I live in Florida and want to go out of state for college, preferable California or Washington, however out of state tuition is absolutely insane. I come from a middle-middle class family so financial aid won’t be too much help and my parents refuse to help me pay for college. Is there anything I can do to afford out of state college and not end with thousands of dollars in debt?
If you have very high stats you could chase merit at schools like U of Alabama. If not, there are plenty of amazing colleges in FL where you can get a great education and then move on for grad school or employment. Do not go in debt to go out of state. Totally not worth it!
You can find a school that gives out scholarships, and you try to get enough to bring the cost down to affordable levels.
Your first step should be finding out how much your parents are willing and able to pay each year. Then you need to get the financial information to use in the FAFSA EFC estimator and the NPCs of some schools that interest you. That gives you an idea of dollar amounts as to what your gap is likely to be. Also check out your in state public schools. Can you afford to go away to school if you stuck to in state public schools? Or is commuting your affordable option?
Had a cousin of ours done that, he would have known that he only had commuting at local public colleges as affordable options if he did not get merit money. A lot of merit money. Even the state schools were not affordable to him without scholarship money because his family EFC exceeded what his parents could pay. He took a gap year, and reapplied, focusing on merit money, and in getting a ROTC scholarship which is how he was able to go away to college.
You live in Florida where you likely qualify for some level of Bright Futures, right?
University of Washington and the publics in CA give precious little aid of any kind to out of state students. In both places, unless you are Ivy League stats level, you can expect to be full pay at OOS costs.
Are your parents kicking you out of their home after you finish high school? If they allow you to live there as you continue your education, that does count as support. That’s how most people finish college. Live with family, commute and work part time. Or go to college part time and work full time.
OP, for Washington, please see:
https://www.washington.edu/financialaid/types-of-aid/scholarships/undergraduate-scholarships/
https://admit.washington.edu/costs/scholarships/
“The Purple & Gold Scholarship is awarded to U.S. students (U.S. citizens, permanent residents, refugees and undocumented residents) who are not residents of Washington state. Amounts vary by recipient, are given for four years and may be used only for the Seattle campus.”
In recent years, students have posted on CC and elsewhere that they received Purple and Gold Scholarships of around $5,000 to $8,000 per year.
The Honors Program and several departments also offer merit scholarships to nonresidents. (To Thumper’s point, however, the middle 50% ACT range of freshmen enrolling in the Honors Program this year is 32-35.)
Good luck with your college search.
California public schools do not give FA to out of state students. You might get a regent’s scholarship but most OOS students are paying the sticker price. The BIG sticker price.
You can spend the next year chasing money for OOS (and probably coming up short) or you can pick the Florida school you like the best. Your parents may be refusing to pay for OOS college because the instate deals are so good. They have, in fact, helped you pay for college by living in Florida and giving you access to the low cost of attending a FL school.
Since you are looking for cost savings OOS you’ll need to get that SAT way up. Alabama schools offer good merit aid for high performers. CA and WA not so much. Find your in-state school you like best as an option as well.
Yeah if you want to go OOS and not have to pay a ton you better get a 34+ on the ACT or comparable on the SAT. A 35 would even better. Even with those scores many schools you will still pay $25K+ a year to go to school.
Here is a list of schools where the COA would have been less than $25K per year for my D19 who got a 34:
Pitt
Miami OH
MO S&T
Wartburg
Kent St
Alabama
St. Johns
A 34 ACT, even with a 4.0 UW does not guarantee anyone OOS a $25k COA. At Pitt. It’s possible, but not guaranteed.
OP isn’t getting much need based aid and parents won’t pay anything. That means they need a full ride to go OOS. A net cost of $25k won’t work.
Go to college in FL and participate in National Student Exchange: https://www.nse.org/
Exactly how much will your parents pay each year for college?
Are they thinking that you could use BF in Florida and so their net costs should be about $15k per year?
What’s your EFC? If you don’t know, use FAFSA forecaster and let us know.
How much are your parents willing to help pay? Room& board? Books?
Are they assuming you’ll take Bright Futures and use that?
What have they said exactly?
Large public universities on the west coast will not give you merit aid.
Run the NPC on Pitzer, Lewis& Clark, Whitman, Willamette, UPuget Sound.
If you can handle cold and are okay with colleges outside of Florida, run the NPC on: Beloit, StOlaf, Luther, Concordia-Moorhead, Hamline, Drake, Ithaca, St Michael’s, St Lawrence.
Look at the website: colleges that change lives.
To leave Florida you’ll need to get merit aid and for that you’re going to need way better than 1230-1350. Spend A LOT of time studying and taking practice tests. Use Erica Meltzer’s books for English and specific math books. Devote plenty of time to it, every day. Find a tutor or a prep class.
You can’t take on thousands in debt. You can take $5,500 for freshman year, that’s it
Your parents would have to shoulder any other loans…
My parents do not plan on helping me at all. I’m sure they’ll help with my own basic necessities but college wise I am on my own. My EFC is 15567 and my family wouldn’t be able to afford that even if they were helping. What is the best option for me?
Try for a 1260 SAT or 26 ACT to try for a full ride (in Texas):
http://www.pvamu.edu/faid/types-of-aid/scholarships/university-scholarships/
Or a 1390 SAT or 30 ACT to try for a full ride (in Alabama):
https://www.tuskegee.edu/programs-courses/scholarships/freshman-scholarships
Or see what Florida public universities can offer you.
If your parents are giving absolutely zero in money towards a college, but are willing to support you while you are living at home, commuting to a local state school would be an option. You can work to pay for the tuition costs, commuting costs. Whatever Bright Futures will pay , will bring down the cost further. You can borrow up to $5500 freshman year as well. It would be the same thing as you are doing now. Going to the local public school and letting parents pay for living expenses.
If you can get enough scholarship money to cover the expenses beyond BF and the Direct loan and whatever you can earn from working, you can maybe , maybe, go away to school.
This discussion was created from comments split from: How to be an out of state student without putting myself in debt?.
HEY!!! CCADMIN!!! Why are you using MY avatar?? Please don’t do that!! Not only is it not ok (it is a personal photo I took on vacation), I don’t want anyone to think I am an admin!! Please go back to the basketball crotch shot avatar!
(yours, @“CC Admin” , is the zoomed in center of my photo!) Your avatar is what was my previous avtar!