By Audra Anders for The Aha! Connection
If you have kids in 9th grade or older, you may (or may not) have heard the term “Academic Common Market”. Well, if you are like me, the minute your oldest gets into high school, all the college admissions terminology and figuring out which high school classes to take and learning what it takes to qualify for the Hope and Zell Scholarships is in a word, OVERWHELMING. Therefore, terms like “Academic Common Market” may not make it to the top of the list of concepts to understand for most parents and their college bound kids.
I’m one down and one to go in the college admissions world so I thought I might write a series of articles to help newbies understand some helpful terminology and concepts. I’m starting with the “Academic Common Market”.
The Academic Common Market is a tuition-savings program for college students in 15 SREB states (including Georgia), who want to pursue degrees that are not offered by their in-state institutions. Students can enroll in out-of-state institutions that offer their degree program and pay the institution’s in-state tuition rates.
Basically, find a school that offers a major that you love but isn’t offered in Georgia and you can get in-state tuition in that state. One example I understand quite well is the Aviation Management Degree at Auburn University. Georgia doesn’t have a school that offers Aviation Management. Auburn University has a well respected and sought after Aviation Management degree. So, send your kid to Auburn for this degree and pay the in-state tuition at Auburn vs out of state. A savings of basically a kazillion dollars. Seriously, it’s about $12+K vs $40+K. One hitch with Auburn is they don’t offer the savings until junior year when you’ve gotten the basics out of the way. Unfortunately for me, my son didn’t choose Aviation Management but I digress.
Auburn is the only school I know of in the Academic Common Market world that makes you wait until you are a junior to enjoy the in-state tuition savings. I’m sure there are others. Florida and Texas limit ACM participation to graduate-level programs only and North Carolina no longer participates in the Academic Common Market. On a positive note, relatively nearby University of Tennessee, offers more ACM majors than any other that I could find. I personally know of three kids from Dunwoody High that are current Tennessee Vols and their parents are enjoying the ACM savings!
If the Academic Common Market interests you then you need to copy and save this link: https://home.sreb.org/acm/choosestate.aspx
This magical link will take you to the place where you can search institutions that participate, find majors, and contacts to ask questions, etc.
For those of you with kids who find an ACM major to pursue and end up saving thousands of dollars…..you’re welcome.
