Is it worth it to pay out of state at University of Oregon?

I have been automatically accepted into every public university in the state of Idaho, but none sound appealing to me. The top two in-state schools here in Idaho are:

Boise State - 5 mins away from home, very boring atmosphere
University of Idaho - 6 hours away from home, not much to do in the area except party with Wazzu kids.

Both these schools have never interested me as I moved to the state of Idaho my freshman year of HS. I plan to major in Marketing with an emphasis in “Sports Marketing.” I would say the the University of Oregon is one of the top universities in this field due to their huge role with Nike and with Nike and Adidas HQ’s being in Portland it would be a great way for me to land an internship.

With that in mind, University of Oregon is one of my top school choices and the only school that has accepted me so far. University of Oregon’s out of state tuition is $30,000 and I didn’t qualify for any scholarships due to my ACT being 1 point off the cut off. My dad and step mom have told me that they can’t help pay for my college and I come from a middle class family that has an income of about $60,000/year. I am still waiting on responses from UCLA, UCSB, and USC which are my other top college choices. Can anyone help me on what I should do and if it financially smart for me to attend the University of Oregon this fall?

Well, if they won’t pay, you can’t attend Oregon. You can only take out 5,500 to 7,500 per year in student loans on your own.

Did you apply for financial aid? I don’t know Oregon’s policy but I imagine that their financial aid would be reserved primarily for in state.

U of Idaho is an excellent school and the area around campus is nice. At 7K in state tuition, it’s a bargain. Room and board is another 8 or so. If your parents can help you with 10K per year, you can cover the rest in loans and working summers and/or part time. If they won’t give you anything at all, it looks like commuting from home to Boise State is your only viable option.

FWIW, even if your parents were willing to pay more, I don’t think Oregon is worth the upcharge. And Eugene is a good two hours away from those Portland internships.

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My dad and step mom have told me that they can’t help pay for my college and I come from a middle class family that has an income of about $60,000/year. I am still waiting on responses from UCLA, UCSB, and USC which are my other top college choices. Can anyone help me on what I should do and if it financially smart for me to attend the University of Oregon this fall?


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This is a simple answer to give. Your parents aren’t going to pay, therefore you can’t go to Oregon, UCLA, nor UCSB.

How can you ask if “it’s financially smart” for you to attend Oregon (or the UCs), when you have no means to pay?

Do you think that you can attend and they won’t charge you tuition, room or board?

Would you ask…Is it financially smart for me to buy a Ferrari?

If you don’t have the stats for merit at Oregon, what’s the likelihood that you’ll get into USC?

What are your stats?


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Is it worth it to pay <<<

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With what???

If your family can’t afford OOS cost for Oregon, then the CA schools will be VERY unaffordable! The UCs will exoect you to pay your family EFC, plus the $23,000 differential that outnofmstaters pay, plus your student contribution. Even with the best stats, merit aid is not guaranteed,mand esoecially tomOOS students.,expect to be full pay in CA publics.

USC meets full need by their definition. But you have to get accepted and that’s not an easy thing.

What WAS your ACT score? How about your GPA?

Sorry, I forgot to state that my dad was in the California Air National Guard and the Air National Guard has an agreement with the state of California that any family member of a California Air National Guard member can receive in-state tuition no matter where they reside. My mom who I don’t live with also lives in California still. I haven’t looked into what the University of Oregon offers for military families.

I have a 3.75 GPA with a course work of 20 AP and Honors classes throughout my four years, my ACT is a low score of a 25. I have a friend who got accepted into USC with a 3.5 and a lower ACT score due to his great college essay and extracurriculars. USC is a reach I know that, but who knows what the admissions office thinks about my application.

@thumper1 @mom2collegekids Thanks for the advice, check this post. ^^^

Your Q was whether it’s worth it to pay OOS at Oregon. You don’t have the means to pay.

You live with your dad in Idaho, that means that you won’t qualify for a Cal Grant.

So…Who is going to pay the $30k per year for you to go to a UC? You may get instate rates, but you won’t qualify for instate aid …that’s only for Calif HS students.


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I have a friend who got accepted into USC with a 3.5 and a lower ACT score due to his great college essay and extracurriculars

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I think somone is pulling your leg. The only incoming USC frosh with those stats would be the a 4-5 star pick for the football team or a Hollywood star. Writing a great essay or have lots of ECs is not going to make it.

Is that GPA weighted or unweighted?

@mom2collegekids Okay. I am going to look at other colleges that fit my financial needs.

You don’t understand. even if you get instate tuition at a UC, you would have to pay $30k per year. WHO is going to pay for that???

You won’t be able to find outside scholarships for four years at Oregon.

If your parents can literally afford zero toward your college costs, then you certainly can’t afford any UC (no financial aid for OOS students even with in-state rates) or Oregon. But even worse, you may not even be able to afford Univ. of Idaho or Boise State since you can only borrow $5,500 for your freshman year, and your cheapest option is Boise State at $8,000/yr for tuition and books. You may have to consider commuting to your local community college for the first two years and then transferring to Boise State.

@mamaedefamilia My school weights the AP’s but not the Honors classes. I have no idea what it is if those honors classes were weighted. Still not the best grades unfortunately.

@goldenbear2020 I have no idea if my dad and step-mom said “We can’t afford to send you to college at UO” just because they don’t want me to get away from home or if they actually can’t. My dad is trying to convince me to apply to Boise State but if they can’t help me at all then I have no idea how they expect me to pay for that. I don’t want all my hardwork in school and extracurriculars just go to waste by attending community college. I wouldn’t even be able to commute to community college since I am 17, no license, no car, and there is nothing called public transportation in the state of Idaho. This is just becoming worse and worse by the minute.

Sounds like you need to sit down and talk with them and ask what they are willing to pay. If they can contribute 10K annually, that would open up options for you. If it’s really and truly zero, then not so much.

Is your mother able/willing to contribute anything?

No. It’s not a good enough school to justify that kind of money.

@mamaedefamilia My mom makes maybe $30,000/year in California which is practically nothing due to everything costing so much in the LA area. She said she would help, and my grandma also said she would help but both haven’t really given me a number. I don’t expect much from my mom except books, and maybe a few thousand. My grandma is well off and retired but I can’t put a number on how much she would be willing to help me out. This is a tough situation for me right now.

First of all, I don’ understand how your parents expect you to pay for college. Did they mean “we are not gonna pay 45~60k per year for OOS colleges?” Or not at all? This seems really odd to me. Do they not know how expensive colleges have become since their graduation?

Second, even if you could pay OOS tuition without putting a dent in your family finannce, U of Oregon isn’t really worth OOS tuition…I know it because I have lived in Oregon, and it’s a decent choice for IS but not for OOS.

@paul2752 thanks for the tip. I need to talk to them and clarify what they mean, they mentioned that my step-sister’s college isn’t having her college paid by them and they said that they “couldn’t” pay for my college. But my step-sister is having her half of her college paid for by the government and her dad’s GI bill. I have no idea what they mean and it is something that I need to talk to them about.

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I have no idea if my dad and step-mom said “We can’t afford to send you to college at UO” just because they don’t want me to get away from home or if they actually can’t.


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Sure you have an idea. You’re not stupid. You know that your parents earn about $60k per year. The OOS cost of Oregon is over $45k. So, can you really say that you have “no idea” if they really can’t afford to pay???

@mom2collegekids okay, I will wait for the financial aid package from UO before deciding if I can afford to attend their this fall. I know my parents can’t drop $45,000 right now to send me to Oregon, but maybe they can help to have the burden of the high tuition be lifted a little. College is an investment and I understand that, I need to figure out the best investment though.