<p>Thanks, 2forc 
I am glad to hear you are relieved insofaras I share your belief that it could have been dramatically worse, and it’s nice to see that other people recognize the need to support the resources that contribute to the value of the UMich experience.
I thank my lucky stars daily that my son chose UMich as his first choice and that we live in state (his second choice was NYU, for example). At times, it seems it is one of the best things about living in Michigan (as a transplant). That said, we live in a beautiful area with a lot of cool facilities, where living a nice life is accessible to many, so I’m not exactly complaining. We are really fortunate that things have worked out so well.</p>
<p>
UMich just does it to a greater extent.</p>
<p>This is a supply/demand issue. If there are still OOS students who want to pay those rates, fine. I’m not one of them, and I’m on the verge of cutting UMich from my list of applications for next year because the price is quite frankly ridiculous. Consider this post customer feedback. If my tuition dollars can be replaced by someone else’s, it can be ignored, but someday a ceiling will be hit.</p>
<p>U of M has the highest OOS tuition in the country - I would never recommend someone applying to U of M as OOS unless their parents can afford it or they come on significant scholarship. From a practical standpoint, coming here simply because “you love the university” is one of the stupidest ways to start off your financial life if you cannot afford it.</p>
<p>collegebound_guy, your advice is sound and should apply to college applicants in general, not only those thinking of applying to Michigan. There are roughly 150 colleges and universities that are more expensive than Michigan and another 150 that are either as expensive or only slightly less expensive. I am sure some of those colleges and universities are very generous with aid, but most are not.</p>
<p>I don’t know where some of you are saying that peer institutions cost $9,000 more a year. U-Mich costs about ~$50,000 a year for me if I stayed in the dorms and I am upper class engineering. And Harvard costs:</p>
<p>$53,950 - $56,750 (just checked their site)</p>
<p>So the difference in price isn’t much at all. Just thought I’d give everyone a headsup.</p>
<p>That’s right Predator. The fact is, there are 300 or so colleges and universities that cost between $40,000 and $56,000. Michigan costs $48,000. All 300 of those schools are comparably expensice to Michigan.</p>
<p>I meant in terms of tuition whereas the “48K” number is the Cost of Attendance with allowances such as books and travel included, which can vary wildly if a student selects more economical housing such as co-op or off campus, etc. So tuition only, here’s the comparison:
(Example)Tuition: NYU $43,178 Tisch undergrad for 2 semesters
(Example) Tuition: UMICH (if out of state) $34,748 School of Music, undergrad 2 semesters</p>
<p>= Net tutition differential of: $8,430</p>
<p>As an oos, we felt that U of M was a very expensive university on paper; however after several visits and finally attending orientation a few weeks ago we also realized that so many of the incredible resources offered are INCLUDED in that cost. My h commented that when visiting other Universities, like Pudue which always is touting that they are a great bang for the buck…many of their resources were extra…so before you start complaining about the cost differential you might want to take a much closer look at some of the actual costs of less expensive schools…because they may not compare. You MUST visit and see the Michigan difference before you cross it off your list based soley on COA…You will be getting a great deal for your money!!. At the same time I will warn you that when you do visit with your s or d; they will not want to consider going anywhere else…as was the case with my s. So don’t make it your first stop because their minds will be closed off. Michigan is worth the investment and we have instructed our s to take full advantage of all that is offered. He will be receiving a world class education in and out of the classroom. GO BLUE!!</p>
<p>PS Ann Arbor also is a college town that is one of the coolest in the country and that proximity costs nothing. My s received a very nice merit scholarship in April so don’t give up hope in that department either. He is also working his butt off this summer to help contribute financially…having some skin in the game always helps them appreciate their opportunity a bit more imo.</p>
<p>^
Can you give specific examples of these extra resources?</p>
<p>^
Particularly in comparison to Purdue.</p>
<p>Sorry I cannot give you a list since it was my h overall comment in general terms. Perhaps it is better stated that U of MI offers a vast # of resources in and out of the classroom which are included in their tuition. You need to visit, compare line items if that is important to you and ask questions for yourself…USNWR cannot compare to a real live visit. All I can tell you is that when I visited and attended the orientation I was blown away. Many folks on this site have commented the same way, but could not justifiy the cost for their family and I definately get that. We have only one child to send to college and that makes a difference as well. I assure you that there are many many things that you will see and feel of value that cannot be quantified. Make your own judgements based solely on your personal experiences and needs. Purdue is also a great university for many folks…especially in engineering but my s looked at the whole picture and just happened to prefer Michigan for a variety of reasons and we feel that the price differential (of about $5K since he got $$ from MI) was justified…You should also note that his attendance is a sacrifice for us and he knows that we will be transferring him to “home state U” if he does not take advantage of those vast number of resources offered and included in our OOS tuition. :)</p>
<p>Just being in AA over West Lafayette is worth $5000/yr in quality of life.</p>
<p>Michigan is more like $8,000 more expensive than Purdue. This said, if those $8,000 aren’t too hard to come by, they would be well spent.</p>