<p>What if your child wants to study a certain program that not one of the universities in our state has? Is it still a “whim” to go out of state then?</p>
<p>@ ArkansasDad,</p>
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<p>That’s when you check whether your state’s public college system has reciprocity agmts w other states. Arkansas is part of the Southern Regional Education Board of the Academic Common Market:
<a href=“Academic Common Market - Southern Regional Education Board”>Academic Common Market - Southern Regional Education Board;
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<p>I am not sure why the policy exists as it does. On its face, a large portion is illogical. For example, I know someone who lived in one state for 10 yrs. They moved to moved to a neighboring state but did not sell their house in the other state. However, the new state was now their state of primary residence. They moved during their dd’s 12th grade yr. When she applied to their original state’s schools, they thought she would be able to apply as an instate student. No. That state’s schools were adamant that she was OOS b/c their primary residence was OOS. The new would not consider them instate bc they had not been there 12 months. They were left with no instate options.</p>
<p>I think that scenario is ridiculous. They lived in that state for 10 yrs and were still paying taxes on their home they owned. Someone could move and live there for 12 months and be instate. </p>
<p>We could have faced a similar situation with our last move yr b/c our dd was a college freshman. Thankfully this state allows instate tuition if you can demonstrate that you did not move for college reasons and can prove the relocation was due to employment. Residency is effective as soon as you can demonstrate a permanent address.</p>
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<p>As soon as you are no longer a voter in that state, you are irrelevant whether you pay taxes or not.</p>
<p>The shrinking pot of government financial support is the root of all the consternation regarding resident and non-resident tuition. And of course, politicians muddle any reasonable solution to the problems they created. So the schools are turning to larger and larger numbers of non-resident admittees to pay full freight. But it should be no surprise that someone had the bright idea to help applicants navigate the rules, for a fee. That’s the circumstance in any number of situations where there is a benefit that you have to qualify for. Why do you think there are expensive immigration lawyers? Technically, the government doesn’t require a lawyer to file the paperwork etc. But of course immigration law (for those applicants who do follow the rules) has provided a lucrative cottage industry for “consultants or advisers” for generations.</p>
<p>I am aware of the program you mentioned, and my child is interested in atmospheric science. There is only a handful of programs that are actually part of the agreement with Arkansas. The University of Oklahoma, while technically part of the geographic footprint, does not participate. We live in a border county to Missouri, but none of the Missouri schools will grant reduced tuition to Arkansas residents, even though we live closer to many of their schools than our own state schools. We are considering Louisiana Monroe, completely because of their scholarship offers and the reduced tuition aspect. But it is hardly our dream school.</p>
<p>This is not a “woe is me” post, but some of the people in this thread were quite flippant about the problem and seem to assume that the rest of the country resembles their state or regional situation and that people should just go to their state schools and stop complaining. It’s not that simple for some of us though.</p>
<p>@Arkansas,
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<p>I commiserate. We are American expats w no state of residence. Everything is OOS for us. </p>
<p>What about the merit-aid private schools? Do any of them have atmospheric science programs?<br>
<a href=“http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-private-colleges/”>http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-private-colleges/</a>
Good luck</p>
<p>Not everyone is getting away with it:</p>
<p><a href=“http://m.ajc.com/news/news/state-regional/police-accuse-man-of-faking-residency-for-daughter/ngfpx/”>http://m.ajc.com/news/news/state-regional/police-accuse-man-of-faking-residency-for-daughter/ngfpx/</a></p>
<p>It seems to me Arkansas has done pretty well to cover your situation, ArkansasDad. U of Arkansas offers Earth Science, which can include a number of atmosphere/weather electives, and then your state has the ACM agreement that allows study in Atmospheric Science at multiple OOS universities.</p>
<p>Earth science, while in the general science area of which you speak, is not the degree she wants to get. The catalogue has 3 courses pertaining to anything regarding meteorology and are designed to be merely supplementary to the geology and other type courses.</p>
<p>And one would argue that the 3 universities that participate in that reciprocity agreement are not the strongest in that major, compared to many other universities that offer that program that are in the agreement region but choose not to participate, of which Oklahoma is the most obvious, followed by Florida State, NC State, Virginia Tech, Louisville, Texas A&M, UNC Asheville, UNC Charlotte, East Carolina, Western Kentucky, South Alabama. Oklahoma and Florida State participate, but only at the graduate level. Not to be a snob, but Alabama-Huntsville, Jackson State and Louisiana Monroe are the only ones participating.</p>
<p>Once again, it is the reality and we will deal with it. To their credit, A&M and Florida State do have programs to reduce out of state tuition if the student receives one of their academic scholarships. </p>
<p>Sorry if I don’t feel that Arkansas has covered it pretty well. They have done a few things with the reciprocity agreement, it is just unfortunate that some of the more developed programs have chosen to not participate. But I don’t think it is up to each state to provide every program or major that exists. Each state and the colleges it supports have to decide where to put their focus and money, and it didn’t serve our child and situation in this case. Unfortunately Arkansas is not part of the Midwestern reciprocity area, because tons of the Midwestern schools give in state tuition to places like Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, etc.</p>
<p>^Actually no Iowa schools are part of the Midwest Student Exchange. I know because I have looked. But I do feel for your situation.</p>
<p><a href=“http://msep.mhec.org”>http://msep.mhec.org</a></p>
<p>Does anyone know if PA is part of any group?</p>
<p>Seems for PA residents, we have the worst cost for IS, and have no reprocity group to work with. </p>
<p>Besides Ohio State, what other OOS options would compare price wise?</p>
<p>PA is not part of any exchange group. Our flagship and Pitt are among the most expensive schools for in-state students in the US. Temple offers some great merit scholarships, but aside from that, the only reasonably priced public options are the PASSHE schools. If you can afford the full cost of Penn State and Pitt and are looking for OOS alternatives in the same general price range, check out this thread for some possibilities:</p>
<p><a href=“Automatic Out-of-State Tuition Waivers - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>Automatic Out-of-State Tuition Waivers - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums;
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FYI, to check for other states:
<a href=“State & Regional College Tuition Discounts”>http://www.nasfaa.org/students/State___Regional_College_Tuition_Discounts.aspx</a></p>
<p>You can also google: <<state>> college reciprosity</state></p>
<p>Good point Sally. I had seen so many states surrounding Iowa on the Midwestern Exchange, including Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, that I forgot that Iowa was not a participant. Also, when I double checked my info about the meteorology programs in the South, I forgot that North Carolina had pulled out o the program in 2011, so the Carolina schools I quoted wouldn’t be part o the system any more anyway. It seems as budgets get tighter, these type of agreements are becoming more scarce.</p>
<p>We have some good engineers and scientists from UAH at our research institute. It’s a good college for technical fields, with good research opportunities and well known for atmospheric research.</p>
<p>I would look into all the members of UCAR:
<a href=“Membership + governance | University Corporation for Atmospheric Research”>Membership + governance | University Corporation for Atmospheric Research;
<p>McGill might be worth a look.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions. I’m not sure how far away she is willing to go, and Canada might be on the extreme distance wise. A good friend of mine did internships at the NASA facilities in Huntsville and worked with some of the guys there. IMHO, of the 3 that do offer the in-state tuition, UAH is probably the strongest academically, and the furthest away of the 3.</p>