Do all of the instate IL publics have tuition that is higher than $10k per year?
I have randomly checked a few (there are a LOT) of IL publics, and the ones I’ve checked so far all have high instate rates. I thought I’d save some time and see if anyone here knows of a couple that have lower rates.
Does anyone know which ones might have lower tuition and/or generous merit for a student with a 27 ACT and 3.3 GPA? The major would be bio secondary education. 0 EFC
Edited the title to be more specific
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Illinois State University is where I would recommend an education major look- sorry I’m on my phone and don’t have time to look up all the info you’re requesting - but, I think this is the best Illinois state school for education majors and I do know they give some merit $ – with the above stats though not sure.
Thanks!
I had checked ISU, but it has an instate tuition cost of just under $13k per year. (that’s crazy! lol)
University of South Dakota which has a lower OOS tuition (around $10k). But, the IL state aid wouldn’t apply.
I’m an Illinois resident and going to UIUC (which is definitely not the cheapest), but I did a lot of research on most of the Illinois state schools. I believe NIU (Northern Illinois University) is the cheapest. It’s around $12,000/year as I recall. UIUC is more like $21,000/year for me.
I would not recommend Governors St. Check out their graduation rate.
I agree with @PurpleTitan. Perhaps start at cc and transfer after a year or 2. There are some good cc’s around the Chicago area - if the student lives in district for any of the following they might be worth looking at: Harper, Oakton, Triton, Morraine Valley or COD ( College of DuPage ).
Personally I’m not a big fan of some of our directionals…after ISU I would recommend NIU but I’m not a fan of EIU, WIU or SIU.
I think Governors State may be an upper division school.
It’s sad that the IL publics are all so pricey.
The Illinois state income tax rate is only 3.75%. This could have something to do with it.
@Madison85
Actually, IL state support is pretty high: http://education.illinoisstate.edu/grapevine/tables/Table4_GPV15.pdf
EDIT: As noted in this document, the big increase is for SURS stabilization. IL state finances are a mess.
If the cost of tuition is $12,000 or $13,000 a year…and you added room and board on to that, you would still be under $25,000 a year.
Is that considered high for instate public universities? In CT, I believe that would be the cost at our public universities.
Housing in some of the smaller Illinois college towns would be a lot less pricey than in many other places in this country.
D and I were just at IL State, on a tour. The merit awards start at 3.4 GPA AND 25 ACT.
And, yes, it’s about 13k tuition/year, otherwise.
I think Eastern and Western are a little cheaper but probably not under 10k.
IL schools are, indeed, expensive for in-state, imo. We’ve looked at the MSEP schools and found that our own kid can go out of state to those schools for less than what it costs at IL schools.
And there are a few OOS regional publics where the OOS tuition is about the same as IL State or UIUC.
I live near Harper, and it’s well regarded around here as a good solid cc, and many kids successfully transfer to UIC and other state schools after two years. I wouldn’t doubt the student in question could transfer to ISU after a couple of years.
The thing I find sad is that some of my D’s classmates in high school - who have excellent grades, good to excellent ACT scores, and have taken rigorous courses - are going to Harper because they simply cannot afford UIUC, UIC, or others. Ridiculous. And just wrong. These kids worked hard and are very bright, they deserve to go to a four-year college, imo.
@BeeDAre, when you’re in HS, sure, that’s the attitude. But in the end, it’s what you do with your opportunities. Other than a greater sampling of majors, what are kids who eventually transfer in to UIUC missing? More drunken parties? Tailgating? They are smart and worked hard so they deserve better social opportunities? Eh.
For that matter, why does anyone “deserve” to go to a 4-year college? If we want to impart skills and education in a cost-effective manner to more of the population, why shouldn’t 2 years of cheap education in intro courses (at regionals/CC’s that students can commute to or online) followed by 2 years in a major be more the norm?
@thumper1 I think IL non-flagship publics have high tuition. I haven’t checked what Conn’s non-flagship publics charge.
JMO, but I don’t think non-flagships should be charging more than 10k per year for tuition. UCs are kind of an exception because they aren’t really directionals. The CSU’s are more considered directional and their tuition is well under $10k per year.
“live near Harper, and it’s well regarded around here as a good solid cc, and many kids successfully transfer to UIC and other state schools after two years. I wouldn’t doubt the student in question could transfer to ISU after a couple of years.”
Ditto for COD (College of DuPage).
I agree that those CC’s are very good. This student seems determined to try to go to a univ. He had his sights on some OOS publics that really will not work, not only because of big gaps, but also the added expense of cross-country travel…something that low-income kids attending non-full-aid schools will have a much more difficult time with, yet they often don’t consider the $1500+ in travel costs they might need to incur.
I think that if there’s an IL public that will give merit combined with full Pell, fed loan, work-study and state aid, then it might work.
If he started at a CC then he probably would lose his best merit chances which could make the last 2 years very difficult.
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If the cost of tuition is $12,000 or $13,000 a year…and you added room and board on to that, you would still be under $25,000 a year.
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I agree, but once you also add in fees, books, and misc expenses, then the cost is about $29k. Either way, a full Pell student would need a good bit of aid beyond fed aid to cover that $29k.
As an aside…does the state of IL provide free health coverage for low income kids? If so, does that mean he wouldn’t have to purchase health insurance while attending an IL school, but would if he attended an OOS school? If so, that could also mean a difference of a few thousand.
It is my understanding that CCs, including Harper and COD, are open enrollment. If that’s truly not the case, then I stand corrected. My point was, these particular kids worked hard to get top grades and high test scores - is that even going to be a factor in transferring from CC? Why go through all that if you know you will be at a CC where it’s open enrollment and the gen ed classes will be adjusted accordingly?
Again, correct me if I’m wrong about this, and I’ll re-think my position…
But I don’t want to derail the thread over this, sorry!
Now, for a kid who struggled in h.s., and needs a second chance, cc is perfect.
@BeeDAre, because they learned, grew, and picked up skills in HS. I’m of the opinion that, ultimately, gaining an education (and skills and wisdom) that will serve a kid well throughout life is most important, not grades & test scores in HS (unless they can garner you merit money or you qualify for fin aid and they can get you in to a place that offers enough fin aid to make it affordable).
Something like Engineering at UIUC is tough to do well in (even though, in the past, it just wasn’t that difficult to get in to).
Working hard in HS would prepare you for that (assuming that you’re actually learning instead of just doing busy work, which, granted, a lot of HS is these days).
This student may want to look at the Midwest Student Exchange Program website, and look at schools in:
Kansas - Fort Hays, Emporia State, Wichita State. (less than 10k)
Missouri schools - Missouri State; Harris-Stowe State (seems to be HBCU, and specializes in education); and others.
(less than 10k)
Minnesota State in Mankato and St Cloud State (MN) are a little over 10k/yr, as is…
Indiana State in Terre Haute.
UW-River Falls and UW-Superior in the U of Wisconsin system are UNDER 10k and have secondary education programs.
Of course, with the farther locations, transportation will be a little more, but all of these are within half a days drive of anyplace in IL.
http://msep.mhec.org/institutions?field_state_term_tid=1&field_program_type_term_tid=All&field_sector_term_tid=10
Don’t know about merit aid at these places.