Great college education . . . on sale today!
Students and parents are constantly bombarded with college admissions news and unfortunately most of it is frightening. Admission to a top tier college has become very difficult but now comes the bad news. Even if you can earn an acceptance letter, the worsening economy makes affording that great college almost impossible for many American families! The impact of the Wall St collapse during 2008 is being felt far from Manhattan. Many students who excelled in the classroom, in their community and on athletic fields now discover that their family simply doesn’t have the ability to pay the sky high tuition at a top tier college. But wait a minute . . . there’s some good news . . . some very good news. Several of America’s great colleges are essentially “on sale” right now and you can take advantage of the opportunity!
At uraccepted we’re not big fans of ranking colleges. But for this exercise we’re going to allow you to use any of the college rankings you might have available. Search any ranking of top colleges and you’re almost certain to find most or all of the following schools among the “top 50” of any list you choose. Listed in alphabetical order and not “ranked”, here they are . . .
1. College of William & Mary
2. Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech)
3. Pennsylvania State University at University Park (Penn State)
4. University of California at Berkeley
5. University of California at Davis
6. University of California at Irvine
7. University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA)
8. University of California at San Diego
9. University of California at Santa Barbara
10. University of Florida at Gainesville
11. University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign
12. University of Michigan at Ann Arbor
13. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
14. University of Texas at Austin
15. University of Virginia at Charlottesville
16. University of Washington
17. University of Wisconsin at Madison
What’s so special about these colleges? Each of them is a public institution and offers tuition and fees far below the “market” cost at a typical private university of comparable quality. So roughly one third of the top 50 colleges in America are on sale!
How dramatic is the savings for students attending these colleges? Let’s use William & Mary as an example. The cost for an in state student to attend this Virginia powerhouse is less than $10,000. That includes tuition, room, meals and even books! Wake Forrest in nearby North Carolina is a comparable university. It’s roughly the same size, offers the same top tier quality of education and is located in the same general geographic area. The difference? As a private university, the same cost of tuition, room, meals, and books is roughly $47,000. That’s a difference of $37,000 per year. During a 4 year college career the total savings to a student attending William & Mary would be almost $150,000! No, that’s not a typo . . . $150,000. So the next time you read about the sky rocketing cost of a top college education, remember about the state supported schools that are still “on sale”!
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