Financial Aid

<p>So, I was accepted to DAAP for Industrial Design months ago, and now that my college Admissions season is over, I'm deciding between RPI and Cincinnati. Although I know Cincinnati has an amazing Design program, I was also looking for a school that had good tech programs as well, which Cincinnati... doesn't have. That said, I figured I should compare financial aid before I commit to RPI. </p>

<p>I was notified that I was awarded the Century scholarship, but I also submitted a FAFSA, and never heard anything about that aid. When will I know if I would be receiving additional need-based aid?</p>

<p>you can check it online ( <a href=“https://www.financialaid.uc.edu/cs_login.asp[/url]”>https://www.financialaid.uc.edu/cs_login.asp&lt;/a&gt; )</p>

<p>Who says Cincinnati doesn’t have a good tech program. They are actually quite good in engineering. Maybe they are not as highly ranked as RPI,but they are still quite good.</p>

<p>Well, I checked online and if I’m understanding it correctly, I should wait for an email. It said something that they start notifying people after April 2, which seems odd, only because I’ve been hearing about aid along with acceptances from other schools.</p>

<p>@taxguy: I have heard that Cincinnati has a pretty good Engineering program, but I’m more interested in advanced Computer science majors like Human-Computer interaction. Also, as you said, RPI is highly ranked in the sciences and engineering (it’s actually the oldest tech school in the country). </p>

<p>I’ll be honest, I really wanted to go to CMU’s School of Design, but I was, unsurprisingly, rejected (I kinda knew that I would have to transfer in if I really wanted to go anyway, due to a limited portfolio). So, now I have to choose between Cincinnati and RPI (there are other choices, but I figured these two would be the closest to my interests). </p>

<p>Cincinnati has a design program that is consider as good or better than CMU’s, but the schools doesn’t really have much else that I’m interested in. I’m also discouraged by the fact that I was not invited to join the honors program, which makes the school less appealing to me (I’m aware that I could transfer into the honor program). The fact that UC is in the inner city of Cincinnati is not really much of a negative factor considering RPI is in a ghetto in Upstate New York (though it’s very close to Albany, and a short train ride away from New York City). </p>

<p>Both schools have excellent campuses with recently constructed facilities. RPI probably wins on the money side, considering their endowment is almost as large as Cincinnati’s, but they have far fewer students. Both schools have co-op programs, though I suspect that Cincinnati’s is better considering co-ops are optional at RPI, but I have heard that RPI sent students to places like Apple, Microsoft and GE for internships and co-ops… that and I’m sure it’s pretty easy to get an internship in NYC for the summer.</p>

<p>My parents thinks I’m nuts for still considering UC, but they’re not they type of parents who would keep me from doing what I think is best. I don’t really even remember why I applied to UC, but after I got in, I was amazed as how highly regarded DAAP is. It’s kinda been my dream to work at Apple, and I saw that Apple sends people to interview students at UC, and that had me thinking about the school again. I really wish I could visit the school, but I live in Boston, so it’s not exactly easy for me to do that.</p>

<p>Anyway, taxguy, because I’ve seen that you’re a big advocate of UC and you’ve been really helpful in this forum before, anything you have to share would be really helpful. I feel like I need to hurry up and decide to I can send in deposites and housing forms :P</p>

<p>Benellis, you have summarized the benefits of UC vs RPI quite well. UC does have a great coop that is unbeatable. In additon, their ID program is as good any any out there. In fact, they hired away the ID assistant dean of CMU.
However, since I know of very few who attended RPI, I can’t comment on their program.</p>

<p>You may want to give the finaid office at UC a call if you haven’t gotten an email yet. It’s past time and you should be able to compare/contrast finances of the schools you are considering!</p>

<p>Too bad you can’t visit UC…the campus is really very interesting, with lots of new award-winning buildings (Forbes magazine chose it as one of the “most beautiful” schools, along with Stanford, the Air Force Academy, UVa, and others!) And I wouldn’t say it is in “inner city” Cincinnati–it’s actually Uptown. DAAP is on the northwest edge of campus, next to a large and beautiful park, and across the street from the area where most frat houses are.</p>

<p>Will the FA office work with you or is there FA award set in stone.</p>

<p>benellis–so where did you decide to go?</p>

<p>My S is going to UC in the fall. Engineering and/or computer science. The co-op program and the free ride are what persuaded him. :)</p>

<p>In the end, I went with RPI. I looked into Financial Aid, and I think UC was only going to offer me the $2000 century scholarship and something for being an out of state student…</p>

<p>Meanwhile, RPI is giving me about $32,000 a year…
… which actually brings the cost down to UC’s sticker price :P</p>

<p>It was a difficult decision, and I’m not even sure that I made the right one. DAAP is a really good program, but I think RPI has more that I’m interested in…</p>

<p>Nice offer from RPI!</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>