My daughter was accepted to UWA Honors program and University of South Carolina Honors college, as well as some other honors colleges. We live in South Carolina and she has always wanted to go to an OOS college. She wants to major in Math and probably wants to go on to a Masters (not sure on specifics of that, but possibly Bio-stats). She doesn’t like the second option as she wants to go out of state. However, USC, like most of the other colleges she’s been accepted to, has laid out financial part in a way that makes sense and seems affordable for four years. But, UWA has only laid it out for two years. They waived tuition for the first two years, but the implication is that after that she’s on her own to figure out how to come up with $80K for two years of OOS tuition which would be a debacle for us. They are asking us to take a huge gamble that she might be successful at getting some scholarships for her junior or senior with no sense of how likely that would be. It is like they’re saying “We really want you here, but only for two years. And good luck with those last two.”
Unlike other colleges, there is no “point of contact” for financial aid, honors college, etc. Whoever answers the phone is tasked with answering questions. I have no sense of who these different people are, but they all sound like college students. They give vague answers and then refer us to another department. Even the honors college is this way which is very different from the 3 or 4 others she’s been accepted to, despite the fact that there are only around 800 students. Her financial package involves three departments that don’t have any communication with each other. No one person can even look at her “whole picture” apparently. It is like talking to CSRs at a cable company. It leaves me with the impression that UWA is a very cold, unhelpful place where the students are left to survive by their wits and their ability to navigate a very complex and impersonal system where the culture is devoid of empathy “every man for himself.” It also seems to be the most incompetent college in terms of their system, policies, and procedures. And I imagine when something goes wrong, the onus is on the student to figure it out and fix it, with no help from the university, no matter how difficult that might be. She really likes UWA, but this is confusing and scary.
We have never even been to Seattle so I really can’t say if this a correct impression or just a series of negative experiences experiences that don’t reflect the reality of going to college there. Can anyone offer any positive comments about UWA or is the reality of attending there as bad as it seems beforehand from a distance?
Is this the UWA Honors Achievement Award? If the award waives full tuition for 2 years (at $35k a year) it is actually a value of $70k, . This is very similar to what USC offers OOS students.
Have you run the Net Price Calculator on the school website? It should give you an idea of costs the last two years. Perhaps a regional admission rep could help find you someone to talk to.
Keep in mind that there is a pretty large difference between the cost of living in Seattle v. South Carolina. Plus, your dau. will have some expensive travel costs.
As I have told my son, you want to be able to finish where you start, so make sure that you can commit for the long run. In this case, that means worst case scenario paying full freight the last 2 years.
I live in Seattle, but have no experience with the University of Washington other than trying to get an appointment at their headache clinic, so no help there.
But I think the administration is really a secondary problem to the cost. By all accounts, USC’s honors college is wonderful, with great opportunities for students and a fantastic quality of education. It seems like it is also affordable for your family for all four years. UW is a great school, but isn’t affordable! And getting scholarships and grants when you’re already in college is actually more difficult than getting them as a first-year.
Add to that and you already have reservations about their administration. Why should you select a school that is financially a struggle for your family AND is raising red flags all around?
Lots of students really want to go out of state for college, but financial realities often mean that they cannot. If she wants to move out of state - to Seattle or elsewhere - she can always do that after she graduates!
Thanks. I know how I feel about this 
but I also understand how she feels about it. And, despite a visual disability has managed to get a 4.8 WGPA, 1530 SAT, 35 ACT, by working extremely hard in HS. So, (I believe) she feels like she’s worked really hard to go to a school that is too nearby to be very interesting to her. She doesn’t make a big distinction between the honors college and the regular college so it’s just the “average nearby state college” to her where she could have worked a lot less in high school and still gone to. She’s pretty practical and pragmatic for a teenager, but still had the goal of going somewhere else that would much more cool and exciting:)
As much as I’d like to see her dreams come true, it seems to me to have an unknown component. And they are seemingly unable to discuss specifics such as “x number of people applied for 3rd and 4th year scholarships, y number of people got them.” The lack of access to anyone there with enough experience or understanding of how this usually goes - who might be able to discuss the probability of how the last two years would go - is disconcerting. I’d think they’d realize that would be very confusing. It’s like we really want you … for two years. So, I’m left wondering if a lot of OOS kids leave after two years or it all (usually) works out okay. I really don’t want to see her unhappy for four years at the state college, but I don’t want to see her spending her sophomore year desperately applying for scholarships and to transfer to other colleges or facing a significant debt that could have been avoided.
I don’t understand if this is a cultural difference, but it seems like they care a lot less about students than colleges on the east coast. In addition to the cost issue, I don’t want to see her go to a college (in a place 3000 miles away where she doesn’t know anyone) where they really have no desire to be helpful. Thus far, the honors program staff seems to have the vibe I’d expect from calling a large, poorly functioning corporation, something akin to “take it or leave it” which really makes me uneasy.
I live in Seattle and both my kids will not be going to UW for their biology majors (one is a sophomore out of state with a great scholarship and the other is an incoming freshman evaluating out of state school options). They were admitted as Pre-Science majors in UW and would need to apply to the biology major after freshman year (no guarantees for admittance). There is no direct admit to biology (as well as MANY other programs including math). My older daughter has a friend trying to get into the Public Health major at UW (didn’t get in after applying at the end of freshman year). She tells my daughter the science classes are incredibly competitive and non-collaborative because everyone is competing to get into their perspective majors (not everyone gets in). I would definitely call undergrad admissions and ask for the numbers regarding those applying into your desired major and how many get in and what their stats are (or other criteria). If you don’t get into your desired major by end of sophomore year, you either transfer out of UW or pick another major that is non-competitive. I hear many pre-engineering students transfer after sophomore year when they can’t get into their engineering majors but still want to become an engineer.
I am wondering if this has any correlation to offering a two year scholarship…maybe they expect kids to transfer. I have tried calling admin to get info on their programs before and get the same red flag feelings as you. I went there for grad school and things seemed more straight forward back then but that was decades ago so clearly lots have changed!
SeattleMom1, oh boy that’s interesting. I’d seen some mention of the “getting into a major” idea but I didn’t understand what it meant, whether it was just a formality, etc. UW is very different from other colleges she’s considering and that is a factor I’d not even started to try to figure out. Wow, that sounds awful. I don’t know what you would major in if you don’t get into Math, or if you’d even have the right classes to change to a science. Or do kids just have to end up majoring in General Studies if they don’t get into anything they have an interest in?
That sounds like college in a foreign country to me, e.g. Thailand dictates your major by a test score. Other colleges are so much more clear about how things are going to go for the entire four years. My gut reaction is that college is difficult enough without so many unknown things. I had thought transferring colleges was not that big a deal, but my daughter says it’s often difficult. I feel like she’d be signing up for something that could be way more difficult than it should be. Unfortunately as great as it sounded in their acceptance, it seems fraught with uncertainty and difficulty.
Thanks to all who replied. You’ve been more helpful than UW has been.
I doubt that the university thinks that they are leaving people hanging. They are giving very clear guidance on what financial aid is avail. to OOS students, and the family has to amortize it over 4 years and decide if it’s feasible. It really isn’t a bad package at all for OOS. Instate at USC is about $13k a year (with the honors fees) plus $12k a year for housing (unless your dau received additional discounts). UWA should average about $18k a year plus housing and the transportation (which will be expensive).
Although my older son is a Gamecock Freshman right now (and loves it), my younger son will not be accepting the HC admittance because the financial aid package can’t compete with our in state alternative. My older son’s package works out to a bit less than your dau was offered at UWA. That is not atypical with in state v OOS costs.
UWA’s website indicates that some some majors" have capacity-constrained admission; others are not capacity-constrained but may require that certain courses be completed before a student can declare the major…" Competing for majors is actually more common than you realize. We are facing that with UVA as well. I don’t like it at all, as it seems to create more competition and accompanying stress. We had many of our questions answered at Admitted Students day. Are you able to make a trip to UWA before May 1?
The problem with this process is that we really learn by immersion, and by the time you really have it figured out, it’s late in the game. Will any of the other options work for your dau? Would she be interested in Alabama-Huntsville? Her stats would give her a full ride and they are (I believe) still accepting applications. Also, May 2 or thereabouts, schools release a list of schools with slots still available. Many great schools often still have slots open, and that is one option to consider. I agree with your dau. that transferring isn’t an easy option.
BTW-- I totally understand your dau’'s desire to go OOS. That is how my oldest wound up becoming a Gamecock.
Good luck.
For your daughter (4.8 WGPA, 1530 SAT and 35 ACT), getting into a math major at the UW should be “just a formality” (even though all of the math programs are very strong and highly regarded).
For comparison:
2017 enrolled student profile: ACT 27-32.
2017 ASEE profile (enrolled directly admitted and pre-major engineering and CS students): ACT 28-33 (ACT Math: 29-34).
2017 Honors Program enrolled student profile: ACT 31-34.
While these numbers are impressive, especially for a public university, your daughter would be at the very top of the class, the kind of student who has the potential to gain the attention of faculty, participate in research and competitions (https://artsci.washington.edu/news/2017-12/putnam-fever), make the quarterly and annual Dean’s Lists (3.50 GPA) and finish where she started (e.g., Phi Beta Kappa (3.83 GPA/120-149 credits; 3.77 GPA/150+ credits), cum laude (3.76 GPA: top 10%), magna cum laude (3.87 GPA: top 3.5%) or summa cum laude (3.97 GPA: top 0.5%)). None of this is easy, but for students like your daughter, it’s possible. Really, it’s her normal standard of performance.
Here are a few links with information about some math and math related majors and minors at the UW:
https://math.washington.edu/about
https://math.washington.edu/undergraduate-program
https://math.washington.edu/undergraduate-admissions
https://amath.washington.edu
https://amath.washington.edu/undergraduate-programs
https://amath.washington.edu/minor-applied-mathematics
https://acms.washington.edu
https://acms.washington.edu/content/program-overview
https://www.stat.washington.edu
Keep trying to get answers to your questions. No doubt the staff is very busy at this time of year, so escalate directly to high level administrators if necessary.
Congratulations to your daughter and good luck!
@Chloliver: I think that you need to investigate the requirements for your daughter to obtain Washington State residency. If she does so, then tuition drops from $35,600 per year to $11,000 a year.
I have only dealt with graduate & professional programs at the University of Washington. All communications were easy & accommodating.
Seattle is amazing ! The area around University of Washington is great for college students & young professionals. Very bright, hardworking students. Exploring Vancouver, British Columbia & Victoria on Vancouver Island will open one’s eyes to natural beauty rarely seen in urban settings.
University of South Carolina Honors is a great deal, but college is a time to explore & travel.
Be prepared to experience substantial wealth in Seattle. Many in their late 20s & 30s are very wealthy due to the tech industry. Used to be called “Microsoft Millionaires”, but Amazon, Starbucks, etc. has added to the stream of wealthy youngsters. Before the economic downturn of a few years ago, the biggest growth industry in Seattle was philanthropy due to conscientious multi millionaires in their 30s who wanted to donate millions to charities responsibly.
Don’t pass up UW because of lack of clarity due to phone conversations with students earning work study bucks, as your daughter has the opportunity of a lifetime. Please investigate the requirements for obtaining in state status (residency) while in Washington state as a student.
Just checked via google the requirements for establishing residency in Washington State for in state tuition. Probably not going to happen for your daughter, although possible.
Try calling the registrar’s office to get around student work study phone jockeys to get better information regarding final two years’ tuition & in-state residency.
I have called the University of Washington about ten times over the last two years & have never spoken with anyone other than a decision maker. But I have only dealt with graduate & professional programs there.
Thanks everyone much for the insightful and thoughtful responses.
It’s relatively easy to get residency as a grad student. However, do not plan on getting Washington residency as an undergraduate unless the parents are moving to Washington. Undergraduates are almost always considered dependent students, so the parent residency matters. UW doesn’t sound affordable, and South Carolina Honors College is a great option.
And yes, a southerner would find Seattle to be a culture shock. Google “Seattle Freeze.” However, I think your problem with getting answers on the phone is that so close to decision day there’s just so much demand.
Look up the name of the honors college’s dean then in the college directory call there. You’ll get the dean’s assistant. Or email them Dean to ask your question.
Are there any other choices?
Washington State residency will not be bestowed upon your child. It just doesn’t happen with regard to Washington’s colleges.
Yes, a southerner could be in for culture shock in Seattle. Then again, so many people are moving to the PNW, it may not matter. It’s even very different from California, or at least it used to be. Can she handle the frequent rain and mist? Depending on her dorm she will be walking uphill to classes. Very good university but it’s a large bureaucracy that turns off many students. Others have the time of their lives. No, she won’t be heading to Vancouver of Victoria often because it’s a two hour drive or by ferry, depending on the situation at the border crossing.