[quote=paramount]A few facts to consider (although slightly off topic):
*Most D1 football programs actually operate at a deficit
*Not uncommon for students at these football schools to pay excessive ‘athletic fees’
*College football is big business at many public universities, and has no business being so – when many are non profit to begin with. Why should tax payers have to support a semi-pro sports team when the purpose of a university should primarily be academics.
In many of these schools, it’s football.
As I’ve said before: Jonathan Gruber was right.[/quote]Football (and other college sports) is the only thing many residents in the HUGE community surrounding OU live for. Yes, even the senior citizens! Football season tix are always sold out months in advance (when they first become available).
I would have loved it if my kids could have qualified to apply for this school but at the time my youngest was submitting college apps the entry GPA for OOS students averaged 3.67 and my kid only had a 3.1. The bar is higher now, mainly due to its desire to admit deserving in-state freshman hailing from rural areas (who didn’t have the AP/IB offerings of urban HS’s). OU has a deeply-entrenched Greek system as well.
The rent there for a decent nearby off-campus apt is about $400-$550 for a 2/2 (with 2 assigned pkg spaces). That’s so much cheaper than CA, esp in the big cities. If my kids qualified for acceptance, they would have been required to pay only 25-30% of the OOS tuition premium (over and above in-state tuition) due to family legacies and their heritage.
Of course, their CalVet waiver wouldn’t have been accepted but due to the low, low COL there, it would have been worth it to pay slightly more OOP for them to have a diploma from prestigious OU. Especially since they have a few nearby relatives with pickups at the ready if they need to move, family to “rescue” them if their vehicle breaks down or make phone calls if they land in the hospital. Or if they just wanted to visit a real home with family for Sunday dinner and/or holidays and/or take a break from their studies with a bit of horseback riding on a Sunday afternoon 🙂 (Having nearby family was a benefit of my kid(s) attending university in SF as well.)
As deadzone and others posted, lots of “football schools” have a fabulous selection of academic programs, some of which are very highly rated and prestigious.
It doesn’t really matter if your Native Cali student attends college OOS. They can always return to CA to accept a job after graduation if they so choose to. The quality, prestige (and cost) of the educational programs of the institution matter a lot, whether or not it has a big, well-known athletic dept …. or not.
