PhilBergas… it isn’t about cord cutting… it is about $1000 RT airfare several times a year, or $2000 if we want to go visit. We are from PA… 3,000 miles away.
OK, so, another issue is we do make $200K a year, and many schools would say we don’t “need” money. And she wanted several other schools - like Hamilton - and they don’t give merit scholarships. Plus we ran the Hamilton calculator and it says we should expect ZERO dollars in aid.
We also have a company helping us through the process, but they only care about costs, and not the right fit… so I need to present them with the right fit, so they can work on costs.
If she really wants to go to U of O and is willing to give up visiting home during the school year then that could save money.
University of Oregon has quite a few OOS freshman merit scholarships that would bring the cost of attendance down significantly if she gets them!
https://financialaid.uoregon.edu/scholarships_freshmen
Both Kenyon and Denison offer merit based aid.
See the USA Today and Flavowire lists, @Dustyfeathers.
Denison has a great non fiction writing major and it offers merit.
Sory I was losing my sight, obviously
I would still apply for U of O and hope for a good financial aid package to offset some of the costs to travel home. I also went to a school that was far away from home. I sacrificed visiting home for the opportunity to go so far away (i.e., went home with friends for Thanksgiving). Perhaps she can earn the airfare through a job on campus. Just thinking creatively…
No worries, @Dustyfeathers. Your suggestions here seem very helpful.
The University of Oregon doesn’t have 10,000 or less students; it has over 20,000 undergraduates and an additional 4,000 graduate students. It also does not have a creative writing major - it has a creative writing minor, though.
What does she mean by a place where she doesn’t feel “lost”? That could be anything. Some introverted students may feel more comfortable at a small LAC where they’ll be missed if they don’t show up to class and there is a smaller campus community to plug into. Other introverts may prefer the relative anonymity of a big school. UO is a pretty big school - it’s in the mid-range of most public universities.
If you’re in PA, Penn State is an obvious choice but it’s not that much less expensive for PA residents than PA non-residents. The SUNYs are good recommendations, as they tend to be lower cost even for OOS residents. SUNY New Paltz is in the beautiful Hudson Valley and is liberal arts college-sized. It has a creative writing minor. SUNY Purchase may be another good choice, and they do have a major in creative writing and is generally a pretty liberal, artsy kind of place. SUNY Binghamton has a literature and creative writing concentration in their English major.
University of Minnesota is actually relatively inexpensive for OOS residents - their tuition is around $23K a year. It doesn’t have a creative writing major but has a minor; there’s also an MFA program in creative writing, which means potential access to graduate courses and a robust departmental culture (speaker series, workshops, graduate students who can advise, etc.) There’s also a technical writing and communication major - which is different, but related.
A good number of Oregon kids looking to go out of state choose University of Denver.
U of O is a lot larger than 10k! My son had a similar wish list for fit and U of O was wayyyyyy too large for him.
University of Vermont does offer decent out of state scholarships so while it is over 50k it is possible to get that down quite a bit. Top OOS scholarship is currently 18k a year and she would be a strong candidate for the top award if she maintains her stats I would think.
Ithaca college could fit the bill nicely but is a bit less generous in merit monies compared to total costs but could be in the low 40’s.
Check out Saint Lawrence in NY.
I would NEVER allow my kids to go to Penn State. No way, no how.
Oh, I know U of O is more than 10K, as does she, but it has everything else she wants, and if she can’t go there, she wants under 10K.
And how are her stats?
You can see how CC loves to throw out names. But you don’t want to spin your wheels.
Her stats? Well, if you mean grades and things, She has a weighted GPA of about 4.5… top 8% of her class… National Honor Society, yada yada yada.