Early decision, merit money

Paying for College
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If you’re looking at CO School of Mines, then you should also consider New Mexico Institute of Mining & Technology (aka New Mexico Tech).

In the general population, hardly anybody knows about it, but in the STEM world, it’s a highly respected school. It’s a small school and pretty much only has STEM degrees. But if your kid is serious about studying physics as a major and wants really good opportunities to work even as early as freshman year with professors’ research projects, you should consider it. NASA, Lockheed, Boeing, etc., etc. all regularly hire from this school because of its reputation of producing some top notch scientists & engineers who will have the skills to work on the cool & challenging stuff.

It’s NOT a party school. It’s in Socorro, NM, which has ~9000 residents. And it’s about an hour’s drive from Albuquerque.

NM Tech participates in the WUE program, so since your kid is a CA resident, you’d pay 150% of NM resident tuition rates. Resident annual tuition is $8246, so 150% of that would be $12,639. Compare that to regular OOS tuition of ~$24,000 (that’s before room & board). That scholarship & other freshmen scholarships’ info can be found at Redirect Page.

Their Common Data Set info for the most recent school year is at https://www.nmt.edu/academicaffairs/research/files/cds/CDS2021-2022.pdf.

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Thank you so much, sounds like a great option!

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According to their common data set, it has ~1100 undergrads. So it’s a small school. By the way, they offer a class in ballistics…where you basically learn how to blow stuff up. The school has a training center that federal law enforcement agencies train at in order to learn how to detonate IEDs and stuff like that.

I’ll be honest, though…there’s nothing to do in Socorro really.

App fee is $15, so it’s cheap to apply. There’s no ED or EA. If your kid is into Greek life, this would definitely not be the school for him.

Pg. 23 of that CDS link shows the break down of avg # of students to faculty for various sized classes. There are NO classes there where the avg # of students is 100 or greater.

60% of the graduates get engineering majors.
11.6% - computer & info sciences
9.8% - bio & life sciences
8.4% - physical sciences (26 students graduating 2020-2021)

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That all sounds perfect, because on his downtime my kid would like to do nothing :joy: He’s an introvert, Greek life wouldn’t appeal to him. He just needs a few science, maybe baseball, nerds.

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If, for example, you decided to go on a college tour of NM Tech, then you might as well look at Univ of New Mexico, too. And maybe NMSU in Las Cruces as well. Both of those schools participate in the WUE program as well…which could make even the 150% of NM in-state tuition actually cheaper than in state tuition at a UC school.

UNM, for example, also has a “WUE Plus” program where you qualify for in state tuition if you have a min 3.0 cumulative HS GPA OR 20 ACT/1030 SAT.

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It’s an entire school of science nerds. He’d fit right in! :slight_smile:

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Remember, those acceptance rates in ED are thrown off by athletic recruits, children of alumni, or other scholars with significant hooks.

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When my S19 was applying, NM Tech had a very limited number of students who got the WUE rate.

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Sounds like we are in similar situations coming from CA, making too much to qualify for need based aid but in a place where cost of living makes it pretty impossible to swallow $75K-$85K per year per kid. I studied with interest the benefits of applying ED when our first was applying last year, but ultimately kept coming to the conclusion that financially it won’t work. Can’t commit. Definitely helps you get into some competitive schools, but those schools are unaffordable. Luckily our first got into a “good UC” (but let’s be real, they are all pretty much good!) and we’ll hope that happens for our second who will apply next year, but with her I know now not to assume anything about the UCs, so she’ll definitely put some CSUs on the list and probably apply RD to some schools that give merit money. Wish we could do ED, but I can’t make the math work – particularly when we have so many good state options here in CA.

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Ok, all of this.

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Sad but true, right?!

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Yup. I have 4 kids. Looking at half a million in cash for college if they choose wisely. Thrilled we can swing it without loans, but it’s not like we’ve got a mansion and a yacht. We couldn’t buy a jet ski :joy: First world problems, but living in a high cost of living area is no joke.

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Oh so true. We are very lucky on so many levels, and I wouldn’t trade it but CA cost of living is just so insane. I wish I could afford to remodel a bathroom or our kitchen. Fortunately our #3 (and last) comes many years later than the daughter in Class of 23. Maybe by then we’ll have enough money for her to ED. :slight_smile: Wishing us both luck as we go through it all next year.

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So Physics - and quieter schools - you may look at:

WUE - mamy schools on the list some that might work - I’m only including smaller/quieter but you have great schools like UNR, Idaho, Wyoming.

Is he a skiier - Ft. Lewis College in Durango, CO
New Mexico School of Mines
SD School of Mines

Many schools in CA would work from Humboldt, Sonoma - so not just Sanislaus.

With a 3.7, if unweighted, U of Arizona won’t be hugely cheap but they are very strong in physics/astronomy - one of the tops in the country. You’d get $12.5K off so about $20K. If you could get to 3.75. the scholarship goes up to $20K so then you’d be about $12.5K. The Honors complex is awesome by the way - with nice rooms, dining hall at the bottom and gym and counseling center adjacent.

Col School of MInes best case is $26K OOS - but it’s unlikely. SD School of Mines (without WUE) is $15K - but of course getting there can be an issue. Just know with the Mines schools - they are engineering focused so if you want to change, to say, poli sci - you’re not staying. You have to 100% be STEM.

Privates to look at -

Occidental - up to $30K a year - but not likely that amount with your stats. It’s a low rach/high match I’d say.

Florida Tech - offered my son 50% - very aerospace focused - small, well respected school in Melbourne FL -so opposite of where your son wants to be. Others to look at include UAH (will be inexpensive)

Check out U of Pacific as well as Williamette, Lewis & Clark, Puget Sound.

There will be ton on non CA LACs that give great aid - Hendrix may match UC tuition, Kalamzaoo, College of Wooster, Southwestern and Trinity (San Antonio).

Really lots of schools - if he’s open to large flagships - UNR, CSU, UNM, U of Utah, Oregon, etc. - these keep him out West and you can always find your crowd. Wyoming will be dirt cheap and lots of CSUs will be strong besides Cal Poly.

Let us know what you learn on your trip.

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Thank you so much, super helpful! Not a skier, but enjoys hiking!

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In terms of evaluating physics major programs, they generally have similar upper level courses or topics, which are generally expected by PhD programs in physics:

  • Quantum mechanics.
  • Electromagnetism and optics.
  • Intermediate / advanced mechanics.
  • Statistical and thermal physics.
  • Intermediate / advanced lab.

Where they may differ:

  • Additional upper level elective physics (and astronomy) courses.
  • Very small departments may offer some courses (particularly statistical and thermal physics) infrequently or not at all.
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Most colleges will not give merit money in the ED round. Merit money is an enticement to get students to attend, particularly high performing students who will help boost the college’s stats. No enticement is needed from an ED applicant. If they get in, they are attending.

The NPC on the college website is generally pretty accurate. If your child chooses ED and it turns out the price is unaffordable, the ED agreement can be broken. In theory, that’s supposed to be the only reason for breaking ED, barring some serious issue that arises.

If you need or want merit aid, applying ED is not the way to get it. Maybe merit aid is offered to a few ED applicants who are outstanding. AFAIK, not many colleges give merit aid ED. Certainly, your son should apply ED knowing that he will be expected to pay whatever the NPC indicates.

More kids are using ED and we are seeing more posts from both kids and parents who regret the choice. ED is meant to be used when a student is 100% sure the school is their top choice. It’s not supposed be a strategy for getting into a super selective school, but more people view it in that way than even just a few years ago.

Remember too that unless the student is already qualified, ED doesn’t always improve their chance of getting in. Yes, substantial numbers are admitted ED at a lot of selective colleges, but the students applying in the ED round are becoming increasingly more competitive. A student who isn’t otherwise well qualified has a smaller/no advantage applying ED than in years past.

Bottom line, if he applies ED, he needs to be 100% sure that’s where he will attend, merit money or not.

Edit:
Out of curiosity, I’d like to know examples of colleges that do financial pre-reads. Isn’t that the purpose of the NPC? Surely a college isn’t going to discuss merit aid before a kid applies. So a financial preread must be restricted to the FA office only. Or am I missing something?

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Whitman does a financial pre-read (including merit). College of Wooster does as well. Both are mentioned in Ron Lieber’s Price You Pay for College. I think there are more, but those are the two that immediately came to mind because of the book.

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Good to know.

And I am a ninny, because I remember when my son spoke to a rep at Gonzaga (didn’t apply) the rep told him, informally, that he would probably be offered $20k a year.

I think I will start a thread on this topic.

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There are also schools that give out decisions before the ED schools do, so you may have a few offers you can use to compare, or even to get the offers before you have to decide to apply ED (or can change the ED to RD). I’m a big fan of getting a few rolling admission apps in to test (your) the playing field. Both my kids were accepted to a school by Oct, and both were good with those schools so the application season was over. A little more scary was that FA didn’t come out until February (old days, when FAFSA wasn’t submitted until Jan) but the NPCs gave us a pretty good idea where we stood.

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