Mogirl14- the financial aid office just refers students to the listing of scholarships on their website. My Ds major department and the person who is the main advising person sends out a weekly newsletter. In addition to announcements of meetings, jobs opportunities, etc, they also tell the students about scholarships particular for that major or GT. I can’t think of the specific company but it might say, “Company X has decided to create 5 scholarships for students from five colleges (GT being one of them) who major in ME.” My D has applied to two of them and has made it to the semifinalist round so we are keeping our fingers crossed. Her organizations list very specific scholarships opportunities too. So her major and organizations are more helpful that financial aid in bringing scholarships to her attention. It doesn’t take too much effort to find them, Of course filing out the scholarship application is another matter but once you get the hang of it, it doesn’t take too much time.
Skrunch- Tech is unique in that the opportunities really do present year-round activity by the student. So you will have students coming and going on campus depending on what they have in their plans. As reported by MichiganGeorgia, there is no regular tuition charge for co-op. During the time my D is in co-op, we are saving for the next semester. My D is going abroad both to save money and to stay on course so when she co-ops she will not fall behind class-wise. Plus she loves to travel so she is very excited about her trip. Study abroad with her program is set up so they have four day school weeks and three day weekends.
I hosted the GT Meet and Greet for Admitted Students in our area this past weekend and asked them about co-op salaries. I guess for our non-Atlanta area the salaries are a bit higher. In fact many of the companies pay for housing even though this is the home for the student.
My D lives in freshman dorms on the East side of campus and will live in the North Avenue apts next year. She has always loved riding her bike. I do know when I looked in the bike room I saw about 50 bikes so I think half of her dorm has a bike. She loves being on that side of campus.
For the two posters with the cheaper in-state tuition options, I agree it is a tough call. I do not think it is worth the debt if you have to get a lot of loans, but again that is a personal decision. Do I think Tech has incredible education and opportunities for my D? Absolutely-she seems to be doing a lot more than her friends at Purdue or the UC’s in our area while having fun in college. She loves robotics and the Center for Intelligent Machines does exactly the work she wants to do. I don’t want to give any too much personal information but in the last two weeks my D has had to attend a lot of banquets. Companies have sought her out at these banquets asking for her resume and to keep in touch with them. She has got to sit next to the Provost and the Deans in these banquets presented her with special opportunities. She is not a Presidential Scholar but just a normal student who works hard but is good at balancing everything.
Her friends at other engineering colleges do not seem to be having the same kind of experience. She is part of a special program that is beyond wonderful both academically and socially. Would I love if she was like her brother and got a full-ride- you bet. I think one thing parents and students have to think about when going in as full-pay OOS is to think- will my child/me take advantage of all that Tech has to offer and be worth the extra investment so to speak. With my D the answer has been a resounding yes. She has become so much more confident, really loves her classes and the experience so our family was willing to make those sacrifices to send her full-pay. We are lucky we do not have to do it with loans. However when she was applying to colleges we knew that going in to the process. She loved Tech from the first time she saw it when she was 15. She purposely did not apply to schools that were $65K because they would be too expensive for our family plus she wanted a Tech like experience at her other colleges on her list. Tech was always at the top of the list and when I told her what she had to do to attend (get private scholarships) she did it. I am not saying this is the perfect situation for every family but it is for our family.
As families and students make their decisions I can share a bit of advice:
– do research in your major. Read the press releases, view the videos- try to find out the areas that are “hot” in your major at your colleges. Is this an area that you are interested in? Do your colleges do the same kind of work in this area?
–Look at the alumni magazine for your college. See what kind of work they are doing? Is it something you may be interested in.
–explore the career center for your college. Look at who comes to recruit. Is there a wait list of companies wanting to get on campus. Is there also a separate career fair for your particular major (At tech there is for my D’s major which really impressed her when she went).
–what kind of organization are there at the college? Do they do real work or are they just a title? Do the clubs meet? Who is in charge of the club? My D likes SWE and ASME. Last week she had a lot of fun at the ASME BBQ. Each week I think a company buys the students lunch and gives a presentation on the companies. Her clubs do the kind of activities she likes.
A good place for additional information is the college profile publication put forth by the American Society of Engineering Education. Look under publications (it is the purple box) at asee.org.
Do not forget about the “fun” aspects of college. My D wants lots of intramurals, sports team she could cheer for and a lot of school spirit with “weird” traditions. Look at the student center for what kind of “fun” is available at Tech. There are always seems to be some activity on the green like the carnival or greek week or Pi Mile or freshman cake run. Look at facebook pages, instragram for photos or twitter. I laugh a lot when my D sends me pictures of her playing dodge ball at 2 a.m., in a mud pit doing tug or running in snow flurries at 5 am. for freshman cake. She is always happy and when I go to visit I see students collaborating and laughing in her lounge.
If you find at the colleges that are cheaper with the same experience will be the same then great. If you find that it will be different then it might give you some comfort when you are paying the bigger tuition bill. I would not let rankings or prestige be your guide.