Dear parents,
My oldest daughter is at GT, she came in with 18 AP credits which saves us one semester of not paying tuition. This coming summer she is taking classes at our local community college, math, physics and something else. She will live at home and reduce her time at GT with another semester by doing so. I’m very proud of her for considering our finances. She will have 2 weeks off in the beginning of the summer and 10 days off at the end of the summer. She is also saving us money by studying abroad in the fall. At GT you pay instate tuition when you study abroad. So here is my question, my second child is not and engineering student, are there universities out there with similar advantages ? I have noticed that some universities have a cap on how many AP credits they will give credit for. Other universities will let you study abroad for the same price as you pay in the US. Which is just ridiculous since 99% of universities in the world are cheaper than in the US.
It’s quite common for colleges to accept AP credits. One study found 94% of top ~150 USNWR colleges accept some degree of AP credit. However, the vast majority of those had some kind of restrictions on AP credits such as a max cap on number AP credits, only giving credit for certain subjects, or requiring scores of more than 3 in some subjects.
Do you have a particular college in mind? Many publish detailed information about their AP credit policy.
Public universities may be generous with credit for AP scores and transfer courses from community colleges, but whether the AP scores and transfer courses will fulfill specific subject requirements for a given major is another story.
Yep, lots of colleges take AP credits. In general, publics and non-elite colleges are more generous, the more selective the college, the less generous, and top LACs are the least generous (capping the most).
As for study-abroad, at many schools, you pay whatever you would have paid on campus. This is much more true with privates, it seems. I know that at UIUC, you pay the cost of the study-abroad program, which are all over the place, with some costing more than OOS tuition and some (especially the exchanges) costing less than in-state tuition.
I have actually looked on so many colleges websites to find high ranked schools with similar profiles. UVA for example has a cap on AP credits you can use. My daughter won’t be able to take advantage of her 24 AP credits. I believe the cap was 18. You also pay full price for study abroad programs. Berkley is generous with AP credits, she could take advantage of all of them. But you have to pay full tuition for the study abroad programs. I was hoping someone here would have experience with schools that have this advantage.
???
UVa CAS allows up to 60 credit-hours (including from AP tests) to transfer in:
http://college.as.virginia.edu/credits
Selective privates require a 4 or 5 AP score for credit. Publics may allow a 3 score. Below a 3 is considered failing and I doubt if any college would accept below 3.
Definitely look at State Colleges…my daughter graduated from SUNY Binghamton in 2.5 years with her IB credits an da couple of summer courses.
Of the 120 credits required for the degree, no fewer than 102 credits must be from:
Courses taught inside the College
This is the information from their website. when I called them they confirmed that 102 credits must be from UVA and the remaining 18 my daughter cold use as an incoming freshman. Could be different from transfer students and in particular in state transfer students. We are out of state.
yes I’m looking mostly at state schools, trying to cut costs as much as possible
The best way to save money is to stick with in-state tuition. The least cost in-state tuition is usually starting at community college.
Study abroad credits (with a school-sponsored program) are not considered transfer credits. They are the same as being taught on campus as far as meeting graduation requirements is concerned.
If you do look out of state, look at schools that offer big scholarships. If won’t be popular schools like UVA or Michigan. There’s a thread on the financial aid board that collects merit scholarships.
@flowergirl65 You are misquoting the UVA website information (which is here http://college.as.virginia.edu/credits):
Of the 120 credits required for the degree, no fewer than 102 credits must be from:
[QUOTE=""]
Courses taught inside the College
“Outside” (non-College) courses considered to be College-equivalent
[/QUOTE]
These are two alternatives that must TOTAL at least 102 credits. AP credits fall under the “outside” courses. The limit is that at most 60 credits may be earned before you start at UVA including APs:
“A maximum of 60 credits may be earned prior to matriculation to the College by various means, including…” (transfer credit, AP, etc)
U Alabama has a generous AP credit policy.
They also give good scholarships to high stats students.
You need to be careful with some of the lower cost study abroad options.
The ticket price may be substantially lower than your kid’s college- but not all those credits will transfer.
So you are stuck with an extra semester, which you won’t find out about until AFTER your kid comes home, applies for credit for the work done overseas, and discovers that the degree-granting U will not give credit. Particularly in the major… if your kid gets Gen Ed credits for the semester, but has already fulfilled all of those requirements at home, but NOT credit for departmental specific work… you are out a semester of tuition.
Yes, life altering experience overseas, etc. But not the cost savings parents think it will be.
Check the fine print on these study abroad programs very, very carefully. Most universities will not give a blanket “we take all overseas credit” unless it is one of their OWN study abroad programs… which typically fall at the high end of the price range. And why would they? A Dean and a professor are usually responsible for vetting your kids overseas transcript and the syllabus to make sure the work is equivalent. And they don’t know that in advance.
“Most universities will not give a blanket “we take all overseas credit” unless it is one of their OWN study abroad programs… which typically fall at the high end of the price range.”
I’ve done some work in this field, and blossom is correct. Study abroad is a cash cow for universities, and they’re not into reliquishing their piece of the pie for a student who is looking to save money.
Some independent companies that offer study abroad for less will work with the home college with credit transfer. But there are no guarantees, and if you really want a cheaper study abroad, it may end up being something the student does “for fun” rather than “for credits needed to graduate.”
@blossom: I’m referring to the study-abroad programs that the universities themselves tout.
But yes, everyone should check on credits first.
Another study abroad option is to do the entire degree abroad, sometimes at relatively low cost.
For example: http://undergrad.bm.ust.hk/admissions/scholarship/fees
UGA offers very generous AP credit. My D is a freshman and has senior standing.
On study abroad, UGA will pre-approve transfer credit from all study abroad programs after a lot of due diligence by the student and approval from various advisors/department heads.
I. would only be interested in a study abroad program that the universities themselves are in charge of. Thanks for the update on UVA.
It really depends on the school and the AP subjects. Even if you receive AP credits, it does not necessarily mean they are useful credits. It is only useful if that can get the student higher placement, or fulfill certain pre-req or elective requirements. Having too many useless AP credits may lead to upperclassman tuition rate for more semesters that needed. My D got 33 AP credits and another 5 credits transferred from a CC from her summer class. A few of those AP credits did not contribute to her graduate requirement particularly after she took some more electives that are interesting to her. With the curriculum requirement, she may only graduate one semester early due to the pre-req schedule. However, she had the option to study aboard or co-op for a semester without affecting her graduation schedule.