I see. So the situation depends on how much you can afford to donate and students might choose to skip over a better school that they’re been accepted to to one with a less well known reputation.
W&M does not have great aid for OOS students.
Donate- do you mean pay?
Yes: many, many students go to a school that is lower ranked because they can afford it.
Are you saying that your family can and will pay $65,000 / year for college? If so, great - you will have lots of good choices. Take the schools that came in from $65-80K/pa off your list.
I wouldn’t write off UMass-Amherst just because of this. I would guess that most of those people weren’t applying to computer science or other STEM subjects. Also, most public universities will have honors programs or honors colleges, where the students have higher GPAs and/or test scores, and where you likely would be in classes with other members of the honors program – a smaller “tribe,” if you will.
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[color=red]Why???[/color]
You say your parents can afford schools that cost $80,000 per year. (That’s why everyone is asking about your family budget for college costs).
If your parents can afford that amount ($320K over 4 years), why would you even need any financial aid?
I know that you are a high school student, at a small school, and this is all new to you, so let me explain how payment works to attend a university:
- The universities will present you with a “bill” after you are admitted. It will show the costs to attend their schools. They will list any scholarships or loans that you qualify for at their school.
- They will request a deposit ($) to hold your spot. (CASH)
- The housing office will also contact you and give you several housing options (single, double, triple, quad, dorm/suite) and will request a deposit ($). (CASH)
- The health services office will send you a letter indicating that you need health insurance while at their university. You send in your fees ($) (CASH) or, you check with your insurance provider to see if you have the minimum insurance coverage that the school expects from each student.
- THEN, you register, before the semester or quarter begins, for your freshman courses.
- Your parents write a check/ use a credit card/ transfer funds from a 529 account or pay CASH.
In your case, you say your parents are willing to pay $80K per year, so [color=blue]your parents need to pay $40,000 for the semester-up front.[/color] (CASH) If they don’t pay, you are dis-enrolled from those classes. It’s a bill. You pay, you get to go. You don’t pay, you can’t take classes.
Colleges are a business. You pay real dollars. Where did you get the idea that you can just “donate” any amount? Your parents are responsible for payment upfront. Those fees are required or you don’t get to attend. It’s not a [color=red]donation.[/color]
Did you really speak to your parents??? Did they really tell you up to $80K?? Many families don’t even make that amount in a year.
If your parents want to donate a million dollars to the school, that’s their option. The tuition (cost to attend the university) and fees are a separate bill and are required for you to be able to take classes at the school.
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I’m confused. Could you please clarify the amount your parents WILL pay every year for you to attend college? If the amount is $50,000 a year, the colleges on your list are not affordable except UMass.
If your budget is $65,000 a year, you still have unaffordable colleges on your list (Boston University is one of them. BC is another). William and Mary does not have terrific aid for OOS students.
If your budget is $80,000 a year…why are you thinking about applying for need based financial aid? That is for families with financial need.
A true safety is a place where you will very likely gain admission AND the cost is within your price point.
Are your parents self employed? Do they own a business? Do they own real estate in addition to your primary residence? If no to all…do the net price calculators that are on each college website. At this point those NPCs are set up for students starting fall 2021. You aren’t starting college for a couple of years so anything you get should get viewed as an estimate only. College costs will likely increase, plus schools do change their aid awarding policies.
And lastly…if your parents are wealthy enough that they won’t qualify for need based aid, you could look at schools where you might garner merit aid. Arizona, Alabama, New Mexico give auto ai based on SAT and GPA and you would qualify for merit aid at these schools automatically.
Your credentials are excellent and you should certainly get into some great schools. I just want to note that CS programs have become EXTREMELY competitive. UMass, for example is not going to be a safety for CS. They are Top 10 in the entire country for AI and ML which are the most popular sub-fields of computer science. I know it’s early in the process and great you are thinking ahead but you may want to add a few true safeties to the mix, maybe UMass Lowell as an example. My company employs many grads of their excellent program. Keep up the great work and best of luck.
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Don’t know your need but assuming you don’t have any take off UC schools and VA schools. You mention W&M. You have $50k to spend but do you want to spend it ? If not you have Al, Ms St, Az, ASU, Florida State, UTK, U Delaware, U Denver, your home state school, Pitt as they are aggressive with their Cathedral of Learning diversity program. UGA is a great school that gives OOS merit as does UF but they don’t give much. If you want to go private at $50k find schools that give merit such as Case Western, WPI, Rose Hulman, W&L, Rochester, SMU, RIT, Brandeis.
shermanda19, you should look at Carnegie Mellon. Depending on which ranking you look at, it is top 2 or top 4 in Computer Science. The overall admission rate for CMU is 15%, and the admissions rate for CompSci is 5%. CMU, however, has a target of each incoming class being 50% male and 50% for all majors, including in the schools of engineering, science and - most importantly for you - CompSci. This results in an acceptance rate of maybe 30% for female and 3% for male applicants to the CompSci department. CMU also has a strong undergraduate business school. CMU is ranked higher than every school on your list except Stanford and MIT, and you have a pretty good chance of getting in as a female.
The downside is that CMU is pricy, and they have a reputation for being stingy with aid. That said, they may sweeten the pot for strong female candidates to make their 50/50 target.
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