I would love to get your feedback on the current list for applications for our rising senior son. I have hopefully addressed all of the things suggested by @ucbalumnus on the forum sticky.
S21 is looking to study CS. He currently has taken a total of 7 Honors classes, 1 DE, and 4 APs (Calculus AB=5, Comp Sci A=5, APUSH=3, AP World=4). He should end up with at least 1 more DE and 2 more APs senior year, but I canāt check his Fall schedule until school starts. His current GPA is 3.51 UW and his PSAT score was 1460 / SI is 219, which should hopefully place him at the projected cutoff for NMSF for our state. Scheduled to take the SAT on Oct 3 locally, if it doesnāt get canceled. Since heās a very good test taker and excels in math, expecting him to get over 1500 on the SAT. He was invited to apply for the National Hispanic Recognition Program, which should be a lock since his GC confirmed he made the GPA cutoff. No real ECs other than participating in marching band, after school jazz band, and participation in a couple of clubs. He has been a Davidson Young Scholar since the age of 6, skipped a grade (K), and also a member of the Center for Talented Youth at JHU since grade school. I think heās a lot smarter than his grades reflect.
We are chasing merit money as we qualify for almost no need-based aid and due to me being in grad school forever due to being a victim of a crime, we got a really late start in saving for retirement. Also, since I am the sole breadwinner and will have to support both hubby and myself in retirement (Iām 52), there is no way that we can pay more than about $12k per year realistically towards his college, while the NPCs all say we can afford to pay $48k+/yr.
Right now we are mostly targeting schools that will likely be full rides or close to it for NMF, but if he doesnāt make that, then I want to make sure that we are considering other schools that have generous merit aid. Location of the school does not matter, we are just looking for the best CS program that we can afford. We live in a suburb of Seattle, WA.
List to Apply:
U Wash ā no merit aid but instate fees and can live at home. Highly ranked CS program.
U So Cal ā not even sure if we should apply here because NMF is only half tuition, but he would possibly be legacy admit as I got my MA there
Texas A&M
U Central Florida
U Texas Dallas
Arizona State U
U Florida
Florida State U
Texas Tech
I was looking at maybe also applying to U Alabama.
Any thoughts on where else we (I) should be looking? We arenāt trying to shoot for Ivy league or T20 schools where he has no chance of merit aid.
If $12k is your (parent) contribution, then would that make the budget about $20k if he takes a federal direct loan of $5.5k and saves a few thousand dollars from part time and summer work earnings?
4, 7, 8. The Benacquisto scholarship for NMF (not NHRP) is described at https://www.floridastudentfinancialaidsg.org/PDF/factsheets/FIS.pdf and https://www.floridastudentfinancialaidsg.org/PDF/factsheets/FIS_FAQ.pdf . Note that the scholarship is stated to be an in-state full ride, so presumably out-of-state students need to pay the out-of-state extra tuition ($15k UCF and FSU, $22k UF) unless covered by other scholarships. Note that Florida public universities do require at least summer session at a Florida public university, so consider that cost.
Texas A&M's NMSF, NMF, and NHRP scholarships are listed at https://scholarships.tamu.edu/Scholarship-Programs/National-Scholars ($3k, $10.5k + out-of-state extra tuition waiver, $3k respectively). However, even NMF would still leave a $23k remaining cost (assuming out-of-state extra tuition waiver), based on https://financialaid.tamu.edu/Undergraduate/Cost-of-Attendance#0-CollegeStationUndergraduate . Also, Texas A&M admits to undeclared general engineering; declaring any specific major there including CS is subject to a competitive secondary admission process after first year college grades and essays (although 3.5 college GPA allows automatic admission). There have been threads in the Texas A&M forum section griping about the lack of transparency in the ETAM (entry to a major) process in terms of how competitive each major is.
With an EFC in the 50k range, I would throw out USC. Even if he got a full tuition scholarship Highly unlikely), the cost is still 20k. For TAMU, I would be a little concerned about entry to major requirements if he has a history of underperform on grades.
@ucbalumnus I forgot about $2k/year that my work offers, so with the federal direct loan and working a bit for summers, our budget could stretch to $22-$25k/year. According to everything Iāve read, including the links you posted, the Florida Benacquisto covers out of state NMF students at the full COA.
@Eeyore123 I know he can get the grades if he wants to, so Iām not too overly concerned about ETAM at TAMU to knock it off his list. Agree about taking USC off the list since full scholarship is highly unlikely since he has no community service or leadership to make him a candidate for the competitive scholarships there.
Most students find it harder to earn a 3.5 college GPA than a 3.5 high school GPA. Remember that ~3.0 to 4.0 HS GPA students go to college and get spread across the 2.0 to 4.0 college GPA range.
You can use this calculator to determine ASUās merit scholarships. NMF qualifies for a full tuition award, I believe. Barrett Honors College is highly regarded.
@mamaedefamilia Thank you so much for the information on the NMF awards! S21 was recognized as a National Hispanic Scholar, but unfortunately missed NMSF by one Selection Index point! If he had been in about 45 other states, he would have made it, but such is life and thatās the way the NMF award is set up. That just made me more determined to research all the NHRP awards and other GPA/SAT merit awards available since he has no community service.
OP: If your son is admitted as a CS major at the University of Washington, he should give very strong consideration to this offer even if manageable student loans are required.
I think I remember seeing New Mexico offers some merit for NHRP.
CS is the great equalizer. You donāt have to go to an expensive school to do well. Look at Seattle University. Not highly ranked but grads get jobs becauseā¦itās in Seattle. Proximity to Silicon Valley also helps.
Maybe have a discussion about grades. Turning on/off good study habits in high school is way different than college. Especially in competitive programs at good schools.
Thanks @Publisher. I totally understand that UW has a very strong CS program. I am just not sure if heāll make it as a direct admit since according to the program, the range for unweighted GPAās admitted as direct admits was 3.93-4.0. I think his SAT will come in within the admitted range of 1420-1560, but his uw GPA is only 3.5.
@chmcnm Thank you so much for the link to Ivy Achievement, I hadnāt seen that site before! That is a much better way of seeing if they actually can place grads in jobs, rather than what the ārankingā is on USNWR or CS Rankings for academic publications. Thanks again, I will research Seattle University since this is also one he can attend and live at home.
@kethra One point, darn! It might be worth putting in an inquiry to see if National Hispanic Scholar qualifies for anything. The websites arenāt super clear on that issue. I do know that there is substantial merit for good students at those schools, even if they donāt make NMF. Historically a high SAT/ACT also unlocked merit money but with COVID-19, whether those test scores are still needed/are considered is up in the air. I know non NMFs who got great merit packages at all of these schools, as well as UT-Dallas. These might be viable if you could get merit awards that bring the cost down to instate tuition.
@mamaedefamilia Do you know if there is any merit money available at UT? We didnāt have it on our list due to it being a flagship and hearing they donāt really offer much merit aid, but looking at the Ivy Achievement site that @chmcnm posted, would it be worth it to apply?
@Publisher OP is looking for merit money. Need-based aid will not be sufficient.
@kethra I donāt know how common or unusual big merit is at CO Mines for OOS, but might be worth some searching. Not likely to be as good a deal as NM schools, but I thought Iād throw that out there just in case, no stone unturned.
https://scholarship.unm.edu/scholarships/ lists some money for National Hispanic & American Indian Scholars who are New Mexico residents, but not for non-residents.
I know the OPās son is no longer in the running for the Benacquisto. However, I wanted to clarify here for those playing along at home that the Benacquisto includes an OOS tuition waiver, so OOS NMFs do, indeed, get full cost of attendance (plus) at the eligible public Florida colleges.
If he had been in about 45 other states, he would have made it, but such is life and thatās the way the NMF award is set up. That just made me more determined to research all the NHRP awards and other GPA/SAT merit awards available since he has no community service.