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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]How is this even a question? For Virginians UVA is $16,776 for tuition (DD lived off campus last year).  Northwestern is $80K plus travel from Virginia.  We banked the difference and can now send DD to Oxford on the difference.  Yes, OOS is much closer in cost but the smaller size makes UVA the pick unless there is some program at Northwestern that is particularly compelling. The comments about UVA being Southern are absurd.  It's as sophisticated as D.C./NOVA/Bethesda.  People gripe about UVA because they are envious.  MD doesn't have as good a selection of higher ED as Virginians.  Same for D.C.  Many Virginians pay for years and are discouraged by their high school college counselors (as we were, correctly, about one child) about even applying because it is so difficult to get into.  So the bulk of NOVA Virginians are unhappy because either their child didn't even bother to apply because there was no point; applied and didn't get in; they, themselves, applied and didn't get in, and had to go somewhere much more expensive.

The real question you should be asking is "can my child get into UVA".  There are only 4,500 slots.  UVA has already seen a record 32,000 ED/EA applications. Last year the total was 41,000.  This year the total will be much more due to families' financial situations impacted by COVID.  SCHEV reports the enrolled students for 2020/21 had a 75th percentile SAT of 1490.  ACT of 34 and GPA of 4.48.  On top of that, students in VA are competing against the other applicants from their own high schools.  You need to be at least in the top 10 percent of your high school class if not hooked.  It's not like UCLA or Michigan where the flagships are enormous universities - which is IMHO a good thing, but makes getting in all the more difficult.

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[b]OP specifically mentioned that cost is not an issue since it would come out as roughly the same between the two as OOS. You also have to realize that although the sticker price is $80,000, wealthy private schools like Northwestern often offer generous financial aid, which ends up leveling a lot of the cost.

Source: DC is a student at Northwestern and it ended up being her cheapest option. She didn't apply to UVA, but it was cheaper than even in-state UMD, as well as every other private school she applied to.[/quote][/b]

1) Yes, OP said that BUT 3,337 people have read this page and they need to know the basic financial facts which no one stated for pages and pages.  A lot of parents on here are new to the college admissions process and are just beginning to understand what in-state and OOS means and what options are available to them in-state.  Almost weekly a parent comes into this forum announcing "we just found out the SLAC DD wants to go to is more than we can afford - where can we get aid?" - It doesn't work that way.  You have to plan this out before looking at colleges to figure out what your family can afford, preferably not in the junior year of high school.  There was a post here a year ago from a parent who said "OMG my daughter got in to Northwestern - there is no way we can afford $76,000 a year.  What do we do?"  That's too late.  The parents have dangled a carrot in front of the child.

2) Every single college and university claims they give "generous financial aid" but you first have to QUALIFY for it, which means filling out the FAFSA and/or CSS and THEN LEARN after the fact - as most parents on these pages do - that they make far too much money to qualify for financial aid.  We didn't qualify for a drop.  Some readers don't even understand the difference between financial aid and merit aid.  You make it sound like everyone who applies to NU will get financial help.  We sure wouldn't and we did need it.  Saying a school offers "generous financial aid" means zero to applicants.  Most universities won't even talk to you about financial options until you've filed the FAFSA.  I'm glad you got aid but most affluent DC families don't qualify and many discover that too late.

3) families like us who need financial aid but don't qualify are called "donut hole families" and usually go in-state.  In-state schools usually don't offer merit because tuition is already discounted.  The only merit aid offers my DCs got were from institutions who had bought the ACT lists and were soliciting a merit scholarship of $26,000 in exchange for a high ACT or SAT.  But these are second and third-tier schools that are fighting their way up the USN&WR ranks and are willing to pay for GPA and scores. However, when you subtract $26K from $80K you are still paying $54,000 in after-tax dollars (meaning you have to make $75K plus to pay the $54K), which is much more than any in-state school, and often not a good deal if it means your child is attending a second or third-tier school.  I'm glad it worked for you but it won't work for most D.C. families.

4) my own SLAC makes that brag about a huge percentage of students receiving financial aid, but what they don't tell you is that they are including the $5500 that every student can obtain if they file the FAFSA.  Most families file the FAFSA in order to get that - so that means a school can say "75% of our students receive some sort of financial aid".  Note that the school isn't offering it, it's the U.S. Dept of Education.  And $5500 is a drop in the bucket against $80K a year.[/quote]

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