Brittany Keller

p.5

COMPARING COLLEGES
U of U and staying at home:
initial costs:
The tuition for The University of Utah is currently estimated at $7,935 a year.
With 15 credit hours per semester, the cost is $3,977 per semester
Book fees for your first year of general education is around $1,100 according to the
national average.
TRAVEL COSTS:
DRIVING TRAVEL OPTION:
The college is approximately 11 miles away from my house, so there and back each
day would be 22 miles. I plan to take classes four days a week, so a total of 88 miles
per week. The average gas price is 2014 was $3.31. My car right now averages about
25 miles per gallon.
88 miles per week/25mpg = 3.52 gallons per week. (just driving strictly to and from
school)
3.52 x $3.31 = $11.65 on gas for weekly school drives.
PARKING COST: a year permit for student parking is $115
TRAX TRAVEL OPTION:
A university of utah student can get a UofU student card, which costs about $26 for a
student taking 15 credit hours, per semester.
FOOD COSTS: Staying at home means that I will not have to buy groceries for myself
on a weekly basis, but i will most likely end up eating out for lunch more often, since i
cannot drive all the way home to get food. If I were to spend $5 on lunch every time I
went to school, that would be $20 a week.
TOTAL COST AVERAGE:
$3,977 tuition per semester = $7,954 tuition per year
$1,100 book fees
$11.65 each week x 4 weeks per month x 9 months per year = $419.40 on gas
OR
$26 Ucard per semester = $52 per year on trax
$115 for parking pass
$20 a week x 4 weeks x 9 months = $720 on food cost per year
TOTAL: $10,308 per year with driving option
$9,826 per year with Ucard option

about $10,000 per year was my approximation, the university had their own fee
calculator: Their average for a freshmen student in the 2014-2015 year, who was living
at home was $16,000.
These are their price estimations: Room and Board=2,718, Books and Supplies=1,280,
Miscellaneous =3,996, Transportation=1,098, Tuition and Fees=7,876

Total Budget=$16,968
Dixie State living away from home:
initial costs:
Tuition for Dixie State University is $4,456, and they have full acceptance rate.
The cost for tuition for 15 credit hours is around $1,897 per semester.
Student fees for the first year of general education is around $331 per semester, and
using the price from the national average, book fees are around $1,100 a year.
HOUSING COSTS:
LIVING ON CAMPUS IN DORMS OPTION:
Single student housing rates for the Nisson towers is $795 per semester
and a meal plan ranges from $999 to $1799, I choose meal plan B which is $1199 a
year.
There would be no driving because I would live close enough to walk to each of my
classes.
The total cost of living on campus in a dorm is around $2789 a year.
LIVING OFF CAMPUS IN APARTMENTS NEAR BY OPTION:
Living in the Dixie View apartments costs $625 a month but it has 3 bedrooms so
I would be splitting the rent with 2 other people bringing the rent down to $203 a
month. These apartments are slightly more expensive but come with these features.
(3 Bedroom Townhome 1 Bath Kitchen (includes refrigerator, stove top oven,
dishwasher) Washer/Dryer Hook-Ups Water, Sewage, and Trash Cable 24-hour
access to Resident Life Lounge 24-hour access to Resident Life Computer Lab
Use of Sand Volleyball Court, Basketball Court, and Recreation Field) Including a dish
washer.
These apartments are too far from the campus to walk so I would have to drive. But
it is only around 3 miles away from the campus. 6 miles a day, and 24 miles a week,
equaling only about 4 gallons per month. which is only $13 a month for gas.
There is a $30 parking pass fee, which is good for the entire year.
The total for housing is $1827 and the driving/parking cost is $147
total cost per year(9 months) is: $1974
Living in the Morgan Apartments costs $550 a month and only has 2 bedrooms
so I would be splitting the rent between one other person bringing it down to $225 a
month these apartments come with these features (2 Bedrooms 1 Bathroom Kitchen
(includes refrigerator and stove top oven) Washer/Dryer Hook-Ups Water and Trash

 24-hour access to Resident Life Lounge 24-hour access to Resident Life Computer
Lab Use of Sand Volleyball Court, Basketball Court, and Recreation Field)
The apartments are right across the street from the campus so I would not have to
drive, but it would be a further walk.
total cost per year(9 months) is: $2025
Both of these options require students to buy their own food, and groceries, which the
national average for groceries a month is $467 a month for two people, so it should be
$235 a month for one person. Which equals about $2115 a school year.
TOTAL COST AVERAGE:
tution: $3974 per year
book & student fees: $1431 per year
Living on campus option: $2789 per year
total for this option: $8167 per year
Living off campus in Morgan dorms option: $4140 per year
total for this option: $9545 per year
Living off campus in the Dixie view apartments option: $4062 per year
total for this option: $9467 per year
This is the dixie univeristy estimated costs they have for themselves for living in dorms:
Tuition and fees= $4089, Room and board charges= $5048, cost of books and
supplies= $900, other personal expenses(transportation)= $9,504
total: $19,541
To live on your own with a roommate off campus is even more expensive and they have
estimated the price of being around $22,765

Total Budget: $19,541-$22,765

In the end the University of Utah is overall cheaper than Dixie State
University, and if I were to base my choice only on price I would obviously pick the U of
U. It is $3,000-5,000 cheaper than Dixie. But there are some other factors that play into
deciding what college would be a better pick. With both of these total averages, I did not
add in any potential scholarship opportunities. There are a lot of scholarships for both
colleges, ranging from Merit based, to need based. The scholarships I would apply and
qualify for would be the academic based ones. Even though the University of Utah has
a lot of scholarships, there are a lot more people applying for them, and there are a lot
of qualified people who have my same, or better qualifications. Which makes getting a
scholarship to the U of U that much harder. The university of utah is not general
admission and has requirements. They like to have people who have high GPAs
around 3.0 and higher, with ACT scores in the mid 20s from 21-27. I would say that
there is less of a chance for me to get a scholarship to the U of U than there would be at
Dixie. Dixie State has a 100% acceptance rate, which is nice, but that also means you
dont have to have outstanding grades to get in, like you do for the U. There is a lot

larger opportunity for me to qualify for an academic scholarship there than at the U, and
most likely the scholarship I could get at Dixie would be worth more, possibly half to full
tuition paid for.
Here is one scholarship I would automatically qualify for at Dixie State: Trustees
Scholarship, worth $9,600 in total, and pays for $2,400 per year for four years
This would lower the price of my total cost to being $19,500 to $17,100 which is still a
lot but its a lot closer to the University of Utahs tuition.
There are a few scholarships for the U of U but none of them I automatically
qualify for, they are much harder to get, but here is one: PRESIDENTIAL MERIT Recipients must maintain a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.6 and complete 24 hours of
course work (20 of which must be graded) every two semesters. (Recipients awarded
prior to 2011/2012 are expected to maintain a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.7 as
indicated in their original award letters.) Grades are reviewed after the second, fourth,
and sixth semester. It does not say how much it is worth. The U also has a Trustees
scholarship but I do not qualify with my current ACT score.
There are still more things to debate over when choosing my school.
Living at home has its pros as well as cons. So does living away from home. While
going to the U, I would be able to live at home, which would be less stressful, and i
wouldnt have to support myself. It would be much easier to be a full time student,
because I would not have to worry about maintaining a job to pay for everything. Also I
have my parental support and my network of friends from Salt Lake, where I grew up.
But the cons of staying at home is there is less freedom, because you are still living with
your parents. There are also other benefits of going to Dixie, one of them would be
living away from home for the first time. It will give me a new experience and really
show me what its like in the real world. It will show me what it is like to be an adult and
to take care of myself for the first time. Now to some that sounds amazing, to be away
from your parents, and to others it sounds terrifying. I am somewhere in the middle, i
think it would be very scary and intimidating at first, but I do think it would be a good
experience for me. The cons for living away from home is having to find a job to pay for
everything you need, with the added expenses, which makes it harder to be a fulltime
student and balance everything out. Also you are thrown into a new environment, with
new people and you have to adjust to everything fairly quickly. That can be stressful in
itself, then add starting your first year of college to the mix and you could be looking at a
mental breakdown.
Both living at home, and living away from home have their pros, and cons.
There are still other factors that play into my choice in college. One of those is campus
size, and class size. The average class size for general ed classes at the University of
Utah is auditorium size, with about 100-300 students per lecture. This I find to be a con,
because there is less personal, one on one time with the professor. It also makes the
class much more intimidating when trying to ask a question. The average class size at

Dixie State is around 10-35 which is much smaller, and also allows for more personal
time, and you can get to know your classmates better.
All in all I think that the University of Utah would be a better choice for me at the
moment. The price is overall less than Dixie State, which is much nicer. I also think that
the benefits of living at home are better than living away from home. It would be too
much stress and too much of a change to switch to a new place to live and also start my
freshmen year of college. Dixie has smaller class sizes, and the atmosphere seems like
a lot of fun, but the U of U has more to offer me. I will also be able to stay connected to
my friends and family, which will be a plus.
My final conclusion is that The University of Utah is a better choice for me rather
than Dixie State University.

https://www.rideuta.com/studentpass/index.aspx
http://housing.utah.edu/life/phc/PHC-Front.php
http://admissions.utah.edu/cost/

http://catalog.dixie.edu/tuitionfees/
http://www.dixie.edu/housing/dixie.php
http://dixie.edu/parking/
http://dixie.edu/futurestudents/scholarships.php
http://dixie.edu/futurestudents/search.php
http://financialaid.utah.edu/scholarships/search/details.php?id=6429