Any indication whether all merit and/or need based scholarships have been awarded for OOS or is it possible to still get awards with the FA package in early April?
@itsv may know. I remember that I called Financial Aid and the one scholarship that is separate from GaTech, is the state by state GaTech Alumni scholarship. You can try to contact the alumni group directly if you know them. GaTech Financial aid will not help you contact your in state alumni group. However call Financial Aid about all the GaTech merit scholarships, they can help you there.
@CU1986 I did two very long posts on merit aid back in January. Just search under my user name or look in this forum. Some alumni groups may still be accepting scholarship applications in your area. Look on the alumni page for the listing.
How can I help my son to pay for Ga Tech .He is National Merit Finalist but I do not any other merit scholar . For my salary I am not going to get any Help at the same time is very dificult to pay out of state . Any Tips?
Any way to get in state tuition as a merit scholar?
@bbarral , I found that if you move to Georgia and get a job there, your son can get in-state tuition immediately, no waiting period.
Here the link: http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/georgia-institute-technology/2052321-economic-advantage-oos-tuition-waiver.html
@bbarral Your son can help by getting into the five year co op plan at GaTech, if he does not mind lengthening his education and working for three semesters, he can earn enough money to make it more affordable. But that may depend on his major to some degree, how much money he can earn.
He can sign up as a freshman with no restrictions, but if he waits, he needs a 2.0 GPA to sign up for Co op degree plans. It does involve interviewing with individual companies to find a match.
http://career.gatech.edu/what-cooperative-education
http://career.gatech.edu/co-op/application-process
Also look at outside scholarships, but it may be too late to apply now, for most.
@bbarral GaTech eliminated its institutional National Merit Scholarship, so there is no award at GaTech for National Merit Finalists. There is a one time $5000 FIRST scholarship, at GaTech, with a deadline of March 1st:
Here is a news story that explains more about five year co op degrees at GaTech. If you scroll down a computer science student describes his co op in detail. Business major is also highlighted. This is the easiest way to pay off a good deal of the OOS tuition for years 3, 4 and 5. But an out of state student will need to have year 1 saved up
to attend GaTech. Students do not pay tuition while working, so it works out to 4 years of tuition but a 5 year degree.
@Coloradomama Thanks for the co op article - very informative. The question I have is if a student/family is trying to bridge the OOS tuition costs, how much do theses co ops really help $-wise? Also, it seems to be that doing a semester abroad at IS or close to IS costs plus doing a co op program would start cutting into the natural progression of completing your undergraduate program. Also, do co ops make as much sense if your child will likely be going onto graduate studies after their 4th/5th year? My daughter is going into Biomedical Engineering btw. In our case we need to compare this to our strong IS program with multiple scholarships that would probably be completed in four years.
I have written about how our family makes attending Georgia Tech affordable for our family. I don’t have time today to write it what I previously wrote so just do a search under my user name. Also @CU1986 study abroad and co-ops do not cut into the progression of graduation because you do not pay for the semester you are away or the student substitutes the summer going to school for the semester either interning or co-oping. Plus engineering is really tough and most student appreciate the break from school to work which in turn usually leads them making better grades when they return to Tech. We ask our DD to contribute of 70% of her income after taxes following a semester or summer interning or co-oping. She has given us between $7K to $13K after each job to help pay for school. Her housing and moving expenses are usually covered by the company she is working for and twice she has actually gotten some extra money because they paid her for mileage and we have driven all over the US for her jobs.
She did the China study abroad program which worked out to $9K for everything for us the summer after her freshman year which saved us a lot of money. She applies to private scholarships administered both through Tech and other organizations and companies which has also helped pay for school. I did a rather long post about merit money at Tech, look it up.
Frankly co-oping or interning will help your DD in applying to graduate schools because it gives them valuable experience which grad schools are also looking for. My DD has 5 roommates, some are doing med school, some graduate school and some going straight into the work force. All have co-oped, interned, and done study abroad. None have had to do an extra semester of school If they are graduating in December then that is because they co-oped but if you had the semesters attending at GT, they all add up to 8. My DD did not go to GT with a boatload of AP credit and she is also graduating in 8 semesters. Even her sorority sister who just got named a Fulbright Scholar did two study abroad experiences, two internships and is graduating in 4 years. Don’t assume a co-op or internship is a negative.
Also with respect to Biomedical Engineering, most of my DD’s friends have discovered it is better to major in something else like ME or CE with a concentration on biomedical and then get a masters in biomedical. The student that does that is much more marketable to the outside world.
My post is not intended to mean you should get loans. I hate loans and try to avoid them at all costs. Neither one of my kids will graduate with loans, but I am fortunate that my kids, especially my DD, hustle to get good internships, grades and private scholarships while still having fun in college. (She went to Puerto Rico and Florida for Spring Break!!) Engineering is the type of degree where also participating in all that Georgia Tech offers is important, things like research, club experience, competitions etc. For my DD, it has translated to great job offers and opportunities. Plus if your DD can get great grades her first two years, she can apply for what I call GT’s “rocket masters program” which allows double counting of some classes and I think cuts off the time required for a GT masters. My DD was eligible but has elected to work for two years before she goes back for a Masters. Also I just remembered that her roommate who is staying behind to do a masters at GT is having it all paid for by a grant and GT’s masters program in her major. Figure out how to pay for undergraduate now, worry about the Masters later.
Good luck!!
Also you cannot move to Georgia and get a job and get in-state tuition. Those waivers are given in very limited circumstances. My DD knew of a student who was a 3rd year and parents lost their jobs and mom got cancer, it that circumstance, GT gave this girl a waiver.
@itsv thanks for the thorough response. We have heard similar comments about Biomedical Engineering.
@itsv, so you think Georgia Tech is lying about the “Economics Advantage” waiver? They do say “may be granted waiver” instead of “will be granted waiver”, so a lot is left to interpretation.
@bogeyorpar I don’t think GT is lying. I think the terms in which they grant the waiver are open to some interpretation (which I mentioned in the thread that was linked).
We received an email - Financial Aid Awards are out on Buzzport. Slightly better than expected but still obviously not great, however potentially something we can work with. Georgia Tech’s NPC is quite lacking - uses costs from about 5 years ago so you need to take the results from this calculation with a grain of salt.
@CU1986 FYI, in my DD’s experience, we have found the COA to be less than what is listed online. Basically tuition, fees are constant and true. Depending where the student lives and the meal plan selected can reduce that number. My DD lived in Home Park this year and was able to sublet her room out for the summer which saved us $1800. After freshman year, she had dining dollars and its bonus for lunches and made her own food at her North Ave apt. for the other meals which saved us some money. Books have been a lot less than the estimate. Students sell them, share or give pdfs or do other things. I usually pay $200 a semester for books except one semester it was $300 because of the need for a clicker device. One semester it was only $100. If your child needs to fly, I recommend you hunter around for a deal on Southwest where you get 50K in points and a $500 gift card if you charge like $3K in six months and pay it off. We used that for our daughter’s flights and it made it a lot cheaper plus Southwest lets you change or bank cancelled flights/points. Southwest also doesn’t charge for luggage. The final cost saver was when to schedule FASET (orientation). If you live more than 800 miles away, you can attend the last two (I recommend the second to last one) and your child can move into the dorm early for free and it is only one plane trip.
Hope things work out for your child to attend GT.
@CU1986 Here is an outline of the Resident Advisor position. It provides free housing for year 2, 3 or 4, and a stipend of $407 per semester. I believe the RA lives with freshman in a freshman dorm. Student RA need a 2.5 GPA and at least be signed up for 12 credits at GaTech to take advantage of this job option on campus. They can be in a co op assignment and be a Resident Advisor at the same time:
https://housing.gatech.edu/sites/default/files/documents/student-staff/2018-2019_resident_advisor_job_description.pdf
I agree with @itsv my son does not buy any books, or one can also lease books, or sell them back, saving almost
the entire textbook costs. My son has cooked all his meals, its easier to shop over on the east side of campus, but he can do it and live at Cresine, on the west side, which is not the least expensive housing, by any means, but one of the on campus apartments. Home Park is an off campus neighborhood north of GaTech that is transitional, but safe enough if one is cautious. I walked around Home Park and felt safe,but there is some crime in Home Park.
Many students live near and around Tech Square, which is more convenient to get to Publix grocery store, if the student is cooking.
Living at a Greek house will save some money over Cresine Apartments on campus. Some sororities are service oriented, check the Greek house guide at GaTech. There are a variety of housing prices at GaTech. On campus apartments offer a 9 month lease. Some off campus apartments in Home Park offer a 12 month lease, but easy to find sublets and save money.
@CU1986 A spot at FASAT 6 or 7 is guaranteed for out of state students. Our son attended FASAT 6 and it is very crowded, but fun. Most international students choose FASAT 6. You do not have to pay for FASAT as a parent, and I maybe would skip the parent portion to save money. We attended it, and it was mostly meals and listening to a dean talk about student life, and sitting alone while student registered for four hours. (FASAT 6 is very crowded so registration took longer our year for CS majors ) I would skip the parent portion of FASAT and just tour or walk around Atlanta on your own. You could still go with your student to Barnes and Noble at the end of FASAT, to socialize and watch them get their photo taken for their Buzz card and you would not miss very much of anything. There is a presentation by the GaTech police at FASAT if that interests you
and some info sessions on study abroad, co ops, and curriculum. FASAT is divided by major for part of day two.
The Convocation ceremony with the President of GaTech requires a separate fee and is held after FASAT so out of state parents really are not invited to that ceremony. (unless they want to hang around for that,and pay extra for it, but its a few days later).