<p>Can anyone speak to the logistics of transfering for what would be the senior (4th) year of college or spring semester junior year? I'm assuming this wouldn't be the last year at the transfer school due to differing degree requirements and residency requirements but would rather be the first of two years (maybe 1.5) at the transfer school. The reason would be cost, of course, going from an out of state public that costs around $8,500 a year currently (including Greek dues of $800/year), up from $7,000 a year (not including Greek dues) two years ago, to one of three instate publics that would cost around:</p>
<p>-$7,000-$8,000 a year with the possibility of a two-year, $4,000 a year scholarship (no Greek dues)=$3,000-$4,000/year</p>
<p>-$8,000-$8,500 a year with the possibility of a two year, $3,200 a year scholarship (no Greek dues)=~$5,000/year</p>
<p>-$5,200 a year (if students lives at home and commutes, unlikely) to $11,000 a year plus possible Greek dues (flagship state u)</p>
<p>Notes:</p>
<p>-OOS tuition has been increasing at the student's current U--worried about high hikes next year with the current budget crisis.</p>
<p>-Much reduced travel costs (winter break, Thanksgiving, summer, Spring Break, family visits)</p>
<p>-Closer to family</p>
<p>-Possible loss of social support system from current college</p>
<p>-Loss of research and internship experience and mentorships with professors</p>
<p>-Student was awarded a year-long position that will pay ~$4,100 for the current year (possibly put toward expenses but likely "banked" for future use) and a $500 scholarship for Greek dues.</p>
<p>Would it be worth it for the possible decrease in costs if the student is looking at attending professional school post-graduation? Other things to consider? Experiences?</p>
<p>First thing is to make sure the potential transfer school will allow a transfer at this stage in the college career. Many will not, but some do.</p>
<p>Most schools (again, not all) require a minimum of ~60 credits to be taken at the new school. Many require a minimum of 2 years. These elements you seem to be aware of. However, many go further and just will not take transfers who have obtained more than “x” credits at the original school - even if the student is willing to forego transferring those credits. This may be more characteristic of the selective privates and may not apply at the instate publics your D is considering… but if you haven’t checked that out, you should do that first.</p>
<p>If that all checks out, you’d need to lay out the potential cost savings a little more clearly … If the new school costs a little less, but you have to stay there an extra year or so, does that all work out?</p>
<p>You’ve hit a lot of the non-financial considerations. There is a real adjustment factor for most when they transfer, especially if they do not have friends at the transfer school and feel on the outside. Your D may have friends at the transfer school if it is instate, which could mitigate this.</p>
<p>My neice transferred for senior yr. She went from a large instate public to a small instate public u. She graduated from the small u. at the end of just one year. </p>
<p>Her case invovled athletics. She was a scholarship athlete who was not gettng playing time at the big u. The coach at little u. offered a scholarship so she took it, transferred and was the star of the team at the little u. She immediately had a group of friends with the sports team (shared an apt. with one of her teammates) so that made it a little easier. It was strictly an athletics decision on her part. She is now in her second yr. of grad. sch. at her original sch.</p>
<p>School A (first school listed), which would probably be the top choice here, has only a 30 hour residency requirement while School B (second school listed) does not seem to have a residency requrement for graduation (checked the site and catalog). School C seems an unlikely choice unless the student lived at home .</p>
<p>I guess the main issue would be whether the courses would transfer in such a way to allow the student to graduate in one or two years. All of the programs are nationally accredited but have slightly different degree requirements, all of include an extensive internship senior year. The best thing to do what be to contact the departments at Schools A, B, and C directly, I suppose.</p>
<p>Any thoughts on transfering mid-year? The student wouldn’t be eligible for scholarships in that case, which may discount any financial advantages in terms of COA, but it might make it easier to graduate “on-time.”</p>
<p>My son is transferring from a private school to a small state U in the 2nd semester of his junior year. We will have to see what his transfer credits look like, but he doesn’t mind making up the difference by staying on a little longer.</p>
<p>He doesn’t really know anyone at the state U. I’m sure there will be a difficult adjustment period since he is leaving his group of friends behind. Hopefully it will all work out in the end though.</p>
<p>I do love my sorority, true, which is why I’d be extremely loath to give it up (note that wasn’t one of bthe options! :)), but I’m looking at graduate school and well it’s quite expensive! Given my career plans, I’d really like to go straight out of undergrad if it works out, simply to start accruing credentials and experience for clinical licensure and pre-grad experience doesn’t count.</p>
<p>Wait, so even if the new school accepted all your credits and you only needed to be there for one year, you’d only save like $5000 at the most? And maybe more like $3000? And maybe you’d need to spend an extra semester or two that would wipe out the savings altogether?</p>
<p>That’s a small amount of money, IMHO, on which to risk a college career that’s going well academically and socially right now. A really, really small amount. This plan doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.</p>
<p>And it sounds like you are having a very good educational and even financial (given your $4100 year-long position) experience at your current university. People apparently think highly of you there :). To transfer means to give up a lot, both educationally and socially, to give up experiences that will benefit you not just this year and next year but in your entire future. </p>
<p>This is why I am wondering if there might be ways to address the financial concerns without giving up so many valuable experiences. </p>
<p>I understand that one idea, working for a year or two, is not your first choice towards your goals. It has drawbacks. It also has advantages. It provides experience. Yes, the hours don’t count towards licensure. But they do count towards developing you as a person and as a professional. They allow you to enter grad school with more perspective. They could allow you to explore a job, an area of the country.</p>
<p>Since what you would be leaving seems so good and fitting, I just worry about whether there will be enough similar good things at your next college, whether financial savings might be offset by intangible but real losses. I worry too about the time it will take to find such good things and cultivate them at a new college.</p>
<p>As they say, and which may or may not bottom-line be good advice for you, but is always worth considering: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”</p>
<p>Agree with the above. The cost/benefit ratio of transferring at this stage doesn’t seem worth the potential financial savings. Academically you stand to lose a lot- I assume you chose the OOS option because it was better than any instate options. Socially you lose also- you really like your sorority and any move would lose that aspect of your life, different people at any other school. Your best options would be to find the extra money by working/taking out a loan, or cutting back on expenses such as trips home/sorority spending. Working after graduation to save money for grad school, pay the added expenses is fine- you would have the degree from your chosen school and keep the friends you have acquired. You would be foolish to give up what you currently have for so little money (btw- expenses will increase at every school so your projected savings are unlikey to be as great as you think). You would be ahead to work rather than get your degree later through a transfer.</p>
<p>Yep. I was actually expecting the savings to be more, so I was surprised when I sat down and actually ran the numbers and came out with such a small differential–I guess that shows I’m really not getting that bad a deal at all, which I never thought I was. I guess part of the issue is that college has been more expensive than I orginally anticipated. Doing my intial cost comparisions, I figured stuff to be cheaper than it actually would be (mostly room/board and not factoring in things like internet access) was thought that we would paying around 4k/year. Due to one-time outside scholarships, freshman year ended up being around $5k, sophomore year around $7200, and this year around $8400 ($7900 if you take out the $500 from the Greek scholarship). That’s around 20k for 3 years, minus whatever you want to take out for my current position, depending on what happens with that. Still cheaper than the YEARLY COA after merit aid at some of the schools I turned down (…that’s sort of depressing), but still nothing I’d sneeze at!</p>
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<p>I am working, but my parents and I don’t seem to agree on what will happen to my pay (though about a quarter of the $4100 is an “award,” not pay that would have to go to next year’s tuition. I’d rather funnel it directly toward my parents, they’d rather I keep it, so…</p>
<p>I don’t (thankfully) need to take out a loan at this point and am really, really debt adverse (as are my parents), so I’m not going to take one out if my parents can and will pay. That just seems unnecessary and unwise. I guess I’m kind of entitled that way…</p>
<p>Actually, the expenses accrued by trips are my parents coming to visit me, not the other way around (about an 8 hour drive each way)! In three years, I’ve only asked my parents to come up here once (long story), and that was only moving a planned trip a week earlier. They visit me a lot loss now than they did freshman year, but still like to come see me, even if I tell them not to come because it costs too much (really)!</p>
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<p>Actually, the state that’s in-state for me now is different from the state that was in-state for me as a senior in high school, so that’s changed. I had looked at School C–more highly ranked than my current school–in high school when I would had been an OOS student. I really didn’t like the campus much at all. I probably should have looked more closely at School B then, but it somehow flew under the radar, especially given that I switched my major since starting college. (In retrospect, I probably would have ended up paying about $6k a year at School B given their freshaman scholarship criteria… not that that matters)</p>
<p>So far, I’ve had a pretty good experience at my current school (but that could change tomorrow–I’m not a fan of that whole egg counting thing ;)), and some of the experiences I’ve had (good and bad) aren’t experiences I would have had anywhere else and ones that really changed me. I feel at home on campus and have well-formed relationships with programs, professors, administers, etc., including "in"s in research labs that are important to me academically. And then, of course, I have my friends. But still, money is money and in this economy…</p>
<p>I think a lot of my anxiety and uncertainity about this is coming from having no clue about my family’s financial situation. In regards to grad school, my mom says that they’ll fund everything they can, my dad says I’m on my own, so I really don’t know what to believe!
My dad will grumble about paying tuition but then give me spending money on my ID card and refuse to withdraw it from my account, so I don’t know. </p>
<p>To bring it back on topic, I don’t know the potential impact of the money or if they’ll be helping me fund grad school or not, which makes it difficult to weigh the situation, I think.</p>
<p>(And for the record, I am incredibly grateful and thankful for all my parents have done for me–they’ve been great parents, and I really do appreciate them funding my educating, paying my sorority dues, visiting me, giving me spending money, etc., as well as all the intangible stuff they do for me… I don’t want to seem ungrateful! )</p>
<p>Sorry to bring this topic back up again, but what are your thoughts about transferring senior year for health related reasons? For example, I feel better and perform better in warmer climates, so does it justify the hassles of a transfer? I know I am the only one who can really tell how much of a difference it will make to me, but logistically, does it seem worth looking into?</p>
Given my career plans, I’d really like to go straight out of undergrad if it works out, simply to start accruing credentials and experience for clinical licensure and pre-grad experience doesn’t count.</p>
But still, money is money and in this economy…</p>