I am a high school senior, and my family doesnt make as much as most people others do. I dont really know my families income, they wont tell me because they dont want me to worry. They gave me a ball park estimate of 45k-50k a year. Im trying to do as much as I can to lower the cost of the schools i want to go to by applying for scholarships outside of the schools. My gpa is 3.562 (unweighted) and 4.161 (weighted) and my total sat score is 1710. I want to major in engineering.
the schools I want to go to are (by order of choice):
PSU or Rutgers (my first choice, but expensive)
Upitt (same as PSU and Rutgers, I dont know how much aid they give)
Temple or North Carolina State University (NC state is the most affordable for me)
Drexel (so expensive that its at the bottom of my list, if I get good merit I may reconsider)
Clemson University, also cheap but I don’t really want to go here).
*Im out of state
Im guessing I wont get much aid from schools like PSU, Pitt, Rutgers, or Temple.
Any tips for me?
Im in South Carolina.
I retook the SAT already, and submitted my scores
I could commute to Clemson but I don’t know if I would enjoy that, but if I have to I will, my fall back school was going to be NC state. But it depends on if I can get any scholarships from online and how much my parents are willing to spend each year.
It doesn’t matter one bit if you get in, but you can’t afford the place.
Sit down with your parents, and run the Net Price Calculator at each website. Eliminate the places that cannot be made affordable. Apply to the places that look like they will be affordable, and then next spring where you know where you get in, pick between the ones that are affordable.
The out of state cost to attend NC State is $38,000 a year. The costs of all,those other OOS schools is very similar…some even higher.
While you might get accepted, how will you pay for these colleges? If your parent income is $50,000 a year, their take home pay is probably close to the cost of attending the schools. They can’t pay their entire earnings for your college costs.
Your SAT score is too low to expect significant merit aid at any of these schools.
Do you have any affordable colleges on your application list? these don’t look particularly affordable to me.
ETA. Every college has a net orice calculator on their website. Run your family financials on thee net orice calculators…and see what your family net costs will be. You will need to work with your parents to do this. It is important to know affordability when you are applying.
The net price calculators will include need based aid, and some schools will ask for’yoirmstats, and merit awards will be included as well.
This will be an estimate…but it’s better than guessing entirely…or,assuming a school will be affordable, when it won’t be.
While some OOS colleges offer merit with a 3.5 GPA, for example U Alabama, you would need a 1330 CR&M SAT score to get full tuition and $2,500 stipend there.
The Dec 15 scholarship deadline is coming up real soon.
At Temple you might get the Dean’s or Founder’s award, around $10k. Not much for a $40k price tag.
You are a senior, have you applied to all of these schools already?
At the OOS public schools the only aid you can expect is maybe a partial Pell grant and a $5,500 loan. At costs of $40k
how would the rest get paid?
You can search for ABET accredited engineering programs in South Carolina in this link. I would suggest you apply to some of them, at least several you can get accepted at and afford.
As a SC resident, you may qualify for the Palmetto Promise, and a Pell Grant. Clemson will likely be your affordable choice. You may get enough aid to live on campus.
If you can commute to Clemson and your parents can pay about $5k per year and you can take the student loan, it should be affordable. The tuition is about $14k and their net price calculator estimated about $4k in aid for income of $50k and family of 3.
But you might still want to explore some other affordable SC options.
In order receive Palmetto Fellows status , you have to have scored at least 1200 or 27 on the SAT CR and M section, be ranked in the top 6% of your class with a 3.5 GPA OR have a 4.0 GPA and score a 1400 SAT or 32 on the ACT. Clemson requires freshman to live on campus. College of engineering is very competitive, test scores may not be competitive .
@carolinamom2boys Usually schools give waivers to frosh who live with their parents who live in the area. Doesn’t Clemson do that? Certainly they give waivers in some circumstances. They don’t make married frosh live in dorms, They don’t make older frosh live in dorms.
I don’t know what OPs CR+M SAT breakdown is but if he wants to go OOS Alabama sounds like a good option. In terms of being able to commute, most other schools that we’ve visited allow waivers for students living within 30
Minutes who live with their parents, except CofC which doesn’t require freshman to live on campus.
Here’s the policy from the website @mom2collegekids.
Do I have to live on campus?
Yes. University policy stipulates that all unmarried freshmen who are under the age of 21 at the time of enrollment who do not live with parent(s) [within a 50-mile radius of campus] are required to live in University-owned housing for the fall and spring semesters. Incoming freshman who would like to be released from this University requirement, and meets all of the specified requirements, will need to complete the appeals form.
For the purpose of this agreement, transfer students are not considered freshmen. Transfer students are housed on a space available basis.If a violation of the on-campus residency requirement is discovered before the semester begins, the student’s enrollment may be jeopardized unless the Housing application is completed and the student is assigned on-campus housing. If a violation of the policy is discovered after the start of the semester, the student will be referred to the Office of Community and Ethical Standards for failure to comply with a University policy.
IF the 1700 is for 3 tests, engineering could be a difficult major (barring issues with english and a good math SAT score).
Living on campus as a freshman would enhance your college experience even if you move back home for the next 3 years, you would be attuned to the campus culture and have lots of friends to visit and hang out with, so that is likely why they want freshman to live on campus. After that year, you may prefer your parent’s home to dorm life, it’s quieter and you likely have more space (and it’s 15K cheaper).
Since your finances are limited and Clemson is a great school, I think this should be your number one choice, one year on campus, 3 years commuting, in-state tuition.
Clemson is a very solid engineering school, but you may not get in (1700 is in the bottom quartile based on ACT of 26 being a 1770) … and may not do that well there either. You may be better served in even a lower tier school or doing some classes slower at a community college. That could lower your costs further … you just have to get As in community college and pace yourself and work hard to make that happen.
Other states will not be generous, since likelihood of meeting Bamas standards for merit is low.