Has anyone written to reduce out of state tuition costs due to medical expenses or need? Any tips and advice would be appreciated.
What school are you referencing? Does the school meet full need?
You are asking for a special circumstances consideration. You need to contact YOUR college(s) because the process for this varies by school. You need to ask each school what they want you to provide for documentation…and when.
If you are asking if an OOS public school will reduce your costs to instate costs because of these expenses…the answer is likely…no…unless it’s a college like UVA, UNC-CH which meet full need for all accepted students.
If you are an OOS student, most colleges will expect you to pay the differential between in and out of state costs…regardless of your financial situation.
But to be sure…contact YOUR colleges.
You can appeal a financial aid offer. They are rarely successful in getting significantly more aid.
The medical expenses would have to be recent, documented and not reimbursed by your insurance.
Does your family have medical expenses or are you just looking for a tuition discount because you want to go OOS? I understand that it’s tiresome to keep hearing posters say that if your family can’t afford to send you OOS to get a teaching degree then you’ll probably have to look in state, but most public colleges aren’t going to give OOS students a huge discount. It defeats the purpose of having OOS rates.
If your family has medical bills that aren’t reimbursed, you may get a small, one time discount. But you’d have to apply for it every year and there’s no guarantee that it would be approved. Make sure you have expenses covered for all 4 years before you start.
The goal of a public university is to provide an affordable option for their taxpayer base.
Remember it is the taxpayers that are helping to fund public universities in their state…
that being said there will be taxpayers who will not be able to afford their own state university. Other than merit money or state aid, their tuition is not going to be lowered. Your family is not paying to fun’s the OOS university. If OOS is not an affordable option for your family (trust and believe you are not the only one wanting/needing a discount), then you will have to go with the affordable option.
You wrote this:
Both programs should be suitable in terms of getting teacher certification. These are both large flagship universities, with no real appreciable difference in programs.
Go where you can afford to attend…OOS at Iowa will likely be too costly if you are hoping for a reduction to instate rates.
There is nothing wrong with the program at Indiana. If you decide to move to another place after you have your degree, you will need to satisfy the requirements for certification in your new state.
Since you say you have NO idea where you plan to live anyway…I can’t imagine why an expensive OOS public would be your top choice.
Too late to edit…so I will add. I’ve worked on public schools my entire career. I got my bachelors in Ohio, and my masters in Illinois. Other than clinical work and student teaching (I’m a speech pathologist), I never was employed in either state.
I DID have to satisfy the certification requirements in the states in which I worked. This was not hard to do. Now, this would maybe require me to take an additional Praxis test…but since I have the equivalent of national certification, probably not since this meets the certification and licensure requirements everywhere. I have to be licensed in addition to SDE certification in most states.
But my point is…you can get your education degree in any state, and become certified in ANY other state as long as you satisfy the certification requirements.
Folks relocate all the time.
Right now, it appears that your litmus test for a school being “best suited” for you is that it be OOS. Explain to us why Iowa would be a “better program” than Indiana?
Do you realize that Colleges of Education are essentially the same at various flagship? It’s not as if one of them has some magic dust to make it special.