Is paying WUE tuition better than paying out-of-state the 1st year and then in-state the rest?

Paying for College
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Of these schools, CU-Denver (and it IS CU, not UC) is very different in the campus feel. It is a split campus with the ‘medical stuff’ at the Anschutz campus and the business and engineering stuff at the downtown campus. The downtown campus is very much a commuter campus, sharing space with Metro State and Community College of Denver. There are some nice facilities, but not the same as the other schools you’ve listed. There are some dorms and apts where the college students live, but still not the same. One of the big benefits is that it IS downtown so near the theater district, sports stadiums, government offices. Plenty of places to work on campus and off.

UC-CS (the only U of Colorado campus that uses UC rather than CU) is growing into a nice sized campus.

My daughter just graduated from Wyoming on Saturday. She loved it. It is cold but everyone is really nice and there are a lot of research and study abroad opportunities. The WUE scholarships are very limited and competitive, but there is the Rocky Mtn Scholars program and you can get the same amount of money through it.

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@mom2adancer Thanks! If she wants to go to UU, we’ll just have to be sure she’ll stick around for the summer and part of the winter break. We could probably plan a winter vacation during break and a summer vacation there to make it a bit easier. I saw on https://housing.utah.edu/apply-reserve/break-housing-stayover/ that there is a break from Dec 15th to Jan 4th (20 days). I guess to avoid having this eating up too much of the 29 days allowed out-of-state, she would probably stay in University Guest House (UGH)? Also, if we visited for a week in December, could we show hotel receipts to prove that she was in Utah for at least part of the break if she doesn’t stay in UGH that week?

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@twoinanddone Congrats on your D graduating! Glad to hear that she liked it. My daughter wants to someday own a ranch with horses and goats, so she has the Cowboy school in mind. We’ll be visiting U of WY on Jan 2-3rd. It should be close too the coldest time of the year, so we’ll know if she thinks its too cold. (But if Santa brings her Ugg boots it might be warm enough). Also, we heard about the abroad program, and even stopped by Catholic U in Paris last month.

I don’t think she’ll like CU-Denver, because of the inter-city location. (I showed her Drexel where I graduated from in Philly, and she did not like its intercity location either) However, we’ll be flying in and out of Denver, so we’ll check it out. (I went to grad school at Cal Poly SLO and preferred that type of campus a lot more. I think she does too).

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If you are a California resident a good option for your daughter is to attend Santa Barbara City College, which has nearby dorms, for two years and transfer to UC Santa Barbara. Here’s a previous CC thread with all the information.

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-santa-barbara/2056372-backdoor-way-into-ucsb.html

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She is a first semester junior. It just might have been too early in her course sequence for the SAT…or ACT.

Wait…have hr retake the test in the late spring. Depending on the results…she can retake early in her senior year…ACT or SAT.

She will have more course info at the end of her junior year than he has now…particularly for the math section.

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@AlbionGirl Thanks! I’ll have to look into TAG further, Getting a 3.2 at SBCC to transfer to UCSB seems easier than applying to UCSB as a freshman. Also, the tuition at SBCC is only 10% of UCSB! http://www.sbcc.edu/financialaid/cost_of_attendance.php

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@thumper1 Thanks! I was thinking that maybe it was too early, especially since only 1 of her friends took the test on Dec 1st. I’m thinking of having her wait until at least May 4th (be with you) or the Aug or Oct test. It makes sense that seniors would do better on the test than juniors

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The best time to take the tests is Spring Junior year: most of the content covered in the tests has been taught and practiced, so the students have a good shot.
Let her rest for now but do see whether the ACT might not be better for her.
What’s your budget? Have you run the NPCs?
A lot of colleges have a high sticker price but discount heavily through various scholarships.

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@Gregmacd our daughter is home now but we will be taking a family road trip back to UT for the last week of her break. As soon as we get into Utah she’ll start using her debit card to show that she was in the state. She’ll probably come home for around 5 days in early June and then again in late July or early August. She has plans for summer coursework and wants to get a parttime job too.

As for the timing of the tests, my daughter took the SAT in March (junior year) and then again in August, took a practice ACT in April and then the real thing in September.

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My D19, 3.5 wgpa with a 1260 SAT, will most likely be attending SBCC and living in the private dorms. The dorms are called Tropicana Gardens and the current mix of SBCC and UC students is about 50%. They have a cafe onsite and the students have access to the sister property (only UC kids) amenities. There is a bus stop directly in front of the building that will take them to the SBCC campus.

D19 also got into UNM with the Amigo scholarship. She wasn’t excited about leaving CA so that will be her backup. We are also waiting to hear from Cal Poly SLO (huge reach), Chico and SDSU (reach). She didn’t apply to any UCs.

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@MYOS1634 Thanks, I won’t bring up the March test again (last time she was in tears over the thought of taking it again), but I’ll try to get her to take it on May 4th. I’m still trying to think of a way to bring up the ACT to her without upsetting her.

Our budget is about $30k /year for room, board, tuition, and books. (Seems like a lot of schools vary in their COA, because some include insurance, transportation, personal expenses, etc., while others don’t.) So maybe $33k per year if everything is included. I ran the NPC at a couple of schools and got $23k for CSU Sac St, $24K for CSU Humboldt, $25k for UW, and $36k for UC Riverside. It looks like Col St FC and U of Utah required contact info for the NPC, but I just didn’t want to enter it right now

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@mom2adancer Thanks, using the debit card is a good idea. (I always withdraw cash when I’m in Vegas in case I hit it big, so I can show my real gain after the money I spent :wink: ). If she goes to UU we’ll probablly do a winter ski trip and a summer vacation there

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@GusGus5 Looks like SBCC has a good set up with their location and dorm like experience and cafe. Also, I saw that they can get involved in the UCSB clubs for an extra fee? It’s crazy how competitive Cal Poly SLO has become. I went there for graduated school in the early 1990’s, but if I alpplied today, they would just laugh.

I wish Cuesta College had a setup like SBCC. I think the Cuesta students were on there own for housing and food, and basically needed a car to get anywhere. I think half were able to transfer to CP SLO, but there is not a TAG program or any guarantee. Well, if she gets into CP SLO, she should go without hesitation!

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True from Cuesta - big downside.
Wrt testing: how about you say you won’t mention tests at all till April but you have one more request: since she hated the SAT, might she prefer the ACT - just for her to think about and not think it’s SAT or nothing. Reassure her that no matter what happens, there are test optional colleges and community colleges such as SBCC.
Test optional colleges should stay on the table - I think a lot of colleges like Goucher, Albion, Gustavus Adolphus, or Hiram would be within financial range.

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@MYOS1634 Thanks! Maybe I’ll try that approach with the ACT. Is there an ACT test prep that you’d recommend? Also, I’ll look into those colleges that you mentioned.

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         Why is she upset by testing? Familiarity really helps. Start something like 30 mins questions day from each section, and even any cheap school based ACT prep is worthwhile (they were $60-200 over my kids spread at school, but free at others) as they have them do at least a couple of practice tests in test conditions. 

       I offered reward $ for each point increase LOL. Mine started from a point that was difficult to achieve, but if possible,  have these kids see this is a valuable job they need to do and reward it as such. There is online prep but I am not sure your kid is that kind of kid. Ask at your school for a start. There is very likely free before or after school prep that she has never discussed with you. IMO don't buy into tears, that sounds ridiculous if you are not demanding any kind of unattainable score. You seem to be seriously considering an OOS 4 yr option, that would not even be a available for many kids in her position, if she can't be serious about a test, I think that is a message to you.
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If she likes working on her own with books, Erica Melzer’s English for the ACT is clean and clear: each grammar point tested has exercises and explanations. It’s been super useful to everyone who’s used it (including kids who had scores like 17 or 18 - which is like a 380 on the SAT/reading section). The cool thing is that each chapter completed, the student feels they’ve learned something. There’s also a little book called “The ACT for poor test takers”.
SAT Khan academy, with the diagnostic test that tells you what you need to focus on andprovides you with exercises, is good.
If she likes working in groups, see if you can set up study group times for her and her friends (announce there’ll be snacks, spring for pizza or ice cream or whatever they like, pineapple cubes or pretzels with nutella…) Or she could join a group set up with a fee-charging company like Princeton Review or Kaplan. Libraries sometimes offer those, too.
But all in all… no talk about testing till April. :slight_smile:

You CAN take her visit colleges though - not Stanford and Pomona, but nice places like U LaVerne, URedlands, Humboldt, SOU, etc.
In Colorado, UC Colorado Springs or Denver are too commuter, but what about UDenver or Regis? (These may be too expensive though). You can look at “% freshmen who live on campus” as a proxy for how residential the college is - you’d want 60%+.

Always look for the “scholarships” section on the website. You’ll be surprised.
Hiram has scholarships and even an honors program based on student involvement.
Temple has scholarships available to kids who apply Temple Option (ie., who submit essays instead of test scores).
Agnes Scott allows students to submit a good, graded research paper instead of test scores and considers all applicants for their merit scholarships.
UMW has a grid of AUTOMATIC merit scholarships for GPA and academic rigor (meaning mostly honors, some APs).
Basically, if you look at LACs ranked 75+ there’ll be lots of choices with good merit scholarshups for modest scores or no scores, provided there are good grades and decent rigor. Indeed, good grades and decent rigor are excellent predictors of college success (unlike test scores, which can only be used in combination with grades and rigor.)

If she is genuinely stressed out by tests or gets a huge headache from them, she could have a processing disability that makes testing harder than for other kids (it does NOT mean anything’s wrong with her!! it’s as if she needed glasses and couldn’t figure out why looking at these papers she got headaches and others said it’s a headache but didn’t seem to suffer as much as she did, until someone took her to get her eyes examined and… I guess you see my point). It could be test anxiety. An evaluation could be useful, not just for the SAT/ACT, but for any tests in college where she may do better with accomodation.

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@Sybylla Not sure why she’s so upset about the SAT. She may see her score as a rejection to some colleges, which upsets her. On the other hand, maybe she just finds the test unpleasant, and isn’t old enough go grasp the “present pain for future gain” concept. She was extremely upset in June when we suggested she go to a 5 day 4/hr a day in class SAT prep session. She fought us so hard that we kindof gave up and had her spend 30 hrs studying online for a driving test. She did later do 42 hours of online studying for the PSAT/SAT. I dunno, maybe it’s something else. She has finals this week, so I need to wait until next week to discuss it with her.

Although a 4-year OOS school may sound extravagant, we’re really looking at CSUs and OOS WUE schools that are about the same price (about $24k), such as UW. She’ll probably end up at a CSU (Humboldt or Sac State) but I want her to see what else is out there

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Thanks! I see those books on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Erica-L.-Meltzer/e/B00D5BRLG2 and https://www.amazon.com/ACT-Bad-Test-Takers-ebook/dp/B00C7WO4FQ I agree with holding off until April for another test. Looking at either the 4/13 or 6/8 ACT, or the 5/4 or 6/1 SAT. I think that once her friends start studying for and taking the test, she’ll get more interested.
Yes, we’ll steer clear of the Stanford’s and Pomona’s. We’ve seen Humboldt (which she liked) and we’ll probably see SOU and Chico on a camping trip this summer.

  • I looked at the U LaVerne NPC, but it gave me the same financial aid cost regardless of the EFC that I entered. (I’m assuming that I’m not going to get a Pell Grant, SEOG Grant, or Cal State Grant with an EFC of $47k). U Redlands’s NPC said they would reduce their $71k cost to $45k, but that’s still beyond our $30k budget. I didn’t run the NPC at U of Denver or Regis, but will lokely be too expensive with their COA of $68k and $50k.
  • I’ll see if she is less stressed out at the next test, and if so, I may look into whether she is eligible for an accomodation
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UPDATE:

  • Convinced my D to take the March 9th SAT in exchange for a trip to Disneyland.
  • Just got back from an 8 school tour of Colorado & Wyoming. Here is my and my D’s thoughts from south to north:

CSU Pueblo: A little too small and more of a New Mexico landscape than Colorado. Not many trees on campus. 4-5 miles from the downtown.

UCCS: Nice buildings (like UN Reno), along side of a hill, but flat walking, nice views of Pike Peak, maybe too far from town (4-5 miles) and limited athletics. However, Olympic Training Athletes attend school here that train at the Colorado Springs Olympic Training facility. Overall, a nice school.

CU Denver: (We did the official tour) Too urban for her. Library is a public library. Right on the edge of the downtown. You could see the traffic from some of the buildings and the gym. Good for those that want to go to college in a big city, but the dorms are 1/2 mile from the Tivoli Union, and the space in between is full of parking garages. Then maybe another 1/4 mile to the main buldings on campus, so about a 3/4 mile walk from the dorms. And 1 mile from the dorms if you’re an architect major or have classes in one of the 2 highrise buildings that are actually in the downtown, which are on the otherside of a busy street. Otherwise, streets for the most part did not run through campus, but a lightrail did near the dorms. Dorm prices seemed expensive ($4400 per semester for a double occupancy with a shared bathroom for 4 people). However, there’s no requirement for Freshman to live in the dorms.

CU Boulder: Looked nice, nice buildings, close to a downtown area, but too expensive, since there is no WUE

CSU Fort Collins: (We did the official tour) Great location. Walking distance to the cute downtown. Stadium right on campus. Rock climbing wall above pool. A little lazy river. Maybe too much money at $47k + transportation and other expenses. On the otherhand, a big school with a lot of majors, so you could potentially switch into a narrow major without changing schools. D might pick this one if money was no object. They’ll knock another $5k off if you get an SAT score of 1130 or higher. (Note: they said if you are borderline, but under the minimum scholarship requirements, call them and beg, and if you have a significant extracurricular activity or another good reason, they might spot you a few points)

Northern Colorado (UNC): (We did the official tour) Its location is in Greely, which had a downtown similar to Laramie, WY. Both were ok, but not as pretty as Fort Collins. They allow dogs on campus and on the 2-4th floors of Lawerence hall. Some historic buildings being used as dorms. Campus was divided into two parts, with an Admin building in the center on a little hill. 2 streets ran through campus, but they had a diaganol crosswalk. Also smelt like cows, due the the nearby Swift meat packing company, which is the biggest employer in greely. About $29K COA or $32.5k with transportation and expenses, so much cheaper than CSU Fort Collins, which was 32 miles northwest. Overall, I’d say that you pay less, but get less at UNC. Compared to CSU Fort Collins, UNC seemed like a deal at about $18k per year cheaper than CSU Fort Collins. If your SAT scores is 1160 or higher AND you have a 3.4 GPA or higher, you get another $8k scholarship in assition to WUE. Thus, only about $21K COA or $24.5k with transportation and expenses if you have the 1160/3.4 (SAT/GPA).

Laramie County Community College: Drove through this CC, which was 4 miles from Cheyenne. They had dorms/food on campus, and an Arena for indoor Rodeos and a Rodeo team. Really cheap with WUE tuition of $4554 per YEAR (only $1100 more than instate tuition) and units that were guaranteed to transfer to UW for animal science/ Animal biology. However, D would probably rather just go to UW than transfer there.

UW: Pretty campus. Not too far from their little historic downtown, but other stores and restaurants (subway, dominoes, steak and sushi, etc) were along the busy road that paralleled campus, so only a short walk from the dorms. Stadium right on campus. Looks like a real bargain at about $23k with an easy to get $6k OOS scholarship, although you need a 1260 SAT with about a 3.7 GPA for the $10k WUE scholarship. Thus, only about $19K if you have the right combination of GPA or SAT. Even without high SAT scores, UW is half the price of CSU Fort Collins, which is about 65 miles south. One downside seems to be the colder weather, although there’s tunnels from the dorms to the dining hall. Dorms seemed cheap: $2200 per semester for double occupancy (half the cost of CU Denver). And for $3200 per semester, you can get your own room with a jack-and-jill shared bath with 1 other person (Only 2 people sharing the bathroom).

Overall, I’d say she liked UW the best, closely followed by UNC. Might consider CSU Fort Collins if we can afford it