How Should We Think About College Savings?

[studbucket]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bltkmt My 17yr old son just scored 32 on his ACTs, but his GPA is only 3.2ish. The above posts are making me hopeful that he will get some sort merit of aid offered.

I hope it works out! I attended the University of Iowa starting in 2004, got a 32 ACT and had a 3.987 GPA: I got $500 from the governor and managed to make the top 100 for the UIowa presidential scholarship. So I really got nothing but a pat on the back.

Hopefully your son gets more, but of all the merit-based scholarships I found while on campus, only 3 of them weren't for minorities or females, for which there were tens. As Ben Folds once said "Y'all don't know what it's like being male, middle class, and white".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34u_3Z9_LUw

(Not asking for pity at all, I'm thrilled with my college experience, but I think the scholarship system is broken (based on scholarships I got my Senior year that were completely un-needed))

[Mulligan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by studbucket I hope it works out! I attended the University of Iowa starting in 2004, got a 32 ACT and had a 3.987 GPA: I got $500 from the governor and managed to make the top 100 for the UIowa presidential scholarship. So I really got nothing but a pat on the back. Hopefully your son gets more, but of all the merit-based scholarships I found while on campus, only 3 of them weren't for minorities or females, for which there were tens. As Ben Folds once said "Y'all don't know what it's like being male, middle class, and white". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34u_3Z9_LUw (Not asking for pity at all, I'm thrilled with my college experience, but I think the scholarship system is broken (based on scholarships I got my Senior year that were completely un-needed))

University of Iowa still appears to tight with the merit based scholarship money. University of Mo offers full 4 year ride including room and board and books with a 33 ACT renewable with a modest 3.25 GPA for instate students. I attended a northern Mo university back in the 80s and about half my fraternity was from Iowa. They said it was cheaper to pay out of state double tuition, than it was to attend an instate college.

[studbucket]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mulligan University of Iowa still appears to tight with the merit based scholarship money. University of Mo offers full 4 year ride including room and board and books with a 33 ACT renewable with a modest 3.25 GPA for instate students. I attended a northern Mo university back in the 80s and about half my fraternity was from Iowa. They said it was cheaper to pay out of state double tuition, than it was to attend an instate college.

Funny, that's what all the students from Illinois say when they attend Iowa (Chicago makes up 40-50% of the campus).

[Mulligan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by studbucket Funny, that's what all the students from Illinois say when they attend Iowa (Chicago makes up 40-50% of the campus).

Times have changed from the 80s, Im sure. The mentality used to be to "sock it to the out of staters". Some colleges due to funding issues are looking to recruit the out of state populations and are offering better deals than back in the old days. Illinois must have higher costs as I read recently that some MO colleges are going after Ill. students, too.

[Bestwifeever]

A lot of public Midwest universities offer reduced tuitions to out-of-state residents from other Midwest states because of this: MHEC : Student Access: Midwest Student Exchange Program (1)

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Is the MSEP a scholarship program? The MSEP is not a scholarship, but a tuition reduction program. What is the Midwest Student Exchange Program? The Midwest Student Exchange Program, or MSEP, is a multi-state tuition reciprocity program. Through the MSEP, public institutions agree to charge students no more than 150% of the in-state resident tuition rate for specific programs; private institutions offer a 10% reduction on their tuition rates. Which states participate? Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, or Wisconsin.

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mulligan Some colleges due to funding issues are looking to recruit the out of state populations and are offering better deals than back in the old days.

I think the colleges are also trying to diversify their student population. The competition among local NYC residents for local NYC colleges can be vicious, and every USNA wannabe knows that the application process is greatly complicated by being a resident of DC, Maryland, or Virginia.

Judging from the snail mail we used to get a few years ago, all those Mainland colleges were backflipping through fire hoops to recruit a surfer grrrl from Ha-why-uh.