College admissions

[#1]

If you're considering applying to an Ohio school, here's an interesting piece on Ohio State vs. Miami University.  Has anyone out there attended or looked at one of these colleges?

[#2]

I'm currently a college freshman at Denison University, originally from Columbus, Ohio. Being from Columbus and with my mom having graduated from OSU and currently working for OSU for over 5 years, it was natural to apply there. But Denison - a private school - actually offered me more money than OSU. In fact, Denison's financial aid package was the best I received from any college. It was less expensive for me to go to the private Denison than public OSU, even with their in-state tuition being 1/2 price because my mom works at the university.

Everyone at Denison agrees - they are VERY generous with financial aid. 

[#3]

I attended the Ohio State University Mansfield Branch for two years and then finished at Ashland University.  If you have a branch near you, I highly recommend taking advantage of their Academy Program.  I started taking courses during my senior year of high school, and they were completely funded by the state, including books and supplies.  By the time I graduated high school, I had also completed my freshman year of college.  Had I known about the program earlier, I actually could have taken advantage of it during my junior year of high school as well.

[#4]

I did some college recruiting at both Ohio State and Miami U.  I can say both school had amazing talent and Miami offered a specialized program that our industry needed (Paper Science).

I'm kind of surprised that the private ed at Miami is slightly higher than a public university - and the ratios are that similar too.  Not sure the value w/ the private university.  Well, maybe the fact that a higher % graduate within the 4 years than at the public (OSU).  For my dollar, considering I plan on paying for my child's education, I consider this to be the value for the extra costs.  If it takes my kids longer to finish school which is more out of my pocket in the long run, the $8k is worth it to me.

And, to what DealSeekingMom said re: OSU high-school academic programs, Miami U offers the same programs (since it's local to me).  They now have 3 campuses to choose from besides the Oxford campus and work with local high schools to enroll juniors/seniors in entry-level college courses.  So, that takes out some of the added cost and could possibly get them to finish even sooner.