<p>santookie… the dorms are at full capacity and they plan to build another dorm…so right now 2500 on campus (new dorm is supposed to be about 750 more beds). admittedly uab draws most of it students from instate. (about 10% oos). the campus has changed a fair amount…last few years they built the green, have an incredible rec center., more activities on weekends, concerts etc at alys stephens. my son lives about 2 hours away and rarely comes home as he is busy on campus. Even if 50% of the dorm went home it would leave 1000 kids on campus…and all around the campus are apartments and houses that students rent…1000 kids should be enough to find someone to do things with.</p>
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<p>It is fairly common for engineering students to do an extended job/internship over a summer plus an adjacent fall or spring semester or quarter (which they are on leave of absence from school), even where there is not a formalized co-op program.</p>
<p>Cal Poly SLO does have a formalized co-op program:
[Cooperative</a> Education - Career Services - Cal Poly](<a href=“http://www.careerservices.calpoly.edu/content/student/coop]Cooperative”>http://www.careerservices.calpoly.edu/content/student/coop)</p>
<p>parent - Wow makes it seem like UAB might feel like a LAC. Hmmm true about half staying on campus on weekends. Hmmm makes its more interesting. Definitely if I can figure out a weekend where son could miss AP classes. We’d his Pitt and Alabama.</p>
<p>ucb - Oh thanks for the link. CalPoly to me has moved up tons on our list. It’s a 3 hour drive. sigh and wouldn’t have to worry about aid. It’s just full pay. Just have a hard time thinking what places would give S good merit or finaid with our income and his stats. I think a LAC education is fantastic. Son is very whatever. Wife thinks he can get into more schools that possible. I don’t know at the same time those schools she’s never heard of she doesn’t think we should spend the money on.</p>
<p>But if we were trying to hit $20k in loans and out of pocket per semester or $25k would a lot more schools be come possibilities? Even for out of state. Example would NC State be possible even without a Park Scholarship? No right? Then you would have to also weight how much you want to go against how much you’re paying. Ohio state at $20k if he got a scholarship or CalPoly which I think COA is around $21k. How do you figure out which one to add on top of similar schools. Heads spinning sorry.</p>
<p>santookie…its not a school for everyone…ie no old college feel, not a football school…low greek percentage (6%)… urban campus, (well pitt is urban too). but very different from ua and different from uah too. if he goes the aeronautics path… uab doesnt have that…but for physics it would be a good school. if you do plan a visit…arrange to meet with Dr Tucker , you will be glad you did…also as i mentioned in pm a while ago, feel free to contact me so you can meet up with my S2.</p>
<p>USC, matches the stats, generous with financial aid, Viterbi is considered one of the best engineering schools, California is the locus for aerospace.</p>
<p>USC COA is $58K, 18.8% of students with no need got merit aid, average award $16K. Whether we define this as “generous” or not, it still leaves a COA of $42K on average even if you are in the top 1/5 of the no-need applicant pool.</p>
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<p>Like about 50 other schools, Chicago is a need-blind, full-need college.
According to US News, it awards aid to 100% of students determined to have need; the average package meets 100% of determined need. It is also one of the few highly selective private universities to award merit scholarships. </p>
<p>Although Chicago does not have conventional engineering programs,
it recently launched a new Institute for Molecular Engineering
([New</a> Institute director speaks on future of University engineering programs The Chicago Maroon](<a href=“Saul Bellow, dead at 89 – Chicago Maroon”>Saul Bellow, dead at 89 – Chicago Maroon)).</p>
<p>Alumni of Chicago’s undergraduate programs earn more PhDs in physics, per capita, than all but a very few other institutions ([COLLEGE</a> PHD PRODUCTIVITY](<a href=“http://www.reed.edu/ir/phd.html]COLLEGE”>Doctoral Degree Productivity - Institutional Research - Reed College)). 13 alumni and 2 current faculty members have won the Nobel Prize in Physics. Since 1992, 6 members of the Physics faculty have won the university’s highest award for excellence in undergraduate teaching (including Nobel laureate James Cronin). </p>
<p>Chicago has one of the highest percentages of small classes, and lowest percentages of large classes, of any research university. Over 77% have less than 20 students. Less than 5% have 50 or more. These numbers are similar to what you’d see at some small LACs (but Chicago can offer more classes and more robust research facilities).</p>
<p>[Undergraduate</a> Research | Department of Physics](<a href=“http://physics.uchicago.edu/research/undergraduate/]Undergraduate”>http://physics.uchicago.edu/research/undergraduate/)
[Undergraduate</a> Research Profiles | Department of Physics](<a href=“http://physics.uchicago.edu/research/undergraduate/profiles.html]Undergraduate”>http://physics.uchicago.edu/research/undergraduate/profiles.html)</p>
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<p>What you may want to do is make a spreadsheet where each row is for a college that has your son’s desired majors.</p>
<p>Columns would be name of college, which of desired majors offered (check ABET accreditation for engineering, and upper division course offerings for physics), net price after net price calculator’s need-based aid and guaranteed-for-stats merit scholarships, and potential net price after applying competitive merit scholarships that he may have a chance for.</p>
<p>Most of the well known “cheap list price” schools are in the $30,000 per year range (Minnesota, Virginia Tech, NCSU, Stony Brook, New Mexico Mines, etc.). There are a few cheaper ones with engineering like South Dakota State, South Dakota Mines, and University of North Dakota. For a “cheap list price” LAC with physics (but not engineering), consider University of Minnesota - Morris or Truman State.</p>
<p>Another possibility for physics: University of Hawaii - Manoa. Cost of attendance is $26,559 per year for Western Undergraduate Exchange residents, but there may be scholarships available.</p>
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<p>The problem is that the OP is unable to contribute the EFC as determined by college financial aid offices, so a “meets full need” school will come up short by several thousand dollars per year. So the desired schools would be either extra generous (e.g. Stanford), offer large merit scholarships, or have low list prices (possibly lowered with merit scholarships).</p>
<p>tk21769 - I never ever consider UofC wasn’t on the radar at all. I’ll probably have to look into costs and potential aid. But it might not be a fit based on major alone.</p>
<p>keesh and bob - Bob hit it on the nail. Even with aid unless you get that one crazy scholarship the Mork I think. USC is still really expensive.</p>
<p>ucb - We sort of did a chart like that in excel. But we’ll have to tweak it more. So many school have like zero guaranteed aid. We’re always trying to figure out which ones doled out good amounts based on what stats. But everyone on CC keeps their information private so its soooo hard to get a feel for which ones give good aid and just don’t guarantee it. I thought about UofH Manoa, it’d be so nice to visit. But I hear the campus isn’t that nice, esp dorms. Engineering hmmm not that hot either if I remember correctly.</p>
<p>ucb - Do you think we could make a list of the under $30k engineer/physics schools and try to figure out which ones we could potential give aid. CA easy the sticker is the sticker period at this time. But certain schools give aid. I do know certain states give fantastic aid but only to residents. sigh. Hard to figure that out.</p>
<p>Hawaii-Manoa either changed their scholarship or I had it wrong in the list. In any case, I have removed it from the list because it does not include OOS tuition waiver. The guaranteed scholarship for OOS is $6,000/year only.</p>
<p>OTOH, if you are in California, you would qualify for WUE and get a $2000/year scholarship so the COA would still be under $20K. WUE is also good for Hilo and Maui campuses if Manoa is not suitable.</p>