We have some stats now and are looking hard at making some decisions. We are TX residents and have automatic admission.
UW GPA 4.0
SAT - 760 math/670 reading
Excellent extracurriculars
We are willing to pay up to 40k (grandparents are also wanting to help)
We are looking at UT, Purdue, Georgia Tech and Rice for mechanical engineering…so a mixed bag of targets and reaches. These 4 are schools that he’d attend if accepted. What others would you suggest? Do we need to add more? He isn’t interested in any other TX schools. Very flexible about size and location.
I assume by “we” you mean your student is ready to make a list.
If your student is eligible for need based aid, the grandparent contributions could reduce that aid after the first year, so you want to consider that.
He is an autoadmit for UT, but am I right that he wouldn’t be guaranteed his chosen major? Depending on that, UT isn’t really a safety in that case.
I’d guess that GT and Rice are reaches. Plus GT is $48K/year (and likely will go over $50K while he is there).
Ohio State has historically give some decent merit to OOS students. Arizona State, too. Bigger schools.
You’re right, there are no safeties here. We are not eligible for need based aid. The grandparents have offered to fill in where we can’t. Didn’t think to bump the other thread…
You might look at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville; West Virginia University; or Bradley University. At UTK, your son would qualify for the Volunteer Scholarship, which is an automatic merit award based on GPA and test scores; right now it appears that he would be eligible for $12,500 per year, and if he could bump up his SAT to 1490, he would get $15,00 per year.
Isn’t Rice a nonstarter because of the cost? It’ll be more than $40k per year even if you live in Houston and your son commutes. Are the grandparents willing to kick in $25-30K a year additional?
Total up the cost of Rice tuition plus room and board and see it it is doable with your contributions plus that of the grandparents. Run the net price calculator to see if he would get any financial aid. Rice meets full need and gives some merit awards. Tuition plus room and board is over $60k. https://cashier.rice.edu/undergraduate-programs Freshmen live on campus in residential colleges and buy the full meal plan.
A & M has good engineering, but I assume from your post that he has already nixed that. What about Colorado School of Mines?
Nebraska & Oklahoma State would net out at roughly $20,000 per yr, and U of Oklahoma under $30,000 (after scholarships have been factored in). These schools are very pretty, have vibrant social scenes, and size-wise are less overwhelming than UT-Austin & Texas A&M.
Actually we do need to run the NPC on Rice to see if we’d get any aid there. I was thinking that we wouldn’t based on a couple schools that we ran in CA. Obviously it’s a high reach school but it’s in town for us so giving it a shot. No interest in Mines or A&M.
I think you need to add an in-state safety or two. In my experience, the COA for out-of-state students is at least a couple of thousand higher (especially for engineering) plus you need to factor in travel and hotel costs. I personally would be hesitant to depend on the grandparents contributing each year as their financial situation could change (unless the money is already in something like a 529 account). Have you visited Purdue? They have a first year general engineering curriculum like A&M. I’m surprised your son would like Purdue but not consider A&M for engineering.
NC State is not going to give merit money to the OP’s son with his stats; so the COA is going to exceed the OP’s $40K limit. Virginia Tech is also not going to give merit money to the OP’s son, although the current COA on its website is just over the OP’s $40K limit. Also, a friend of mine who runs a college admissions prep service tells me that Virginia Tech has gotten much more stingy with admissions for OOS applicants, with lots more deferrals unless you have extremely high stats.
Purdue is $41K for OOS students this year with no merit or need-based aid (at least that’s what we’re paying).
Southern Illinois at Carbondale, which would likely be an admissions safety for the OP’s son, has eliminated OOS tuition, and now has only one tuition that is the same for both in-state and OOS students.
@gandalf78 - I interpreted OP that parents can pay $40k and grandparents may also kick in on top of that. OOS cost for NC State is about $43k and VT is $41k so both seem more or less in budget.
