Your state's public university system

[Suqraat]

North Carolina
• How would you rate your state's univ system?
Great, some may even describe it as excellent. Our public colleges offer great value for the money, and affordable higher education is enshrined in our state constitution. I believe the current fees at Chapel Hill are $7,000 in-state and $27,000 out-of-state, which compare favorably with other major public universities. This dedication to inexpensive knowledge and learning is one of the reasons why many people (including my family) moved here.

• Which university is the flagship...or (in some states) which two have that role?
UNC-Chapel Hill is definitely the most well known, and I believe it ranks among the top five public colleges in the country, along with UC-Berkeley, UCLA, UVa., and UMich. It has solid academic and athletic programs. The thing that Chapel Hill lacks is engineering, which can be found at nearby N.C. State.

• What are the member institutions and which are the real stars of the system? which ones would you consider weak?
Chapel Hill, N.C. State, UNC-Charlotte, and UNC-Wilmington are all very good schools. Many members of the UNC system have their own niches; I believe Asheville is known for music, Greensboro for music (?), N.C. State for engineering and science, Charlotte for architecture, and so on. Generally, Pembroke, Fayetteville State, etc. are not viewed as favorably as the others, but I wouldn't describe any one college as bad, necessarily.

• Are all parts of your state served well in placement of universities or are some too removed from school locations?
They are pretty well spread out.

• Are you state's publics attractive to out-of-state students?
Yes, but I think that a certain percentage of students, maybe around 80% or so, are required by statute to be North Carolina residents. Therefore, out-of-staters usually need to be very intelligent to get into schools like Chapel Hill (>2200 SAT, solid ECs, great essays...)

• Is the system organized as a whole (like Florida or Georgia) or are there a number of different systems (like UC and CSU in California?)
I think it's just one big system.

[A&M_Indie_08]

It is excellent here in Texas

You have 2 top notch flagship universities University of Texas and Texas A&M

They have numerous satellite campuses across the state

Texas Tech and University of Houston are very good as well

I would give the state an A and would say it is the 2nd best state for public universities after California

[Oogax3Girl]

• How would you rate your state's univ system?
I think it does its job. It educates the public. For that, I give it an A+. We also have scholarships available. If someone is really concerned with cost, they can go to a 2 year community college and then transfer to a 4 year. We have public four year schools in almost every part of the state, so I'd think that someone could live at home and go to school all four years if they wanted to save money.

• Which university is the flagship...or (in some states) which two have that role?
University of South Carolina: Go *****!

• What are the member institutions and which are the real stars of the system? which ones would you consider weak?
Carolina and Clemson are the two 'big' schools of SC. Both are decent. USC has had the number one International Business program in the world for like twenty something years in a row now... There's also branch schools of Carolina (2 year and 4 year), as well as smaller schools such as Coastal Carolina, Winthrop, and College of Charleston (aka the party school of SC).

• Are all parts of your state served well in placement of universities or are some too removed from school locations?
As mentioned above, we have pretty evenly spread out schools. The coast has USC Beaufort, CofC, the Citadel, and Coastal Carolina. There's also stuff in the far corner, such as Winthrop.

• Are you state's publics attractive to out-of-state students?
Yes! 40-50% of USC's students are out-of-state. I swear I've never met so many yankees in my life. I've met people from NY, Boston, NJ, Los Angeles, Georgia, Alabama, NC, Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, and a bunch of other places.

• Is the system organized as a whole (like Florida or Georgia) or are there a number of different systems (like UC and CSU in California?)
I don't think there's really a whole system. There is USC in Columbia and then several branch schools (mostly 2 year schools). There are also many community colleges, but I'm not sure if they're all "linked". Then there are several stand alone schools that aren't part of a "system". Clemson, Winthrop, the Citadel, CofC, etc.