For many high school students, senior year is both exciting and stressful. If college is in their future, they have several monumental decisions to make. Choosing the college best suited to them is difficult; but if they can narrow it down to whether they’re interested in an in-state or an out-of-state university, they’ve at least lessened the pool of potential schools. But how do they decide? Both choices have their ups and downs. The paragraphs that follow will attempt to delineate the important aspects of each.
- In-state: Deciding to go to school in the state you live can often feel like the safe or easy choice. The student can stay relatively close to home and attend college at a school he or she may already feel comfortable with. In-state choices aren’t always the easiest or best choices, though, depending on the student. A few pros and cons are:
- In-state tuition is usually considerably lower than out-of-state tuition for public universities.
- Visiting home is easier if the student is fairly local.
- It can be deeply stressful to relocate as a teenager.
- Some students may enjoy the distance between them and their families that out-of-state schools provide.
- There may not be any in-state universities that provide the courses or majors the student desires.
- Out-of-state: If money is less of an issue or scholarships can be obtained, out-of-state school can be very beneficial to students. A few pros and cons are:
- Opening up to other state colleges allows for more program options.
- Leaving their families and the environments they know can cause many students to grow and mature.
- The change may be too drastic for some students.
- The schools can be expensive.