Huh? While UA and other southern Us that give good merit to OOS high stats students are fine schools, the above link also includes state unis in northern states that have lower tuition costs.
Can you afford out of state tuition wherever you think your kids want to go to college? Or not.
If you can afford the $50,000 a year PLUS for OOS tuition or the $60,000 a year PLUS costs to attend private schools…then go for it.
Your OP to the thread looks like you can’t afford a $50,000 a year plus school as that would exceed your annual income…so…there you go.
Folks,
Thanks for the invaluable info.
You tell your kids, the budget is $30,000 a year. The $25k from the college savings and their student loan.
Then consider travel back and forth to India, unless your whole family moves to the US. College health insurance, personal expenses, books. You can probably pay some of that from income and the kids can work some too.
You give them the budget and research schools where the costs fall into that range or merit for their stats brings it into that range.
Ohio State, UTDallas, U South Carolina, and many more schools give good merit or OOS tuition waivers for good stats.
mommdc,
Very good suggestion. Thanks.
I am a newcomer here but this place is overflowing with excellent discussions and exchange of information.
Yes, we ourselves have received valuable information here. So we try to give others information that allows them to afford college for their kids without bankrupting themselves.
It’s funny you mention about breaking the bank. I am seriously thinking of over shooting my budget of $100k per child by taking a Parent Plus loan if my kid gets into a very good University where lets say the yearly cost is $50k so the total cost will be $200k. I will have to take an additional loan of $100k. I have excellent credit.
My thought is that when he graduates in one of the STEM fields from a very good University, the differential in the starting salaries will very quickly take care of the loan.
The “very good universities” will take into consideration income (might disallow business deductions), savings, investments, home equity, value of your business, so maybe you won’t get need based aid.
The cost could easily be $60-$70k. They usually don’t give merit.
And with two kids, that would be $200-$250k in parent loans. Less for your retirement.
Your son may get a good job, but a Parent Plus loan is a parent’s loan, in parent’s name, and parent’s responsibility to repay.
His job will probably pay the same if his engineering degree is from UC Riverside or U of Oklahoma or Clemson. He may have more choices or from companies that pay more if he is job searching from Caltech, but not $50k per year more.
Thanks a lot for your inputs. I guess, University brand name should not be the primary focus.
A lot will depend on your children’s stats. Also be aware that entry into engineering programs is often more difficult to obtain than admission as an undeclared major.
With GPA and test scores in hand, people here will be able to point you to places where you are likely to hit your target budget through merit and/or need-based aid.
Public universities in the west can be very good value. For engineering, NM Tech and SD School of Mines can be very reasonably priced for OOS students. Merit aid is possible at Colorado School of Mines (need to apply early for best consideration). Arizona State University (with its excellent Barrett Honors College) attracts a lot of CA residents who get shut out of the UC or Cal options due to price or increasingly competitive admissions standards. University of WY and University of NM are inexpensive; at UNM, it is relatively easy to qualify for in-state tuition, which would bring total COA to less than 20K per year.
Personally, I think that if your kids are strong students, you will have affordable options without you having to uproot your family or jump through hoops to obtain state residency (which might not succeed). Finally, the UC system is increasingly overcrowded and competitive for admission. It’s not just Berkeley and UCLA that are tough admits.
mamaedefamilia,
Thanks for the detailed info. Yes, many of the schools you mentioned like University of WY, University of NM, even Utah State are affordable for OOS and also easy to qualify for in-state. If a kid does well in one of these schools in either Computer Science or Electrical Engineering how are the job prospects after undergrad ?
I was thinking with so many top and mid ranked (tier 2) Universities in USA, undergrads from tier 3 universities like the ones I mentioned above will have a tough time finding decent jobs. I am specifically talking about either Computer Science or Electrical Engineering branches.
I will be more than happy to explore admissions into tier 3 Universities assuming they are much more affordable. My only concern was the job prospect after undergrad.
Thanks.
My husband is an electrical engineer. He got his degree from a very low ranked school in electrical engineering. He has a very successful career…and is actually one of the VPs of his company. He earns a great salary…and doesn’t get paid a dime less than folks working at his firm who graduated from schools that are viewed “higher rank”.
He was not interested in working in the Silcon Valley or the like. But having said that…he could have pursued those types of opportunities if he had wanted to.
thumper1, Yes, thats true. I myself graduated from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver in Canada in 1995 in Engineering Science and had nice job stints in Bay area and San Diego. SFU is relatively unknown in USA and cannot compete with the top ranked schools in USA.
But I am thinking that what held true 20 years back might not be the case now. College rankings might play a more important role now in getting the 1st job.
And they might not. People might just think they do.
At many of the “top” schools, male students especially were shut out of CS this year. With top stats.
Engineering, as long as ABET accredited program, which every state has an interest to provide, and can be found at many state flagships all over the U.S, does not depend mostly on school name recognition.
More important should be the question, what can the student do there? Research, co-op, do they compete with many others for these spots, are the departments focused on undergrad or grad students?
If the student can distinguish himself, has easy access to REUs, coops, has unique opportunities, then that can be much more valuable than fighting to be noticed.
My husband is the VP,of an engineering company. He says…he looks for relevant experience…not college name…when he is hiring.
@thumper1 I couldn’t agree more! My DH works in the high tech world in large international company. He looks at several things when hiring. Will the person fit in with the group, what is their experience, how does the person tackle new problems? Graduating from a well known school will not get a higher salary, it just doesn’t work that way. He’ll look for the same things, he doesn’t care where you graduated from only what you did while you were there.
We’ve been looking very carefully at schools for DS18, he is a very high stats kid and has many options. Based on “fit”, cost (they offer incredible merit), research and internship opportunities, UT Dallas is his current first choice school.
@golfdude71 what are your concerns with sending your kids to school in Texas, Mississippi, Alabama?
Dallas is a large, very diverse metropolitan city. Are you worried about diversity on campus? Here’s the ethnicity report from UTD’s profile
UTD isn’t for everyone it’s a serious school, no football team but there are plenty of cultural attractions in Dallas. I’m just having a hard time with the fact that you have ‘concerns’ sending your kids to certain states.
Another thing to look at is that salaries are adjusted to the cost of living in a particular area. As you well know $50k a year goes a lot farther in India than California. $50k a year will go farther in TX than California too. New grads frequently take jobs near where they graduate from so the reported entry salary from grads from one to school to another will also be determined by location/ cost of living.
Having no home state and therefore not qualifying for instate tuition at any school, you might want to look at private schools that give merit awards for top grades and scores. Some of the public schools (not in California) also award merit scholarships, especially to National Merit award winners.
Lehigh, U Rochester, Case Western are good schools that give some merit.