What Makes Reno an Appealing Place for California College Students?
Article by Jacob Santiago a student at UNR from Roseville
Thousands of students at the University of Nevada, Reno right now are out of state California students, making up an estimated fifth of the total student population.
The appeal is more simple than you think. Most California students if they receive the Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE) scholarship will receive a large amount of tuition, usually saving them about $15,000 a year.
Most schools that I applied to as a college student had this scholarship.
To qualify, students must be earning their first bachelor's degree and meet one of the following requirements: 3.25 unweighted GPA or 24 Composite ACT score or 1160 SAT score, which is doable for many.
A lot of California students love UNR in particular because of the location and scenery. I’m from Roseville, which is only a two hour drive from campus. The campus was appealing to me, because it wasn’t too far from home, which would allow for my family to be close in case of an emergency or if I wanted to visit home.
I would say UNR has a tremendous campus with a lot of great courses and great staff, which I don't regret choosing.
Nevada at my old high school did a lot of recruiting and events. I attended Oakmont High School from 2018-2022 and during this time we spotted UNR representatives multiple times. They would show up during career fairs and even host tours for students trying to get them to the campus.
In Roseville, every now and then you will see a Wolf Pack sticker or Nevada gear. The school does their best with recruiting in these areas because it’s close to home and offers an excellent college experience.
Among students from California, some wanted to get away from home, some chose it for affordability, and others may have preferred UNR more for its overall experience or a particular field of studies, such as the journalism school where I am majoring.
Aditya Prathap, a student at UNR who graduated in 2023, started out his college career around the time of the pandemic. Prathap talks about having chosen UNR because of it being affordable and close to home. He would often visit home when the weather would allow for him to.
“It wasn't too far from home, because it was only a couple of hours. This would allow me to still visit home about once a month, when I wanted to. It was just a bus trip for me. The weather did complicate things over the winter,” Prathap said.
He said WUE helped with his decision to choose UNR over prestigious in-state universities like UC Irvine.
Tom Nyhan, a current student at UNR, who is expected to graduate this year, also counts as a California student, even though he grew up much closer in Truckee.
“It’s right next door to where I grew up. I pretty much consider Reno to be my extended home,” Nyhan said.
Nyhan says his favorite part about the Nevada campus is its beauty and structure.
Since my arrival in 2022 multiple classes have been added in the journalism school, including in sports journalism, and buildings have been built around campus, helping grow a better culture and atmosphere for students, from California, Nevada and elsewhere.
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