n’t go to Maine. If you consider the offer “unfair”, then don’t go to Maine.
I’m hoping this offer is still around in three years when my S is ready to go to college, He is a average student but doesn’t want anything to do with our state schools. This could be a nice alternative for him.
^^Your son is exactly the type of student this deal is meant for!
There are a couple public universities in rural areas of PA that are near the NY border and that have seen decreases in enrollment. They have recently been approved by PA. to offer lower tuition to NY state residents.
^ Similarly, the University of Toledo in northwestern Ohio, just a few miles from the Michigan border, offers in-state tuition to residents of neighboring Monroe County, Michigan.
And the University of Cuincinnati in the southwestern corner of Ohio offers a “metropolitan rate” to residents of Kentucky and nearby counties of Indiana, equal to in-state tuition plus a surcharge of up to $300 per semester.
" . I’m not sure where they’re getting that $11,366 number for Penn State, however. The price is $17,502 for in-state students! http://admissions.psu.edu/costs-aid/tuition/ "
I think all their branch campuses have different tuition rates. I one DD attended is around $13k. Maybe U Maine found the cheapest tuition at one of the branc campuses and used that one! 
@laralei, I wondered about that too, but nope!
I think people are reading the numbers wrong. The $11,366 figure represents the size of the automatic scholarship a Pennsylvania resident gets for 2015-16, if entering with a minimum GPA of 3.0 and SAT CR + M of 1050. Out-of-state tuition and fees at the University of Maine are $28,880 ($14,440 per semester) for a 15-credit per semester load. Knocking $11,366 off that for the automatic scholarship gets you down to $17,514, or essentially the same as Penn State’s in-state tuition and fees.
https://umaine.edu/bursar/tuition-and-fees/fall-2015-spring-2016-undergraduate-non-resident/
Thanks, @bclintonk. That makes more sense!
All that still won’t make UMaine as good as UConn, Penn State, UMass, Rutgers, or even UVermont. UMaine is an average state flagship. Let’s face it.
I don’t think this will make much difference for UMaine, unfortunately. Now if they could offer scholarships like Alabama schools, they might attract more out of state students. Being a Mainer and an undergraduate alum, the situation at UMaine is very sad to me.
Saw a sign on the NJ Turnpike while I was traveling over the holiday that was advertising the fact that tuition at UMaine was the same as Rutgers instate. Those may not have been the exact words, but that was the basic message. Think there was a website reference too. Went by it quickly and only saw it once.