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<p>This is correct. For example, the University of Michigan College of Engineering offers the Geisinger Scholarship, a $20K/year merit scholarship for engineering students from selected states, one of which is New Jersey. There’s also the Shipman Scholarship, a merit scholarship at $31.500 for OOS students. There’s no guarantee the OP would get one of these, but her credentials would certainly make her competitive and being a woman in engineering probably improves her chances.</p>
<p>Michigan also has a major capital campaign now underway, with a goal to raise sufficient funds to meet 100% of need for all students, including OOS students. They’re not there yet, but my understanding is that they’re inching closer to that goal. So some of the earlier posts flatly stating that as an OOS student you’ll get neither need-based FA nor merit aid from Michigan are just wrong. Some OOS students do get shut out, others get fairly attractive packages.</p>
<p>OP’s family income is high enough that need-based FA is likely to be relatively small except at the most generous schools (HYP) which give substantial need-based aid up to a household income of $200K or so. Most places the cut-off is closer to $150K. It may be worth applying to a few need-only schools (e.g., MIT, Stanford) and see how much they offer if admitted, but I certainly wouldn’t count on that strategy. Better bets for reducing net COA are schools that offer merit aid and/or schools that have a lower sticker price. Rutgers should definitely be on the list for its low in-state sticker price; it has a pretty good engineering school and does offer some merit aid. Purdue has a top-notch engineering program and gives big merit aid to top students it really wants; same for Illinois. Minnesota has an excellent engineering school, perhaps not quite at the same level as Purdue and Illinois, but close; merit aid is spotty, but the sticker price is reasonable. Michigan engineering is at the same top-tier level as Purdue and Illinois, merit aid highly competitive but worth a shot. Case Western has a pretty good engineering program and is known for giving big merit awards. My recommendation would be not to spend a lot of time looking at schools that are not as strong as Rutgers in engineering–e.g., U Rochester, Alabama, Clarkson, NJIT, to name a few that have been suggested here, though others argue any ABET-accredited engineering school will do. </p>