<p>To the OP … if your family makes $200k a year it’s income is in the top 3% of households in the US … [Household</a> income in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States]Household”>Household income in the United States - Wikipedia). Given there are limited funds for financial aid it is not surprising that financial aid does not extend that high up the income brackets. I understand your family’s choices about paying for school may limit your school options and that is frustrating … but please do focus on your viable options; you are getting a lot of great advice in this thread.</p>
<p>Minnesota has a tuition deal with several states beyond Wisc. Both University of Missouri and the Missouri University of Science and Technology are discounted for you. MUST has a well regarded engineering program. I don’t know about U of Missouri.</p>
<p>MUST links:
[Missouri</a> S&T, Freshman Engineering](<a href=“http://futurestudents.mst.edu/degrees/undergraduate/fe.html]Missouri”>http://futurestudents.mst.edu/degrees/undergraduate/fe.html)
[Missouri</a> S&T, Costs & Fees](<a href=“http://futurestudents.mst.edu/costs/costs.html]Missouri”>http://futurestudents.mst.edu/costs/costs.html)
[Missouri</a> S&T, Freshman Scholarships](<a href=“http://sfa.mst.edu/scholarships/freshman/index.html]Missouri”>http://sfa.mst.edu/scholarships/freshman/index.html)
With the guaranteed merit, your cost would be less than $20,000.</p>
<p>Mizzou:
[Mizzou</a> - University of Missouri](<a href=“http://www.missouri.edu/]Mizzou”>http://www.missouri.edu/)
[Prospective</a> Students | College of Engineering | University of Missouri | Engineering | Science | Technology](<a href=“http://engineering.missouri.edu/prospective-students/]Prospective”>Prospective Students - Mizzou Engineering // Mizzou Engineering)
[Tuition</a> for MSEP - Mizzou Undergraduate Admissions](<a href=“http://admissions.missouri.edu/costsAndFinancialAid/costs/MSEP/tuitionForMSEP.php]Tuition”>http://admissions.missouri.edu/costsAndFinancialAid/costs/MSEP/tuitionForMSEP.php)</p>
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<p>Twins, as others have pointed out: If your family’s income is around the $200K level, that puts your family in the top 3% of income in the country. How and why do you think it’s easier for students from families with substantially lower incomes than yours to go to college?</p>
<p>The fact is that most students from moderate income families struggle to make tuition payments. Very few schools promise to meet the full financial need for all students, and those that do that are some of the hardest schools to get into. Most modest income students (those from families making less than $100K per year) wind up having to go to in-state public universities because that’s all they can afford of the schools they get admitted to. And even going to local state U usually requires significant financial sacrifice on their part and their families’ part because most public universities don’t have much institutional money to give in the form of need-based grants. In other words, for very many students with family income well below yours, the only need-based aid they get is Stafford loans because they make too much to qualify for Pell grants and Perkins loans and the school they go to doesn’t give them any need-based grant aid.</p>
<p>While it’s often true that those with higher incomes live lifestyles that require spending a lot of money (expensive homes, cars, etc), those are all still choices - which is why financial aid is not available to them.</p>
<p>Between what your parents earn and have saved, you have to accept that you won’t get need-based aid, and therefore come up with a strategy for college.</p>
<p>Stats - 4.15 W, 3.9 UW, 33 ACT,
major: engineering</p>
<p>Thankfully, you’re in a better position than many who won’t qualify for aid…you are have stats that are high enough for good merit at some schools.</p>
<p>The strategy now will depend a lot on how much your parents will pay each year.</p>
<p>Obviously, if your parents say that they can pay only a little - say $10k - then you will have to apply to schools that will give you scholarships that will give tuition and maybe a bit more, so that your parents’ contribution can cover room and board, and a small student loan can cover anything else.</p>
<p>However, if your parents can pay - say $25k - then you’ll have more options because with your stats you might get enough merit from - say Purdue - that would make its OOS costs affordable.</p>
<p>Purdue - COA about $40k
possible scholarship - $16k (this is competitive - NOT assured)
parent money - $25k</p>
<p>You definitely need to apply to some schools that would give ASSURED merit in case the schools with competitive merit don’t give you enough money.</p>
<p>A couple more things - I would much rather stay in the midwest. I bet my parents would be able to pay 40k a year, but they would not be that happy about it. Also, since I can go to Minnesota or Madison for around the 20-25 k range, the value of these schools are probably the highest I can get. I would much rather go to a smaller school, but ones with good engineering programs are hard to find without a large price tag. I’m fine going to Minnesota or Madison, but I worry about friendships, etc. when there are over 40,000 people. One more question - Is merit aid usually only a couple of thousand dollars anyway?</p>
<p>*One more question - Is merit aid usually only a couple of thousand dollars anyway? *</p>
<p>Depends on the school. Some schools only give a token couple of thousand; others give $15k+. </p>
<p>*but I worry about friendships, etc. when there are over 40,000 people. *</p>
<p>Well, there are many schools smaller than 40,000 people. 
That said, even in the larger schools, a school is “shrunk” by major. You won’t have 40,000 engineering majors. You won’t have 40,000 students taking hard math and science courses. </p>
<p>Additionally, larger schools often have honors programs and clubs related to major which further “shrinks” larger schools. </p>
<p>I bet my parents would be able to pay 40k a year, but they would not be that happy about it.</p>
<p>you better ask to make sure. Many parents are not prepared to spend $160k on each child’s college education. And, if you’re the first child, then they may fear setting up a precedence that they will have to do with the others. </p>
<p>There are some schools that would likely give you good sized merit for your stats. Schools like SLU, Gonzaga, and other Jesuit schools with strong engineering programs would likely be very generous.</p>
<p>-There are some schools that would likely give you good sized merit for your stats. Schools like SLU, Gonzaga, and other Jesuit schools with strong engineering programs would likely be very generous. -</p>
<p>I want to stay in the midwest though and the schools need to have engineering programs better than or equal to Minnesota or Madison or else it wouldn’t be worth it.</p>
<p>Then it sounds like UMinn or UW-M will be where you’ll be matriculating. </p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>Purdue might be another option.</p>
<p>I actually think you might be able to live on campus at an in-state public school without even going near that $160k cost that you mentioned earlier. As mom2collegekids has mentioned before, your best bet for financial aid is merit-based aid. Depending on where you live (I missed if you mentioned that or not) you might be able to get money that can help reduce your costs. However, one thing that you might run into is that some scholarships based on merit sometimes are awarded based on need as well (they take both into account). When you’re reading a college website, make sure that they don’t say something like that.</p>
<p>University of Denver - DU - known for it’s engineering programs - gives some 1/2 tuition and full tuition scholarships. The catch - they superscore the ACT - and the full tuition go to 36’s for the most part - so if this interests you - take the ACT again. A superscore is the highest score from each section - from a different test date - combined for a superscore.</p>
<p>Look into merit based aid, Grinnell is great for that. I know Princeton will still give you some need based; and to everyone talking about it, maybe they have a huge cost of living, we made twice as much as we do when we lived in Chicago, but it costed twice as much to live there.</p>
<p>Ok, I’ll look into Denver, but like i said earlier, the program needs to be as good as MN and Madison because these are only 20-25 k without any aid for me. And I don’t think I would have good enough stats to get aid at the really good schools like Princeton.</p>
<p>I don’t think Princeton offers merit-based aid, does it? Most Ivy League schools do not; it’s all need-based. They do have an elastic definition of need though, which can include six-digit incomes, but $200k+ might be a little too much even for them.</p>
<p>Michigan Tech…easier to get to from Minnesota than from the Lower Penninsula. You’d qualify for merit money (chart in link below) and the freshman class is generally around a thousand students, total students around 7,000. Add it to your list.</p>
<p>[Scholarships</a> | Michigan Tech Admissions](<a href=“Undergraduate Admissions | Michigan Technological University”>Undergraduate Admissions | Michigan Technological University)</p>
<p>I always forget this one when internationals are asking about engineering schools because Michigan Tech does have scholarships for internationals.</p>
<p>hmm … University of Illinios has a great engineering program (it is big though, and I’m not sure if it gives merit to out of state kids) … or maybe Carnegie Mellon (not huge and does some merit money)</p>
<p>UW-Madison engineering scholarship information: [Scholarships</a> available to engineering students](<a href=“http://studentservices.engr.wisc.edu/money/scholarships/]Scholarships”>http://studentservices.engr.wisc.edu/money/scholarships/)</p>
<p>*I know Princeton will still give you some need based; *</p>
<p>Why do you think that? The OP says that the family income is OVER $200k and they have savings?</p>
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<p>Neither the FAFSA nor the CSS Profile has any kind of “regional cost of living” factor thrown into the EFC calculations. And I would guess that most (if not all) colleges also refuse to try to factor in “regional cost of living” when determining need-based FA.</p>
<p>This fact and its unfortunate consequences for middle and upper middle income folks living in high cost of living areas (NYC metro, DC metro, So.Cal, and others) are frequent topics of discussion on the FA threads. That’s part of why many parents and students from high cost areas start looking seriously at merit money if the student has high enough stats.</p>
<p>*That’s part of why many parents and students from high cost areas start looking seriously at merit money if the student has high enough stats. *</p>
<p>Yes, and I think there is a family here on CC that actually moved to a lower cost of living area to make college more affordable.</p>
<p>Ok thanks… it looks like I do not really have any options for financial aid at the colleges I’m looking at so i’ll just have to accept that fact</p>