Your texas prepaid can still be used OOS for a set amount of money, so it could be stacked on top of another school’s merit award.
Cybercorps Scholarship for service I believe covers 2-3 years of college in return for service with the government in Cyber Security.
https://niccs.us-cert.gov/formal-education/cybercorps-scholarship-service-sfs
More info and there should be a link to participating institutions. I believe Carnegie Mellon is also on the list.
We faced a similar question, as my son was a finalist for an almost full ride to our pretty good reputation state school. He’s also interested in computer science. As MYOS1634 said, depends some on the student, and there are the bonuses to an MIT level school as he listed. Also, he probably should apply to MIT just to see, even with those great scores not guaranteed admission. My son was accepted and just started there. Hard to argue with value of a $14,800,000,000 endowment and what that can do for a school and their students. And I’d say MIT’s reputation/prestige is worth a lot. My son always dreamed of being among kids at his level, now he has it. And as mentioned, do check their financial aid calculator, with that endowment they have very fair aid, was much more than most for us.
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities will often put together a scholarship package for top applicants, that can be close to full ride (full tuition plus most of room and board).
@mommdc thanks for posting this. My DS’s plan is to use the NM scholarship at UTD for Comp Sci. He has a bunch of credits and will likely be able to get his BS and MS in the 8 semesters that the NM scholarship covers with their Fast Track program. He can also do a summer abroad with the $6K they give for study abroad with NM. Our OOP expenses will be less than $5K (including books and travel) for 4 years and based on what DD did, he shoud be able to cover that in outside scholarships.
My DH works for a very large international high tech company that hires UTD grads and UT grads at the same pay rate as MIT grads. My DS plans to do a second masters or PHD in cybersecurity with this scholarship program at a diffrent university. Well, that’s the plan now, it could always change…
UT CS for ~$60k all in for 4 years seems like a pretty good option vs $220k for MIT. A&M has NMF scholarships as well. Then go to grad school at one of the NE schools or Stanford, etc for MBA or have him get his CISSP and he may not even need the MBA.
@3scoutsmom : Does the full ride scholarship from UTD covers books and board and lodging or is it just full tuition?
@Smippi UTD’s NMF scholarship covers enough that your your costs including R&B should be less than $500 a year. If you rent or get used books you might be able to get by with less. The top AES scholarship will likely leave you needing to pay about $5K a year for books tuition and R&B. If you are in the range for NMF or top AES you should be able to get some local scholarships to meet the gap.
If you’re in Texas, I’d definitely look at UT Dallas for computer science. Very generous merit for scores like that. I’m still bummed I can’t get my son to apply there…he has similar stats as your son, comp sci, and we also won’t get need-based aid. Very top comp sci schools + full ride are hard to come by.
@MFHP96 …my son will be a NMF and is admitted into UTD for comp sci. He also has Ga Tech in his hands.We will also be in a very tough situation come decision time. why does your son not want to apply there? Texas folks…what do you think about UTD for comp sci. We haven’t still visited and he decided to apply coz he thought it was the one best suited for comp sci compared to others with generous aid for NMFs. Any thoughts will be appreciated. Thank you…
We are Texas folks and my DS will be going to UTD for Comp Sci he’s an auto admit for UT Austin but thought UTD had more opportunities and is better fit for him, not to mention the National Merit $$$. Lots opportunity to get involved with research and internships, the dorms are great too.
What is your kid’s learning style and preference? The best value for your education dollar is going to come from the school that brings out the best in your son. Not every high stat kid is going to thrive at MIT and your options in Texas are tremendously respected in the computer industry.