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Dear Flipster,
Could be you have some misunderstanding on tuition. University of Texas in Austin is $3,000 in-state for the school year. Appalachian is $4,000 in-state, $13,500 out-of-state.
Dear Undecided,
Boone is great for skiing and views, good school. But to pay three times annual tuition to go there as an out-of-state undergraduate makes no sense. Instead, go to a school in Wisconsin, and spend a fraction of your $10,000 savings on a ski trip to Boone over Christmas, great lodge up on Beech Mountain.
I might add that subjects you are interested in should be the guiding force on what school you select in Wisconsin. Picture yourself in 10 years. Do you want to study film so you can help make movies, or do you want to study veterinarian science so you can work with animals, or do you want to study ancient history so you can travel to Greece, or do you want to study business so you can make a ton of money, or study law so you can change the world?
Boone is great for skiing? Please. It has good skiing considering its location, but to call it great skiing must mean the only other place you've skied is Alabama or Iowa.
The amount of tuition one is comfortable paying is a personal decision based on many factors, including the amount of savings one might have allocated for college. Assuming you won't be going into major debt to attend ASU over a more affordable in-state school, its not a bad decision. The college years are as much about personal growth as they are about education, and I think moving to a new area and state to attend school can be far more beneficial than heading down the road to UW-Platteville just to save a few thousand bucks.
Boone is great for skiing? Please. It has good skiing considering its location, but to call it great skiing must mean the only other place you've skied is Alabama or Iowa.
LOL! So true. Yes, there is skiing in the NC Mtns, but it is not as extensive as, say, the New England area, or the Rockies. But you most certainly can get a skiing fix when needed.
My daughter is in her freshman year at ASU, after having her heart set on gonig to U of N Carolina, and LOVES it! She couldn't be happier. The people are down to earth, she has tons of friends, has joined a sorority, and even goes to football games and cheers like an old fan. This from a girl who could care less about sports.
Boone is a great little town and the students have the opportunity to be very involved with community service. If you decide to attend ASU, I would highly reccomend applying for the 'Trailhead' program. It's a great way to get to know students and the area before you even go there. You can even work it so that you hit both Trailhead and orientation on the same trip.
Boone is a great little town and the students have the opportunity to be very involved with community service. If you decide to attend ASU, I would highly reccomend applying for the 'Trailhead' program. It's a great way to get to know students and the area before you even go there. You can even work it so that you hit both Trailhead and orientation on the same trip.
I was a Trailhead leader some years back. It was an excellent program.
App State also, as you mentioned, has an award-winning community service program called "ACT". It's essentially a campus office staffed by students and University staff that connects groups and individuals on campus with non-profits off campus. They have an office right in the student union.
Dear MDP & PCR,
The original poster already said he had been to Boone and liked it, wanted to leave Wisconsin to go to school there. Others chimed in, saying yes, Boone was great, for different reasons. My comment that skiing is good was reaffirming some of those pluses, and to open up the idea he spend Xmas there, so that staying in Wisconsin wouldn't seem such a wretched deal.
If I were to pick any city in the country to ski in, sure, there are plenty of other choices. But that was not the subject here, folks. He likes Boone and ASU. But I might add that Olympic skiiers hold competitions up on Beech Mountain, so it can't be all bad.
MDP, I find I must reply to your post that paying for college is a "personal choice" and that college is as much about "personal growth" as education. The choice of spending $4,000 versus $13,500 is not necessarily personal; the parents often have to cough up the cash. The choice, too, is so clear that it's not a choice; it's a matter of whether you can subtract or not. And to say personal growth is on par with education is like saying building a career is the same as going to Disneyland. There is a time and place for everything, and the time and place to get educated is in college. Anyway, Wisconsin has so many numerous state colleges to choose from, in towns with varying degrees of size and interest, your point is moot. I mean, if he could go to Harvard on scholarship versus Boone at three times what it costs to stay in his state, maybe rooting for Harvard would make more sense.
MY point was to help UNDECIDED make a considered decision on what college to go to. MY intention was to help in a positive manner, provide information he asked for, and join in the dialogue about the pros and cons of Boone. For you people to whine about what I'M saying, and then backing it up by recommending better ski choices, and add that "a few thousand bucks" is okay to waste, well, that's just plain irrational.
Dear Undecided,
I would like to conclude my remarks by reaffirming that, without question, preparing for your college future should include figuring out what kind of edu-bi-cation you want from a particular school, and then being reasonable about cost, which is the name of the game. Since you are wanting to further your education, then go to a school that will teach you about the kind of work you want to do for the next 40 or 50 years. You can go to Disneyland anytime you want to in that span of time. But if you choose on the basis of how much you like a town, well, you're putting the cart before the horse. You want to position yourself in life to choose where you want to go AFTER college, so you can maintain a lifestyle you'd like to become accustomed to, doing something you like.
And since there is some doubt about the value of $10,000 (and multiply that by four if you want to, since it takes four years to graduate), let me break just the $10,000 down into something a younger person or any person might appreciate: You can buy an inexpensive but brand new car with it; you can fly to Paris, live there for the summer, return, and still have cash left over; you can use it as a down payment on a house in Boone if you become an English professor there; you can take a year off and travel all over the United States for "personal growth"; you can buy a piece of property and then sell it at a profit when you graduate; you can buy 400 CDs and a pretty good audio system; you can take your girlfriend to 600 movies; or you can donate the whole wad to the local soup kitchen and feed 20,000 people on Christmas day.
I suppose you could also follow the advice MDP and PCR and spend it on a school in the boonies where skiing is poor compared to Aspen, and not learn the first thing about a special subject that really interests you since ASU may not offer it, and probably not get much personal growth on account of you can't go anywhere except on foot most of the year because you're snowed in.
I think I have provided enough material here for MDP and PCR to tear up and spew back out for months to come, back to the future, and unto our next century, but if I make even a small contribution resulting in a wise choice for one person who is dreaming about where to go to college, well, I reckon I can handle it.
GG
Dear MDP & PCR,
The original poster already said he had been to Boone and liked it, wanted to leave Wisconsin to go to school there. Others chimed in, saying yes, Boone was great, for different reasons. My comment that skiing is good was reaffirming some of those pluses, and to open up the idea he spend Xmas there, so that staying in Wisconsin wouldn't seem such a wretched deal.
If I were to pick any city in the country to ski in, sure, there are plenty of other choices. But that was not the subject here, folks. He likes Boone and ASU. But I might add that Olympic skiiers hold competitions up on Beech Mountain, so it can't be all bad.
MDP, I find I must reply to your post that paying for college is a "personal choice" and that college is as much about "personal growth" as education. The choice of spending $4,000 versus $13,500 is not necessarily personal; the parents often have to cough up the cash. The choice, too, is so clear that it's not a choice; it's a matter of whether you can subtract or not. And to say personal growth is on par with education is like saying building a career is the same as going to Disneyland. There is a time and place for everything, and the time and place to get educated is in college. Anyway, Wisconsin has so many numerous state colleges to choose from, in towns with varying degrees of size and interest, your point is moot. I mean, if he could go to Harvard on scholarship versus Boone at three times what it costs to stay in his state, maybe rooting for Harvard would make more sense.
MY point was to help UNDECIDED make a considered decision on what college to go to. MY intention was to help in a positive manner, provide information he asked for, and join in the dialogue about the pros and cons of Boone. For you people to whine about what I'M saying, and then backing it up by recommending better ski choices, and add that "a few thousand bucks" is okay to waste, well, that's just plain irrational.
Dear Undecided,
I would like to conclude my remarks by reaffirming that, without question, preparing for your college future should include figuring out what kind of edu-bi-cation you want from a particular school, and then being reasonable about cost, which is the name of the game. Since you are wanting to further your education, then go to a school that will teach you about the kind of work you want to do for the next 40 or 50 years. You can go to Disneyland anytime you want to in that span of time. But if you choose on the basis of how much you like a town, well, you're putting the cart before the horse. You want to position yourself in life to choose where you want to go AFTER college, so you can maintain a lifestyle you'd like to become accustomed to, doing something you like.
And since there is some doubt about the value of $10,000 (and multiply that by four if you want to, since it takes four years to graduate), let me break just the $10,000 down into something a younger person or any person might appreciate: You can buy an inexpensive but brand new car with it; you can fly to Paris, live there for the summer, return, and still have cash left over; you can use it as a down payment on a house in Boone if you become an English professor there; you can take a year off and travel all over the United States for "personal growth"; you can buy a piece of property and then sell it at a profit when you graduate; you can buy 400 CDs and a pretty good audio system; you can take your girlfriend to 600 movies; or you can donate the whole wad to the local soup kitchen and feed 20,000 people on Christmas day.
I suppose you could also follow the advice MDP and PCR and spend it on a school in the boonies where skiing is poor compared to Aspen, and not learn the first thing about a special subject that really interests you since ASU may not offer it, and probably not get much personal growth on account of you can't go anywhere except on foot most of the year because you're snowed in.
I think I have provided enough material here for MDP and PCR to tear up and spew back out for months to come, back to the future, and unto our next century, but if I make even a small contribution resulting in a wise choice for one person who is dreaming about where to go to college, well, I reckon I can handle it.
GG
GG, while I certainly appreciate the time and effort you put into this post, I am another who disagrees with you that money on out-of-state tuition is "wasted".
There are MANY good reasons for a young college student to attend college away from home in another state, or even another country! For one thing, if you have always been in one place or state your whole life, your view of the world is very limited. Attending school in another region of the country is eye opening and contributes greatly to a young persons life experiences.
In addition, sometimes the field of interest a young person wants to pursue is not available in their home state universities (this is the case in my son's situation).
It really is a very personal decision a family must make and you should not judge. Perhaps his family has saved this kind of money for years for him to have just such a choice? If a kid wants to do something as brave as going so far from home in the hopes of broadening his world and views, not to mention to get an awesome college education, who are YOU to say it is a waste of money????
Dear MDP & PCR,
The original poster already said he had been to Boone and liked it, wanted to leave Wisconsin to go to school there. Others chimed in, saying yes, Boone was great, for different reasons. My comment that skiing is good was reaffirming some of those pluses, and to open up the idea he spend Xmas there, so that staying in Wisconsin wouldn't seem such a wretched deal.
If I were to pick any city in the country to ski in, sure, there are plenty of other choices. But that was not the subject here, folks. He likes Boone and ASU. But I might add that Olympic skiiers hold competitions up on Beech Mountain, so it can't be all bad.
MDP, I find I must reply to your post that paying for college is a "personal choice" and that college is as much about "personal growth" as education. The choice of spending $4,000 versus $13,500 is not necessarily personal; the parents often have to cough up the cash. The choice, too, is so clear that it's not a choice; it's a matter of whether you can subtract or not. And to say personal growth is on par with education is like saying building a career is the same as going to Disneyland. There is a time and place for everything, and the time and place to get educated is in college. Anyway, Wisconsin has so many numerous state colleges to choose from, in towns with varying degrees of size and interest, your point is moot. I mean, if he could go to Harvard on scholarship versus Boone at three times what it costs to stay in his state, maybe rooting for Harvard would make more sense.
MY point was to help UNDECIDED make a considered decision on what college to go to. MY intention was to help in a positive manner, provide information he asked for, and join in the dialogue about the pros and cons of Boone. For you people to whine about what I'M saying, and then backing it up by recommending better ski choices, and add that "a few thousand bucks" is okay to waste, well, that's just plain irrational.
Dear Undecided,
I would like to conclude my remarks by reaffirming that, without question, preparing for your college future should include figuring out what kind of edu-bi-cation you want from a particular school, and then being reasonable about cost, which is the name of the game. Since you are wanting to further your education, then go to a school that will teach you about the kind of work you want to do for the next 40 or 50 years. You can go to Disneyland anytime you want to in that span of time. But if you choose on the basis of how much you like a town, well, you're putting the cart before the horse. You want to position yourself in life to choose where you want to go AFTER college, so you can maintain a lifestyle you'd like to become accustomed to, doing something you like.
And since there is some doubt about the value of $10,000 (and multiply that by four if you want to, since it takes four years to graduate), let me break just the $10,000 down into something a younger person or any person might appreciate: You can buy an inexpensive but brand new car with it; you can fly to Paris, live there for the summer, return, and still have cash left over; you can use it as a down payment on a house in Boone if you become an English professor there; you can take a year off and travel all over the United States for "personal growth"; you can buy a piece of property and then sell it at a profit when you graduate; you can buy 400 CDs and a pretty good audio system; you can take your girlfriend to 600 movies; or you can donate the whole wad to the local soup kitchen and feed 20,000 people on Christmas day.
I suppose you could also follow the advice MDP and PCR and spend it on a school in the boonies where skiing is poor compared to Aspen, and not learn the first thing about a special subject that really interests you since ASU may not offer it, and probably not get much personal growth on account of you can't go anywhere except on foot most of the year because you're snowed in.
I think I have provided enough material here for MDP and PCR to tear up and spew back out for months to come, back to the future, and unto our next century, but if I make even a small contribution resulting in a wise choice for one person who is dreaming about where to go to college, well, I reckon I can handle it.
GG
GG, no need to get defensive. I was simply making a lighthearted comment about the skiing around Boone. I learned to ski up there and have spent quite a few days riding the snow around Boone. I have also lived in the Rockies and skied extensively in the both the Rockies and the Alps, so I feel I was qualified to make that observation.
As for your closing comment, I was not trying to tear up and spew back out anything you said, and I doubt PCR was either. This forum allows for sharing of opinions, which both you and I have done on this matter. I see no need to debate your post further as I believe lovesMountains has done an outstanding job of that already.
Dear Flipster,
Could be you have some misunderstanding on tuition. University of Texas in Austin is $3,000 in-state for the school year. Appalachian is $4,000 in-state, $13,500 out-of-state.
No misunderstanding. That's what she said. Maybe she was talking about room and board in addition to tuition.
Undecided2008 - I think you have picked one of the best. I plan on transferring (from out of state) to ASU Spring of '09 after getting state residency for a year. I love that it has a lot of outdoor activities, since I love hiking, biking, etc.
Who knows, maybe we'll meet each there in the future!
P.S. - If you're looking into state residency for lower tuition price, let me know. I'm trying to figure it all out and get set to get an apartment and so forth. I hope to be moved by Summer of '08.
My son is a freshman at ASU. He loves it. He attended the Summer Preview program and we thought it was a wonderful introduction to college. He came home yesterday for the first time since August and can't wait for next semester. ASU is the perfect mix. Large enough to have a good sports program, small enough so that teachers care about their students.
Yes, out of state tuition is pricey. We are paying about $20,000. a year for tuition, room and board and etc. One good thing about ASU is that you rent your books. It is a big savings considering you can easily spend $500 or more a semester on books that they never seem to buy back.
All I'm going to say is that the original post was did NOT mention cost at all. Cost came up in the conversation because those of us in state are lucky enough to take advantage of the very reasonable in-state tuition.
Undecided, you can't choose your college solely on academics - but then, I don't think you were even thinking that way. The surroundings, the courses offered (and the quality of those courses), the STUDENTS - it ALL combines to help you have the best and most rewarding college experience.
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Please. It has good skiing considering its location, but to call it great skiing must mean the only other place you've skied is Alabama or Iowa. 
