So I live just outside Chicago so I’m an in-state student in terms of applying to the University of Illinois U.C. I’m also looking to major in civil engineering, so one would think a nationally high-ranked engineering school in state would be perfect for me. However, I’ve gone down to U of I a few times and its basically out in the cornfields with a not-so-vibrant college feel (at least thats what I saw). Basically, I hated it. So I’m wondering where I can find a large school with decent engineering program for a fair price (or with tendencies to hand out some good financial aid) in an urban setting?
In Illinois, you have Northwestern and Illinois Institute of Technology.
But it is hard to say what is affordable for your family… you need to look at the NPC for each school to see the expected amount of financial aid you might receive.
Lets say that we can afford 25k and under. Just throw ideas out there. Exclude Ivies, Stanford, MIT for now. Just good engineering, 25-30k limit (or has good FA policies), large and urban. Those are the only requirements.
have you had your parents run the net price calculators at some schools’ websites? You need to do that to see if even schools that “give good aid,” would expect your parents to pay a lot more than they will.
Schools that “give good aid,” do NOT give good aid if your family’s income or assets are too high.
Northern IL, Southern IL-Edwardsville or Southern IL-Carbondale. U of Il-Chicago, all have Civil Engineering.
Since you don’t seem to like the rural area around UIUC, you may not like the first three, though…
However, Edwardsville is a suburb of St. Louis and a short drive into St.Louis. .
$25,000 is your family contribution, to which you can add federal direct loans ($5,500) and a few thousand dollars in work earnings, or is it your maximum budget, including any federal direct loans and/or work earnings you can manage?
Alright, so 25k per year or a school where you think getting enough financial aid is possible. I’m a junior, 93/100 UW GPA, 2100-2300 SAT (I just took it yesterday but I score in that range on all practice tests). ECs include Eagle scout, baseball, NHS, recycling club, tutoring at local library. Now throw at any suggestions from anywhere in the country.
UIUC is the most popular as Michigan is generally too expensive for Illinois students. Iowa and Purdue will give merit aid to match UIUC tuition, while Wisky generally does not. Another surprising choice is Alabama which draws about 10 kids a year, many of them engineering.
Iowa State and Minnesota have somewhat lower list prices than most out-of-state publics. They may be affordable with $25,000 plus federal direct loans and work earnings, but not if $25,000 is your maximum price.
A couple of my friends who got into UIUC engineering didn’t want to go to UIUC for the same reasons as you. They both ended up at the University of Texas in Austin which has a pretty reputed engineering program. They got scholarships, but I’m not sure how much money they got though. I visited them one weekend and found Austin to be great town.
From my research, you have to choose cheap school or a name brand school. Rarely do name brand public schools give out tuition waivers (mainly because they don’t have to, they attract top students who are willing to pay full price ex. Michigan, UC Berkley etc…). Its like you have a Kia budget but want a new BMW, you can’t get a new BMW for a Kia price. When it comes to big name/well reputed public colleges, you have to pay for it.
For an option that falls within your stated budget, consider South Dakota School of Mines & Technology; rigorous, well respected and relatively low in cost. SDSM&T does very well in the Payscale.com rating. Total COA this year is approximately $23,000 at Mines. Very good placement services as students win internships and co-op jobs at employers like Boeing, Intel, Ford Motor Company, NASA, General Mills, ConAgra etc.