Is it better to go out of state or in state for graduate school?

[futurespeechpathologist]

Just wanted thoughts on going to graduate in state at the same university as your undergraduate degree versus out of state (A LOT MORE EXPENSIVE). I've gotten some offers out of state at really good schools, but is it worth expensive tuition? I know that for my degree, it's only five semester.  Three of those will be out of state tuition while the last two will be in state tuition. 

[Quantitative_Psychology]

It really depends if you are going into a Master's or PhD program. This is primarily due to funding. If you are going into a Master's program, it is unlikely your tuition will be covered by the program (unless they are very friendly). In this case, it could be far more advantageous to remain in your state because you would get the in-state tuition price. However, if the Master's program either funds you entirely or at least offers in-state tuition to out of state people (my program does this), then there is no longer a need to stay in-state. In contrast, for a Phd program (assuming it funds you), it matters very little if you are in-state or out of state. In fact, I recommend applying to a number of PhD programs that are in-state or out of state. You should allow research interest matches to guide you because you will be funded either way. 

 

More specifically to your situation, it depends how much higher ranked your programs are. If you are accepted to a top 20 programs without as much funding, I would go for it. If you are looking at similarly ranked programs, I don't think it would matter too much, and I would go cheaper (assuming one of the more expensive ones doesn't have a better research match).

Edited March 8, 2017 by mav160