<p>My son is going to Colorado, although how we will find the money for him to attend I have no idea. We do not qualify for any money through the FAFSA, so my son will not get any aid… We cannot afford it,but somehow will have to find a way for him to do it…He also was admitted to UCLA, but since that is our local school (only ten miles from home) he does not want to go there…</p>
<p>wow you are pretty amazing parents to let your son turn down a school with more academic prestige that is also cheaper and closer to home</p>
<p>well some scholarship decisions are released soon so you should probably get some money from that. I sure hope i do!</p>
<p>Rousse54 - Is your son studying Engineering at CU? The program at CU is supposedly very good/reputable. Otherwise, $50K for OOS is steep. UCLA is a highly regarded school. You’re lucky you have such in-state and he was accepted there. Wish we had that. Our S got into CU Engineering, but I think he’s going to pass for a great Pac10 school. Best to you and your son.</p>
<p>Yes, he is majoring in Aerospace Engineering. Yes, UCLA has more prestige overall as a school, but the aerospace engineering program is not more highly regarded than CU. Actually, they are either ranked the same overall or CU is slightly higher. CU aerospace engineering is ranked 16th overall and 11th or 12th when considering only public universities. I actually think the Aerospace Engineering program at CU is like considered the best program on the entire campus. Also, it gets the most funding or the second most funding from NASA of all schools in the US. So, we do not take this decision lightly. As far as UCLA goes, yes, it is a great school. I did my graduate work there, my husband did his undergraduate there. We love UCLA. But we were not raised in LA and for us it was a novel experience. For him, it would be less than ten miles from home and he is way too familiar with it… Also, the aerospace engineering department is in the Mechanical Engineering Department at UCLA, at CU the department stands alone on its own. Also, CU has 400 undergraduates in aerospace, UCLA maybe only 80-100. So CU has much more opportunities for NASA related research and contacts which is what my son is interested in. We always knew he would not want to go to UCLA…still, coming up with the money is keeping me up at night! Thanks for all of your comments.</p>
<p>Also, I have read some posting here on cc that the aerospace engineering department is much more theoretical at UCLA and less “hands on” than at CU. Actually, there were some pretty negative postings on the department. We are attending the School of Engineering Open House at UCLA on April 11th and will see for ourselves. Also, the way California colleges are going, there is a high chance what should take him four years to accomplish would take five years at UCLA , just for a bachelors…At CU he can get a Masters in five years and they guarantee you will graduate in four years. No such guarantee is taken place here in California…</p>
<p>There is a big difference in going in-state to UCLA versus going OOS to CU Boulder from a financial perspective. Both are fine schools. There are many students in Colorado who would love to go to UCLA. But I can understand why your son wants to be away from home to “go to college”. Our D did not want to attend Colorado College because of the same reasons ( too close to home ). I guess all kids like to think the lawn on the other side is greener. IMHO UCLA is a great school, the financial problems with UCs notwithstanding.</p>
<p>Rousse54 - I totally agree with you about CU. My son was in awe with our trip there …especially knowing about NASA and the CU alumni/astronauts. He too wants to study aerospace E. Probably more into aircraft (just incase NASA’s not around much longer … ha). Aerospace E is a booming field. It sounds like you’re a person that looks at the “value” of things rather than just the “price”. We can’t do CU because of the reality of cost. Wish we could, but I believe our son will be successful wherever he goes. Maybe someday our boys will be working together. Good luck.</p>
<p>My son (in-state) was offered admission to the Honors program and no aid at all. Our FAFSA has gotten us aid at all schools except CU. Right now, OOS offers are better than staying instate at CU. Go figure.</p>
<p>Just an update. We did attend the UCLA School of Engineering Open House a few weeks ago. We enjoyed it…the first half of the day I was thinking, gee, maybe we should talk our son into attending there. We were impressed with the Dean of the School and most of the department heads. But then we attended the small session just for his department. And that is when our opinion went down hill. We did not like that the aerospace engineering department is with the Mechanical Engineering, which is much larger. They only take 60 aerospace engineering undergraduate students each year, for a total of 240 in the whole school. At CU, they take about 100 each year for a total of 400. The three of us (my son, my husband, and I ) all got the impression that the aerospace engineering department was like an afterthought…My son felt like the aerospace engineering department was like the forgotten major, I felt like they treated it like the poor relation, and my husband felt like they treated it like the stepchild. My husband felt like they were saying “we have to have this major but we are not really into it”. Also, I thought the dorms were really tiny and claustrophic. UCLA is unusual in that they guarantee housing for three years, but how they are able to do this is over 80 percent of the students are in triples and the triple rooms are the same size as the doubles!<br>
Overall, we left the Open House feeling we were making the right decision about CU versus UCLA in spite of the cost difference…Yes, UCLA has the prestige factor in general as a university, but not for our son’s prospective major. We really did not think it was the right place for him in aerospace engineering. And my husband is an engineer himself so he knows what he is talking about.</p>
<p>My S was selected to receive a $20,000 Chancellor’s Achievement Scholarship spread out over four years. Wonder why he got the extra $5,000 when the Chancellor’s is supposed to be $15,000? Like everyone else says, it’s still expensive for OOS students.</p>
<p>So has anyone received a Chancellor scholarship for this year? And is so what are your stats? My D is admitted but has not heard yea/nay about any scholarship money. Her stats are not great, but since it depends on the current pool of OOS students I was wondering if people would post their stats if they have received $. Thanx!</p>
<p>i recieved presidential w 3.90 weighted, 3.75 unweighted, 39/411, and 2010 SAT (710 M, 650 R, 650 W)</p>
<p>My daughter is OOS and was admitted. The email came last week and said a letter would be coming, but we haven’t seen it yet. Hoping scholarship info will be in the letter. She’s got decent stats I think: 3.91 UW, 4.2 weighted, SAT 2130, AP scholar with honors, etc. Attendance will depend on costs, among other things. She has some other excellent options in state. The other OSS school she applied to gave her enough to make it at least the same as in state.</p>
<p>Sounds like she may get offered the Presidential Scholarship with those stats…Good luck LaLew5!</p>
<p>So when you got the presidential award did it come after your acceptance letter or along with it? Did it just come recently?</p>
<p>Acceptance letter came today, but no mention of scholarship. I guess they did not offer any, but will send an email to be sure. With Purdue the letter came later, hope that’s the case with Colorado, but if not, my D with either stay in state or give more thought to Purdue.</p>
<p>Hello! I work in the Office of Admissions at CU-Boulder and saw this thread and wanted to help clarify the scholarship award process for you. CU-Boulder does not mail scholarship information with the admission acceptance letter. Information regarding the Chancellor’s or Presidential Scholarship are typically mailed 3-4 weeks after the acceptance letter. If you applied for additional scholarships through the Financial Aid and Scholarship Office those scholarships are not mailed out until beginning-mid April. If you have additional questions about admissions you are always welcome to call our office at 303-492-6301. Thank you for your interest in CU-Boulder!</p>
<p>Thank you cstur7. Great to get info from the source. Really appreciate it.</p>
<p>oh well. Scholarship letter came today, only offered $20K for Chancellors (glad we didn’t book airline tickets for a visit yet). Seeing a previous post, was hoping my D would qualify for Presidential (3.91 UW, 2130 SAT) but not to be. Despite what FAFSA says our EFC should be, with a son already in college and a third two years behind our D, we can’t swing the OOS tuition. Too bad, she was excited about Boulder, but I think she’s now leaning toward Cal Poly SLO. They’ve got a great aerospace engineering program and its certainly very cost effective.</p>
<p>Hi! I read your post with a great deal of interest since my D is in similar situation. Her stats are quite similar to your D’s and yet she was only offered the Chancellors as well- and not the Presidential as Cammac who posted previously was offered. I find that quite curious because according to the University those OOS scholarships are based SOLELY on GPA and SAT or ACT scores. Would love to know why? $5,000 a year is a joke at a school where the OOS package is $42,000.</p>