<p>I am thinking about going into engineering in college, and I'm the oldest child in my family, so I have no idea what kind of financial aid I will get. Can anyone give me a ballpark/estimate of what kind of money I will get from the following schools? Will this change because I want to do engineering instead of a different major? This is not really a chance, because based on my grades I am competitive enough to have a chance at all of them (34 ACT, 4.3 W 3.8 UW GPA, and 7 APs, good ECs). I have guesses of what I will end up paying/scholarships I might get based on the little research I have done. Can anyone verify this/ tell me otherwise?</p>
<p>UIUC (IN state, no scholarship)
UMichigan (No scholarship)
UW Madison (Possible $10,000 scholarship, but lowest on my list)
Purdue (No scholarship)
UT Austin (Possible $1000 scholarship 1st year, and because of this, eligible for in state for next 3 years? Is this true?)
USC (Either $10,000, half scholarship, or full)
Cal Berkeley (No Scholarship)
UMiami (Either 1/3, half, 2/3, or full scholarship)
UFlorida (No scholarship)</p>
<p>Basically my question is does anyone know if the publics I'm looking at give out money. I'm guessing no. Self experience appreciated</p>
<p>You’re going to run into out of state tuition fees at any public school outside of the state you reside in.</p>
<p>Looks like you’re from Illinois. They have great engineering schools from what I remember. Stay home, save money, if you can’t get a scholarship at a private school. Paying off massive student loans for 10 years is no fun.</p>
<p>I had a half scholarship to UMiami, but it was still expensive.</p>
<p>I’m getting another degree at a Florida St school as a resident. Cost savings is AMAZING.</p>
<p>I know some of the elite private schools (Harvard, Stanford) basically waive tuition for accepted students if their parents make under $75K or $100K per year. Many private schools give need based financial aid, which would bring it in line with public schools.</p>
<p>Talk to your high school guidance department, they’re there to help you with these questions.</p>
<p>Well it looks like you already know where you stand on scholarships, so we really can’t add any more to that. Any public school will pretty much rely on the results of FAFSA for your financial aid package. That depends on whether your parents are paying, how many college students are in the family and how much you and your parents make. We can’t really tell you the results of FAFSA, so you will have to fill it out.</p>
<p>Private schools are another story. Many of them offer much more generous financial aid, as mentioned above about Harvard. That will come on a case-by-case basis. You might check their financial aid websites for more information.</p>
<p>It is kind of hard for any of us to really estimate unless someone is a financial aid officer from a given school. Each school varies wildly from the others, and they often have wild fluctuations from year to year as well.</p>
<p>I can say that I had nearly identical academic stats to you and got $5000 in academic scholarships from UIUC from the MechSE department, but that was in a year where the economy was still strong and people still donated a lot.</p>
<p>So am I correct in thinking I will not get any scholarships from public schools? My parents (who are paying) have fallen in love with Michigan, and are under the impression that I will get some money, but I keep telling them they’re going to be in for a surprise. My FAFSA probably won’t help any, but then again our family has never experienced paying for college yet, I’m the oldest child. Does anyone know about being eligible for in state for UT? Because that could be a deal maker if I get it; in state is $6000 I think…</p>
<p>Well you may get some money from public schools with those stats, but it won’t likely be a full-ride or anything, and it depends highly on which schools. Obviously the less prestigious ones will not need to bribe you as much to come there because if you don’t, there are 500 more with your stats that will come without money. It just depends on a lot of things. Being the oldest child will probably hurt you since there won’t be any other siblings in college so the financial burden on your parents won’t be as great. I don’t know your financial situation, but FAFSA is notoriously cruel if you are middle class.</p>
<p>To qualify for in-state at any Texas public school, you have to have lived in Texas for a full year and either owned property, held gainful employment or hold a professional license (RN, PE, teaching certificate, etc). It is kind of rough. I have been here in Texas for a year but don’t have the other things satisfied so I still can’t be considered a resident.</p>
<p>What mxclax8 is referring to is the OOS tuition waiver for scholarship recipients. Apparently, it used to be much simpler, and even a $1,000 scholarship would get you the waiver. Now, however, those waivers are VERY limited. The entire school of engineering has only 7 or 8 TOTAL, and sometimes they only give one for a single semester! So you can’t count on it. My son got a $1k scholarship, and when he called to ask about the waiver, the lady politely laughed at him! </p>
<p>My parents have added him on to the title of their house in Austin, and he’s fulfilling all of the other requirements, so we THINK he will count as an in-state resident next year. HOWEVER, they are thinking of changing the rule so that you must LIVE on the property you own! His official address is their house, but he’s living in a UT dorm. I’m just praying they grandfather out the kids who are already freshmen, because we based our decision to send him on his being able to get cheaper tuition. We can’t afford OOS tuition for 4 years.</p>
<p>Why don’t you and your parents like UIUC? Great engineering program and you pay in-state tuition. Other than MIT or Stanford, what schools would you consider so much better as to warrant paying OOS tuition?</p>
<p>aglages, there’s nothing wrong with it, but when over 100 people in your graduating class end up going there each year, it’s natural to look elsewhere as well. I am in that money range where scholarships to schools matter a lot, but my financial situation does not force me to stay in state.</p>
<p>mclax - UIUC may be overly familiar,but it’s a darned good engineering school. Your chances for a scholarship may be slightly lower there than at most of the other schools on your list (based on competition quality), but the total of tuition - scholarships will be lower there than I think anyplace else you are considering.</p>
<p>One additional thing to consider - my alma mater had a great deal of scholarships for juniors and seniors, but relatively few for freshmen and sophomores. I think the idea was to hold the money until people had proven themselves in a college environment. In addition, there are a great number of competitive scholarships available to upperclassmen, and they can be much more lucrative. As such, it is quite possible to see your out-of-pocket costs go down each year - my senior year I received scholarship and grant monies significantly in excess of my academic costs.</p>
<p>UIUC also guarantees that your tuition is frozen at the same rate for the duration of your tenure at the school, which is nice. I don’t know of any other school that does that.</p>
<p>I understand the familiarity issue though. I had similar issues when I was looking at schools. Ultimately, it comes down to where you think you will be happiest as well as cost and quality. UIUC is cheaper than UMich or you and quality is effectively a wash. However, if familiarity is the issue, you have to decide if its worth the extra money. That could be significant money.</p>
UIUC had 7000 freshman admitted in 2009. Almost 32,000 total undergrads. Most everyone at UIUC will be a stranger to you and the few that aren’t shouldn’t ruin the experience. Certainly if you have the means to afford OOS tuition at places like Michigan, by all means apply and hopefully enroll. But even with your outstanding ACT score I don’t think you’ll see much merit money from them and certainly not enough to make it close to UIUC. Many of us wish we had an in-state public university the quality of UIUC for engineering. </p>
<p>How did the University of Miami end up on your list? It doesn’t seem to fit in with all the top notch engineering programs.</p>
<p>I would say UIUC would be your top choice and USC or UMaimi (depending on the FA you get) would be also in consideration. Being the oldest, you have no idea what financial situations may arrive to your younger siblings. Anything and everything is possible that could really hurt your family. </p>
<p>UMich has a VERY high OOS fee - i believe one of the highest or the highest. If you got no scholarships, its not really worth attending as the UIUC is well regarded in the engineering world. Put more private schools onto your list. They are MUCH more generous with FA and there are a lot of great private schools like Northwestern that you might enjoy.</p>
<p>I think you have the wrong idea of my opinion of UIUC. There is a very good chance I will end up there because of all the favorable factors listed above. But, I want to give myself options, in and out of the midwest. </p>
<p>Aglages, Miami ended up on the list because I went to Miami for spring break, and loved the campus and surrounding area when I visited. Its still on there because of the potential money I can get from it.</p>
<p>You loved Miami’s campus, and you thought Coral Gables was nice…the rest of the surrounding area stinks.</p>
<p>Unfortunately there isn’t much to do on campus or in Coral Gables. Coconut Grove is pretty damn cool though.</p>
<p>I’m not sure how strong their engineering program is though. I never met too many engineering majors when I was there. Pretty decent architecture school though.</p>