BOZEMAN – Many Montana high school seniors won’t be leaving their home state for college this coming fall.
"Some students come in and they know right away that they want to go to an in-state school. Their parents went to MSU or U of M, their siblings went there and that’s where they want to go," said Reach Higher Montana advisor Katherine Foster.
That’s exactly what an increasing number of high school seniors are now deciding to do. There are many factors as to why more Montana residents are staying in state, but many consider a specific one.
“Cost is also a big determining factor as to where they go and so, that’s when the out of state school list might go down and in state schools might become more relevant," Foster said.
Tuition is significantly less for Montana students to attend an in-state school. not only is post-secondary education for residents cost efficient, but there’s also great value for their dollar.
“It comes down to, ‘ok where can i get a quality education,’ and the Montana University System schools offer a really good education to students and so they realize they can get a good education staying here in Montana. They don’t have to go to an out of state school," Foster observed,
As more and more in-state residents decide to stay in the Treasure State for college, Montana State University is one of the many options that they have.
“Montana State University has got a real growing reputation as a very high-quality place to get an affordable higher education," Director of News Service at MSU Michael Becker said.
That growing reputation has surely made it’s way to high school seniors across the state, making Montana State University in Bozeman one of the students top choices.
As of last year, 10,000 of the 16,700 students at MSU were in-state residents. The school provides support to ensure students successfully finish in at least four years to make their degree even more cost efficient.
“Some of the programs we have in place to make sure they’re graduating on time [include] our Freshman 15 program where we encourage them to take a higher credit load so that they can take advantage of tuition savings and graduate on time — and with as little debt as possible. And we think that is a big draw for many students including Montana students," Becker said.
