How do we know that California is not also funding grants with football dollars and private grants? If Alabama didn’t give out merit scholarships to OOS students, it can be assumed it would have that much more for instate students. All schools have their own ways of making it work. If California thinks it’s right to attract OOS students with grants, that’s up to them.
I’m not sure how much longer UC Merced will still be in WUE, and I do not know how UC financial aid works with WUE. That would be a question worth asking.
UC Merced students seem to be pretty happy, and there were a much smaller percentage of students who took the guaranteed option of transferring to Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD and UC Irvine than many expected.
Ds freshman roommate was from Alaska. She had been admitted to Reed, but although they met “100 % of need”, it still didn’t work for her family. She attended WWU, through WUE, which was much more affordable, and now Washington lawmakers have lowered instate tuition, which I imagine will also lower tuition through WUE, but probably not OOS.
There are lots of great schools to go to for chemistry, no need to go to California.
OP, I would look very closely to your local school (do you live in or near Anchorage to commute)? If they offer your degree, chemistry. Do they offer ChE? Are you wanting to get a graduate degree? Lay the foundation, getting as much education as cost-effectively as you can for UG degree. You say with merit scholarships at U of AK-Anchorage you potentially can have all the cost of your education covered - great!
Just gaining transportation to an out of state school eats up money a lower income student cannot qualify for. Then there are all the adjustment problems - when one has money, they can overcome adjustment issues being farther from home/family.
Don’t know if your family size and income would qualify you for additional money like Pell Grant.
It sounds like your family is trying to make good decisions for the family. I get the impression you are the oldest?
The T1 diabetes can have you with proper continued medical care and stability with your current healthcare providers and insurance coverage.
Our family income is higher, and # of children is lower, but both my kids used merit at in-state schools and are getting their UG degrees there. We parents are at peace financially. We have a local in-state university choice that many friends’ kids utilize to save on room and board costs.
Look at what students have done from your area that have gone off (those with stats like yours) and discuss with your school GC.
If you can qualify for free applications at some of the schools you want to pursue that may work out for you financially (I am assuming you are willing to take out the student loan amount you can, $5700).
You are smart to start looking hard at this now. I think your parents want you to process the financial information so that you can direct your energies in the best directions.
Are you any portion Alaskan Native ancestry?
@madison85 I have no Alaskan Native heritage in my family. I live in Anchorage. However, I am caucasian.
@SOSConcern Thank you for the advice. Yes, I am the eldest of my siblings.
////Look at what students have done from your area that have gone off (those with stats like yours) and discuss with your school GC.\\
Most of the kids try to go OOS for undergrad unless they want to go to E school. UAA and UAF offer competitive E programs that constantly place grads with close to 6-figure jobs at the petroleum firms. Although, most HSgrads who do not want to go to E school try going OOS. Although, some of the HS grads become trapped at UAA or UAF because it is just too expensive to go anywhere else. This is true for most state schools. Yet in Alaska, it is becoming more common. The WUE program that was mentioned above is good at providing that OOS experience at an affordable cost.
The reason for why I do not love UAA is because they stopped their chemistry program recently. That has really damaged their reputation in STEM studies. Overall, it is a decently respectable school with a healthy student body. It just is not my first choice because I would not be able to pursue my interests to my desire.
I guess I would like to ask if there are any public schools that offer strong/competitive aid to OOS?
Hopefully my stats will open a few doors for merit aid when the time comes.
My test scores are competitive for Sophomore year. Soph PSAT: 197, GPA 3.9, AP Macro: 4, hundreds of volunteer hours at a few local non-profits. I am going to start jr year. My classes are AP USH, AP Chem, AP Gov, AP lang, pre-calc. However, I have not taken the SAT yet.
Again, thank you everyone for talking to me about what I can expect for grants or aid. This subject has been a little difficult to learn about because generally people are private about this stuff. Thanks a million!
let me rephrase my question: Can you mention some state schools that offer generous grants or aid to OOS students?
Perhaps some of the public schools in Washington state using the WUE program.
SO UAA doesn’t have chemistry or ChE? Does UAF have these programs?
There is a guaranteed transfer option from Merced to the other UCs? Is this new?
@YellowCockatiel, you need to prep the rest of summer for you PSAT in junior year! If you score high enough for your state to become NMF there are a number of OOS schools that offer free rides.
My D had a PSAT score of 195, but did a lot of prep and her final SAT score was over 2200.
Hmm, other state schools with good OOS aid. We were surprised at how much OOS money the University of Iowa offered our D (merit and aid.) D was looking into their strong writing program though… no idea of what their science departments look like.
@SOSConcern Apparently UAA does not have a ChemE program. Although, I was mistaken about them not having a chemistry degree. They do have a chemistry degree. I must have mismatched the two and confused myself and coincidentally you. I apologize. In this case I will apply to the UAA chemistry department just to see how generous they are to me, also because it is the closest school to home LOL. Honestly, I wouldn’t even apply to UAF because it is in the middle of nowhere… (30k pop. avg winter temp -15F) I mean no disrespect to anyone who plans on going there or is currently studying at UAF. It is just not the place for me.
@mommdc I am currently trying to boost my PSAT/SAT score. So far that is going OK. The NM cut-off for AK is ~214. That is probably much lower than other states like California, Texas, and Massachusetts. Based upon my score improvements I should be able to break 214.
Can I continue this thread by asking if there are any schools (public or private) that have generous scholarships? Please don’t just mention the most competitive scholarships like the full-ride programs at Emory and Boston U. I’d like to learn about (safety) schools just as much.
If you make NMS, UA is more generous. If you did eng or CS, engineering would give you more scholarship money too. Sounds like you would meet full tuition already.
Is UA the University of Alabama? I apologize for my pathetic ignorance.
The number of these instances is likely quite small. How many divorced parent situations have a CP with EFC = $0 and an NCP who is both able to fund college and is willing/cooperative on that subject? Even the few such situations who send the kid to an OOS UC would still be paying at least as much as full price in-state cost, so it is not like OOS UC is free in that case (in the absence of merit scholarships). UCs do not need more bureaucracy that will probably cost more to run than any effect it has on these situations.
Yes, Alabama.
If you score well enough for national merit, UT Dallas and U of Houston both give a full ride I think. Sone others as well. Defintely opens some options. For many of the NM desks, you have to list a school as your first choice, but you don’t have to do that until late in the process.
CSS Profile schools will look at the home equity. Every school will consider it differently. The Profile schools will also take a lot closer look at ALL your financials.
When you ran the NPC, did you include the “housing supplement” that your dad gets? Did you include the Alaska oil dividend that every AK resident gets?
@mom2collegekids That is a good question. The oil dividends vary every year. This year every person in my family (5) recieved $1,800. However, only my parent’s $3,600 I calculated in the UCB NPC. Also, I added my state dividend as part of my income. I do not know how large the housing allowance is (small I imagine). That income comes from my dad’s employer (church). I do not imagine you are familiar with how Churches pay ministers. He is considered by the government as self-employed. The church treats him as self-employed so that he can receive some of the benefits to counteract his low salary. In the future the government might change how churches can compensate their pastors because they are actually employed by an employer. However they are paying their taxes as if they are self-employed. This system is a little ambiguous to me as well so I am not the best to inform you.
The NPC is going to be inaccurate since all of my patent’s assets were not accounted for. Also, the housing allowance was not added. We are not any richer because of these aspects, so I don’t imagine the NPC will change by much.