TomServo

I understand what makes somebody in Iowa or Wisconsin choose Stanford, Cornell, MIT, Ga.Tech, etc., but what made you choose less-famous out-of-state schools? What makes somebody in Alaska go "OSU, that's the school for me," or somebody in New York say "Eastern Kentucky University, here I come!" Not that I'm knocking out-of-state schools, I'm just curious. Sure there were schools at least as good somewhere closer to home. So what motivates your choices?

noimagination

I live in Alaska. Isn't that a good enough reason?

mom2collegekids

I live in Alabama. Many OOS kids come here because Bama will give great scholarships for kids with high ACT/SATs and/or NMFs. For those kids, going to Bama is cheaper than going to their instate schools. For some, they can't afford college without getting a big scholarship.

schrizto

I went to Pitt as a NJ resident because Pitt gave me full tuition. Rutgers would have ended up cheaper but Pitt was the better fit overall.

kvilledeac

In NC several of my friends chose to go to VT because a parent/relative went there. I think that's pretty common.

mom2collegekids

When I hear that good in-state students will be paying $30k per year to go to UIUC, it doesn't surprise me to hear that other states can entice those kids into their own flagships by awarding scholarships that will bring their out-of-pocket expenses to about $12k-15k per year.