I’m looking to major in Electrical Engineering for my bachelor’s degree. Does anyone know and good engineering schools that offers good financial aid? Preferably under $10k-15k as the total cost of living attendance (I plan to live on campus). I live in California and like pretty much everyone here, I want to attend a UC school. Preferably UCLA (reach), UCSD(match?), UCSB(match?), or UCI(match?). I also want to apply to University of Washington but the cost is way too high, even with financial aid. So there’s some sort of reference to where I want to apply. I have a 3.4 unweighted GPA and a 3.86 weighted GPA. My SAT scores is (sadly) 1260. My parents’ combined income is less than $30k. So yeah, what are some good engineering schools (in and out of state) with some good financial aid?
Yep! The net price for the UCs are fairly low. UW gives around $5k. Maybe I should have clarified more that I’m looking for more universities that has a relatively low cost of attendance (both in and oos) aside from the UCs as its only 4 schools and I need/want around 3 more to choose from
I think you are misguided about your matches, CSUs or CCC should be considered. OOS schools won’t readily hand out FA and you are not in line for merit that would dent a COA. Do you have commutable options? WUEs won’t be affordable.
Your instate options with your Calgrant eligibility should be your best bet. Look at all of the CA publics. Especially if you can commute from home…your costs could be almost all covered.
Are you planning to retake the SAT now? If not, that SAT is not going to put you in line for significant merit aid. While your income is low…you also aren’t a competitive applicant for schools that guarantee to meet full need for all.
Really…your best bet is your CA publics. Start there.
I think you need to revise your UC list since all the UC’s you have listed will be Reach schools.
With a 3.76 UC GPA and SAT score of 1260, only UC Santa Cruz, Riverside and Merced would be viable options. You can run the Net Price calculators for each school to see how much aid you will receive and the UC’s can be generous if you are accepted.
I would also target the CSU’s based on your stats, but they tend to be less generous with FA since they assume you will commute to your local CSU. Again run the net price calculators.
My suggestions for schools to apply: UC Santa Cruz, Riverside and Merced.
Cal States: Long Beach, Fullerton, San Jose State, Chico State, Cal Poly Pomona and maybe San Diego State.
Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.40-3.79 not major specific so if you are pursuing EE, you will need higher stats.
SDSU and CSULB would probably be Match schools not safeties since they are impacted and very competitive for Engineering. Are either these local, since you will get priority as a local applicant? Also run the NPC’s since financial aid is available but may be only enough to cover tuition/books and some on-campus housing (if needed).
SDSU would be a reach for an EE major with that GPA. I think Cal Poly Pomona and Chico State are more plausible options for the OP.
Out of State Publics are definitely not affordable. Using the website “collegedata.com” and looking for private colleges with EE who meet at least 85% of financial need and loan average under 30K for 4 years, I found Lafayette College (Ed Devine is their California admission rep and a really nice guy so reach out to him), Santa Clara (since this is instate you could also get a Cal Grant), Southern Methodist (Rick Diaz is their Southern Cal rep and nice), and Trinity College. These are colleges where your stats match up to their admission averages.
RIT and Lehigh also come up but their loan average was over $30K.
To have the best chances for admission and hopefully financial aid, be sure to apply early action where it is an option. Usually those deadlines fall around Nov. 1.
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I have a 3.4 unweighted GPA and a 3.86 weighted GPA. My SAT scores is (sadly) 1260. My parents’ combined income is less than $30k. So yeah, what are some good engineering schools (in and out of state) with some good financial aid?
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You need to focus on low level UCs with that income and those stats.
Apply to some CSUs, but really they give lousy aid. Apply to all the low level UCs…Merced, Riverside, and Santa Cruz.
Most public schools don’t give a lot of need based aid anyway, so using WUE to bring the price down is as good a method as any. If the student qualifies for Pell that helps, and the school might award SEOG or work study. Some schools do allow the other scholarships to stack. For example at Wyo the Rocky Mtn scholar award doesn’t stack with WUE discount, but department scholarships do, and there are a number of alum scholarships (usually $2-3k) some awarded for a specific field of study, and those can stack. ROTC is available too, working as an RA give free room and board.