<p>Any experiences receiving merit aid at University of Illinois- Champaign,
out-of-state, discuss any department, particularily engineering?</p>
<p>It would seem like they are making a lot more money on out-of-state students (straight to the bottom line) and should offer good merit aid to out of state students ? If not, what am I missing...unless everyone is willing to pay full boat ? Should I be making another set of house keys and be ready to turn it over to the university?</p>
<p>Does it matter which major within a department (ie, within the engineering department) a student chooses ?</p>
<p>Any stories welcome... Thanks !</p>
<p>U of I was my son's first choice for engineering- NMF, #1, great EC's, academic history which demonstrated his willingness and ability to go above and beyond, and so on, other words, top notch kid. But he was oos, and U of I had absolutely nothing in the way of merit or need based to offer him. But it was U of I's loss, as the other 8 schools with excellent engineering departments he applied to did much better. He is very happy at Cornell.</p>
<p>Your reply is what I am afraid of. I wonder the point of which it is more cost effective to allow an instate student vs. out-of-state.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that many of the big Universities have more students applying than they could possibly admit. So....what's their incentive to offer tons of merit scholarships??? None. You'll probably find the exact same dilemma at just about any major state university like University of Texas, University of Oklahoma, etc. My son was accepted at Univ of Ill, but no offers of merit aid at all. Major universities only seem interested in helping a few of the need-based student requests. Being out-of-state, the $30,000 price tag per year was a tad bit out of our price range. U of I is a great school, but not at that price. Too bad living in Illinois for 31 years didn't qualify us to get him in-state tuition. Lord knows we paid enough in State and local taxes while we lived there most of our life!</p>
<p>These are the stories we were afraid to hear. You have a lot of good colleges in Texas to chose from and better weather..</p>
<p>Yes, we definitely have MUCH better weather down here in Texas. I do not miss the long cold winters in Illinois at all.</p>