As the title states, I always hear about how expensive post secondary is in the USA and hear things about student debt being hundreds of thousands. However, if I Google the cost of college in the USA it’s $10k for an in state school (very comparable to in province for Canada) and $26k for out of state (very comparable to out of province for Canada). Why does it seem like so many Americans are paying 2.6x more than they need to? Why not go to a school in your state? People from other states are going to your schools.
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I complain about the cost of stuff right here in my city. I don’t care where it is, it’s too expensive.
Most students do not go out of state unless they are on a scholarship or accepted into a prestigious school they’d be stupid not to attend. Most students stay in-state.
Because not all schools are the same.
Because they feel the need to have the “College experience”. It’s stupid and puts people in debt for no good reason.
I went to school in state and stayed home, worked while going to school and didn’t have any school debt. Its very possible to do for most people (exception being people who get kicked out of home). But this isnt as fun or glamorous as staying in a dorm in another state and racking up debt.
The school in my state might not offer the program or opportunities that I want. Do people not complain about the costs of *things* in Canada?
[According to this source] (https://blog.hireahelper.com/2021-study-which-colleges-and-universities-pull-the-most-out-of-state-students/) about 30% of students leave their home state. People from New Hampshire are most likely to leave their state, which makes sense relative to the few schools and relative affluence of the state.
Different schools offer different programs and unfortunately the prestige of a specific school or program is a huge draw for some people.
My father in law went to one of the most prestigious engineering schools at the time to get his bachelor’s because people genuinely cared. Then he went to any old law school because, for what he was doing, it legitimately didn’t matter.
Like most things, it’s an agreed upon status symbol
Even if they stay in state, the biggest cost is accommodation/dorming.
Though you can save a lot of money by living off campus in cities live Buffalo where rent for a room in a shared apartment can be as low as $400.
It is worth noting that some schools will offer in state tuition to out of state students who are residents of specific states. Not sure why this is a thing but several people i went to school with utilized this rule
They may not have the program you want, or an out of state school will have a better program for that field.
Some schools prefer to accept out-of-state students simply because they pay more. Just because it is in your state does not mean you’re automatically accepted.
>Why do Americans go to out of state schools but at the same time complain about cost?
If you’re doing this, you either have the money to spend (well, your parents do), the field you want to study is only in that other state at a specific school or you live in that other state for a year in order to be considered a resident (which means you now pay in state tuition).
>Why does it seem like so many Americans are paying 2.6x more than they need to?
This isn’t true. Most students paying out of state tuition are foreign exchange students.
Many people go to in-state schools. It can still be expensive. Hope this helps!
18 year olds making terrible financial decisions is basically expected. Kind of nuts that we allow the system to operate in this way.
The people who go out of state tend to be from wealthier families or, as others have said, get a scholarship to go to a particular school. It’s also often easier to get into an out of state school than those in your own.
College is certainly more affordable in state, but most flagship schools are still well above 10k in tuition and that’s only one component of the overall cost of going to college. I went to school in Los Angeles and my living costs were easily as high as my tuition. It might have actually saved me some money to go to an out of state school in a place where housing was dirt cheap.
Choosing a school isn’t always a very rational choice. I was one of a few of my high school friends to stay in state because of the benefits. The cheaper cost and state scholarships allowed me to graduate without debt. The same cannot be said for those who went to private colleges up north.
Some states have reciprocity type arrangements, so the cost is similar to in-state. Some students get scholarships. Private schools don’t have in-state and out of state pricing.
Although I do agree with you somewhat. A lot of kids from NJ will go to places Penn State over Rutgers for example despite the fact the schools are very similar academically and pay full freight. Kind of a headscratcher.
Most people do go to a state university or – more popularly – to a community college, which is cheaper, then transfer to a state university after two years. You just have to look at the numbers to see that this is true.
The people you’re meeting are peer-pressured or manipulated into thinking it’s better to go to a ‘far away’ college and not worry about cost. Either their parents haven’t talked to them about budgeting, or they’ve ignored their parents. Then they’re shocked when they find out they’ve paid double for a ‘good college experience.’ Which you can get at a state university.
However, in some cases, out of state is cheaper. Remember that the sticker price is very often not the actual price. For me, in-state universities are actually more expensive than out of state private universities, because I have ‘high need’ and qualify for good scholarships, which private universities often have.
Finally, you can’t look at just tuition. You have to look at the whole picture: tuition, room , board, incidentals. It’s usually an extra $20K or so for this, at least. Some people commute, but many people are too far to commute to their state university. My own is 1.5 hours away, 2 hours with traffic. That’s too far, especially if there’s night classes or work.
First, you’re only talking about public schools, not private schools. Private schools charge the same to everyone.
Second, the public school closest to me is more like $20k/year.
Third, tuition is just one variable. The cost of housing and other expenses varies, financial aid varies – students should look at the whole picture, not just tuition.
Also, not every school offers every program. Students may find it difficult to get into the program they’re looking for in state and may have to broaden their search.
And not everyone can get into a public school in state. My local university has a 30% acceptance rate for in-state applicants. Not hard to figure why the university would prefer a whole lot of out of state applicants.
I chose an out of state school because….. I was 17 when I chose it, I didn’t understand just how expensive it would be (and I assumed I’d be able to pay it off with all these doors to jobs I was told about), I honestly didnt even understand loans and debt in general or just how much a certain amount of money was, and there wasn’t a school in my state that offered my major.
I think the hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt figure you are seeing applies mostly to people who get expensive professional degrees (doctors and lawyers), people who go to very expensive and very prestigious private schools, and people going to expensive art schools/conservatories purely on debt.
PSA: If you can’t get a scholarship for art school or conservatory and you aren’t independently wealthy (i.e. you will need to work to pay your bills) *don’t go*. The same people who are beating you for scholarships will be beating you in auditions. You’re going to be paying off a 100k loan by playing wedding gigs until you’re 80.
Different school for different things.
I went to a SUNY for agriculture and we had quite a few people from New England come to our school because it was better for it and also not that much more expensive for them to go in state to a public school.
But yes I agree, go in state if you can. Hell spend the first two years at a community college if you can too.
Sometimes it’s actually cheaper to go out of state if the aid is better.
My in state tuition would’ve been about $26,000 every year had I gone to my local university. I went out of state for about the same price and got a better education and experience than staying stuck at home.
Not all in state colleges are worth staying for or actually that cheap. It varies widely. Is college in general worth the nearly $100,000 I paid for? Absolutely not. But between my options, staying in state would’ve done nothing for me
I Heard that they are about to forgive all students their debts if it’s under 10k or so . Is that accurate?
Because we’ve been told our whole life that it’s worth it, and even that it’s a necessity to build a good life. We need to fight this ideology.
Sometimes, to get the program you want, you have to go out of state.
But generally, it’s my observation that a lot of the kids running up crazy debt, are being a bit irresponsible. Not all, but some.
Example is a student that goes to a state school and then doesn’t work to cover all or part of their housing and living costs. Not only that, but they choose a fancier than necessary apartment, spending more than necessary on rent. Then, they go out and party, eat out all the time, buy a nice car, they go to any and all events they choose, all going onto their loan amounts.
I just recently graduated (my second degree), and as an older student, I was definitely more selective than the first time around. But yeah, I see people racking up huge amounts, no working while in college, spending their loan money like they have no idea they have to pay it all back…and perhaps they don’t realize….
Then, they graduate and find out their salary will be roughly half what they owe in loans and here we are.
It’s really sad.
Millennials ended up being really bad at making financial decisions, and apparently so were our parents (it became unfashionable to teach children personal responsibility or basic finance, as these were more traditional values born out of experience from two world wars and a great depression).
Not only did many students study out of state, many others also studied at private universities, majored in unmarketable degrees, and financed a luxurious lifestyle entirely on debt. At the same time, the federal student loan program created an opportunity for universities to prey on students by driving up tuition and board costs without increasing the quality of the education.
That said, it seems like younger people are learning from our mistakes, and they seem to have better guidance in navigating a system that remains predatory.
Not all schools offer all programs and it isn’t uncommon for a school to *officially* have a major but not really have a full program around that major. It doesn’t help much to go to an in state school if no one in state offers what you want to study.
There is also the fact that $10k a semester is still a lot. That still has them graduating with $80k in debt unless they find some other way of paying. Even just $40k of debt when starting your career can be a debilitating amount.
I went to an in state school and it was absolutely not $10k. Average costs for the “affordable” state school I went to with in state tuition is $200k for four years, and that doesn’t include room and board.
$10,000???? I just looked at the in state tuition of a few colleges in my state and here it is:
Vermont Technical College- $16,044
University of Vermont- $19,062
Northern Vermont University (formerly Lyndon State College)- $12,804
Champlain College- $43,950 (doesn’t appear they offer instate tuition
Middlebury- $55,790 (also dont see anything about in state tuition
My brother went to art school in Vancouver BC because it was significantly cheaper than any half decent art schools in the states. I went to Lyndon State College for a year to study English, and I had classmates that didn’t know the difference between “your” and “you’re”. Although there are a few decent programs at that college (such as the atmospheric sciences/meteorology program) the options are very limited there. It had at 98% acceptance rate when I went there and I felt like I was being held back and not really learning anything because our professor was too busy teaching students what a thesis was.
You are looking up community colleges and state colleges, and not taking time to research what programs those schools offer and how reputable those programs actually are.
It isn’t uncommon for college kids to go to a community college for a year or two and then transfer their gen eds to a better university though.
Out of curiosity, what colleges were you looking at?
Because I was a dumb and naive 19 year old who didn’t want to stay in Florida when it would have been infinitely cheaper
Muh freedom.
This is not reported on enough. A lot of the student loan “crisis” is indeed people who just couldn’t stand the thought of going to a state school or going to the state school in their state because it was too close to home. So they went somewhere (often that nobody has heard of) and wracked up $200,000 in debt and want the public to bail them out.
I mean how do you choose a school? Do you just google “Universities near me” and pick the closest one?
A lot of people will choose the career path they want to go on, then research what degree they need for that career and what schools have the best programs for that degree. That way they get the best education, the best networking opportunities, and the best chance of a lucrative career.
In many cases, the best school is not in your state. And even with my original premise, the closest commutable school might be in a *different* state. I know people in Jersey who commuted to Drexel and Temple, as Rowan didn’t have what they wanted and Rutgers was too far.