You and your 10th grader are researching colleges, and all at once you’re both about to jump out of your chairs.
You’ve found a college that sounds absolutely perfect.
There’s only one problem. It’s out-of-state and so extra expensive.
This college is a fantastic option because its got a renowned program that focuses on exactly what your daughter most wants to study.
It provides free room and board to Army ROTC students, and Army ROTC is on your daughter’s list of things she hopes to use to help get her college paid for.
It’s got efficient, safe public transportation — plus it’s on a long haul bus line that goes straight home to mom and dad, so she won’t need to take a car to college. A savings of thousands of dollars right there!
The registrar’s office confirms that it will take all the CLEP and dual enrollment credits your daughter’s earned in middle school and high school. Whoo hoo!
It’s an ideal fit when it comes to all the usual things like location and size — plus it’s in the city where her Grandma lives. If your daughter can live with Grandma for June, July, and August before college starts, she may be able to snap up a tuition reimbursement job before crowds of other college students descend on the area in September.
It’s perfect!
Except for one small problem.
The out-of-state tuition your daughter will be required to pay will be astronomical, perhaps negating all the other savings she could get by attending there.
Or will it? There are ways for out-of-state students to be billed tuition at the same rate as in-state students.
The UNIVERSITY PARENT website generously provides a complete and detailed list of exactly what it takes for an out-of-state student to get in-state tuition in all 50 states.
Go straight here, and you’ll be able to click on the name of the state where your child would like to go to college. When you do, you’ll instantly see all the official rules and all the ways your child could receive in-state tuition in that state.
[Tweet: “Here’s how to get in-state #college #tuition in all 50 states. Huge #moneysaver. #collegeprep”]
Some families who’ve done research like this have actually picked up and moved to the state where the excellent fit college was located. If the savings is great enough and you have job flexibility and time to plan ahead, it might be something to think about.
10th grade is the perfect time to be thinking through options. You can get free assistance with helping your high school student to: 1. come up with career goals and 2. select potential colleges based on those career goals by using the free, clear, step-by-step help I provide in the “WHAT TO DO WHEN SECTION” on this website. Just click here and here.
If you child is in 12th grade and still unsure of what she wants to do with her life, see my kind, helpful blog post on that subject here.
On Twitter? Be sure to follow me @JBurlowski!
Do you have friends who have kids in high school? Share this post now and let’s try to save them thousands of dollars in future student loan debt.