<p>We have been in NC for just over a year. I paid S1 tuition last night for the Fall term, $799. He is home attending community college. They approved him for instate tuition with no fuss at all. I thought they might give us a hard time (for no reason). The bill for S2 in Boston I think will be around $17k, after his scholarship but not counting his expensive apartment.</p>
<p>When the parent show a real move with new job, etc. I think the schools are more accepting of the change. When a student under 21 tries the same thing–not so easy.</p>
<p>NJres-
How IS NC?
We are in NJ, but it’s getting mighty expensive to keep up with property taxes around here.
I’m thinking of Virginia or Maryland, but husband dislikes heat, summer, beaches.</p>
<p>Sigh.</p>
<p>If you move to the mountain areas the weather is much cooler. However jobs are much scarecer and pay less than in the bigger cities. I moved from NJ to Virginia near the mountains(indirectly) and liked the change. Much cheaper COL.</p>
<p>NC here as well. Transplanted from CA and the UCs. Kiddos are now looking at grad school tuition (med school, vet school, dental school)…some of the cheapest if not THE cheapest in the nation.</p>
<p>Oldest graduated from one of the state unis here and her tuition minus departmental scholarship/some financial aid and her free room and board from living on one of the unis research units and working 10 hours each week there at the unit resulted in no out-of-pocket costs for us or her and no loans.</p>
<p>Love, love NC in-state tuition. Glad we moved the 3000+ miles 5 years ago. Best scholarship/grant we as a family have gotten!! (well, sort of)</p>
<p>Having 3 major universities within 40 minutes of our home has turned out to be fantastic. We are still very rural but have access to schools I never thought we would previously.</p>
<p>Best move we ever made.</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>Also in NC (waves at NJres). S1 graduated from State u. in May courtesy of NROTC scholarship + university merit aid/departmental scholarship. He is debt free and has $ in the bank due to savings bonds bought in his name for college that went unused.</p>
<p>S2 just finished fresh. yr. at diff. in-state u. Tuition,fees,room and board totaled less than $13,000 for the yr. </p>
<p>DH and I have lived here all our lives. Never realized how good our state college costs were until I joined CC and started reading about other states.</p>
<p>Packmom-your State college costs are so good that out of state at UNCA was the equivalent of what we pay in state in NJ.</p>
<p>musicmom,</p>
<p>I know people that have moved from the DC suburbs of Maryland to the DC suburbs of Virginia for the greater array of colleges.</p>
<p>dudedad-
We are actually past the college search phase in our family.
Son graduated instate public in NJ and will attend graduate school in Conn with a large scholarship, thankfullly.</p>
<p>I’m browsing these boards to find a place to retire in maybe 5-10 yrs. Thanks to all for opinions on COL and desirability of various states!</p>
<p>Take note that even though NC does not have high property taxes, and one can live in the county instead of town to save even more, the income tax there starts at 6% for first 20,000, then 7%…a big hit, nothing progressive about it.</p>
<p>Thanks for that info, lorelei.</p>
<p>If we get to retire, our income will not be that high so might still be worth considering.
CAN’T be worse than NJ property taxes!</p>
<p>In NC they passed a temporary… (LOL!!! HA HA HA!!! temporarary??? ), oh, sorry where was I? Oh yes, temporary 1% increase in the sales tax bringing total sales tax in Mecklenberg County (Charlotte area) to a whopping 8.25%. At least you can control that by not spending any money, and I cut my income tax dramatically by not having any income!!! Property tax you gotta pay no matter what.</p>
<p>No state income tax here in the Great State of Tennessee! (we won’t discuss the sales tax)</p>
<p>NJres: You can also eliminate the property tax by not owning any property! Rent, don’t buy, and don’t own cars. That ought to do it. </p>
<p>Slightly inconvenient, but – whatever.</p>
<p>I’m confused … isn’t NJ generally a low-tax state? I thought only Fort Lee and Hoboken residents paid taxes in NJ.</p>
<p>Chicago rate is 10.25%. So if you’re a graftdodger…</p>
<p>In PA, and have no idea what to expect…PA is the ONLY state in the US to not have a budget at this point. Everything is on the table, sales tax, income tax, etc. In the meantime, no one is getting paid.
I often wondered how great it would be to live in NC. Such low tuition and a terrific flagship. But I shouldn’t complain; son is instate and got great scholarships to boot.</p>
<p>The southern states seem to be a real bargain in terms of college. Not only are in state rates often less expensive, but the room and board are more reasonable too. Our state has decent tuition costs, but the room and board really brings up the costs. Other states, and I think PA is one of them are still high, in my opinion, for their in state tuition.</p>
<p>S2’s instate NC tuition this semester at a big state u. was $2,238.50.</p>
<p>Yup, son’s instate NJ tuition last year at Rutgers U was about $11,000. I’ve tried hard to forget the ugly large number (compared to other state’s instate tuition).</p>