<p>My son has done very well so far on his tests (34 ACT - twice) and is looking at a wide variety of public and private schools. His top public choice is the U of Michigan (Ann Arbor) - but we live in Illinois. I understand that the total sticker price for out of state (OOS) students is nearly what the Ivies cost. Given the widely publicized financial woes of the state of Michigan, does that mean that an OOS student will do worse in terms of actual cost than, say, Brown or Cornell? Any info on what actual OOS costs are recently?</p>
<p>I can’t directly compare UM OOS to an ivy, because aid at the ivy is based on income and assets … some will be happy, some will be unhappy with their aid. I can, however, tell you that UMich does not meet need (except for very low income, instate students), and certainly not for OOS students. They do offer some OOS merit … but it is few and far between. Michigan as a state is in dire financial straits, and aid to universities has been cut. OOS students bring big bucks … the school doesn’t need to give them merit to attract top students.</p>
<p>Eric…</p>
<p>Even the elites will expect you to pay if you have a high income. Have you run the UMich NPC or the Cornell NPC to find out what you’d be expected to pay? If not, do so.</p>
<p>If you get some affordable numbers than great! If you don’t then you need alternatives. Either way, your son needs to protect himself by applying to a few schools that you know FOR SURE will be affordable because you’re assured of acceptance AND you’re ASSURED that you’ll get huge merit scholarships.</p>
<p>What is his major? Is he also applying to UIUC?</p>
<p>Do you know how much you can pay each year?</p>
<p>UM does have some merit aid for OOS students, but it is very competitive and not as generous as it was a few years ago. Some is open university-wide (eg. Shipman) and others are through the various colleges (LS&A, Engineering, etc.).</p>
<p>mom2 - haven’t run the NPC yet; our finances are up in the air. The only upside is that our “base year” income number (this year; he’s a junior) will be about 60% of what it was last year. He is also applying to UIUC but only because we’ve insisted he apply to at least one school in state. He’s going for computer science, with a focus on game design and development - he’s writing a game for the iPhone that you can play in either English or Japanese (he’s going to Nagano this summer). Mich St. has a concentration program but you have to apply as a sophomore, whereas you can start in on it day one at UMich. He’s also applying to Brown, Penn (his dream school), Cornell, Dartmouth (maybe), UIUC, UMaryland, UTexas and Rice - the latter two because it seems that the TX school are in better shape to offer aid these days. As to “how much we can pay” - that’s really difficult to determine. The only advantages we have are that we recently paid off our mortgage and his brother is four years behind - only one at a time.</p>
<p>UTexas</p>
<p>UTexas does not give much aid to OOS students. It’s aid is for instate students with need.</p>
<p>UMaryland may give you some merit, not need based aid. Do you know how much you’d get in merit?</p>
<p>UIUC doesn’t give much aid either. I’m not seeing any financial safeties on your list. If you NEED aid to afford college, you need financial safeties.</p>
<p>Many of the schools that use CSS Profile will consider the equity that you have in your home and may expect you to use that equity. UMich does use CSS Profile and will consider the equity in your home as an asset.</p>
<p>Very few state school met 100% of need. Actually very few schools at all do. When you are looking at a state school as an OOSer, do understand that unless yours is a student that the school wants enough to give true scholarships, the likelihood of getting all need met is very small.</p>
<p>However, I’ve seen kids get the best aid or merit packages, that far exceeds expectations from schools not known to do so, At the end of the day, , it doesn’t matter a whit what others have gotten; all that counts is what your student gets. Just be aware of where he stands in the mix, and that he has some good financial and admission safeties in place.</p>
<p>The OOS schools usually won’t give you much aid (exception is s hooks like Alabama which will pay you for good stats). Whether you get much from the elites will depend on income and assets. They consider many things when giving need based aid. Do you own a business? If so prepare for them to add many deductions back into your AGI. Lots of home equity will also be an issue.</p>
<p>mom2 and cpt - thanks; my understanding is that the Ivies do not consider your home as an asset in their calcs. As for a financial safety that’s probably both UIUC and MSU - we can handle an out-of-pocket contribution in the $25k range. From what I’ve seen MSU sticker is around $23k total OOS, with UIUC not far from that, though of course that goes up every year. Most schools seem to have work-study aid as an option and he’ll generate some on average over the summers. What we really want to do (like everyone else) is reduce or eliminate the need for debt. Yeah, I know that may be unrealistic but with the sudden disruption in our family income last year we have to be careful and frankly with the employment numbers for new grads it is a risk if any of the debt is his directly.</p>
<p>Check MSU’s web site… non-resident tuition is actually $31,700, and with housing it’s nearly $40k.</p>
<p>Look at University of Pittsburgh. Your son’s stats put him into contention for a Chancellor’s Scholarship. Even if doesn’t get that, he would have a decent chance for some hefty merit money. Non resident tuition is $25K or so there which is less than Michigan’s rates. The Honors College is highly regarded and the kids in it seem to do well and enjoy it.</p>
<p>Some ivies do consider home equity.</p>
<p>I’ve seen MSU sticker is around $23k total OOS</p>
<p>???</p>
<p>Are you talking about Mich State U? The OOS sticker price is MUCH higher than that. Were you looking at the “per semester” cost? (Some sites list the “per semester” price).</p>
<p>The OOS tuition alone is a lot more than that!</p>
<p>Mich State U</p>
<p>Tuition and fees …$31,148
Room and board …$8,154<br>
Books and supplies…$980<br>
Estimated personal expenses…$1,250 (also low estimate)
Transportation expenses…$486 (kind of low when coming from OOS.)
Estimated Total… $42,020 </p>
<p>And that’s for this LAST year…each year the costs rise. By the time your child is a junior, the OOS tuition could be much higher. </p>
<p>Also, look into if there are any “credit charges” if your child takes more than - say 15 credits per semester. For an OOS kid, that can mean $1000+ per CREDIT that’s over the semester tuition price. </p>
<p>I don’t know if ALL the ivies disregard home equity. Anyone know?</p>
<p>mom2 - thanks - I checked and the place where I’d seen that mistakenly showed the in-state numbers for us in its NPC. He’s also applying to CMU - so I don’t know if Pitt wouldn’t just make him wish he was across town if he couldn’t go to Carnegie Mellon. Same with Drexel - more incentives, an interesting honors college, and they have shown interest beyond the usual, but again it would be a tease because he’s spend four years wishing he was across the street at Penn. For him the rest of his tests (APs, SAT, SAT subject tests) and his essays will likely tell the tale. He has some real differentiators. Hopefully he can get into Penn or Brown, both of which do grant-only aid. One recently published table showed 91% of kids in our income bracket who applied to Penn got aid, averaging $31k, which put our share at around $27k - doable. Similar numbers seen for Brown, plus we know someone going there who’s in a similar situation. Oddly if he can get in, the Ivies seem like our share will be more reasonable - no way we could pay full sticker at MSU if it’s truly $42k with no aid.</p>
<p>Looks like I need to spend some quality time with the NPC’s at his targeted schools.</p>
<p>entomom - we visited UMich in March and got a lot of good info about a whole range of targeted scholarships, including some you mention, and their CS school has a number of newer ones that are merit-based and open to OOS students. He’s just going to have to apply to a broad range of schools, see their offers, and make the call.</p>
<p>
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<p>That was our approach: true admission & financial safeties, possible merit aid schools, and generous need based FA schools.</p>
<p>Thanks. Frankly, the whole thing scares the crap out of me, and my son, who was feeling pretty good about his prospects for admission, hasn’t said it but is clearly dreading a scenario where he gets into a school he really wants and we can’t (or in my wife’s case isn’t willing to) make the numbers work.</p>
<p><a href=“or%20in%20my%20wife’s%20case%20isn’t%20willing%20to”>I</a>*</p>
<p>both parents need to be on board for the amount that the family will pay. However, please keep the parents’ ultimate budget decision as a “joint conclusion”. It will be horrible in your household if your child gets the idea that “dad will spend X, but mom only wants to spend Y.” Sometimes one spouse is more aware of all of the family’s expenses and/or is very aware of some large looming expenses that are out there. </p>
<p>Your son’s concerns are common. Many students/families are very fearful that they’ll end up with a handful of acceptances, without any affordable options. The best protection is having a few financial safeties in your pocket (be ASSURED of what aid you’d get), and to use NPCs with accurate info on each site.</p>
<p>“It will be horrible in your household if your child gets the idea that “dad will spend X, but mom only wants to spend Y.””</p>
<p>Welcome to my world. I have a great kid who’s busting his ass - on overdrive, getting straight A’s (now) in all honors/AP classes (3.8 unweighted, 4.3 weighted), doing things like teaching himself calculus so he can take the AP and have it on his application, taking the japanese AP a year early for the same reason, plus loads more - and a spouse who invokes the D-word every time I broach the subject of him or us taking out loans as part of paying for college. Oh, and I got laid off last year and am only now getting my private practice cashflow going. Our house and both cars are paid off - paid cash for the second one - so we have almost zero debt.</p>
<p>Sigh.</p>