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This program should be much better known to Hawai'i students than it is. The WUE program is an agreement between the "Western" States to share undergraduate students by allowing students whose state participates in the WUE program to attend college in another state at a fraction of what it would cost if classified as an "Out of State" student.
This is one of the best deals going! For example, as student from Hawai'i might want to attend the University of Oregon. Instead of having to pay the out of state tuition and fees of $6,451.50 for 12 credits, a WUE student would only have to pay $2,921.50. This is huge! And even bigger when multiplied over the course of an entire college career!
Now we have to be careful. In recent times, some state's colleges have made WUE more like a scholarship program with higher GPA and SAT score requirements to participate. The University of Nevada, Las Vegas comes to mind. UNLV while a good college has never been a "Nationally Ranked" college in terms of academics, at least, so their entrance requirements were quite easily met by most students. Well, we all know about the Hawai'i/Las Vegas connection, right? Seems Hawai'i students were opting for UNLV under the WUE program in droves. (I'm sure there wasn't any persuasion from parents wanting to visit.)
Well, just prior to the 2006-2007 school year, UNLV changed the GPA requirements for WUE students to 3.5. Whoops, that cut down on the numbers of students from Hawai'i attending UNLV.
The point of all this is that you have to do your homework and not just assume that because a college is a WUE school that gettng in will be a breeze. Some can be, but some (and usually it is the more desired colleges in the WUE program) are not!
Often overlooked, the Western Undergraduate Exchange also included the Junior Colleges of several states. What distinguishes mainland JC's from Hawai'i's Community Colleges is the fact that most of the mainland Junior Colleges have full fledged sports programs!
Many of our talent athletes simply don't have the grades, test scores or academic maturity to gain acceptance at the 4 year college level yet. Mainland Junior Colleges offer our students a way to continue their passion for competitive sports and their development of their academic skills as well.
And WUE JC's are not just for the sports minded, either. These colleges offer any student the opportunity to study while getting the broadening experience of living on the mainland.
There are many smart reasons to consider WUE Junior Colleges. Check them out!
*A word of caution regarding costs of attendance data. Schools report costs of attendance in different ways. Some only report cost of tuition and some include cost of books, travel, housing and living expense. Others are somewhere in between. You will need to do your own followup research to get a more accurate idea of costs. The costs presented are simply to give a starting point to your more in depth inquiry.
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WUE Colleges
