College Decision CS Major

I am a senior in high school looking to major in computer science. I have been accepted into RPI, WPI, Clarkson, UVM, Champlain, and UMass Amherst. First of all, I would like to point out that my two top choices are RPI and WPI. But of course they are by far the most expensive, which unfortunately is usually the case. I wanted to get some advice on where I should go based on several factors (cost, educational value, good for cs major, ect).
First on the academic side of things, I am in the top 5 % of my class, got a 1400 SAT, play 3 varsity sports, and have led countless clubs and volunteer hours. Financially, my family income is 50,000 (family of 4 with another sister in college) and EFC is $1,800 with fasfa schools and $5,000 with CSS schools (RPI/WPI). On top of this my family is pell grant eligible ($4,200).
Anyways, I was very excited to hear that I had gotten into my two top schools (RPI and WPI), but was very disappointed with their financial aid package. RPI would have a net price of 41,000 while WPI would have a net price of 52,000, which is no where near affordable for my family.
The two in state schools on the other hand were more promising. The net cost for UVM would be 14,000 not including local scholarships and for Champlain 19,000. By the way, Vermont has possibly the worst in state public tuition in the country, so these offers are very reasonable. On top of that these two schools are only 1.5 hours away while the others are 4 hrs from home.
Next was Clarkson and UMass Amherst, whose net prices were 16,000 and 27,000 respectively.
Overall I would like to hear your opinion on which of these schools I should choose. I know that RPI and WPI probably have the more prestigious CS programs, but is it the the ridiculous cost? I am planning on appealing these offers, and I would like to know if this is what people normally pay to go there. If so, it seems as if only rich kids could afford to go there. But hey that’s not any different from any other prestigious college nowadays…anyways feedback would be greatly appreciated!

No, neither RPI nor WPI is worth that cost. CS is one of the least prestige-dependent fields out there, so paying $ for a name makes 0 sense.

I’d go to UVM.

Source: am cs major at a not-prestigious college, have worked for very prestigious companies, literally does not matter where you go

$4,200 Pell + $5,500 direct loan + $3,000 work = $12,700, so if your family can contribute even a little, or you find some ways to cut costs versus the estimate, or you can earn more than $3,000 from work, you can (barely) afford Vermont at $14,000.

The pell grant is already accounted for when I say net cost, so the 14,000 must be payed with loans and work.

That makes Vermont tougher to afford, unless your parents can contribute a few thousand dollars, or there is a few thousand dollars of student budget that you can shave off by frugal habits.

https://www.uvm.edu/studentfinancialservices/costs_attending indicates that Vermont assumes $2,312 of personal and miscellaneous expenses and $1,200 of books per year. This does not seem particularly high, so it may be hard to cut that much cost compared to the budget assumed for financial aid purposes.

If you applied to Umass Amherst and you were accepted into the CS major definitely give it some thought. Umass Amherst has a very strong, nationally recognized CS program, if that’s something you are looking for. Otherwise, any school will do, just look at how well you fit in there + if it’s affordable.

Oh come on. There are plenty of “prestigious schools” that have large financial aid budgets which allow non-rich kids to go there, often times for very little out of pocket expense.

Did you run the Net Price Calculator for each school that you applied to, before you actually applied? If you did, how do the actual aid offers compare to the NPC results? If you didn’t – why not?


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I know that RPI and WPI probably have the more prestigious CS programs, but is it the the ridiculous cost? I am planning on appealing these offers, and I would like to know if this is what people normally pay to go there. If so, it seems as if only rich kids could afford to go there.

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It’s worth appealing and see if you get offered more aid. My D is paying about $10K to attend RPI (without loans), so it’s not only rich kids who can go there. But getting scholarships can be hit and miss. (She got a generous aid package to start with but wrote and asked for more and got it. Worth a try. RPI is a great school.)

As others have said, where you graduate from CS isn’t as important as your demonstrable skills. So considering your family’s financial situation, RPI and especially WPI not worth the extra cost.

I’d go with UMass if affordable, UVM if not.

If you did not get (enough merit), and the schools don’t offer need based aid to cover your gap (coa minus federal aid), then these schools are not going to be affordable.

It might be better to go to community college for two years, take your student loans and save them, so you can transfer to UVM and finish your degree there. It would be worse to start somewhere, not being able to pay next semester’s bill, and having to leave.

https://www.sfs.opm.gov/StudFAQ.aspx?#num33

https://www.sfs.opm.gov/contactspi.aspx

you might ask about the ‘Cybercorps scholarship for service’ program at WPI, and U Mass Amherst, they are on the above list of participating institutions.

That is, if you are interested in pursuing a Cyber security degree and work for the government for up to 3 years in return for a scholarship of up to 3 years.

You would still need funding enough for another year. Make sure you read the FAQ for the program (also linked above).

insanedreamer
What types of scholarships and other aid did your D receive?

You say your EFC at RPI and WPI is $5000? What does THAT mean? What are your net costs at these colleges? Profile does not compute a family contribution…but the schools do.

With schools that take CSS profile into account, my EFC is 5,000. WPI and RPI are the two schools that do this. The net cost at RPI is 41,000 and WPI 52,000.

Please explain what you mean. Your net cost at RPI is $41,000, so that is your family contribution there…

What IS the $5000 “EFC per Profile” that you are talking about. There is no such thing as a Profile EFC.

I am choosing between 6 schools, all of them require fasfa for financial aid info. Two of them, RPI and WPI, require CSS on top of fasfa. For the schools that just require fasfa, my EFC (Expected family contribution) is 1,800. For the schools that require CSS on top of fasfa, my EFC is 5,000. By the way, the net price (this is how much I need to pay for out of pocket) at RPI is 41,000 and for WPI 52,000.
I hope that clears things up.

Yes, of course many of the top notch schools provide good aid for those in need. I guess what I was trying to refer to was the fact that most of these schools have a majority of their students coming from high income families. In my case, I did not get my need met for these schools, which is unfortunate but I shouldn’t be complaining because they are private schools. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

With regards to the net price calculator, I ran it through with both RPI and WPI. Both schools came out to 25,000 for the NPC, and I am not sure why these results aren’t close to what was offered.

If RPI and WPI net price calculators said $25,000, then it looks like they would have been unaffordable for your financial situation even if their actual financial aid offers produced that net price (rather than worse ones). As it is, it looks like only your least expensive school UVM may be barely in financial reach.

You may want to consider whether there are other options, such as starting at a community college and then transferring to an in-state public university with your major (a good option in some states, but a poor option in others). Or perhaps a gap year to work to earn some money for school and then reapply to a new list of college with emphasis on better financial aid (from net price calculators) and full tuition or greater merit scholarships.

Once more…how do,you know a Profile EFC? The profile does NOT compute an EFC.

What is the $5000 that RPI etc want? Is that your student contribution? What are you talking about??

@thumper1

No, the profile does not compute an EFC. “The EFC calculation is computed by using the family’s financial data submitted on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (“FAFSA”) and possibly the Financial Aid Profile administered by the College Board (“CSS PROFILE”).”

With that statement in mind, the EFC calculation was computed by 4 of my schools based solely on the fasfa.

The EFC calculation from RPI and WPI was computed based on fasfa AND CSS profile.

So when estimating how much my family could pay for out of pocket, RPI and WPI came up with $5,000 and the others came up with $1,800.

Now, the net price for these schools is how much it will cost to go to the school out of pocket. RPI for example, the net cost is 41,000, and they expect that my family will be able to pay 5,000 of that, leaving approximately 36,000 for me to pay out of pocket.

Forget about RPI and WPI. Look into whether you can afford your least expensive school UVM; if not, look into other possible options (see reply #16).