he has sincerely turned over a new leaf, as he claims, hopefully he will respond to your question and mine. I too wonder, is he talking about OOS tuition only for the OOS publics in, say, the top 50 or so schools (which is heavily loaded with Cal schools which aren’t likely to offer what he’s looking for), or is he really, <strong><em>really</em></strong> open to considering these many other fine schools mentioned by posters above.</p>
<p>Will Arizona or ASU make your son’s list, DadII? How about Kansas? The son of a good friend of ours chose to go to Kansas over some better known schools, and is very happy there. Will you/your son truly consider Alabama, U So Carolina, Clemson or U Md Baltimore County, which has gotten some really fine accolades lately? UGA has the Foundations Fellows Scholars program, which is an incredible opportunity. Read this thead (there are other threads about this program as well) <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/660178-results-choosing-full-ride-state-school-scholarship.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/660178-results-choosing-full-ride-state-school-scholarship.html</a> The son of a friend of mine turned down Harvard for this program, and has never looked back. Will you be proud to display any of these decals in your car window? Which OOS schools will make your/your son’s list of schools to apply to?</p>
<p>SUNY schools in NY leave a lot to be desired. Most of the campuses are in remote northern and western areas of the state that are extremely cold, windy and snowy. The campuses leave a lot to be desired - most are a group of ugly buildings thrown together with no sense of beauty or landscape. There are no big time sports and virtually no school spirit. Those of you in states with great in state schools should thank your lucky stars. Thanks to generous grandparents, my older child attends Michigan and we are looking at OOS schools in PA, MD and VA for younger child. With the downturn in the economy, more in state students are flocking to SUNY’s. However, this is making it harder for average B students to get into these schools.,</p>
<p>^^^^ LOL! Fun and frolic in Oswego, Geneseo, Potsdam Fredonia, etc! But Stony Brook, Binghampton, Purchase and Old Westbury are pretty nice places, aren’t they?</p>
<p>We maybe too hard on Dad II here. I am sure his son has very good stats to be able to get into some top schools. If so, I wouldn’t be surprised if his focus may be on Berkeley, Mich, or NC. He is trying to figure out if his son could get as good of package from those state schools as some of those top privates. He is no different than many of us that are trying to get our kids into top 20s, except he has one more consideration (money) that some people may not have. Not all state schools are equal. It would be helpful if Dad II would just come out to say which schools his son is interested in, then people could be more helpful. Nevertheless, in general, this thread is probably very interesting to many people, outside of Dad II’s particular question.</p>
<p>^^^ good point, oldfort. It is hard to be helpful when we dont know what the OP is looking for. A list of schools being considered would help posters know what info re: available scholarships, etc, to provide.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that some of these large flagship state Us become even more expensive for OOS kids if they can’t get into all of their classes for their major due to long waiting lists and overenrollment. I lived in California many years ago before enrollment exploded and heard many parents complaining about the 5 and 6 year plan for their instate kids to get a degree because of waitlists for necessary coursework. That is definitely something to keep in mind if you are OOS! This problem does occur at smaller publics and some privates, but it is magnified at these bigger schools.</p>
<p>"…my son is at the financial safety "</p>
<p>momreads? Can you tell us which school?</p>
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<p>Absolutely. The question as to what Berkeley, Mich, NC, or VA - highly ranked publics - might offer strong OOS students is very different from the question as to what OOS a student might want to investigate to take advantage of full tuition rides, etc. </p>
<p>One is starting with the target schools of a certain academic status and prestige level and saying “who might give me money.”
The other is starting with “who might give me money” and then developing a list of target schools.
Neither is right / wrong, but just different starting points.</p>
<p>hopeforfreeride, It doesn’t seem that Virginia has the kind of problem you describe about California.Older son who graduated from Virginia and younger son at Virginia Tech have had no problems getting courses.Son had no problem graduating in 4 years in engineering from Virginia.</p>
<p>Also:
Typical cc type kids who go public colleges, in or out of state, may find they can actually use many of their AP credits. </p>
<p>Even if you aren’t trying to graduate early, finding yourself called a “junior” by spring of your first year and a “senior” by spring of your second year should give you the chance to be one of the first people registering for the classes you want. 
Put this in the “PRO” column for many state schools. They are happy to take your AP credit for an intro course; I think this is because their intro courses are so full that getting rid of you is to their advantage.</p>
<p>^^ Those AP credits come in handy at the privete colleges too. Both s’s got advanced standing/registration for classes. Definitely helpful. They are still with their regular classes, but each is/was “listed” as a year ahead (ie DS was listed as a jr when he was really a soph) so could get those classes he wanted. Definitely helpful.</p>
<p>…still wondering what OOS publics are being considered by the OP’s s. Any update? Many posters have a lot of useful info about specific schools that I am sure they would be happy to share.</p>
<p>Agree on the advantages of getting lots of credit for APs, etc. at state schools. We know lots of kids with CC-type stats who entered UMD as juniors. They headed straight to major courses and smaller classes, and got the early attention of faculty.</p>
<p>S2 sat up and paid attention when he realized he already had enough credit for soph status at UMD after his junior year of HS. It opens up a lot of doors for a second major, study abroad, etc.</p>
<p>UMD has also been working on attracting more OOS students and are pretty generous with meirt $$. For kids looking at science/engineering/CS, it can be a very compelling offer. We know lots of folks who got into top schools who turned them down for the “free ride and limo.”</p>
<p>CountingDown, Good points. The AP credits allow kids to pick up a second major or minor in something else . We were at the UMD campus a couple of years ago for something sports related-very nice campus that would be appealing to many(especially with a “free ride and limo”)!</p>
<p>AP credit is a nice advantage. A bit off topic, but re: adding a second major or minor; UVA this week announced a moratorium on Spanish minors for the next two years. Won’t impact my D now but may foreshadow other restrictions for state U’s struggling with enrollment? </p>
<p>[UVA</a> Department of Spanish, Italian & Portuguese Moratorium on Spanish Minor Declarations](<a href=“http://www.virginia.edu/span-ital-port/department-news/moratorium-on-spanish-minor-declarations]UVA”>http://www.virginia.edu/span-ital-port/department-news/moratorium-on-spanish-minor-declarations)</p>
<p>AllThisIsNewToMe, my son is at the U. of Alabama. Not only did he land a great financial package because of his National Merit status, but the school has been incredible with AP credit. They only count 45 hours toward graduation, but if a student has more, the school uses the credits for class placement. My son is listed as a junior, and he knows others who enjoy the same. Several friends are listed as sophomores. Sevmom is right. This allows for double majors or minors.</p>
<p>Sabaray, The reasons for this in the link you provided seem to explain the decision very well. Seems reasonable to me unless I am missing something. Everyone is cutting back, I am sure, both private and public schools. Just as we all are ,probably ,in our own lives(unless we are made of money!).</p>