A College Conundrum

OK, so we get a call from the man-child yesterday. It seems the decision regarding college may have just gotten more difficult.

The difficulty arrived in the form of a letter announcing his acceptance – to Oklahoma State University.

When I suggested a few weeks ago that he apply to OSU – my alma mater – it was as much to needle him as anything, so I was a little surprised when an application packet went off.

Now, since it’s a contender and he’s truly interested in it, we are confronted with the fact that it’s a full $10K a year more than going in-state to college.

On top of this, we’d need to make arrangements to go and visit. The boy should actually see the campus before he decides that’s where he wants to spend the next 4 years of his life, after all.

As might be expected, not all parental units have met the news with the same degree of enthusiasm, even if we discount the financial aspects of the transaction.

It’ll all work itself out however it’s supposed to, though.

Oh, and for comparison purposes – a year of in-state expenses at a North Carolina state college is estimated at somewhere between $12,500 and $16,000, depending on the school. A year of out-of-state expenses for an NC student going to an Oklahoma college is $26,000.00.

There’s a pretty substantial difference there, so unless they come through with a whoppin’ financial aid package (which is unlikely), this is probably going to go on to be an unrealized dream. If there were no cheaper alternatives available, say because his heart was set on studying Paleolithic art on the Western Prairie and they had the only program like it in the world, it’d be one thing.

But this is engineering and as most of us who’ve got a bit of grey hair recognize, other than your first job where you got the diploma from is hardly relevant, at least among the contenders we have here.

So we’ve put it back on him. We’re paying for the equivalent of an in-state program and if he wants to do otherwise, he needs to find funding.