College Costs - ridiculously high

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:not necessarily

we are in VA and have basically narrowed down to 2 schools here. they will PROBABLY come out cheapest in the end, but not by much.

Also looking at:
-a PA state school in that large system that has very reasonable tuition even for OOS and even better if your kid has a 3.0 or above. they come within $5K per year of VA schools
-a NJ state school that offers a tuition break to OOS students with a 3.0 or above. Same as above price wise
-a couple privates with merit awards that will bring the price to within a few thousand per year of the VA publics.

Some schools aren't as transparent with the costs and scholarships available. So, I also have a RI state school, a NC state school, an IL state school, a NY state school, a NC private and a VA private on our list that aren't CRAZY expensive to start, but we'd definitely need scholarship money and the info isn't 100% clear at the moment. Based on what I've HEARD about these schools, I think they will be similar to the above.

I have looked very closely at all of these schools for the specific program offered AND the costs.

There are a couple other schools I have recently removed from the list for various reasons that were state schools in other states (MA, OH, WI and NM) offering discounts to OOS students with a certain GPA level.

Would you be willing to share the schools you're looking at? It sounds like many of us are in the same boat!

OK, I will share, but remember, I am looking for a dance program for a kid who is NOT the best student:

VA in state options: Radford and ODU
PA public: Slippery Rock
NJ public: Stockton
Privates with good aid listed on website: Rider (NJ) and Springfield (MA)

RI public: Rhode island College
NC public: UNC-Greensboro
NC private: Meredith (women's college)
NY public: SUNY-Fredonia
IL public: Illinois State
VA private: Shenandoah

Forgot about a random NH public that is a possibility: Plymouth State

Schools I have removed for various reasons: Akron (OH), Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Univ of New Mexico and Bridgewater State (MA).

If you want to look west, a couple of the Cal State campuses are pretty reasonable. There was a very random one that I ran the numbers past a CA friend of mine and she was very surprised at how "cheap" it was. It was what used to be Humboldt State (just changed to a CalPoly campus). There was a CO public that has breaks for oos students above 2.5 - CO Mesa (I am not going to pursue that one because it is VERY remote and also has a reputation for being crazy conservative and has problems with LGBTQ and minority hate speech)

Frostburg and Salisbury in MD both have tuition discount programs within a certain mileage radius

I am fully aware this list is very, very strange to most.

This is the PP who asked if you’d be willing to share your list - thank you! This is very helpful!

You are very welcome. I started with an industry based college guide that I could search by state. It was a labor of love for several months. My daughter likes dance, but she isn’t good enough for the top schools/programs. And her grades are not great. She has already been to 3 of the schools and we have plans to visit more of them in the next year. It pretty much put MY mind at ease that she has some options and I know she would never do this research on her own with her ADHD. She isn’t planning to dance for a living-teaching on the side and MAYBE opening her own studio at some point?

I was checking the financials (including merit and talent scholarships), campuses (what they look like as well as ease of getting there), the niche pages for an idea of student acceptances for students at her level and whether a big negative pops up on the comments and of course looking at the mix of classes required for the major at that school. I actually dropped a few and moved others up the priority list based on whether they have a decent amount of classes/time spent on jazz (which I only recently discovered was her favorite dance type)

I do hope that some people are able to use the work I put in or at least learn from how I went about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:not necessarily

we are in VA and have basically narrowed down to 2 schools here. they will PROBABLY come out cheapest in the end, but not by much.

Also looking at:
-a PA state school in that large system that has very reasonable tuition even for OOS and even better if your kid has a 3.0 or above. they come within $5K per year of VA schools
-a NJ state school that offers a tuition break to OOS students with a 3.0 or above. Same as above price wise
-a couple privates with merit awards that will bring the price to within a few thousand per year of the VA publics.

Some schools aren't as transparent with the costs and scholarships available. So, I also have a RI state school, a NC state school, an IL state school, a NY state school, a NC private and a VA private on our list that aren't CRAZY expensive to start, but we'd definitely need scholarship money and the info isn't 100% clear at the moment. Based on what I've HEARD about these schools, I think they will be similar to the above.

I have looked very closely at all of these schools for the specific program offered AND the costs.

There are a couple other schools I have recently removed from the list for various reasons that were state schools in other states (MA, OH, WI and NM) offering discounts to OOS students with a certain GPA level.

Would you be willing to share the schools you're looking at? It sounds like many of us are in the same boat!

OK, I will share, but remember, I am looking for a dance program for a kid who is NOT the best student:

VA in state options: Radford and ODU
PA public: Slippery Rock
NJ public: Stockton
Privates with good aid listed on website: Rider (NJ) and Springfield (MA)

RI public: Rhode island College
NC public: UNC-Greensboro
NC private: Meredith (women's college)
NY public: SUNY-Fredonia
IL public: Illinois State
VA private: Shenandoah

Forgot about a random NH public that is a possibility: Plymouth State

Schools I have removed for various reasons: Akron (OH), Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Univ of New Mexico and Bridgewater State (MA).

If you want to look west, a couple of the Cal State campuses are pretty reasonable. There was a very random one that I ran the numbers past a CA friend of mine and she was very surprised at how "cheap" it was. It was what used to be Humboldt State (just changed to a CalPoly campus). There was a CO public that has breaks for oos students above 2.5 - CO Mesa (I am not going to pursue that one because it is VERY remote and also has a reputation for being crazy conservative and has problems with LGBTQ and minority hate speech)

Frostburg and Salisbury in MD both have tuition discount programs within a certain mileage radius

I am fully aware this list is very, very strange to most.

Check on whether or not an OOS can get into a Cal State (not talking about the UC system). My info is stale but when we looked into Cal State Fullerton because it had an animation program that fed into Disney, the AO told my DH that it would be near impossible for a Virginian to get in. The Csl States were for Californians. There is also a strict residency program for use of their community colleges. But check that

Different schools have different requirements. I think to apply out of state to ANY of the Cal State schools, you have to have a 3.0 minimum. Then there are minimum curriculum requirements, which I hadn’t even looked that seriously at because California is sooo far from home.

That said, the one I was most interested in was San Jose State, but Fullerton and Sacramento also have decent programs. But oos for any of the California publics is quite complicated.

I honestly only keep going back because of the Dobbs case nightmare that SCOTUS caused. I’m not even sure VA will be safe for female students in 2 years

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know... my kid is going to college for less than $30k per year (full pay, including room/board); VA, small liberal arts public university.

If her HS grades had been better, it would be even less... could have been closer to $20k including everything.

I'd say that's reasonable.

Longwood, CNU or Mary Washington?

Yes. In fact, one semester is about $12k, all in. So, we're looking at $24k per year including room and board. And that does include $3k merit scholarship for having a 3.0+ gpa (but not a 3.5 --- that would have been a bigger scholarship).

You didn’t say which one

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some OOS publics offer generous aid that will bring the costs down to in-state. Check out Miami U in OH.

There are also specific scholarships at certain universities like National Merit scholarships or for students with equivalent standardized test scores and/or GPAs that may bring tuition down to in-state, cover tuition, or cover tuition + room & board. In past years, schools like Alabama and ASU had programs like this, though this may have changed somewhat.

The OP made clear that she/he was talking about "an average student." Such a student would most definitely NOT qualify for a National Merit scholarship or any other kind of scholarship that requires high academic achievement/test scores.

Whoops, my bad, maybe I was thinking of "DCUM average" lol, just kidding. Yeah, I missed that part. In that case, I would probably stick with in-state or OOS state system schools.

[Anonymous]

My child could get into WVU

But no way in hell she wants to attend WVU

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know... my kid is going to college for less than $30k per year (full pay, including room/board); VA, small liberal arts public university.

If her HS grades had been better, it would be even less... could have been closer to $20k including everything.

I'd say that's reasonable.

Longwood, CNU or Mary Washington?

Yes. In fact, one semester is about $12k, all in. So, we're looking at $24k per year including room and board. And that does include $3k merit scholarship for having a 3.0+ gpa (but not a 3.5 --- that would have been a bigger scholarship).

Different poster, just paid CNU tuition of $12,800 for the first semester. No merit or FA but that’s still pretty cheap.

You didn’t say which one

[Anonymous]

To the mom of the dance student … you’ve done your research and then some. I’m impressed!
I’m sure it will all work out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:U of Utah students can qualify for instate tuition in the second year. As a result, the school doesn’t give out much merit aid OOS for Freshmen.

How does this work? It looks like you’d have to live there through the summers.

[Anonymous]

Oh Op ... Ttere are a zillion threads here on DCUM and College Confidential about Merit Aid. Learn something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:U of Utah students can qualify for instate tuition in the second year. As a result, the school doesn’t give out much merit aid OOS for Freshmen.

How does this work? It looks like you’d have to live there through the summers.

That’s possible but it would be worth it to get a local internship or take summer school to qualify.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some OOS publics offer generous aid that will bring the costs down to in-state. Check out Miami U in OH.

There are also specific scholarships at certain universities like National Merit scholarships or for students with equivalent standardized test scores and/or GPAs that may bring tuition down to in-state, cover tuition, or cover tuition + room & board. In past years, schools like Alabama and ASU had programs like this, though this may have changed somewhat.

The OP made clear that she/he was talking about "an average student." Such a student would most definitely NOT qualify for a National Merit scholarship or any other kind of scholarship that requires high academic achievement/test scores.

Why would a NMS kids want to go to Alabama/ASU to save money instead of instate flagship

Because Alabama/ASU may cost less than the instate flagship and provide a great education. It's not complicated.

Do you actually know of any NMS going to Alabama/ASU? None of them would even apply.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some OOS publics offer generous aid that will bring the costs down to in-state. Check out Miami U in OH.

There are also specific scholarships at certain universities like National Merit scholarships or for students with equivalent standardized test scores and/or GPAs that may bring tuition down to in-state, cover tuition, or cover tuition + room & board. In past years, schools like Alabama and ASU had programs like this, though this may have changed somewhat.

The OP made clear that she/he was talking about "an average student." Such a student would most definitely NOT qualify for a National Merit scholarship or any other kind of scholarship that requires high academic achievement/test scores.

Why would a NMS kids want to go to Alabama/ASU to save money instead of instate flagship

Because Alabama/ASU may cost less than the instate flagship and provide a great education. It's not complicated.

Do you actually know of any NMS going to Alabama/ASU? None of them would even apply.

There was a NMS girl who blew up on TikTok whose best school was ASU, so, yeah I guess I do know of someone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some OOS publics offer generous aid that will bring the costs down to in-state. Check out Miami U in OH.

There are also specific scholarships at certain universities like National Merit scholarships or for students with equivalent standardized test scores and/or GPAs that may bring tuition down to in-state, cover tuition, or cover tuition + room & board. In past years, schools like Alabama and ASU had programs like this, though this may have changed somewhat.

The OP made clear that she/he was talking about "an average student." Such a student would most definitely NOT qualify for a National Merit scholarship or any other kind of scholarship that requires high academic achievement/test scores.

Why would a NMS kids want to go to Alabama/ASU to save money instead of instate flagship

Because Alabama/ASU may cost less than the instate flagship and provide a great education. It's not complicated.

Do you actually know of any NMS going to Alabama/ASU? None of them would even apply.

Someone from the Blair magnet/NMF went to Alabama recently and loves it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the mom of the dance student … you’ve done your research and then some. I’m impressed!
I’m sure it will all work out.

Thank you for your kind words my mom is so amused as she noted I’ve done more work for my daughter than I ever did for myself. That said, our research options in the early 90s were much more limited than they are now. I basically got mailers (bags and bags full!) and had the best colleges book. I basically had my choice of just about anywhere. My child is not a great student and of course we aren’t made of money-hence, research

[Anonymous]

I apparently am also a fan of the word basically this morning - haha