FWIW my DD had the exact same unweighted 3.97 GPA, 9 AP’s and several concurrent. Only offered WUE but grateful for something.
That’s what All Towers means. Ours only said Engineering STEM Floor and All Towers and housing said she can choose any floor except outdoor leadership, science first year, and honors floors. Perhaps you can live among the other LLCs but you are part of the one you got into (i.e. STEM/Engineering for her).
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So I am still processing but we just got confirmation that our son is not getting offered any merit. OOS 3.8 UW, 4.5w 33 act (I think I put in 34ACT before which was a typo). It seems like the test optional altered things from where they were in the past. We are still proud of our kiddo & just have a REALLY hard decision/conversation now. This is his first choice school and things look much different than we anticipated. Frustrated and sad… feel like this in another COVID casualty.
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I am so sorry to hear this. 
The kids will bloom where they are planted, which is what @Gumbymom repeats in the CA college threads. Hopefully that helps.
This has been a roller coaster, for sure. I’m glad you have definitive information on this finally.
Need a help to clarify my D’s status regarding to an email from the housing. It’s helpful if you can explain… the email says “Congratulations on being accepted to a Living Learning or Theme Community at the University of Utah for the 2021-2022 academic year! You were accepted to:[Kahlert Village] All Towers”.
She applied for the first year science community in STEM tower, but the email doesn’t state if she can reserve a room of the particular LLC. However the email says she was accepted to LLC… We are confused. Sounds like my D can reserve any available room in all tower but not the LLC.
My D’s email:
Congratulations on being accepted to a Living Learning or Theme Community at the University of Utah for the 2021-2022 academic year! You were accepted to:
[Kahlert Village] STEM Tower: Engineering Floor
[Kahlert Village] All Towers
Email response from Housing:
You will be able to choose from any rooms in the Kahlert Village Community Engagement, Health and Wellness, and STEM towers, as well as the Engineering floor in the stem tower. The only areas in Kahlert Village that you will not be eligible for is the Outdoor Leadership floor, the College of Science first year community, and the Honors floors.
My guess is your D maybe didn’t get into the Science floor and can book any of the above, minus Engineering floor?? I’m assuming yours was in Kahlert Village. I would send an email to housing to ask. They responded right back to me.
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Yes, at Kahlert. I’ll email to housing office tmrw. Thank you for your advice!
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It might be worth an appeal? I’m surprised that with those stats he got nothing.
FWIW, ASU and U of AZ may still be accepting applications and merit money + honors is attractive at both.
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Also sorry to hear, for two reasons. We are potentially in a similar situation (stats are similar for OOS), and D2 really was excited about the idea of SLC and U of U. She’s a mountain/nature kid and was drawn to it.
As of now, no merit email that I know of, and admissions hasn’t replied to my inquiry emailed a few days ago. No idea what this really means as of yet, since U of U has been very out of sorts and behind this entire year.
By the way, does anyone know what the cost would be for someone who attended from OOS and then moved to Utah their freshman year to be a resident? Is it possible, reasonably easy to be OOS as a freshman and a surefire in state tuition for years 2-4? Am I wrong to assume that this route means saving 20K per year over 3 years (60K), so would be akin to getting a 4 year scholarship for 15K per year? In that scenario, it would be a competitive option. Of course, we’d never see D2, which is sad.
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The ease of getting residency for Utah is a hidden merit scholarship. Of course you have to pay the big OOS payment the first year.
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We did the math a few weeks ago so my D2 could start comparing options. I came up with approximately $120,000 assuming full OOS tuition for the first year and years 2-4 in-state. This was using rates for room, board, and tuition similar to 2021-2022 rates. Anyone else come up with a figure? I did not factor in books or travel expenses.
Yes that’s the way it works, if you jump through the residency hoops, you then get instate rates for years 2-4 and don’t pay the ~$20K per year OOS supplement.
The physical presence test (instate for all but 29 days in 365) only applies once, after that you can travel as desired. The other requirements are not onerous, though you have to not be claimed as a dependent which costs the parents $500 per year in tax credits. Anything to add @mom2adancer ?
Until the ~$5K increase in the OOS supplement in 2019/20, it was a slightly better deal to get residency than taking WUE. Now WUE comes out a couple of thousand dollars better, but it does have a minimum GPA requirement and more importantly is strictly limited to 8 semesters.
The U had quite a few small scholarships ($6K-$10K) for the first year to tilt the balance further (which would have been your most likely award), but those appear to have been dropped this year. So as far as appealing goes, if you think that it’s a doable option with residency and you really want to pursue it, I would be asking if there’s any departmental money available similar to those $6K-$10K first year scholarships, bearing in mind that $6K or so would put you in basically the same position as someone from a different state who would have been awarded WUE.
This is super helpful, thank you.
[quote=“Twoin18, post:553, topic:2798943, full:true”]
The physical presence test (instate for all but 29 days in 365) only applies once, after that you can travel as desired. The other requirements are not onerous, though you have to not be claimed as a dependent which costs the parents $500 per year in tax credits. Anything to add @mom2adancer ?[/quote]
I lost the $500 tax credit already anyway as it expires when the child is 17.
So you are saying here that they have to live there from say first day of school in 2021 (September 1, lets say) through September 1, 2022. You would then get essentially 4 weeks of time to be back home (a few weeks Xmas break, and a few weeks Summer?). I am guessing you would have to show receipts, or pay checks? Guessing that rent alone isn’t enough since you don’t have to be there.
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We came up with $113,784 with the same assumptions. $44,166 first year, $23,206 once instate residency is achieved. We did not include books, travel or loans. Not sure why we have different numbers…
To gain residency you need to get a DL, register to vote, be independent on tax forms and not leave for more than 29 days in a 365 day period. We had a long discussion with our D2 explaining the rules. We are fortunate to have a very good friend (like an aunt to my kids) that lives in Park City. She plans on establishing residency.
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Our difference is about 6K - probably because I picked the most expensive room and board and assumed a slight increase in tuition rates over the four years. I think my exact number was $116,000 and then I rounded up 
You state that once you meet the physical presence test, you can travel as desired. Does that mean that during summers 2 and 3 you can work in your original home state and still maintain Utah residency?
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Yes, in fact its more flexible than that in choice of dates - you could go to Utah for a couple of weeks summer holiday before classes start in mid August and start counting from Aug 1 for example. So you would stay instate for fall and spring breaks and for the most of the summer (there are provisions for stayover accommodation on campus, and in normal circumstances you can stay as an orientation leader for the summer and get free accommodation and a stipend) and just go home for two weeks at Christmas (going back early for a family skiing vacation over New Year is an option for some), which gives you two weeks spare for a summer break.
The proof during term time is that you are registered for in person classes. Out of term time you need to show either bank statements (with transactions showing you were actually in state) or pay stubs along with a letter from your employer verifying that you were working. Not recommending this but I know some people may have left their debit cards with friends to use at gas stations and vending machines while they went away for a few days.
Yes
There is a significant difference in cost based on the number of credits you take also, since the U charges by the credit hour (about $800 per extra credit hour for OOS vs $240 for instate, see Tuition & Fees – Office of the Bursar). Some calculations list 13 credits per semester, others a more typical 15 credits.
Also the U’s budget for housing doesn’t capture the very wide difference in cost between the standard doubles and the nicer honors housing and apartments (it is somewhere in the middle).