Ever wonder why public universities will charge students almost three times as much tuition if they are from out of state?
Out-of-state tuition is expensive because as a non-resident, you have not been contributing to the funding of public colleges in that state when paying taxes; therefore out-of-state students are charged significantly more than in-state residents who have been making tax payments to the state. Colleges are trying to attract in-state students with the low prices. In a perfect world, these students will attend their in-state public university, get a job in-state after graduation, and therefore boost the economy.
The choices that Kentucky students are stuck with are unfair. The University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville are great schools, but on a national scale, they don’t measure up to most other state schools.
According to U.S. News and World Report’s “Top National Universities” rankings, the University of Kentucky is ranked 128, and the University of Louisville is “tier 3 unranked.” On the other hand, the University of Virginia is ranked 24, and the University of California Berkeley is ranked 21.
Both UVA and UC Berkeley have in-state tuition virtually equal to in-state schools in Kentucky. Why do students in these states get to pay $8,500 for such prestigious schools while students in Kentucky pay the same tuition for less-quality universities?
If a talented student at Trinity wanted to attend UVA, he would have to pay $31,870 per year while an in-state, maybe even less qualified, student only pays $9,870.
It isn’t fair for students in Kentucky who aren’t satisfied with the college choices in this state. Public universities should be more willing to award in-state tuition to qualified applicants. Some colleges charge in-state tuition to highly talented out-of-state applicants, and some charge in-state tuition if a particular major at an out-of-state college isn’t available in your home state.
Talented students in the state of Kentucky deserve the same opportunities as other students throughout the country.
Almost 30 states have at least one public university ranked higher than the University of Kentucky, which means kids in 30 states are going to higher quality universities for a lower price that what a Trinity student have to would pay, even if that Trinity student were more qualified.