Engineering school with high merit aid

Montana State University, Bozeman

University of New Mexico is about 18-19K for room/board/tuition with an Amigo Scholarship (in-state tuition - your child’s current stats qualify). There are also presidential and regents scholarships for full tuition/full ride which are more competitive.

Also second Wyoming and Montana State.

With a reasonable amount of self study and practice tests, my D was able to bring her ACT up by a few points. Hopefully, he can squeak out that extra point with another try. Good luck!

Would your son consider SIUE? My son had a 30 ACT and was selected to interview for the Meridian Scholarship, which provides a full ride. He wasn’t chosen, but all who interviewed were offered a full tuition scholarship. And you’re probably right about UIUC. We were offered $35,000 in loans the first year and didn’t bother submitting FAFSA the second year.

I would look over which areas of the test he’s weak and work on those.

That said, if there are areas of the test where he is strong but with a bit of extra work he can gain a couple of points, work on those as well.

I remember one of my son’s friends who needed to increase his ACT by 3 points. HIs weak area was the English section. Worked on that can got his ACT up by 4 pts.

It’s only May. Can’t imagine why any junior would be throwing in the towel at this point.

He’s taking it again in June! But we would like to visit some colleges this summer so we have only these results to work with so far. Good idea to have him work on his weakest area.

UT Dallas FTW

@momoftwoofftou, new requirements are up on Bama’s site. http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/

^ I don’t think they’ve updated engineering scholarships or National Merit packages yet, however.

Also the Presidential is now a FIXED SUM ($25,000 for 2018-19) for out-of-state students. That’s a significant change.

http://urweb01-dev.ua.edu/urwebdev/gobama/greg/scholarships/types/out-of-state.php says that the out-of-state awards will be:

3.5 / 33 => $25,000 per year
3.5 / 30 => $19,000 per year
3.5 / 29 => $13,000 per year
3.5 / 28 => $6,000 per year
3.5 / 27 => $5,000 per year

http://financialaid.ua.edu/cost/ says that, for out-of-state students:

tuition + fees = $27,750
total billed cost = $40,800
total billed + books + transportation + misc = $47,322

So remaining costs for an out-of-state student with the largest GPA / test score scholarship is $15,800 of billed cost, or $22,322 including other estimated costs.

For engineering majors, there are additional awards, according to http://eng.ua.edu/admissions/scholarships/ :

3.5 / 30 => $2,500 per year
3.5 / 27 => $1,500 per year

Thanks for going through the details!

Alabama engineering facilities are world class and practically brand new. You will be very impressed when you visit. Don’t forget to stop by Archibald and Woodrow’s BBQ - best that I have ever had - definitely a Diners and Dives type standout.

Ms State and Ole Miss

If you’re in IL, you can consider the Engineering Pathways program: http://pathways.engineering.illinois.edu



If you enter that program, the first 2 years are at one of certain IL CC’s, then, if you hit the required GPA, you automatically transfer in to a U of I engineering program.



The last two years would be above your desired cost level but the first two years would be much cheaper so you presumably can save up money then for the last 2 years.

As we go through this process we are now wondering if we should spend more to try for a higher ranked school? If we went up to $30/year do you think the payoff for him would be worth it?

Take a look at the University of Tulsa. It is a fabulous engineering school and very generous with merit aid. Depending on where you are in IL, it could be a good location.

<<<<<<<<<<<So remaining costs for an out-of-state student with the largest GPA / test score scholarship is $15,800 of billed cost, or $22,322 including other estimated costs.<<<<<<<<

        That is great to see in writing. So many times I have seen how UA was full free tuition that it is almost burned into my mind. So with the max stats an eng student could still be at 13,300 billed?

NMS Finalists earn a full ride at UA. We also have a friend whose son earned a full ride at UA and he only NMS Commended. He earned Presidential Excelence plus one of their Honors scholarships plus engineering scholarship.

@GaelRacer, which UA are you referring to?

No full rides at Alabama for NM in quite some time (and there never was for National Merit Commended):

https://scholarships.ua.edu/nationalscholars/

Full tuition (plus $2500 a year for engineering if you met the cutoff for Presidential) but never a full ride. It’s no longer full tuition for Presidential, however:

https://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out-of-state.php