<p>I just tried the MIT calcluator, and our EFC is lower, but still more than we can really imagine paying. So I guess we need to decide if we’d be willing to go into serious debt to finance an MIT education (I don’t really think so at the undergrad level – let him go for grad school with a TA or RA that covers full tuition plus a stipend!) and if not, should he just not apply, or should he apply just in case something major changes (we win the lottery?), but knowing that he probably can’t afford to go there? One major advantage of MIT versus most of the other technical schools we’ve looked at is the common core first year, very useful for someone interested in so many things. I seem to recall that WPI is like that as well. Most technical programs start right up first semester making it harder to shop around. :)</p>
<p>A couple more schools to check out: </p>
<p>RIT is techy but has a strong art program. I had a good friend many years ago who got great merit money from Stevens and VA Tech. </p>
<p>I also want to recommend Case. They are known to give out good merit.</p>
<p>I would let him apply unless the bulk of yourr EFC comes from cash savings. He also sounds like a contender for outside scholarships if he wants to put in the effort. But alas, most are only good for 1 year.</p>
<p>HYPS should also be considered as they have much better aid than other schools and your EFC should be considerably lower at them than at MIT. </p>
<p>Keep in mind when considering loans that most schools will meet his need with loans first, so he will already graduate with about $25K in loans unless he attends one of the few no loan schools which are declinning by the day, especially for high EFC kids.</p>
<p>I’ve got the same problem with EFC in the 30K’s. Sigh… Seems like unless you’re a top, top, top student, the only way to go to the college of your choice other than instate is to be super rich or super poor.</p>
<p>Mom2…I never SAID that South Carolina met full need. BUT it is a school that DOES (still) allow stacking of scholarships and other awards up to the cost of attendance…including their need based aid, their scholarships AND outside scholarships.</p>
<p>This OP might want to check this school. They offer some excellent scholarships to OOS students and if the kiddo is interested in engineering, they have a good program there. Even IF the student didn’t receive aid, their OOS cost of attendance isn’t as high as UVM. </p>
<p>This family first needs to figure out what they CAN afford. If it’s $10,000 a year, then they need to come up with schools that have merit aid that their kiddo will likely qualify for that will make up the difference between that cost, the cost of attendance and the EFC. It is not likely they will find a school in the $50K range where they will garner that much merit aid…but it’s worth looking. Again…I suggest the thread by momfromtexas. She found full rides or near it for both of her kiddos. </p>
<p>I would suggest that this student look at the bone at the end…a bachelors degree…rather than looking at the “tier” of the school. Especially if he is entering engineering, he will find that the rigor of the coursework is just about the same no matter where he attends school.</p>
<p>mathmomvt…lots of good advice here and really lots of insight!! One thing not to overlook (you mentioned in your OP) is to find one of those dreaded “financial aid counselors” and see if there are any “mistakes” in your EFC calculations…errors are routinely made that you may not even know about…</p>
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Send their kids to a school they can afford.</p>
<p>@3bm103 yes, the trick is to find one that is also a good fit for the kid! That’s what we’re working on here. </p>
<p>@thumper1 UVM is in-state for us, which is really the only reason it’s on the list. If he makes National Merit (why they don’t let you know sooner is beyond me!) he’ll get a scholarship for full tuition there, making it fairly affordable, though their room/board expenses are on the high end compared to everywhere else we’ve looked!</p>
<p>mathmomvt…EVERY college has its share of partying. Every college also has its share of students who do NOT party as much. The key is finding a place where your son can find some peers who share his feelings about this.</p>
<p>Once your son gets into his major, his cohort of learners will be much smaller regardless of where he goes to college. One of my kids went to Boston University, a very large school. The reality was he spent MOST of his time with the students IN his major, who shared his interests and ideals. </p>
<p>My daughter went to a smaller school. Luckily she found a group of students with whom she forged great friendships over the four years. BUT if she hadn’t, it wasn’t like there were thousands of others from which to choose…there weren’t. The school was smaller. BUT like DS, once she got into her major (engineering) she found that most of her time was spent with the engineering students.</p>
<p>Has your son had a chance to visit the programs of interest to him at UVM? This might be a way to start. </p>
<p>If he really IS going to be a NMSF, you really do want to look into the McNair Scholarship at U of South Carolina. It is a full award including a laptop for OOS students. The application is extensive (and due early…it’s the honors college/scholarship application). The application to the university is also due early. If selected, the school has an interview weekend you are invited to attend (they used to pay the expenses for the student to attend this, I think they still do).</p>
<p>There is also a sticky somewhere about colleges that provide awards to NMSF…you might want to check this out. There are a number of them…you’d have to room/board, but you will likely be doing that wherever your kiddo attends college.</p>
<p>@thumper1 we know kids who have been very happy at UVM and kids who have not, and are partially generalizing based on that. I know there are lots of great kids there and no doubt he could find a nice core of kids to hang out with. </p>
<p>I’ve seen all the lists, and we’re working on figuring out which of these schools would be a good fit for our son. He’d like to stay in the Northeast, but will consider other places if there is a good reason to do so.</p>
<p>In the meantime, please keep suggesting schools with a techy/geeky feel that may offer good merit aid. :)</p>
<p>As to NMSF, his score was 4 points over what the cutoff has been for the past 2 years, and 1 point above the cutoff from 3 years ago. So I think he has a good chance, but it would be <em>really</em> helpful to know for sure – I don’t understand why they wait so long!</p>
<p>Thanks again everyone!</p>
<p>Along with Drexel, NJIT offers a nice NMF package and could make a good safety.</p>
<p>[NJIT:</a> Financial Aid: NJIT - Merit-based awards](<a href=“http://www.njit.edu/financialaid/typesofaid/scholarships/meritbasedawards.php]NJIT:”>http://www.njit.edu/financialaid/typesofaid/scholarships/meritbasedawards.php)</p>
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<p>Oh wow, that’s a full-ride for NMF scholars. Definitely worth another look :)</p>
<p>Look at a bunch of options. If he has to make a choice among financial safeties, it helps to have a choice instead of being cornered into the one school that is affordable. </p>
<p>With super high test scores and grades, whether he makes NMF, or not, there will be schools that will want him and be willing to pay for him. You have to make sure they are included on his list.</p>
<p>This may be out of your geographic range, but Montana State in Bozeman has a solid engineering progr am and would likely offer your S merit aid that would bring the COA to 10k a year or likely below. With about 12000 students total- undergrad and grad- it’s definitely on the smaller side for a state school.</p>
<p>Again, not in the geographic target, but the University of Alabama is very generous with scholarships for outstanding out of state students and seems to be especially generous for those interested in engineering, a program that the has seen a large amount of investment recently.</p>
<p>[College</a> of Engineering - Acdemic Programs](<a href=“http://coeweb.eng.ua.edu/academic/index.htm]College”>http://coeweb.eng.ua.edu/academic/index.htm)</p>
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<p>Do you know how much merit money is available there? RIT was already high on S’s list because he is interested in their game design program. It looks like they guarantee “at least 15K” for NMF finalists, but even that leaves us reaching financially. Do they potentially offer even more than 15K in merit aid?</p>
<p>Thanks! We’ve been making a spreadsheet of “lowest possible costs” and there are at least a handful of reasonable-fit schools we could afford :)</p>
<p>What are your son’s stats? </p>
<p>I know he may make NMF, but what is his SAT breakdown and GPA?</p>
<p>It looks like they guarantee “at least 15K” for NMF finalists, but even that leaves us reaching financially. Do they potentially offer even more than 15K in merit aid?</p>
<p>From RPI website…</p>
<p>If a student earns multiple Rensselaer merit scholarships, the university will award the highest merit award for which the student is qualified,* but does not combine multiple awards. **Total Rensselaer provided scholarships and/or tuition benefits may not exceed tuition.*</p>
<p><a href=“http://admissions.rpi.edu/aid/scholarships.html[/url]”>http://admissions.rpi.edu/aid/scholarships.html</a></p>
<p>BTW…does RPI still give $15k to NMFs? Can you show the website link? I can’t find it. It may be under review for a change.</p>
<p>ACT 35
SAT Math 770, Reading 720, Writing 680
GPA: transcript gives a 3.91 weighted but they have a weird way of computing GPA
He has A’s in everything, so isn’t that usually a 4.0 unweighted? All Honors/AP classes so it will be higher weighted, but I’m not sure what the “standard” way is to compute it
SAT II: BioM 780, Math2 770, Chem 740</p>
<p>Junior year: AP Bio 5; AP Eng Lang 4
APs for Senior year: Chem, Phys, Calc AB, Comp Sci A, Eng Lit</p>
<p>[RIT</a> - Office of Financial Aid - Scholarship & Grants](<a href=“http://www.rit.edu/emcs/financialaid/table_merit.html]RIT”>http://www.rit.edu/emcs/financialaid/table_merit.html)</p>
<p>National Merit, National Achievement and National Hispanic Scholarships:</p>
<p>Semifinalists or finalists in any of these three national scholarship programs. </p>
<p>Combined RIT Presidential and Merit Scholarships totaling $15,000 or more per year. Renewable.</p>
<p>btw, my son was awarded the RIT Computing Medal by his high school. We’re hoping that having this and high stats will put him in the higher ends of the “or more” ranges, but I don’t know. Alone it is only $6K/year and even without NFM he automatically qualifies for a Presidential Scholarship of $7500 - $13K/year and as you say, they don’t “stack”. </p>
<p>I’m just wondering what the maximum of the “or more” could be on the NMF scholarships.</p>
<p>Edit: oops, I see you asked about RPI, not RIT. I’ll leave this and see what I can find at RPI.</p>
<p>RPI does not post many specifics of their merit aid policies. I don’t think they have a separate scholarship for NMF scholars. They give $15K/year for a junior awarded the RPI medal and “I’ve heard” that it’s possible to get that much or more with good credentials, even if you don’t get the medal. (S withdrew his name from consideration because they wanted a promise that whoever got it would agree to attend.)</p>