Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The cost of living is significantly lower in red states. Lower salaries, lower construction costs, lower HVAC bills, etc. That accounts for pretty much all of the discrepancy.

+1 CA UC schools are pricey now due to the col. It's not because FL prioritizes higher ed more than CA. That's funny.

Really? Florida’s cost of living is totally average, yet in state tuition at UF and FSU runs around $5-6k/year. And I’m sure the HVAC bills there are through the roof

Np I think you all are missing it. Nearly everyone at Florida or Georgia schools gets free tuition from the state. The instate price isn’t what people pay

Gotta love that socialism

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The cost of living is significantly lower in red states. Lower salaries, lower construction costs, lower HVAC bills, etc. That accounts for pretty much all of the discrepancy.

+1 CA UC schools are pricey now due to the col. It's not because FL prioritizes higher ed more than CA. That's funny.

Really? Florida’s cost of living is totally average, yet in state tuition at UF and FSU runs around $5-6k/year. And I’m sure the HVAC bills there are through the roof

Np I think you all are missing it. Nearly everyone at Florida or Georgia schools gets free tuition from the state. The instate price isn’t what people pay

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The cost of living is significantly lower in red states. Lower salaries, lower construction costs, lower HVAC bills, etc. That accounts for pretty much all of the discrepancy.

+1 CA UC schools are pricey now due to the col. It's not because FL prioritizes higher ed more than CA. That's funny.

Really? Florida’s cost of living is totally average, yet in state tuition at UF and FSU runs around $5-6k/year. And I’m sure the HVAC bills there are through the roof

The COL in Gainesville and Tallahassee is much, much lower than any city in CA. Are you nuts?

How are you so sure the tuition difference can be attributed to COL alone? There are plenty of midwestern state schools in cheap towns with significantly higher tuition than FL schools (although they’re still a bargain). Plus, FL schools in larger cities are similarly dirt cheap. The prior governor also eliminated automatic tuition increases and the FL state leg hasn’t increased tuition in like a decade. CA raised state school tuition pretty dramatically fairly recently to deal with budget cuts and shortfalls. This is an area where the state government’s priorities and budget really have an impact.

The answer is pretty simple — whether you’re talking sticker price or the discounted price that most students pay after guaranteed merit scholarships, the lower cost is because the state legislatures have prioritized funding for their university system. Texas is a bit of an anomaly because of their huge endowment, but the use of that money is generally limited to things like capital improvements, so it has only an indirect impact on tuition.

The other factor that hasn’t been discussed is that these states are also pouring money into the non-flagship campuses in the systems. Because the competition for the flagships has gotten so fierce, the states have focused on making the other campuses more attractive. The University of Central Florida has over 70,000 students and is (or is close to being) the largest university in the US (and is no longer the safety commuter school it once was).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The cost of living is significantly lower in red states. Lower salaries, lower construction costs, lower HVAC bills, etc. That accounts for pretty much all of the discrepancy.

+1 CA UC schools are pricey now due to the col. It's not because FL prioritizes higher ed more than CA. That's funny.

Really? Florida’s cost of living is totally average, yet in state tuition at UF and FSU runs around $5-6k/year. And I’m sure the HVAC bills there are through the roof

The COL in Gainesville and Tallahassee is much, much lower than any city in CA. Are you nuts?

How are you so sure the tuition difference can be attributed to COL alone? There are plenty of midwestern state schools in cheap towns with significantly higher tuition than FL schools (although they’re still a bargain). Plus, FL schools in larger cities are similarly dirt cheap. The prior governor also eliminated automatic tuition increases and the FL state leg hasn’t increased tuition in like a decade. CA raised state school tuition pretty dramatically fairly recently to deal with budget cuts and shortfalls. This is an area where the state government’s priorities and budget really have an impact.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The cost of living is significantly lower in red states. Lower salaries, lower construction costs, lower HVAC bills, etc. That accounts for pretty much all of the discrepancy.

+1 CA UC schools are pricey now due to the col. It's not because FL prioritizes higher ed more than CA. That's funny.

Really? Florida’s cost of living is totally average, yet in state tuition at UF and FSU runs around $5-6k/year. And I’m sure the HVAC bills there are through the roof

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The cost of living is significantly lower in red states. Lower salaries, lower construction costs, lower HVAC bills, etc. That accounts for pretty much all of the discrepancy.

+1 CA UC schools are pricey now due to the col. It's not because FL prioritizes higher ed more than CA. That's funny.

Really? Florida’s cost of living is totally average, yet in state tuition at UF and FSU runs around $5-6k/year. And I’m sure the HVAC bills there are through the roof

The COL in Gainesville and Tallahassee is much, much lower than any city in CA. Are you nuts?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The cost of living is significantly lower in red states. Lower salaries, lower construction costs, lower HVAC bills, etc. That accounts for pretty much all of the discrepancy.

+1 CA UC schools are pricey now due to the col. It's not because FL prioritizes higher ed more than CA. That's funny.

Really? Florida’s cost of living is totally average, yet in state tuition at UF and FSU runs around $5-6k/year. And I’m sure the HVAC bills there are through the roof

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The cost of living is significantly lower in red states. Lower salaries, lower construction costs, lower HVAC bills, etc. That accounts for pretty much all of the discrepancy.

+1 CA UC schools are pricey now due to the col. It's not because FL prioritizes higher ed more than CA. That's funny.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They aren’t. Colleges in red and blue states have a similar price tags. But, smaller colleges cost more than huge colleges.



Numbers below are instate, 2020-2021 SY. U of Florida is cheap at $6032. But besides that, there is little to no tuition difference between Similarly sized schools in red and blue states.

Virginia:

VT. $14,124
JMU $12, 638
ODU $10,800
VCU $15,319
CNU $14,024
UMW $13,800

Vs:

Red States

Clemson: $15,558
U of S. Carolina $12,688
UGA $12,068
GT $12,852
UT $13,244
UAB $11,620
Ole Miss, $9028
U LA $11,958
Auburn $11,826
U Indiana $11,333

Vs

Blue States

U Wisconsin $10,720
U of M, just over $15,000
UMD $10,955
U Washington $12,076
UC Bolder $12,496

The NE State schools are more like 15k-16k. But like UVA and WM, they are much smaller. U Delaware $15,020, but only 18k undergrad students, about the same size as UVA. In comparison WM is 6500 undergrad and UGA 30k undergrad.

You’re ignoring very generous merit aid programs. For example, FL, GA, & AL all guarantee merit scholarships to any in state student with good grades. Any student in GA with a 3.0 gpa is eligible for the Hope Scholarship. Any GA student with a 3.7 gpa is eligible for the Zell Miller Scholarship, which is full tuition. I have a relative, who was a good student, but not “perfect” and would have been full pay at my other school, attending Georgia Tech for the cost of room and board. It’s an amazing deal. AL & FL are similar. I’m not aware of any similar program in Virginia.

The "blue state" state schools like UW, UWisc, UMich, UMD do NOT need to give merit to attract instate students. Getting into all of those schools in-state is extremely difficult, especially for engineering/CS, even with high scores/gpa.