People received physical offer letters? My d has not. But she has not accepted yet, we are waiting on some other schools.
Ours just came a couple of days ago. We have also not accepted, son and husband are scheduled to visit early next month.
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We are visiting early next month as well! 
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My D25 received merit as well but no invite to the honors college. She was quite surprised due to her high stats. She did TO so I thought maybe that was why. It seems like most got either merit or honors college, but not both. So my D25 emailed the honors college and requested that they re-evaluate her application. Well they did and she just received her invitation into the honors college yesterday. Your S25 might want to request the same if heās interested.
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No longer interested! Makes absolutely no sense.
I think weāre crossing it off our list too. Does your son have an idea yet where he might end up?
OOS, nothing offeredā¦ w/ Merit and Honors at much higher ranked schools - at nearly $73K/yr, someone else can have this opportunityā¦.
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yea received the OOS estimated financial aid letter. theyāve increased the fee from 67K to 73K for 2025-26. my DS has chancellor scholarship w/honors in department of A&S (Physics major). weāve decided not to take any loan and not sure if itās worth it (73-6.25). trending out but will wait till end of March.
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You got that right!
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Got Colorado and Wisconsin estimates today. Wisconsin going up 12% for OOS up to 68K also!
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WOW.
At dinner tonight, we basically all agreed that we have narrowed it down to 2 schoolsā¦ one of the schools has a tuition lock and the other doesnāt. Tuition lock is a huge factor actually.
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agree- at $49K tuition and fees, getting into private zone, and cost of living in Boulder also a factor. By contrast, OOS tuition at FSU and UF is < $20K - and thatās not including merit! Clemson, UGA, NC-State all ~$30-40K OOS tuition/fees which is still considerably better than CU. Seeing CU estimates doesnāt pull us toward them either. Opting out too-
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UW is still $5K lower, but even if they were the same price, from my POV UW is a much better value.
Yep, that price lock is quite a feature in inflationary times. Not the only factor, but an important one to consider.
Many colleges lock prices.
I think if you all go elsewhere, CU will be fine - itās a high out of state school, growing enrollment, and offers most limited merit - $6250. They donāt have a CDS but I surmise they have a very wealthy student body. Boulder is pricey and Iām sure thereās a lot of Winter pursuits - which arenāt cheap.
The school is definitely a favorite from those OOS. Growing up in San Diego, it was a popular choice.
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i think this depends on the major as well (IMO). Cu is absolutely fantastic for Physics and other natural science. Iāve been following their physics forever now. I cannot comment on that for Engineering. but 73Kā¦Iām revisiting all decisions. Purdue is locked for 45Kāish and seems reasonable and so is UF. UIUC/UT/UW are in same ball park 67+/-3.
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I agree, you have to determine your criteria, and evaluate wrt to what is important in your own case.
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Re: price locks, āmanyā colleges locking prices doesnāt mean āallā, and if the decision comes down to one school with a guaranteed price over 4 years, and another facing 10-15% YOY price increases, for the budget conscious, itās a no brainer. The money put to yearly tuition increases could be better put to study abroad, a 5th year masterās, a nicer place to live, books, a laptop, who knows what. Plus, unknown tuition increases are just another source of stress.
As to CU Boulder ābeing fineā, of course they will be fine. No one said they wouldnāt be. Rich families whose kids canāt get merit elsewhere are welcome to pay full OOS tuition, and they will. (The physics majors there notwithstanding.) We regular upper middle class families are in that āmake too much to get aid but not enough to pay full fareā death zone, and that increasingly means that these $60K+/year schools will be off the table. We personally have a lot of money saved for collegeā A LOTāall hard earned and scrimped and saved forābut not quite that much given that price increases are a given.
Anecdotally, since you mentioned growing up in SoCal, a sorority sister of mine at UCLA transferred to CU Boulder our junior year because she wanted to ski, longed for the mountains, etc. (apparently ski areas in California werenāt good enough.) She lasted one semester and came back to California. Unfortunately she came back pregnant and miscarried during one of our classesāmedics had to come, etc. She then dropped out of UCLA. Such a sad situation.
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Yep my daughter loved CU but it came in at the very highest end of our $50k budget. Would be over now. So it came off.
She had the $6250 plus was up for a small service scholarship. I think $5k. She was a finalist but didnāt see it through.
One thing as a parent that worried me is that the guide said many kids move to another town 15 mins away to save on rent.
It was important to me both my kids leaves right at or near school.
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My S25 was accepted and offered Art and Sciences Honors program. But he was offered zero merit aid and zero financial aid. I donāt quite understand how you can be accepted in to the honors program but offered no merit aid. Every other school that he has been accepted to has offered merit aid. We are OOS. Disappointed, CU Boulder. It is no longer on the list.
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