university of virginia vs university of michigan! HELP!

College Search & Selection
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<p>Hi, I am a senior from Alaska. Among the schools I'm applying to are University of Michigan and University of Virginia. I'm going to have to choose one of these two, though, because the application fee is $75 each. I mean, come on, I have to work like six hours to make that much. </p>

<p>Biggest factor in choosing my school would be money, and on College board it says Michigan meets 90% of students' needs on average, and University of Virginia meets 100%. The average net price for my parent's income bracket households, however, is about the same for both schools (13k ish). I ran both their net price calculators, and UVA was about $7,444 a year for me. UMich was a ridiculous amount of $$20725 - $32525/year, which is more than half my parents' income. I double checked everything on the calculator, and still same amount. I think it might be because my parents have some savings, which still isn't a lot. I know this is just an estimate, but it will be close to the actual value, won't it? Does this mean that UVA will for sure give out a lot more for me?</p>

<p>I want to major in engineering, and I know people are going to probably just say UMich over University of Virginia because just because of their ranking difference. Personally I don't think that matters. I mean, they're both really good schools, and just because UVA is ranked lower doesn't mean I can't get as good an education there as I would at UMich, right?</p>

<p>I want to also have something to fall back on if I decide I want to do something other than engineering, but I guess both schools would have just about everything being that they are state universities, right?</p>

<p>I'm just about done with my UVA application, all I have to do is finish my arts supplement and pay for it and send it in. UMIch deadline is 1st of Feb though, so if I don't apply to UVA I have a whole another month to think it over.</p>

<p>What do you guys think? Thanks in advance.</p>

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<p>oh, and how are the music programs and the a cappella groups at each school?</p>

3

<p>Beware of Travel Costs!</p>

<p>With money of such concern to you, please keep in mind how much it costs to travel to the colleges to which you are applying. Even if you only come home at Christmas break, that’s 2 round trips per year. If a college is NOT near an airline hub, count on a few thousand a year just in transportion costs for the flight, baggage fees, ground transportation etc. It really does add up fast especially if every one-way trip involves 2 flights, and some families are surprised by that. UVA is NOT very close to an airline hub, such as DC, so you will be looking at significant ground transportation costs, or 2 separate flights at least from Charlottesville (a tiny airport) to DC, or Charlotte, NC, or elsewhere and then to your home. UMich is fairly close to Detroit, at least. </p>

<p>With Alaska already being fairly remote, please take a long careful look at these costs. To estimate current flight costs, you can go search hypothetical flights on Orbitz, or Travelocity, or Alaska Airlines and see how you would get there from home. Good luck!</p>

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<p>UMich does NOT promise to “meet need” of OOS students.</p>

<p>Collegeboard does NOT say that UMich meets 90% of need. It says 70%.</p>

<p>and even worse…that info is misleading since the instate students have 100% of need met. That fact distorts the numbers and does NOT accurately provide info about OOS students. OOS students can’t expect to get great aid.</p>

<p>the avg grant is $11k. Obviously, that’s ok for an instate student. That suggests that OOS students are gapped big time since the OOS cost is $50k.</p>

<p>UVA promises to meet need for all students…instate AND OOS.</p>

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<p>Go with UVA they meet need for OOS students</p>

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<p>If you do not want to go to an Alaska public school, Virginia is more realistic, since it is one of the few publics that meet need for out-of-state students (North Carolina is supposedly another).</p>

<p>Low list price schools (e.g. South Dakota State and South Dakota Mines), [WUE</a> schools](<a href=“http://wue.wiche.edu/search_results.jsp?searchType=all]WUE”>http://wue.wiche.edu/search_results.jsp?searchType=all), <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt; , or other schools with competitive large merit scholarships may be other options among out of state public schools.</p>

<p>Some of the more selective private schools do meet full need. Some less selective private schools may offer merit scholarships.</p>

<p>Check net price calculators at school web sites to see what need-based financial aid will be like for your situation.</p>

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<p>UVa is currently studying that fin aid commitment to OOS as it has been far more costly than projected due to adverse selection. I would not count on that being policy going forward. Nor is the current aid all grants. Some of it is LOANS. </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.dailyprogress.com/news/article_fd87bb37-b495-5f04-a18d-8f297c180a9e.html[/url]”>http://www.dailyprogress.com/news/article_fd87bb37-b495-5f04-a18d-8f297c180a9e.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>I read the link quickly, so maybe I missed where it says that UVA may be rethinking meeting need for OOS students. </p>

<p>I always thought that UVA meets need for OOS students because:</p>

<p>1) UVA accepts few OOS students (may be limited by law)
2) OOS wha are accepted have some hook…high stats, athlete, art/performance talent…so it might be argued that the aid has a merit aspect to it.</p>

9

<p>Thank you guys for your response. </p>

<p>As for WUE schools, I did a bunch of research on it, and it turns out if you qualify for WUE criteria (in which I do) and get it, you won’t be eligible for any other major merit scholarships. So for most of those WUE schools, it would actually be cheaper for me to not get the WUE tuition deduction (which makes it about 150% of instate tuition) and get the merit scholarships that they offer. Which is still too much for my family. It’s pretty dumb.</p>

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<p>Go with u of virgina. I dont live far from u of michigan and lets just say, its not worth the extra money. honestly though…if you are on a budget, find a cheaper option.</p>

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<p>Neither would be a good choice for the OP. Michigan has an excellent college of Engineering, but as many have already pointed out, is not the most generous when it comes to aid. UVa is not that strong in Engineering, and although they promise to meet 100% of need, they do not promise to be need blind in their admissions decision. If you look closely, you will notice that only 30% or so of UVa students get any sort of aid, compared to 50% at most other universities. This suggests that UVa weeds out most applicants with financial aid needs. If I were the OP, I would check out Purdue University-West Lafayette, the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Virginia Tech. Those four universities have excellent engineering programs and have relatively manageable costs of attendance, and if the OP is good enough to get into Michigan and UVa, will probably offer some sort of merit scholarships.</p>

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<p>North Carolina State (which also has a competitive full ride Park Scholarship to apply for), Iowa State, and Stony Brook are also among the lower list price schools (around $30,000 to $35,000 per year, like Minnesota and Virginia Tech). So is Cal Poly SLO, but the application deadline has passed.</p>

<p>If the budget is lower than $30,000 per year, then some even lower cost schools and the large merit scholarships need to be considered.</p>

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<p>*ACT 30 (34 english 32 math 31 reading 24 science)
3.884 GPA
5 AP chem 4 AP history
varsity letters in swimming and cross country skiing *</p>

<p>If this student can’t afford WUE rates, then likely he can’t afford Purdue, Wisc, or VT…even with some merit. Purdue’s merit brings cost down to about $30k. That may be manageable for those with that budget, but not for someone who can’t afford WUE rates. </p>

<p>This student needs either super aid or super merit (free tuition or more).</p>

<p>If looking for large merit, he needs to go down the ladder. For great FA, he should apply to schools that want more AK students.</p>

14

<p>MOM-This “But he did lay out options, describing where other schools offer less, in the event the board decides funding both policies is no longer sustainable. The AccessUVa program is currently under review, and a consultant’s report is expected soon.”</p>

<p>In the BOV agenda there have been several discussions of how the program has been FAR more costly than expected due to more low income OOS students applying because they can get aid. </p>

<p>UVa also is about 1/3 OOS so it is not that limited for a public U. Actually on the high side.</p>

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<p>What this student needs to do is retake the ACT and bring up that science score significantly. It is really bringing his composite down, and negatively affecting his chances of getting merit OR getting into a true “meets need” school. Especially if that GPA is unweighted.</p>

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<p>If your parents’ income is under $60k = fullride at quite a few schools IF IF you are a competitive app and it helps if you’re a needed stat minority with American Indian the best to be, next Black or Polynesian, Asian is not looking good cause they’re outperfoming whites handsdown and now getting their admit numbers pinched cause top colleges don’t want 100% Asian. The good news for whites is that the new thing in college apps is being poor regardless of race. If your folks’ income is $120 or below and you’re competitive you’ll only pony up 10% of price, means $55K is about $5500 per year or $27K over the four years an with workstudy, etc you can get that down , plus the Pell grant, about $5K should per year should cover you. But you have to be COMPETIVE: 3.8, rigor, SAT or ACT closing in on 2200, or for sure over 2000, 31 or 32++composite, tons of whatever xtracurrics the current admissions gang values at whatever school - it’s all a crap shoot so throw lots against the wall and if you’re as poor as you say, use the Fee Waiver option for admission apps, unless you have a great race card to play, that helps, and a story; first in family to go to college, foster care looks good, blah blah blah. too bad about Wall Street bankrupting everyone - there was a lot more money for scholarships b efore 2008, belt tightening as endowments shrunk sometimes to half.</p>

<p>Go to <a href=“http://www.questbridge.com%5B/url%5D”>www.questbridge.com</a> (or it might be org and click on partner colleges for the list of the best top schools most likely to help.) competitive and worse every year.</p>

<p>you from AK would be way better off at top rated UDub Seattle - proximal and cheaper flying to your home. unless you plan for four years not to leave the lower 48. there are tons of schools better for engineering other than U VA and can compete with U MI. if you are a sports nut, wanna go Greek, then smaller tech schools won’t meet your needs.</p>