At the risk of sounding Un-PC, do you know of any engineering programs that are particularly generous with their aid packages for women? Various statistics I found show the percentage of women receiving their Bachelor’s degree in any engineering field between 20-30%. As I visit various school’s websites, they market themselves as a great place for women and minorities, but does who puts their merit money where their marketing is?
Thanks!
My daughter got into SUNY Buffalo’s program with decent aid (as an OOS kid) but the program and money has changed since she was accepted in 2008. Their STEM money now is in the form of conferences on how to attract more females. I think that may be the case for most universities.
I think the merit awards are the same for men and women, but being a woman might get you a nudge in admissions at schools that are heavily male. The service academies really would like more women. My daughter goes to Florida Tech and it is 75% male; the merit awards are based on statistics so everyone gets the same, but they are trying to attract more women to the school.
There are some women in engineering scholarships available at particular schools and through the national association.
SUNY Stony Brook has a Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) scholarship, but I think it’s only about $2k.
In general, you’ll get more money from the programs that cost more. The important number is net cost. It could be that even after $80k in aid from a private school, a public, even possibly out of state, could cost less with no aid.
With that said, Case Western and WPI would both be good private options. They both have a history of generosity and are both trying to increase the percentage of female students.
Of course your aid will hinge largely on your stats. Good luck!
Thank you all for the suggestions! I will look more closely at those mentioned. Per the list below, do any stand-out, good or bad, for our situation? We will be paring down/improving the list.
She is a rising Senior, 4.0 UW, with 3 APs, 3 Dual Credit (senior year), and Honors classes when offered. She goes to a public high school in Hawaii (no interest in staying here for college). SAT: 2120 (M-730 CR-760 W-630) and waiting on June scores. Most likely very close, but no cigar, for the NMSF cut-off. We can give her $15,000 a year for four years.
Financial safteties with full tuition scholarhships (either automatic or competive) that she has a good shot at: Temple, New Mexico, Utah, and FIU. (No interest in Alabama, despite my efforts.)
Privates we are hoping with her stats might be willing to offer the net price we need: Stevens Institue of Technology, George Washington, Union College, Tulane.
Finally, we have some “Mom, let me at least try.”: UCS, Duke, Cornell
Aloha, Friday! 
My son had slightly better stats and he was awarded one year tuition free and three years instate at Utah. It’s certainly worth a look. It was a safety for him, but it made it to his final three. Of your safeties, It’s the one I’d choose.
There are other WUE schools to consider including Colorado State, Wyoming and New Mexico Tech. Each has their strengths and weaknesses, buy having visited both Wyoming and CSU, I wouldn’t have any problem with my son attending.
Last but not least, with her stats, she would automatically qualify to go to Utah State tuition free.
A lot of this will depend on your EFC also. If you aren’t eligible for need based financial aid, no private will likely come close to one of the state school options.
I’ve been wondering about this also recently, and for essentially the same reasons for a D with very similar stats.
Have asked her to look at a couple of schools that are ~70% male with “middle 50” scores that put her in the top couple of percent. She’s agreed, and found a couple that she likes.
Illinois Inst. Tech is one that fit that description but it didn’t click. Kind of too bad, because it has some really cool architecture.
Will be interesting to see what happens.
Thanks, @eyemgh, that’s just the kind of “been there done that” advice we need. University of Utah and SLC look very nice and on an upward trend. I was impressed with what I could glean from their website.
Our financial need is up for interpertation. For most places in the country, our income and investments put us solidly in the middle class. With the cost of living in Hawaii, especially the mortage on our itty-bitty island shack, what we can provide is only what we have in her Educational IRA. (Thank you Apple for the excellent ROI)
@50N40W It is an interesting journey, and the good news is all will be realved by this time next year.
Look for places with active and well funded SWE chapters. I win ~$1k a year from them at my school, and I’m not even in SWE!
Plus, from what you’ve said about your daughter, I’m sure she can win merit scholarships while in school. I’ve been winning an extra ~$2-4k every semester, on top of my $5k/semester renewable scholarship. It just takes some effort to find and apply to them every year.
@palm715, what you can pay and what institutions expect you to pay are often different. The bottom line is that you can only afford what you can afford and the results of your FAFSA will dictate what any given institution will be willing to award.
Most people who hear about Utah are worried about the LDS factor if they aren’t Mormon (we aren’t). SLC is actually a very progressive city. Less than 50% of the population are Mormon.
The more interesting part of Utah, aside from the fact that they have a good engineering school, is that it is largely a commuter school. Most places that is a huge drawback, but at the U they’ve figured out a way to make the best of it. They have a super organized student block for their sports events, the MUSS, the Mighty Utah Student Section. They also have lots of on campus activities. As a result the 10,000 or so who live on campus (30,000 total) tend to be a tight knit community. It’s a school that frequently is cited as one that feels smaller than it actually is. I know a student who transferred from Oregon State, 6000 less students, and said Utah felt smaller and was overall a better experience.
Last but not least, it gets cold and snowy in Utah, but the sun is out a lot. It isn’t the temp that causes the blues, it’s the never ending gray. Utah doesn’t have that.
Good luck!
Smith and Mount Holyoke.
Look at all of the smaller [url="<a href=“http://theaitu.org%22%5DAITU%5B/url”>http://theaitu.org"]AITU[/url] schools. They won’t necessarily have different aid packages for women but they do have good merit aid in general.
@50N40W - Illinois Tech is not for everyone. Most students who come to visit us like it but it is a very urban campus and highly focused on STEM.
Smith is a great college but it’s hard to get merit aid there. D had 36 ACT and top 5 percent class rank with rigor and reasonably strong ECs but no aid. Perhaps it’s different for a female engineer from Hawaii. Coming from Hawaii should help
@xraymancs I think it was the lack of German electives … But more on topic, I really like the list of schools in your AITU link. Would be worth investigating Clarkson, RIT, Rose, IIT, and a couple others on that list.
I’ve had some friends that went to - and I have a soft spot for - New Mexico Tech. Also NM State.
Some of the Arkansas schools seem to have a similar deal to Alabama (U Ark Little Rock, Monticello).
Have you looked at Northeastern in Boston? Great co-op program, nice merit aid (esp for NMF).
My daughter had similar stats to your daughter’s. She got a competitive full tuition scholarship from IIT and was also offered beyond full tuition (WUE plus some other scholarships) at U Wyoming and chose IIT.
Thank you everyone who shared their knowledge. The AITU link was a great resource. Northeastern was in our maybe pile, and we’ll look at it more closely. I spent a good chunk of time last night researching IIT. Starting the fall of 2016, if anymore sees a tall blonde in a full length parka but still wearing her Hawaii-style slippahs, you’ll know if was a good fit!
Aloha
At most of the engineering schools my D applied and accepted, it seems they have gender bias not only in admission but also for merit aids. Many male students with similar stat as my D did not receive the scholarships my D was offered. My D does not have any spectacular EC so that is not the cause of difference. Obviously, if the school really want to attract more female students, they are more likely to offer incentives to them.