Does it kind of suck to be an out of state student?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, you can see what percentage of students are OOS by looking at each school's Common Data Set, or a guide like Princeton Review or Fiske. This will at least give you a feel for how local the population is likely to be. Some resources will also tell you what percentage live on campus, too, which is another great way to get an idea what the social scene will be like.

Unfortunately, at most state schools the percentage of OOS students is under 20% (in California, it's under 10!), and the % of upper classmen who live on campus is very low, too. The % for freshmen on campus is often very high, though.

Why is this "unfortunate"?

It's unfortunate for the OOS student who cares about those sorts of things, which seems to be the point of this discussion. It's often great for those in-state students who like being able to see friends outside the school year, too.

[Anonymous]

Not a problem at Pitt.

[Anonymous]

State schools are generally there to support in state students. Some states have lower percentages of out of state students than others.

I don't fault CA in the least. Their in state tuition for UCs isn't cheap even for in staters.

Even the lower tier state schools in VA are in the $25-30K range these days all in (if you live on campus)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which public university is worth it for an OOS student to attend? There are so many other options for smaller schools, more geographic diversity, etc.

Michigan and Virginia.

UC berkeley, wisconsin, etc.

Also, not everyone wants a smaller school. I know I didn't.

[Anonymous]

UC berkeley is about 75,000 a year for OOS students (plus travel if you live on the east coast).

[Anonymous]

It is a growth opportunity to be OOS but also harder, for sure, so could end up being worse depending how kid is able to navigate. But look for the positives that it is opening eyes to a different part of country and sometimes different culture.

[Anonymous]

We are in MD. If my kid was going to Florida for college it would suck even more now. And no way to evacuate? Yikes.

[Anonymous]

Do you value independence and confidence? Then, you should feel ok about them attending out of state. I wouldn't recommend if the school has an extremely low out-of-state enrollment. Compare it to other OOS publics, especially flagships.

[Anonymous]

My freshman is at an OOS private SLAC. They have very few students from the state. Lots of kids from the coasts and major cities. My guess is that the state with the most kids there is California. My own college was similar, and it's something I valued about this school when he was choosing. We are a URM family and an international family. It's important for us to be in communities with others who value those things and aren't hostile toward them. Going to a public Southern or Midwestern school was off the table.

[Anonymous]

My DD is OOS for Michigan. We're from NY. Her current housemates/friend group is from Michigan, Colorado, California, Chicago, Boston, Minnesota and NY.

Not a problem at Michigan. It has large OOS population and the Michigan kids don't all stick together and exclude OOS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. For those saying kids should want to get out of their own bubble, that’s exactly why my kid wants to go to a flagship in another state BUT we keep hearing that what ends up happening, unfortunately, is that people end up sorting by their home regions anyway.

We’ve heard Wisconsin is like this too where there are the NY and northeast dorms and mini social scenes. Some of the OOS kids probably want to mix it up with more students from Wisconsin but it’s more difficult than you’d think.

Wisconsin is definitely like this, but, as a Wisconsinite, it's not the locals making it difficult. The "coastie" kids come from NY/NJ/DC, live in their own private dorms because the public ones aren't good enough for them, and therefore self-segregate. There's also the issue that they have a lot more money than the Wisconsin kids -- so they wear better clothes, have nice cars, and just are in a completely different socioeconomic strata than your average in-state kid. They only hang out with themselves, join their own frats/sororities, go to separate bars than others, and generally look down at the "Sconnie" kids with disdain. So yes, there was, at least when I was in college there 12+ years ago, a big divide--- maybe it's changed since then.

That said, I did make friends with a few East and West Coast kids -- but they were the ones who lived in the university dorms like the rest of us. They still had loads more money than most Wisconsin kids, but personality-wise, they were very different from the other OOS kids.

This sounds kind of awful. I wonder if MI is the same way, as the difference between in-state and OOS tuition alone is like $40K.

It was when I went there in the ‘90s. Though it was more like NY/NJ and some other random kids and everyone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. For those saying kids should want to get out of their own bubble, that’s exactly why my kid wants to go to a flagship in another state BUT we keep hearing that what ends up happening, unfortunately, is that people end up sorting by their home regions anyway.

We’ve heard Wisconsin is like this too where there are the NY and northeast dorms and mini social scenes. Some of the OOS kids probably want to mix it up with more students from Wisconsin but it’s more difficult than you’d think.

Wisconsin is definitely like this, but, as a Wisconsinite, it's not the locals making it difficult. The "coastie" kids come from NY/NJ/DC, live in their own private dorms because the public ones aren't good enough for them, and therefore self-segregate. There's also the issue that they have a lot more money than the Wisconsin kids -- so they wear better clothes, have nice cars, and just are in a completely different socioeconomic strata than your average in-state kid. They only hang out with themselves, join their own frats/sororities, go to separate bars than others, and generally look down at the "Sconnie" kids with disdain. So yes, there was, at least when I was in college there 12+ years ago, a big divide--- maybe it's changed since then.

That said, I did make friends with a few East and West Coast kids -- but they were the ones who lived in the university dorms like the rest of us. They still had loads more money than most Wisconsin kids, but personality-wise, they were very different from the other OOS kids.

My son has a friend from DC who recently graduated from Wisconsin. My son's friend is from a UMC family (one parent is a doctor), and he attended St. Alban's. At Wisconsin, he liked how there was not a lot to spend money on, and a lot of the kids there were very frugal. So he worked part-time and saved a lot of money during his college years there.

[Anonymous]

I was a New Yorker who went to Texas A&M. I actually enjoyed being a "fish out of water" for once and embraced Texas culture and food. I think everyone should live away from the area in which they were born for a little while.

[Anonymous]

I went to Chapel Hill OOS and knew 2 people when I started. I had no problems making friends and LOVED IT! It is 82% in state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve heard UConn can feel like a suitcase school since the state is so small no in-state students live far away.

I’ve heard UDel is like that too

Delaware is 64% out of state. You'll be fine there.

Agree, my kid is at UDel from out of state and has had no problem.