“But then make the jump from 150K to 160K, and that $10K difference makes the EFC jump by 5K!”
Harvard limits parent contribution to 10% of family income up to $150k. So $15k per year for a $150k family. Once you go above $150k, the percentage starts to increase above 10%. #donuthole
I second looking at all of the HYPSM NPCs carefully to make sure need aid alone wouldn’t ring the bell. I’d add Rice and Vandy to this list since they have very good need aid with engineering. I don’t think need aid from ND would be plush enough. Apps to USC, Rice, Vandy and ND also give you a shot at big merit, though very hard to get.
Last, carefully puruse the Stamps list of participating schools. Those typically get administered through the school, so the app burden is not so great.
Maybe whittle the list down by eliminating schools that don’t have chem e and ABET accreditation? Look at Notre Dame. My friend has 2 kids there now. First kid was around $20k/year. Not sure about cost now but ND was generous and worked with him. I would look at other Catholic schools. Maybe Dayton along with Fordham or Santa Clara.
My son looked at Minnesota. They recently upped OOS tuition and seem to be not as generous with OOS merit. I’ve heard similar stories about Purdue on this forum. CMU has always been stingy with merit plus acceptance rates are 5-10%.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek is referring to our family about URoch. There are at least 3 other students besides my d who are also transferring due to drop in FA at Roch. So there’s a pattern there. You can also Google an article that the school paper did about this a few years ago. I’ll mention Clarkson just one more time as they don’t seem to have made the latest list, but with a fabulous women’s D1 hockey program, they also likely have a great club team, and I am almost certain your d would get a fabulous merit package. Not all schools have automatic scholarship info on their websites, but I have firsthand knowledge of full rides for females, and those students weren’t even as strong as your d. The students I know who attend love it, and post grad success is particularly strong.
Third. Both the in-state and OOS students I know with similar stats to the OP’s kid got nothing from UIUC. And I haven’t read of anyone on CC who got a scholarship from them more than $10k or so. That seems like an easy school to cross off.
I’ll mention Texas A&M again. I think you would have a good shot of getting the costs within your parameters. It is a school with a unique personality (you either love it or you hate it) but it does have an excellent engineering program.
Texas A&M has a $3,500 scholarship for NHRP: https://scholarships.tamu.edu/Scholarship-Programs/National-Scholars#0-NationalHispanic . However, the waiver of out-of-state tuition requires scholarships of at least $4,000, so the student would need to get at least $500 in additional scholarships to get that. But even if the student got $4,000 in scholarships and the waiver of out-of-state tuition, the net price would be $24,792 (in-state cost minus $4,000), so meeting the $20,000 target would require a total of $9,000 scholarships (i.e. $5,500 beyond the $3,500 for NHRP).
At Texas A&M, about $6,250 of that $28, 792 is travel costs and personal expenses. They also include $1200 for textbooks. Tuition and room and board come out to $21,500. My DD has never spent more than $300/semester on books because she rents and Bryan, Tx is a low cost area for renting. I have had several friends whose kids have gone there as NHS and were given full tuition scholarships. It is not a guarantee but I have seen past generosity to NHS.
Check all these NPCs out to see if need aid would do it. You never know.
On the merit side, getting a Robertson/Duke schollie at Duke is like getting a Rhodes. Pass unless need aid might work.
ND’s top merit schollies are hard to get and top out at $25k a year. They do have Stamps full rides, but there’s maybe 1 or 2 of those a year. So also like getting a Rhodes. Pass unless need aid would do it.
Tulane used to do a TON of auto merit aid (which is why I have a Tulane grad kid). But doing less so in recent years, especially since they have heavily embraced ED. The autos were up to half tuition. They do a decent amount of full tuition competitive schollies (Paul Tulane, Deans Honor). So maybe, but you’d need to kick the tires on the engineering program (which is pretty small and still recovering from the Katrina crisis). Tulane also does like one Stamps full ride a year.
@KevinFromOC How was the PSAT? National Merit Semifinalist possible? If so, the state of Florida offers the Benacquisto Scholarship. Full rides are available to out of state students in many of the schools, including the flagship UF, UCF, USF, and FSU. If she prefers the smaller LACs, the choices include two 100% honors colleges, New College of Florida in Sarasota and FAU/Wilkes HC in Jupiter. But hockey is unlikely;-)
@onthewestfence the OP wrote this in their first post on this thread…
The OPs daughter attends a boarding school in Massachusetts which had the same selection index as CA last year. If MA comes out at 222…the student will be a NMF. Otherwise…not.
At this point, they need to concentrate on what they know they have…and NMF isn’t a given for this student.
Merit down to $15k AND Engineering is tough. I think Mines is a good option. Have you looked at George Washington? And yes UCs are not a guarantee in ENG even with your stats. CalPoly perhaps? I don’t know your full financial situation but if you are pulling in $200k/year seems like more than $15k/year should be manageable. Saddling yourselves or her with $30k/year x 4 = $120k is doable on an Engineer’s salary.
Please read the whole thread and particularly the OPs replies. He has a very good reason why $15,000 is his price limit. Let’s just say, he has other family financial obligations that must be fulfilled also.
This student absolutely can find a college where the net cost will be at the family price point of $15,000 plus $5000 student loan…so $20,000 a year. Lots of good suggestions here.
George Washington has a cost of attendance of $70,000 a year. This student would need a merit award of $50,000 to make that a possibility. I just don’t think that’s a viable suggestion.
I’m not going to read 17 pages of thread. If OP doesn’t doesn’t find my comments useful they are welcome to ignore. GWU offers good merit aid. Having been in an even worse boat when looking at colleges for myself, I always regret not going to an elite school b/c of finances. In retrospect, I should have taken the loans. Seemed so $$$ at the time but seems like peanuts now.
@techno13 Agreed. But seems in this case, OP has a firm budget and it isn’t going to change. Some parents are more open to letting the kids take on debt and some are not. Seems like the goal is taking on some debt for the right school but some folks abhor debt. Many kids take on too much debt and find themselves stuck in a terrible situation post graduation. OP’s daughter will have a solid engineering degree and no debt if his plan succeeds. That’s a pretty good place to be.