My kids are lucky to be able to look at college as an education and an adventure. They want to go to a different region.
With all that said about NJ, more than 50% of my kids’ classes stayed in state for college.
Online education, at least where it makes sense. STEM classes with labs would be difficult but pretty much any other topic can be done online. We have cyberschools that seem to do well. I’m taking online classes now for some CS certifications. It works well. Education is moving this direction anyway. I understand the resistance because it will disrupt jobs but it doesn’t change that online learning will grow. The market wants what the market wants.
My MBA program offered long distance learning classes in the early 90’s before the internet. I took one because it looked interesting. I was on-campus for the class but it was in a production studio. The off-site students seemed engaged. It worked better than I thought it would.
Rural is a relative term. There are many rural areas in PA but almost all are within an hour (or less) of some type of campus. West Texas or Montana maybe not. But those are exceptions. Do you keep an expensive campus open for 50 students? 500 students?
After looking through a few financial statements of some colleges it’s expensive to keep a campus running with all the bells and whistles. I certainly think vouchers for room and board would cost less (maybe way less) than keeping low enrollment campuses open.
Or you can do the research and find the options you wanted. Our family had an EFC of $0. I found Wisconsin wanted people like me.
Someone asked about enrollment at the University of Minnesota. It’s up slightly at the flagship Twin Cities campus and in the system overall. Most of the satellite campuses are expanding or at least holding their own except Morris and Duluth which are down slightly. The flagship isn’t so much into expanding enrollment, but it’s become much more selective in recent years—a trend at many public flagships.
Schools in the Minnesota State University system are generally less selective than those in the University of Minnesota system, and the Minnesota State University schools are mostly spread out across the state in small towns. The Twin Cities metro area has a diverse, dynamic, thriving economy and an expanding population. Much of rural and small town Minnesota has an aging and shrinking population, and economies that are struggling. “Regional” state schools draw students primarily from their own region. Demographic trends mean they have fewer HS graduates to draw from. Economic trends suggest that perhaps fewer HS grads in those regions foresee an economic payoff from attending college.
I don’t think its fair to include Rowan in the list - they are very different than other regionals - they received $100 million 25+ years ago. They were able to transform the university at that time.
Had they still been Glassboro State, it would have been a different conversation.
Rowan is still not a flagship. The $100m went to the engineering school; they’ve done a great job at securing a lot of other donations and leveraging that money.
NJ community colleges now offer free tuition for families with an income under $50,000. There were news articles and billboards with headlines like “Free College in NJ” but when I heard the details, I felt let down. It doesn’t quite compare to NY’s Excelsior, does it?
My D got a great deal at Rowan. It was much less expensive than anything else. She had pretty good stats and would have done comparably well at other NJ “regional” universities, but not at private universities where her costs came down to NJ publc IS costs without merit for the most part.
TCNJ and Rutgers aren’t great with merit, but Rowan, Stockton, and Ramapo are… Places like William Patterson and Kean will also give students very good merit. I’ve heard Montclair isn’t as generous but it offers great opportunities for NJ kids in the performing arts.
Rutgers Camden has the “Bridging the Gap” program that promises to cover any gap in tuition costs after federal and state aid at 100% for families with an AGI under $60,000, 75% for families with an AGI between $60,000 and $80,000, and 50% for families with an AGI between $80,000 and $100,000. They also still have merit for families above those income levels. I want to call and see if the federal aid they are talking about includes the federal loan. Rutger’s Camden has a nice nursing program.
I’m not sure about Rutgers Newark FA and merit. They appear to have special opportunities for Newark kids. D applied and got in but I haven’t done the FAFSA yet to see how she might do there. It’s not really likely that she’ll go. We are SJ and she wants to be close to home.