How do i prepare for out of state tuition?

Question

i want to go to University of Washington in Seattle, but i heard it's expensive for out of state tuition. how can i help cover all my costs, tuition being $22,000 a year, plus room and books for 9,000? i heard that i wouldn't be able to cover costs only by financial aid and i'd have to find someone to cosign for me if i take out a bank loan for tuition coverage, is this true?

i am really clueless with financial aid because i'm a first generation college student in my family so no one had experience or the support i need to get through any of this. but i heard that it's possible to pay for everything, i just know how. please help. i still have a year, year and a half, but i'd like to get things planned out now ahead of time so i know what i'm doing.

Answer 1

Without a good scholarship from this school or/and PLUS loans from your parents it is doubtful you will get enough federal fin aid to pay this.

Tuition & Fees  $22,131  

Room & Board  $8,337

Books & Supplies  $1,008

http://admit.washington.edu/Paying/Trans...

Read this book cover to cover.  It will explain a lot.

Save your money, energy, and time and attend an in-state school.  (save all the debt for your masters degree) No employer is going to pay 10 times as much because you chose to attend an out of state school.

Answer 2

Get residency by getting a license and job in that state, then go to a junior college in the area for 1 year and transfer in as a sophomore.

Answer 3

It's good to see that you're thinking of these things now and planning ahead - a lot of questions that you'll encounter here are from people saying "I'm supposed to be starting school in 8 weeks and I need to know how to get money!"

You've already made one important discovery on your own - out of state tuition is OUTRAGEOUS. This is true everywhere - not just at the University of Washington.

The reason for the huge disparity between in-state and out-of-state tuition is this: State universities are subsidized by the taxpayers of their state. The taxpayers in Washington send millions of dollars each year to the University of Washington, so the university gives state residents a big break on tuition. Since you're not a state resident, you and your parents have not contributed to the university all these years, so you'll be expected to pay the full cost of your education there.

Now that brings up a very important consideration when choosing a college - and that's this: It rarely, rarely, rarely makes ANY financial sense whatsoever to attend another state's state university system. Keep in mind that just about every single one of your classmates will be paying a tiny fraction of your tuition for the exact same education as you.

There has to be some amazing reason why you'd want to pay a lot more for an education than everybody else seems to think that it's worth.

Keep this in mind - you're basically on your own if you choose to attend college in another state's university system. Sure, the financial aid department knows that you're paying a whole heck of a lot more than just about everyone else - but that's your "odd" decision, and they're not going to give you a bigger chunk of their limited financial aid budget than everyone else, just so you can follow your dream.

Private lenders are always willing to finance your educational bills (so long as the money is borrowed in your parents' name) - I'm assuming that, like most high school students, you have little or no credit history. Banks don't lend to borrowers with little or no credit history.

But that still gets back to the same question - why would you (or your parents) want to pay college debt that was 4 or 5 times what it would have been if you had attended the state university in your own home state?

The University of Washington is a fine state university, but I'm not aware of any single program that they have there that is so attractive that you should want to pay UW the cost of a semi-elite private university somewhere else. I would really recommend that you reconsider whatever great attraction is making UW your dream school.

Like any other major life expenditure, your college choice should be based on financial reality. There would really have to be an incredible reason why you would want to start out your young life with the debts that would be incurred to attend the University of Washington as an out-of-state student.

If you're bound and determined, the only substantial source of educational assistance available to you is going to be private educational loans. Hopefully, you'll qualify for lots of scholarship and grant money to help you offset your need to borrow.

I wish you all the best!