Hi,
I am from the east coast, and interested in schools such as Carleton and USC. Carleton is about 17 hours away from my hometown, and having to go back and forth from college to home, PLUS the shipping cost to ship my whole dorm twice a year will be at least one to two grand a year. Will those colleges/universities recognize that, therefore give me more fin-aid than if I lived closer to them?
Please don’t post any rude comments (:
Thank you!
Not necessarily. Colleges like that will usually calculate a set cost of attendance that averages estimated travel and miscellaneous costs across all students - so while they do take into account the student body’s general extended transportation needs (recognizing that a large percentage of them might be from far away), they won’t necessarily offer a student from New York more financial aid than a student from California.
But the other thing is that you won’t necessarily need to do these things. Part of going to colleges far away is that you make trade-offs. So you might go home less often - maybe you’d only fly four times (August, December, January, May). And you wouldn’t have to ship your dorm stuff back and forth - most college towns have summer storage solutions for college students; you can store your dorm room stuff in a summer storage place for 3 months and then just come get it when you return. That costs money, too, but is much more efficient than trying to ship the entire room back and forth across the country.
Colleges which are interested in geographic diversity might be keen to attract candidates from underrepresented states. But far away doesn’t automatically equate to underrepresented. States w large populations (CA, TX, states w big cities) get plenty of representation all over the country.
OP, probably but you probably need to negotiate. If USC wants you they will shell out the money.
I do not believe you will get more funds for that,no. You will go home less if you are farther away, likely, or you will get very good at price shopping. Also that is ridic to ship stuff back and forth. No one does that. When I do spreadsheets for students comparing costs, I always replace the school estimate of transportation costs will something tailored to the situation for each college.
Focus on your bottom-line net price.
You can estimate that for any college with its online net price calculator.
https://apps.carleton.edu/admissions/afford/estimator/
http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2014/09/15/colleges-and-universities-that-claim-to-meet-full-financial-need
Even among these so-called “full need” schools, net prices can vary by more than your annual travel costs.
Don’t you live in Virginia? Why wouldn’t you focus on the excellent state schools first. Makes no sense to look at Carleton or USC when you have William & Mary , UVA and VT there.
Just for the record, Carleton is a trimester school so you arrive in August/September, have Thanksgiving to New Years off, then a week in March, then home in June. There is storage for items to be left over the summer. Geographic diversity might help you be accepted but unlikely they care about your increased costs.
VA is not an underrepresented state so their won’t even be an admission tip. The FA will be based on need and the COA will be generated using college averages. No, you won’t get any more aid than someone coming from a different state.