So, this will be the last post in our series about schools selection. To revisit things, we first spoke of the need to focus on a school’s specialty rather than its prestige. Want to go into business? Purdue and Indiana are some of the best colleges in the country. Similarly, with engineering, Georgia Tech is ranked higher than Cornell.
We also discussed a factor that plays into the college selection process much more infrequently than it should: a school’s location. Boston University and Northeastern are amazing business schools – because they’re located in an area where their students can earn an enormous amount of hands-on experience. The same rationale plays out when considering the economics program at Nebraska (the school is the alma mater of Warren Buffet), the film programs at USC and NYU (the entertainment industry is huge in these areas), and the hotel management major at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Here, we’ll be discussing an issue that, unfortunately, not as many families have been paying attention to as they should: looking at out-of-state public institutions.
When most people think of “public” schools, they typically restrict their view to their own state schools. The problem, though, is that applying in state is becoming far more competitive than it has ever been before; the drop in the economy has compelled more students to look for inexpensive college options. Similarly, most state economies aren’t doing so well either, and they’re looking for alternative revenue streams.
An article in an issue of the Daily Californian, the student newspaper of UC Berkeley, reported this as far back as 2008, when it discussed UC’s desire for a greater number of international students:
“Though UC Berkeley increased the number of admitted international students by threefold this year, the university hopes to attract even more international and out-of-state students, partially to reach a higher tuition target during budget constraints.
“The increase in international students this fall resulted in almost $5 million more in fees for the campus. The difference in educational and registration fees for an out-of-state student versus a California resident for one school year is almost $20,000.”
This plays out in real life. The non-Californians and international students with whom I’ve worked have been admitted at a higher rate – to more competitive campuses than they would otherwise have been admissible to – to UC than their own in-state colleges.
And, of course, this applies to states other than California. Look, for instance, at a recent article from The Diamondback, the student newspaper for the University of Maryland. (This is long, but it’s really good!)
“Fearful of a sharp decline in revenue from out-of-state tuition, [Maryland] admitted more non-resident students than usual this year.
“Expecting the number of out-of-staters who actually enroll to decline because the struggling economy will make the university’s significantly higher out-of-state tuition more difficult to afford, the university is admitting more non-residents in hopes of keeping the ratio similar to what it has been in past years.
“ ‘We extended more offers to out-of-state students because we know it will be hard to attract them,’said Barbara Gill, the director of undergraduate admissions.
“Out-of-staters make up about 24 percent of the student body. But due to much higher tuition rates for non-residents, they provide more than half of the university’s tuition revenue. If out-of-state enrollment was to decline drastically, the university would be in financial trouble, officials said.
“ ‘We’re dependent on the 24 percent to balance the budget,’ said John Blair, the university’s director of budget and fiscal analysis.
“[F]or every 1,000 in-state students enrolled instead of out-of-state students, the university loses $15 million, Blair said.
In other words, the in-state/out-of-state student residency issue – one that has typically favored in-state students – is now being turned upside-down. Take California students, for instance. They will have an easier time than ever before at schools such as the University of Wisconsin, Purdue University, and the University of Illinois – all of which have programs ranked significantly ahead of similar programs at UC.
Purdue has one of the best engineering programs in the country, counting both the first and last human beings to walk on the moon among their alumni. The University of Wisconsin is, as a whole, ranked above all but three schools in the University of California system. The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, another school that has opened its doors to out-of-state students recently, has produced one of the most impressive alumni rosters in the country: The two co-founders of YouTube, the founder of Oracle, and the cofounders of AMD, Lotus, and PayPal. CEOs for General Electric, Tesla Motors, McDonalds, and Goldman-Sachs also attended UI.
Over the past years, I’ve found that most students look at two groups of schools: Ultra-competitive private schools and University of California campuses. If they weren’t admitted to the privates, the reasoning went, they’d only be willing to pay tuition for UC. Considering the dramatic recent changes in college admissions, though, it pays to look at schools whose prices and reputations fall somewhere between these two groups.
So, the “too long, didn’t read” version: Look at strong majors rather than “sweatshirt schools”; review geographic locations of the schools and how well they correspond to the student’s intended field of study; and, finally, consider out-of-state publics in addition to in-state schools and top-tier privates. Cast your net wide and wisely!
