<p>I am new to the site and this is my first post. My son is a junior in a Long Island public high school and is looking for a tier I engineering school. Being from Long Island, we make a good amount of money but are poor (property taxes, among other things) and cannot afford to send him to anything other than a SUNY without a good amount of merit money. Suffice it to say he has a 98 average and a 730 on the math SAT II, with several APs and a full honors program. He is also on the volleyball and fencing teams. He wants to stay in the cold weather and we are looking at schools like RPI, Syracuse and SUNY Binghamton. Does anyone know how much merit money the private schools offer and are there any other engineering programs that offer substantial merit money (50+%)? We will also be looking at the nano-engineering program at Albany - Albany as a school doesn't thrill me, but does anyone know anything about the reputation of this program? Thanks.</p>
<p>Hi,</p>
<p>Scholarships are based on SAT/ACT and GPA, so what are his test scores? (SATIIs are not considered)</p>
<p>When you say Tier I schools, how high do you mean? The elite schools generally don’t give merit. The few that do, are super selective with their awards - meaning that hundreds of kids with high stats are competing for a few awards 
So, nothing is assured.</p>
<p>Private schools have COAs (cost of attendances) of about $50k per year. If you’re looking for substantial merit money (say half of those costs or more), you’ll have to look at mid-tier schools. Many mid-tier schools have “assured” scholarships. </p>
<p>How much can you afford to pay each year towards his education? The answer to that will likely decide where he should apply. 
There’s no point in applying to schools with high costs, if they don’t give merit and you don’t qualify for aid and you can’t afford the costs.</p>
<p>For instance, if you can afford - say - $15k per year, then he’ll need to apply to schools where he’ll get a full-tuition scholarship, so that your $15k will pay for his room, board, and books. </p>
<p>He needs to apply to an array of schools - reaches, matches, and financial safeties (including ones that will give him assured scholarships based on his stats) :)</p>
<p>Take a look at Olin. [Olin</a> College : Admission : Costs and Scholarship Information](<a href=“http://www.olin.edu/admission/costs.asp]Olin”>http://www.olin.edu/admission/costs.asp)
We hired a very bright engineer who graduated from here a couple of years ago, I think from their first or second graduating class.</p>
<p>I would take a look at your school’s Naviance to get an overview of schools.</p>
<p>RPI seems to give out lots of merit scholarships of around 25k, which leaves a COA approximately that of PSU for in-state applicants.</p>
<p>UPitt and Drexel (only Drexel is private)are not quite first-tier, but will give more merit money, such as full-tuition plus. Competition for those scholarships seems to be increasing each year, so your son would probably be looking for fairly high SAT scores to have a decent shot at one of those, unless he has a special hook. I would expect that you would be looking at around a 1450 plus CR +M (1500 to be safer.) Neither asks for SAT II in math, but an 800 would not hurt…</p>
<p>Ditto for CWRU, which has in the past been very generous with merit scholarships for engineering students. Rice (I know, not a cold weather school)is also a school known for offering generous merit-based aid (up to 24,000 per year) to top students, but it is hard to predict which students will be offered scholarships. And then there is Northeastern in Boston.</p>
<p>Penn State is somewhat less generous with merit money than many others, at least for incoming freshman, but does seem to have more money for upperclassman available from individual departments. A few Penn State merit scholarships do however cover full tuition</p>
<p>Some parents on this forum have also reported being pleased with the University of Alabama (another southern school)both for the merit offered and the quality of education.</p>
<p>I would keep in mind that at many of these schools, public and private, students can find undergraduate research assistantships paying around $8 to $10 per hour, with the expectations of 10 hours per week of work during the school year. Some schools also offer engineering co-op.</p>
<p>It is not uncommon for students looking for money from one of these schools to take SAT’s multiple times to increase their scores even after their scores are high enough for admission alone.</p>
<p>I would also advise your son to apply early, and to find out what is required to keep that scholarship. Also ask about engineering drop-out rates - schools vary significantlyin how much support they give to floundering students. There is also a thread on this board about full-ride scholarships that you might want to consult.</p>
<p>*However, due to the ongoing economic downturn, Olin must reduce its full-tuition scholarship by 50 percent beginning in the 2010-11 academic year.
*</p>
<p>Billed expenses*
Tuition $36,400<br>
Room $8,500<br>
Meal Plan $4,730
Health Insurance (if needed) $998
Laptop Purchase (first 2 years) $1,250
Student Activity Fee $175
General Fee $220 </p>
<p>Unbilled expenses (estimated)<br>
Books & Supplies $750
Travel & Incidentals $1,500 </p>
<p>Cost of Attendance… $54,523
Olin Scholarship… -$18,200 </p>
<p>Net Cost… $36,323 </p>
<p>I’m not sure if the OP (wolf) is looking for 50% of total cost or 50% of tuition. Just getting 50% of tuition at a private, still leaves you with quite a lot to pay. </p>
<p>Form the sound of the original post…we make a good amount of money but are poor … and cannot afford to send him to anything other than a SUNY without a good amount of merit money. … it sounds like their out-of-pocket budget is in the $15k range (plus or minus). </p>
<p>Perhaps, Wolf can give us a better idea of their budget for education costs. :)</p>
<p>*Penn State is somewhat less generous with merit money than many others, at least for incoming freshman, but does seem to have more money for upperclassman available from individual departments. A few Penn State merit scholarships do however cover full tuition</p>
<p>Some parents on this forum have also reported being pleased with the University of Alabama (another southern school)both for the merit offered and the quality of education.*</p>
<p>Does Penn St give scholarships to out-of-state students? I hadn’t heard that. I guess it may give a small amount for upper classmen, but their OOS cost is very high - $40k per year Cost of Attendance. </p>
<p>My older son was given a full-ride to Alabama, and the younger son has nearly a full-ride (full tuition plus $2500). We only have to pay for our younger son’s housing and books.</p>
<p>My S is in engineering at Clemson. Got very nice merit money (OOS tuition waiver and other scholarship money.)</p>
<p>^^^
Congrats! How much do you have to pay total out of pocket for tuition, room, board, books, fees, etc? (after subtracting scholarships)</p>
<p>Purdue will give President Scholarship of 10K to OOS with above 32ACT and a certain GPA. You can look this up on their web site. The OOS cost could then be around 27K and is known as a very good Engineering School.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>True…my H went to Purdue for undergrad. Right now (for the current 2009-10 school year), the OOS COA is $37k. With that merit, the cost is $27k. However, we all know that these costs will be higher each year, yet that $10k doesn’t rise. </p>
<p>So, by the time the OP’s son if a freshman, the COA will likely be $41k and by the time he’s a senior, the COA will likely be $47k or more. That can be a problem when the merit scholarship is only $10k and paying $37k per year isn’t doable. </p>
<p>Just something to keep in mind when dealing with fixed amount scholarships. Everything else rises, but fixed-amount scholarships stay the same.</p>
<p>Penn State is not known as being as generous with merit funds as Pitt, and the amount of merit money given all Schreyer students will hardly make a dent for OOS students. (In contrast, quite a few Pitt students get full-tuition which completely covers in-state and OOS tuition and the engineering school seems to be giving out additional grants of $4,000 per year which can then go to room and board.) But, there are additional Schreyer scholarships that are awarded for merit, including around 15 full-ride Braddock scholarships for science students, comparable to Pitt’s Chancellor’s scholarships in that they cover full-tuition plus room and board plus assorted extras for all four years. These are very competitive scholarships. There seem to be other assorted scholarships given out by various schools solely on merit. I do not think that most (if any)of these merit scholarships require in-state residency.</p>
<p>True…UPitt is generous with the right stats! :)</p>
<p>Once the OP’s son has test scores and we know what the family can spend out-of-pocket, it will be easier to make suggestions.</p>
<p>I’ve heard good things about SUNY Buffalo’s engineering program, so it is another in-state option to consider.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>At Clemson:</p>
<p>S’s tuition this semester is $5149 (vs. the regular out of state tuition of $12,304)</p>
<p>In addition there’s around $300 in fees, $1200 for meal plan, and $4500 for housing.</p>
<p>So our out-of-pocket is $11,149 minus $5000 in scholarships = $6,149.</p>
<p>Go see your guidance counselor today and ask that your son be nominated for the RPI medal: [Rensselaer</a> Medal Program - Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)](<a href=“http://admissions.rpi.edu/aid/medal.html]Rensselaer”>http://admissions.rpi.edu/aid/medal.html)</p>
<p>If your school doesn’t know about it, they should, and it’s not too late. Your son needs to be nominated as a junior.</p>
<p>*At Clemson:</p>
<p>S’s tuition this semester is $5149 (vs. the regular out of state tuition of $12,304)</p>
<p>In addition there’s around $300 in fees, $1200 for meal plan, and $4500 for housing.</p>
<p>So our out-of-pocket is $11,149 minus $5000 in scholarships = $6,149. *</p>
<p>I’m confused…Are those the prices for the year? or for the semester? </p>
<p>I’ve never seen a meal plan for a year that that’s low - unless it doesn’t cover everyday. My kids’ meal plans are about that much per semester.</p>
<p>Of course, there’s the cost of books, too. :)</p>
<p>Anyway…nice scholarships…one for the OOS portion and the other one (Is that $5k per semester or $5k per year?)!</p>
<p>^^^^</p>
<p>The costs above are per semester. And the meal plan is not all meals. (S doesn’t eat breakfast - ever.)</p>
<p>Oh, and you’re right, I made a couple of mistakes. It’s a $5K scholarship per year so I should have deducted only $2500 from this semester’s costs. But I put in the full year housing costs so deduct $2225. (The bottom line amount was pretty much right . . . I just used the wrong figures - good thing I’m not an accountant!!) </p>
<p>I didn’t include books because they are so variable. S is in Engineering so they tend to be expensive but some books are used for more than one semester.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>LOL… I thought that’s what you might have done. I think the hardest thing for me was to adjust from private schools (where everything is “annual”), to colleges where things are by semester. </p>
<p>Well, good deal that your out-of-pocket costs (after scholarships) is about $12k per year, plus books and transportation. Not bad at all! :)</p>
<p>Since you live on Long Island, take a look at Cooper Union. No tuition, it is in New York City, and since you live on Long Island, your child can commute home every night. That said, it isn’t too hard to find an apartment in the City for less than 15,000 a year.</p>
<p>Texas A&M has nice merit scholarships that include an in-state tuition waiver. </p>
<p>“Texas A&M Engineering is ranked 17th among engineering schools (ninth among public institutions) offering a doctorate in the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings of the country’s undergraduate universities and programs.”</p>