SUNY schools are priced fairly reasonably for OOS students and also offer merit aid to very strong students - the stats needed to qualify for aid probably depend on the school - Binghamton, for example, is a pretty competitive school with a lot of high-stats applicants. But they brought our son down to just above in-state tuition.
Others have mentioned Case Western - make sure you show them a lot of love. You need to demonstrate interest.
St. Lawrence University is an LAC with computer science - great merit aid. Hobart & William Smith is another. Clarkson University is a really great deal - terrific employment outcomes, but it’s more of a tech/engineering focused school.
I think Kenyon gives good merit aid. Illinois Institute of Technology maybe?
Vanderbilt is worth a shot, but it’s super competitive. Hard to just gain admission, even harder to get a scholarship.
We’re in PA, and I’ve been hearing of high stats kids getting into honors program at U of Maryland, probably with merit. Been hearing about almost full rides to Temple and University of Scranton. Pitt also gives some great merit awards, though I think those stats are tightening.
Oh, and maybe take a look at Union College. I’m not familiar with their merit aid levels, but I’m sure they give some.
If Christian colleges are a possibility - Central College in Pella, Iowa gives great merit aid. I think they are very good with job placement also.
Good luck!
Check out the out-of-State merit at Ohio state.
http://undergrad.osu.edu/cost-and-aid/merit-based-scholarships. Your daughter could get a full ride with the Eminence or Morrill or at least bring the costs down to below instate for you with the Maximus and Buckeye ($25,500 less COA)— your daughter should qualify if she is fairly high stat and rank. My son got full tuition with the Morill and loves it there!
Syracuse has increased their merit scholarships across the board in recent years to keep up with its rising tuition. There are several full tuition scholarships offered to applicants who want to major in the college of arts and sciences there. Checkout: http://thecollege.syr.edu/coronat/index.html
This wouldn’t be applicable if your daughter seeks to apply there to the college of computer science and engineering. But for high stats your D would likely be in line to receive good merit. Also checkout Indiana U. https://hutton.indiana.edu/funding/scholarships/index.html
Your D’s high stats would make her eligible for large merit aid scholarships offered to OOS students there plus additional merit aid through the Hutton Honors college.
If your daughter is a National Merit Finalist, then the scholarships at Florida, Alabama, and Texas Tech are hard to beat. If you are looking for a high quality university with a low total cost of attendance, might I recommend Iowa State?
This is such a great forum! Everyone’s comments have been so helpful. We have a lot of other schools to check out now. My D’s ACT was 33, and she just took the SAT yesterday. She did qualify to take the PSAT/NMSQT and did well, but she didn’t make National Merit Finalist unfortunately. Hoping her SAT scores are great (got a 1440 on practice test). She wants to retake the ACT also to see if she can get it higher. As far as budget, we will have $65-70,000 saved for college by the time she starts. I was just hoping that if she could get some good merit aid, that she wouldn’t have to take out any student loans, at least for her undergrad. Sounds like there are some good options to check out! Thanks again to all of you.
U of Maine at Orono has in-state matching scholarships which amount to automatic merit. The CS department is ABET accredited and their engineering department is excellent – ABET accredited since like 1930 something. Campus is beautiful. There’s an airport at Bangor/Orono twin cities.
She also may want to look at women’s colleges as some have excellent merit and they support women in STEM fields quite well.
- Smith – excellent merit and need-based aid, part of consortium with UMass Amherst, Mt. Holyoke, Amherst so that she could branch out to take courses freely at these other schools. Free transportation.
- Mt. Holyoke – excellent merit and need-based aid. Part of the same consortium with Smith
- Wellesley – superb merit and need-based aid combined. Some cross registration available at MIT.
- Bryn Mawr – merit and need-based aid; though a women’s school, it shares facilities with Haverford and is part of a consortium with Swarthmore and University of Pennsylvania. Free transportation. Men are in classes more there than at other women’s colleges because of the shared facilities and because Bryn Mawr has some graduate programs.
- Simmons – your daughter would receive a lot of merit from this school. It’s in the heart of Boston, and is part of a consortium with an engineering school (among other schools).
Ohio State is one of many colleges shifting their aid from merit to need-based, and doubling down on diversity.
Currently, the Maximus ($3k) and Buckeye ($13.5k) stack for a $16.5k total value, which is lower than recent years.
Also, 300 Eminence scholarships are granted, but those are for the diverse applicants.
Only 25 Eminence TCOA are available to everyone, with very few going to OOS applicants.
South Carolina offers in state tuition if you are accepted into their honors program. Kentucky and West Virginia offer a lot of aid and I know WV has a chart on their website for how much you will get for a particular SAT/ACT and GPA combination. Trinity TX has a similar chart and offer a lot of merit money.
Sorry, meant to say 300 Morrill diversity scholarships are granted.
Without NM, Alabama and Mississippi are best bests, followed by Wyoming and New Mexico.
Instate, check out CU Colorado Springs for merit. My D’s friends with those stats got free tuition.
“Wellesley – superb merit and need-based aid combined”
https://www.wellesley.edu/sfs/info/faq/aidaward#merit
“financial aid awards are based only on financial need. We do not offer academic, athletic or other scholarships.”
Basically for merit you have to look below your grade/score level, so instate I know Fort Lewis will come in nearly full tuition with merit and I’d guess Mesa and the other smaller state schools would too.
Thanks @allyphoe – while I see your point that information clashes with what I was told by a friend of mine whose daughter was granted additional funds negotiated after acceptance and after receiving FA packages from Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Vassar and Wellesley. I was told that this funding was not simply need-based. Need-based schools such as Barnard and Vassar, who also accepted this student, wouldn’t budge on their offer, which they told me was virtually nil. The mother refused to send the daughter to a school that wouldn’t provide “anything” toward reducing costs. They eliminated Barnard and Vassar because of that. They were surprised at how willing Wellesley was to provide extra funds to ensure that their child would attend. There seems to be more wiggle room at Wellesley and in casual terminology that could be called merit.
Florida State. Those stats should qualify her for OOS tuition waiver, and check out the Presidential Scholars Program.
A second-hand anecdote (what your friend told you) - is not fact and cannot overcome readily ascertainable info. Wellesley is need-only. But each need-only school has their own standards, it is is quite possible that Wellesley might adjust a financial aid award based on consideration of a factor tied to need, whereas Barnard & Vassar might refuse to make adjustments for similar reasons. Wellesley has triple the endowment of Barnard, so more financial wiggle room in any case - and it also is stronger financially than Vasser. I was able to get more money from Barnard financial aid when I could point to specific financial data that had not been fully factored in. And other factors can come into play as well – as the May deadline approaches, if one college sees its yield projections falling short they might be more willing to look for ways to retain a student, whereas a peer college might be having the opposite problem that year, facing the potential strain on housing caused by over enrollment. But bottom line – need-only colleges will only adjust financial aid awards on some rationale tied to need – such as an extra expense the family can document, or some sort of downward adjustment to their income or assets.
I long ago lost count of the people who claimed their children or grandchildren received merit scholarships from schools that don’t offer anything other than need-based aid. I think it’s a combination of wishful thinking and the opportunity to brag.
Given that this is a thread started by someone seeking merit money, I don’t think creating a false hope is helpful. Wellesley is an excellent college, but it won’t offer merit money to a family who doesn’t qualify for need-based aid – so probably does not belong on the OP’s list. Especially given the fact that if she has the stats to gain admission to Wellesley, it probably would be quite realistic to anticipate merit money from some target colleges a few notches down the selectivity scale.
@CCinDenver Speaking as someone living in Alabama, I can tell you definitively that U of Alabama throws money at OOS STEM kids. We have top scholars at my kid’s school who aren’t getting offers like the OOS kids are. Exception: NMFs.
You may want to take a look at schools that offer full merit scholarships and consider targeting some, so definitely apply to Alabama with the intention of making a run for the UFE (University Fellows Experience). As an earlier poster mentioned, and per my own research reviewing profiles of past winners, Ohio State gives maybe one OOS student the Eminence each year, so that one will be even tougher to get. Not sure about The Park at NC State, but certainly worth looking into.
Any full merit competition is going to be fierce, but from my limited experience with S19 competing at 4 schools, the STEM kids most definitely have a leg up in these things. We also noticed that the STEM kids received better merit scholarship offers out of the gate (upon admission)… at least those who actually showed my son their offers.
I’ll also toss Miami University (OH) at you. They do offer Computer Science and Computer Engineering majors, and they’re one of the schools that I know for sure throw more money to high stat STEM majors. The OOS premium is high, but consider making a run for the Presidential Fellows Program. It was new this year for class of 2023 so the program is rather ambiguous, but I’ve been seriously impressed by them so far. Miami knows what they’re doing. They have three things that are important: strong alumni network, internship pathways, and career services department. Speaking as someone who grew up in Ohio, I can tell you that Miami grads do well. And I’ll also say this: for some of the kids who didn’t receive the Presidential Fellows, Miami turned around and revised their merit awards to entice them to come. And it worked, because my kid is going there in the fall. Better deal than Bama offered him.
Also consider Rollins College (with the intention of being invited to compete for the Alfond). Not sure how rigorous their Computer Science major is, so you’d have to research that, but Rollins is beautiful, we had great visits there, and they’re just outside Orlando (possible internships). The former president of the College of Wooster is now the president at Rollins, so he’s definitely beefing up the STEM. He was very open about that when we visited. Didn’t completely dismiss the liberal arts since Rollins is a LAC, but…
@Dustyfeathers
Wellesley doesn’t award merit aid. Full-need school, but OP expressed likelihood that they won’t qualify for need-based aid.
@Trixy34–Central College!!! Such a cute town too!!
Replying to Twoinanddone who dismissed Univ. of NE, Lincoln: Have you actually spent time in Lincoln or had a student attend Raikes School (honors CS and business) at UNL? My kid had a great experience there. It’s not what I expected having lived primarily on the West or East Coasts. He will be graduating from Raikes in computer engineering/ business soon. It’s been a wonderful experience. He got a good education, excellent paid internships every summer, won various regional coding contests with classmates. The cohort model builds close friendships in small classes with people in your future field. The blend of programming and business is unique and gives an edge. The dorms are newish and comfortable, campus amenities are nice, and town walkable, cute and safe. There are nice museums and arts programs. He’s set up for a job on graduation earning in the 6 figures and made life long friends. Very thankful for Raikes. Anyone who wants to excel in CS and also not rack up debt should try for this excellent competitive program at UNL.
Not familiar with CS programs anywhere, or your prestige requirements, but the Midwest is a good place to look for lower costs. Iowa State OOS is $34,000 and her stats would get her $8000 automatically. Iowa private colleges could get down to low $20s with those stats, though I don’t know which ones have CS. Missouri State and the Missouri directionals would give her in-state plus auto merit.