I’m currently a junior trying to get a headstart on my college search. I want to pursue engineering (probably computer/electrical) and ideally stay in the Boston/New York Area. My ACT score is 35 and my SAT score is 2240. Money is a pretty big deal for us, so I was wondering if anyone had suggestions for colleges that had generous merit aid for engineering students- any help would be appreciated. If it’s relevant, I take the most rigorous schedule my school offers and have a perfect GPA so far, and I do FIRST robotics that offers scholarships as well.
I know you want to stay in the Boston or NY area…but you would get terrific merit aid a Alabama.
How bout RPI, or RIT?
RIT See https://www.rit.edu/emcs/financialaid/table_merit.html
UB You should be qualify for Presidential Scholarship See http://admissions.buffalo.edu/costs/scholarships.php
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
http://competitivefulltuition.yolasite.com/
http://nmfscholarships.yolasite.com/ (junior year PSAT is important, hope you took it or are signed up to take it)
Thank you so much for the links! @ucbalumnus @4kidsdad
@helpless2017
What do you need your net costs to be? How much CAN your family pay?
If they can pay $40k per year, then a $20k per year award to a $60k school would work.
But, if they can only pay $10k per year, then you’d need at least a full tuition award so that their $10k and a small student loan can pay for room, board, books, fees, etc.
@mom2coIIegekids Generally, my parents would prefer not to pay much over around 20k a year, but they and I are willing to take out loans or do whatever’s necessary up to 40k (generally, though if I get into MIT or something crazy like that we could reconsider…).
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they and I are willing…
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YOU can only borrow $5500 as a frosh. It’s not a good idea for your parent to borrow $80k+ for college. That’s a difficult amount to pay back.
Do you know your family income? Have you run a net price calculator? Can your family afford to pay their family contribution? Is it within the amount they say they can pay?
@thumper1 The net price calculators for most colleges show us near full price; due to other factors, this really isn’t something we can do. That’s why I was asking about merit scholarships- is there something else I should be doing?
do you have any younger siblings? If so how old are they?
@mom2coIIegekids I have a younger brother, he is three grade levels below me; that’s why they don’t want to spend more than 20-30k/year even though they theoretically could, because they want to be fair to him… Thank you for this by the way
Would you be willing to apply to Case Western? It’s not NY or Boston, but you might get decent merit aid there?
What about University of Buffalo or is it SUNY Buffalo? One has engineering…and good merit awards. Plus the cost for OOS is close to your proce point.
If money is a huge factor, you may want to consider UAH (Huntsville). About a third of the students are engineering majors. And with your ACT (>33) and a 4.0 GPA, you qualify for full tuition AND free housing (all dorms are suites with private bedrooms.) You only pay for books, meals, incidentals… They have attracted a lot of top students this past year with this scholarship. Look at their website; it’s probably one of those “best kept secret” schools, but I predict not for long. Great internships with NASA, Boeing, etc. etc. Anyway, good luck and congrats on your achievements.
What is your home state?
@“Erin’s Dad” I live in Massachusetts
So what is the matter with one of the UMass schools? Some have engineering.
@thumper1 There’s nothing wrong with them; that’s probably where I will end up going. I just want to consider all of my options, because I have friends who went to colleges like Northeastern and BU (which, regardless of the debate, generally offer more opportunities) for cheaper or not much more than they would have gone to UMass for.
The application is do SOON…But you should apply for the BU Trustee scholarship. I believe it is full tuition for all four years…but it is by special application…and due not long from now.
Northeastern awards significant merit aid to its tippy top accepted students. Plus they have their co-op program. It’s worth the application to see.
You already know about RIT and RPI. You might also consider WPI.
Lafayette College in PA has some big merit scholarships for high stats students https://admissions.lafayette.edu/financial-aid/types-of-aid/lafayette-scholarships/ . It is fairly small and has excellent engineering programs. It is not very far from Boston and New York. What about UMASS AMherst and UNH? Both have great engineering programs. The University of Delaware also offers decent merit to OOS, excellent engineering programs, about 2 hours south of NYC and 45 minutes south of Philadelphia. Northeastern is good for engineering, but I believe that they have become less generous with merit aid in the last couple of years.