in state tuition

[scorched]

Ok so this applies to a brick and mortar school for my daughter

Having just moved to Virginia from Florida we are in a heck of a quandary.
We no longer qualify for in state tuition back in Florida, nor will Virginia grant us in state due to not being here 1 year.

I sent a letter to the school asking for a variance seeing how we literally picked up and moved everything but have not heard back. They offer variance for active duty but not veteran so no luck there.

She is a great kid, National honor society and was accepted at Univ of Richmond, they assured we they would discount to $20k a year, but written offer was $40K a year. But because of this economy and our unsold house in Florida this is not going to happen. So we looked to state schools, but apparently don't qualify.
So at stake is $110 an hour vs $300 or $1600 vs $4800 for each semester. I am willing to give up anything to ensure she goes, but does anyone have any ideas?

[bkahuna]

Many local community colleges have programs that not only directly transfer into the school you'd want to go to, they are very cost effective, and if you have solid results there you can nearly be assured that she will be accepted. They will likely have higher out of state rates like the other school but they'll be much easier to swallow. Here the non-resident is ~$200 per credit hour.

I dont know about VA, but here in TX if you want to get into U Texas, its a solid way of doing so. At UT or Texas A&M there is major competition for incoming freshman spots, but transferring in as a sophomore or junior is easier. Now, that being said, the community colleges are very popular and can be tough to get into so you need to check with yours and get in there and get signed up, dont wait until the last minute.

You also have the option of looking into CLEP/DSST equivalency testing but you need to review the specific school's policy on that. Some limit to specific tests, some only allow a maximum of 60 credits, they vary from school to school. You want to make sure that the final school where she will graduate from will accept the credits, if the community college does or doesn't that isn't relevant. You might also talk to an advisor there because the policy says they can grant credit on a case by case basis

Credit by Exam - Policies - Registrar's Office - University of Richmond

Looking at University of Richmond, they will take Chemistry, Macro and Microeconomics (thats 1 unit each in their credit system; probably equivalent to 2/3 a semester), and they take MANY of the International Baccelaureate exams, but I have no experience with IB, sorry I cant help with that (perhaps a search of the forum here? or their website at The International Baccalaureate offers high quality programmes of international education to a worldwide community of schools)

And frankly, I think anyone who would go to a B&M who was capable of learning independently would be foolish to pay full price for the whole degree, credit by exam is where its at!! I'm sure others here would agree with me. Remember the CLEP/DSST tests cost $100, and normally count for 3 credit hours (though it looks like U of Richmond uses a different metric)

[LaterBloomer]

My understanding is that if you attend a Virginia community college, and have a GPA of ...3.5?...you will be admitted to the liberal arts program of any of Virginia's public universities. It was in the newspapers a few years ago. Check it out with your local community college, though, because a friend's child had some sort of problem with making it happen. Good luck, and welcome to the Old Dominion.