Do resident americans get financial aids to study locally?

Question

I am conducting some research on the American education system, and according to an article by BBC, mostly Americans study in their own states, as they benifit by paying less to local universities and I wanted someone to confirm this if possible. I would prefer if someone had personal experience with the same.

Thank you

Answer 1

In the US, there are two different types of universities: public, which are supported, in part, by the state's government via taxes, and private, which are self supporting. The tuition costs at a public university, compared to a comparable private university, will be lower in general, due to that government support. In addition, public universities also give a discounted tuition rate to residents of their state, so the cost becomes even lower for those people.

So, for example, the tuition at University of Michigan Ann Arbor, which is a public university, is lower than that of Carnegie Mellon, a private college, even for someone who is not from Michigan. Even if you're from Massachusetts, going to U Michigan would be cheaper than going to Carnegie Mellon. However, if a student *is* from Michigan, then that tuition becomes even lower, because they are an in-state resident.

In addition, some states - such as Georgia, which the other poster mentioned, but also Massachusetts, where I am from - offer free tuition to any of the state's public colleges, to the state's most promising high school graduates. That can often sway such students away from the elite private colleges, and to the state's public schools. I did this. I mean, they gave me free tuition (and I also got free housing). I was *not* going to say no to that deal.

But even with that in-state discount, the cost of tuition in the US tends to be far higher than the cost of tuition in many foreign countries. Many foreign universities receive far more government funding than do the public universities in the US.

Answer 2

This is true for almost all colleges and universities in the United States. Usually there is a discount to tuition if you are an "in-state" student. However, many states have reciprocity agreements. I grew up in Minnesota and, if you went to a school in Iowa or Wisconsin you could qualify for their in-state tuition rates and their students qualified for ours. The difficulty in this is that the in-state tuition is not the same in all states, nor is the quality of the school the same in every state.

In addition, if a student lives in a state for one year they can go on to qualify for in-state tuition. For example I had a friend who moved to California, worked for a year, then was qualified to receive in-state tuition rates.

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

This is true. In state tuition (in other words the state of your residence) is a LOT less expensive than attending out of state. For my own daughter, going out of state was simply not an option because the cost was so much higher. That is the case with most people I know as well. Unless there is a significant scholarship involved(such as sports or academic) the cost is often thousands of dollars more. Also, some states now offer some kind of scholarship for students that maintain a certain GPA. For example, here in Georgia, as long as a student that is a resident of GA maintains a B average, tuition at a public college is free. This is the HOPE scholarship. This is tuition only-not room and board, etc. They also give a book allowance and pay a portion of your academic fees, such as technology fees, etc. This enables many to go to college that otherwise could not afford it. This is paid for through lottery funds. It was a groundbreaking program and some states have copied it in a modified form.

For example-from my daughter's college I pulled the in-state and out of state tuition only rates-in state full time(12+ credit hours) is $1479 per semester, non-resident-$5915. You can see it's a big difference.

Hope that helps!