I am currently a senior in high school in Oklahoma who is undecided on where to apply to. I have 36 a ACT, 4.0 GPA, and I am a NMSF. I’d like to major in computer engineering somewhere in the Midwest. There are many schools I could probably get accepted to, but my mother does not make much money as a teacher (<40000), so potential aid is a big concern. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
you could win the Presidential Scholarship at U Tulsa - free tuition, room and board
http://admission.utulsa.edu/academic-opportunities/presidential-scholars/
here are good NMSF scholarships:
http://nmfscholarships.yolasite.com/
these are Automatic full tuition schools for your scores:
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
these are competitive full ride / full tuition scholarships
http://competitivefulltuition.yolasite.com/
You have the stats for privates with great aid…but do you have a non-custodial parent? What does your father earn?
With your stats, you need to apply to all the big NMF scholarship schools, including USC in Calif (don’t know if you’re too late for their merit awards). USC gives need based aid, too, and doesnt’ ask for NCP info.
Your mom’s income is low enough for a Pell Grant, so that would supplement any NMF awards.
As an eng’g major, Bama would give you:
5 years of tuition (you can use some of that to FULLY fund summer abroad)
1 year of housing
3500 in stipend each year
2500 in eng’g stipend each year
2000 summer experience
and either a computer or iPad.
Bama often gives a bonus for an ACT 36
Plus, you’d get a couple thousand in Pell…and likely work study if you file FAFSA early…and maybe some SEOG.
a small student loan would cover any shortfall…or some summer work earnings.
Sadly, Tulsa is not accredited in CE. I have considered Oklahoma State, since it offers a full ride, but I was really wondering if there was somewhere in the Midwest with a better engineering program and where i could get a similar amount of aid.
Ohio State would probably offer you a good bit of $. UMich would also be good. You’d be competitive for their top tier scholarships and they try to meet need for all students (with your stats I believe you’d be one they would do that for).
The state of Michigan has some good schools for engineering. U of M, as mentioned, Lawrence Tech (you can free tuition), and Kettering University (also expect lots of scholarship money).
what about Rice? their website says: “Rice will not award loans to students whose family total income is below $80,000. The student’s financial need will be met through a combination of grants, work study, merit aid (if qualified) and institutional funds.”
http://financialaid.rice.edu/Content.aspx?id=38
plus it looks like they have lots of academic merit scholarships too.
Please answer the question about having a non-custodial parent and anything you know about his earnings. The answer to your question is completely different depending on that factor.
Valparaiso would likely offer great money for your stats regardless of family income. They’re accredited in CE as well as several other types of engineering. Their engineering facility is quite nice for a smaller school.
Thank you all for your helpful responses so far.
I know very little about my father’s income. He changes jobs frequently so any information I have is most likely outdated. All I know is that he definitely makes more than my mother.
Another question: What makes one college or engineering program “better” than another? Rankings are nice, but what actually makes it worth the extra cost and difficulty of being accepted?
OP - don’t get hung up on not getting your information in to places that have a good chance of meeting your financial needs. Hate for you to miss somethings because you missed deadlines.
mom2collegekids is correct. Considering your strong credentials, you should apply to MIT, Princeton and Stanford.
In the Midwest, Carnegie Mellon, Michigan and Northwestern are excellent, and offer decent-good aid. Michigan could potentially give you merit money
Purdue, Rose Hulman, UIUC and Wisconsin are obviously excellent in Engineering, but I am not sure how generous they are with aid.
I would also check out Cornell, Franklin Olin College of Engineering (half tuition off), Cooper Union (half tuition off) and Harvey Mudd.
Most colleges with good financial aid will require both parents’ income and assets on the CSS Profile in addition to the FAFSA. If your father is wealthy, but will not pay, or is uncooperative with the CSS Profile, then you may not get much or any aid from those schools.
Unless the school uses only FAFSA or explicitly does not require non custodial parent information, include his income and wealth as well as your mother’s in the parent information on college net price calculators.
Your college list may have to emphasize big merit scholarships. See the links in reply #1.
With your situation you should look to big name private schools! You have incredible stats and I’m sure your aid will be fine as long as your dad doesn’t secretly make a boat load of money
I know you want Mid-West, but you should consider Georgia Tech. They actively recruit women (they’re still 60/40 male) and out of state tuition is only $30,000 to begin with. Their job placement and internship programs (that actually pay salaries) are also top notch. Vanderbilt has a decent engineering school and is also a no-loan up to cost of attendance institution.
University of Cincinnati has an excellent engineering program and you would get significant merit aid. They have a great Co-op program that gives the students great experience - which is really what companies that are hiring engineers are looking for.
GT’s OOS tuition may as well be 300,000 for a student who can’t pay $30,000 plus room and board.
Rankings mean little in eng’g. This country literally has hundreds of great programs. It has to…we need too many engineers to only have a few good schools.
South Dakota School of Mines & Technology; Total COA is 22k for non-SD-citizens
Iowa State University
Kansas State University
U of Minnesota-Twin Cities
Missouri University of Science & Technology
Washington University (St. Louis)
Saint Louis University
Case Western Reserve University
Missouri University of Science & Technology
With her credentials and her mother’s low income, she will be eligible for both need and merit aid. My point about Ga. Tech is that if you’re starting $20,000 lower, you’re far more likely to be able to avoid loans. The broader point is that she shouldn’t discard any option because of sticker price. I’d hate to see her pass on a place that might have offered her a free ride. There are many, many good engineering programs that produce highly qualified professionals who go on to get great jobs – but the many of the higher ranked schools have better aid and lower net price, particularly for family incomes under $50,000.