Many graduating seniors who plan to go to college are forced to make the decision to pay the high price of out-of-state college or stay in state. Staying in state is way cheaper than out of state unless the student has a scholarship to an out-of-state college. Scholarships are becoming more and more necessary as colleges raise their prices. For example, Arizona State University’s out-of-state tuition for 2011, without on-campus dormitories, was $22,319 and in-state tuition was $9,720.
The top colleges in Colorado ranked by University Web Ranking are Colorado University (CU), Colorado State University (CSU), University of Denver (DU), United States Air Force Academy (USAFA), and Colorado School of Mines (CSM). Each of these colleges do great in their professions and even outside their professions. The schools closest to Eaton are CSU in Fort Collins, whose business college was ranked by BusinessWeek magazine for 2009 as one of the top undergraduate business colleges in the nation.
These many colleges in Colorado leave various choices and career paths for High School seniors across Colorado. Most of the Eaton High School students and teachers on College in Colorado day wore CSU apparel and UNC apparel. All except for one student, Amanda Pennington (12), who is already accepted and planning to go to DU. She said her major will be in international relations and her minor will be in psychology. When asked about her decision Pennington said “It’s going to be cool and it’s a family thing.” Pennington may be one of the very few seniors who know exactly what they want to major in at Denver University.
One of the business teachers at Eaton High School, Chris Love, obtained his undergrad at CSU and his master’s at UNC. Since he attended both schools, Love switched out his shirt in the middle of the day from CSU to UNC to represent both. Although he said he learned a lot in college and developed his “self identity,” Love said “I would have rather gone out of state to see what it offers; usually when people go out of state and come back they appreciate the state more.”
Another student, Hayley Miller (14), who has a couple years left to think about her choice in college, wore a CSU shirt. She said she would like to go out of state to but also said, “It would be cool to go to CSU because my sister goes there.” And since she is paying for her own college she said “I want to get scholarships for sports.”
Miller, Love, and Pennington all see the value in Colorado colleges. Colorado has a wide range of professions available for college students. Love fulfilled his College needs and Amanda will acquire the education she needs to succeed.