ELI5: if we are low income and cost is a major concern, does it even make sense to look OOS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can get a full ride at Troy with a 1450 SAT

At Texas tech you can quality for in state tuition with a scholarship for $1000 or more which is fairly easy to get: https://www.depts.ttu.edu/scholarships/incfreshman.php

But OP’s kid is a Californian so he is OOS, not in-state and the chances of becoming in-state are nil because the Texas public system has some of the strictest residency rules in the U.S. You also need an above average GPA for Texas Tech, which it sounds like OP’s kid doesnt have.

According to the Presidential Merit Scholarship chart, with a 3.0 & a 22 ACT, Texas Tech will give you $1000 per academic year.

But most people don't read the small print: those scholarships ALSO include charging out-of-state students the in-state tuition rate (which is cheap). This is a tough deal to beat, especially because the $ you get rises with your high school GPA & SAT/ACT. Like 3.66 gpa & 28 ACT gets you $3000/yr IN ADDITION TO paying the in-state tuition rate. It’s a very pretty school in a friendly city. Lubbock had a shaky rep in the past, but I visited recently & thought it was really nice.

Not sure now, but in the recent past, Florida State & Oklahoma State also sometimes offered to waive the OOS portion of the tuition in addition to granting merit $.

[Anonymous]

Sen him to community college out of state. Have him become resident in 1-2 years and then transfer in-state.
My kid even got medicaid for the new state. He has a job while attending CC and won't be claimed on my taxes.

[Anonymous]

I personality wouldn’t want a kid with the personality that OP describes to be a plane ride away. I’d want to be able to check on him periodically without boarding a flight.

[Anonymous]

Many southern public schools offer full rides to out of state, high stats students. If your kid can get a 34 ACT, they might get a full ride to a school like Ole Miss or LSU. So, in some cases, it makes sense to look out of state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Plenty of schools in the West thay might be cheaper and could give merit or financial aid. Utah, ASU, Montana State, Iowa State.

Also look at WUE program: https://www.wiche.edu/tuition-savings/wue/for-students/

Definitely check out WUE. I read somewhere that a decent number of Northern California kids go to Oregon St. (which participates in WUE) because they can't get into the UCs they want. Oregon State is in a nice college town, some strong programs, high admit rate, goods sports if he wants that atmosphere.

It's fairly competitive - only about 30% of students from WUE-eligible states and territories are offered the WUE Scholarship at Oregon State.

[Anonymous]

There’s some places, like U New Mexico that would offer in-state tuition with your kid’s stats. Of course, then you’d have travel expenses but it is worth exploring less popular universities that still offer solid education

https://admissions.unm.edu/costs-financial-aid/index.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand how this works. Our SAI is probably the lowest there is. If my kid gets into an in state school, I believe we won’t have to pay much (the state is CA fwiw).
The problem is that he is very average and i don’t expect his GPA to be over 3.5. So he probably won’t get into any UCs except UCM, or even into good CSUs.
So, does it even make sense to look OOS if cost is a major concern? Or should he go to a middle of the road CSU or CC and call it a day?
He won’t be majoring in STEM.
Business would be awesome but even that might be too competitive for him I am afraid if he wants a UC or a decent CSU.

Do two years of community college and then TAG into a UC. For business this is easy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If he wants to major in business would he be open to going to one of the community colleges and then transferring to a more desirable UC? It’s really hard to beat the cost of instate tuition in California. Private colleges might give him more need based aid though. Are there any that he is interested in?

knowing him CC->UC route might be too unstructured/self guided for him. His issue is lack of motivation and executive function so imho he’ll do much better if he gets into a 4 year school (not too demanding) and just chugs along.

And thanks, I hear you on the instate tuition

Not all CCs are the same! I know 2 in my area (Santa Monica College and Pasadena College) that seem to have very structured programs to guide students who want to transfer to UCs as well. So, he can just follow the program along with a bunch of kids that are trying to do the same as him. In fact, I used to think all CCs are like that but learned that that was not the case when I looked at other CCs in the Los Angeles area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many southern public schools offer full rides to out of state, high stats students. If your kid can get a 34 ACT, they might get a full ride to a school like Ole Miss or LSU. So, in some cases, it makes sense to look out of state.

Thank you, he is a good test taker, surprisingly. That can probably be done!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There’s some places, like U New Mexico that would offer in-state tuition with your kid’s stats. Of course, then you’d have travel expenses but it is worth exploring less popular universities that still offer solid education

https://admissions.unm.edu/costs-financial-aid/index.html

thank you, but in CA he would not really pay anything in tuition due to being low income. I'll have to look but if UNM charges in state then it's not an option I guess? Unless it's very little

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If he wants to major in business would he be open to going to one of the community colleges and then transferring to a more desirable UC? It’s really hard to beat the cost of instate tuition in California. Private colleges might give him more need based aid though. Are there any that he is interested in?

knowing him CC->UC route might be too unstructured/self guided for him. His issue is lack of motivation and executive function so imho he’ll do much better if he gets into a 4 year school (not too demanding) and just chugs along.

And thanks, I hear you on the instate tuition

Not all CCs are the same! I know 2 in my area (Santa Monica College and Pasadena College) that seem to have very structured programs to guide students who want to transfer to UCs as well. So, he can just follow the program along with a bunch of kids that are trying to do the same as him. In fact, I used to think all CCs are like that but learned that that was not the case when I looked at other CCs in the Los Angeles area.

thank you, I didn't know that!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand how this works. Our SAI is probably the lowest there is. If my kid gets into an in state school, I believe we won’t have to pay much (the state is CA fwiw).
The problem is that he is very average and i don’t expect his GPA to be over 3.5. So he probably won’t get into any UCs except UCM, or even into good CSUs.
So, does it even make sense to look OOS if cost is a major concern? Or should he go to a middle of the road CSU or CC and call it a day?
He won’t be majoring in STEM.
Business would be awesome but even that might be too competitive for him I am afraid if he wants a UC or a decent CSU.

Do two years of community college and then TAG into a UC. For business this is easy.

We might have to, yes. Looking for other options as well

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private universities give need-based financial aid without regard to state of residence. Selective private universities often give very generous need-based aid.

Colleges each have a Net Price Calculator somewhere on their financial aid website. Use that to see how much aid you would get from the school. You can use it anonymously and play around with the different numbers you enter.

Thanks, he won’t get into a selective school of any kind

There are schools where 3.5 would work. Come back and post when he has an SAT score.

ok so he took PSAT with no prep and got 1320. I looked at the conversion chart and it's like 1410 SAT? He needs to work on his math score but it's doable

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can get a full ride at Troy with a 1450 SAT

At Texas tech you can quality for in state tuition with a scholarship for $1000 or more which is fairly easy to get: https://www.depts.ttu.edu/scholarships/incfreshman.php

But OP’s kid is a Californian so he is OOS, not in-state and the chances of becoming in-state are nil because the Texas public system has some of the strictest residency rules in the U.S. You also need an above average GPA for Texas Tech, which it sounds like OP’s kid doesnt have.

According to the Presidential Merit Scholarship chart, with a 3.0 & a 22 ACT, Texas Tech will give you $1000 per academic year.

But most people don't read the small print: those scholarships ALSO include charging out-of-state students the in-state tuition rate (which is cheap). This is a tough deal to beat, especially because the $ you get rises with your high school GPA & SAT/ACT. Like 3.66 gpa & 28 ACT gets you $3000/yr IN ADDITION TO paying the in-state tuition rate. It’s a very pretty school in a friendly city. Lubbock had a shaky rep in the past, but I visited recently & thought it was really nice.

Not sure now, but in the recent past, Florida State & Oklahoma State also sometimes offered to waive the OOS portion of the tuition in addition to granting merit $.

But to get a “presidential merit scholarship” you must be a student that gives something to the school in exchange for the scholarship, like very high GPA, test scores, bragging rights. OP does not describe such a student. Also, $1,000 is such a drop in the bucket and the chances so slim, it’s not worth OP’s time

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CC with the focus on transferring to a UC after 2 years may be a good approach and he might be able to get into a higher ranked UC.

If he applies to UC now, UC Santa Cruz is also a possibility.

If you are OK with a Catholic school, USF early action might work, but I would run the NPC as suggested.

As far as OOS, you might want to look at the University of New Mexico, but, again, run the NPC. You will have to decide whether you think it is better and more cost effective than a CSU.

All right, I guess there’s no way around running the NPCs, sigh.
He isn’t the transfer personality to be honest, he’ll just lose motivation along the way. It’s better to just put him on track and let him chug along

If your SAI is low, the NPC is your friend. Think of it as your ally, and well worth your time.

I’d also suggest running it specifically for CA Catholic schools like USF, Santa Clara and others. Some of them have a more supportive environment than UCs and CSUs.

Thank you, will do! SCU is on my list for him for sure