<p>Does the student mean “green” as in having lots of grass or what?</p>
<p>I’m wondering if the family is avoiding Penn State because there have been issues with engineering students getting the classes they need. </p>
<p>I think the student may be a junior. If so, then hopefully his scores will rise and he can get better merit.</p>
<p>Miami Ohio, if you are talking open space green. The campus was beautiful, and I think it’s about 16K students.</p>
<p>The larger non CA schools that we have looked at are
Rit
DePaul
Drexel
Syracuse
Bowling green state university
Utah univ</p>
<p>I don’t know if any are green. Probably could get merit at DePaul and bowling green. Don’t know the quality of the engineering programs</p>
<p>Moms2collegekids, yes the intent is to take both the ACT and SAT again. </p>
<p>Budget is around 20-25,000 per year, but no more. That includes all fees. Would prefer not to go up to that if possible. </p>
<p>We know he will apply to Penn State, University of Pittsburgh, Ohio State and University of Maryland. But these schools are (maybe with the exception of OSU) to be stingy on merit aid. </p>
<p>I have always heard that privates give out larger merit aid awards. So we need to add some to our list. </p>
<p>My sons (twins) are juniors. I only included one stats as both have very similar stats. </p>
<p>Yes our school uses naviance. Not really sure how to best use the naviance site yet. </p>
<p>Yes, when I said green I did mean green grass and such. Not green buildings. </p>
<p>You have gone through the lists here?</p>
<p><a href=“Links to Popular Threads on Scholarships and Lower-Cost Colleges - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1678964-links-to-popular-threads-on-scholarships-and-lower-cost-colleges.html</a></p>
<p>Ten largest private universities, with notes on merit aid:</p>
<p>NYU (merit aid to ~10% of students averaging ~$8K/year … but probably too selective)
USC (merit aid to ~25% of students averaging ~$18K/year … but probably too selective)
BYU (~$18K/year total COA for non-Mormons … could be a great choice if religion is not an issue)
BostonU (merit aid to ~10% of students averaging ~$23K/year)
Nova Southeastern
Columbia (no merit aid; way too selective)
DePaul
Northeastern (merit aid to ~44% of students averaging ~$12K/year
George Washington (merit aid to ~27% of students averaging ~$20K/year
Long Island University</p>
<p>Sources:
<a href=“http://www.ehow.com/list_6568950_10-largest-private-universities.html”>http://www.ehow.com/list_6568950_10-largest-private-universities.html</a>
<a href=“http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-private-colleges/index.php”>http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-private-colleges/index.php</a></p>
<p>The 3 in bold may be among your best private school choices, although they are selective enough that your stats may not qualify you for very large awards. Your best bang for the buck may be among your in-state public universities.</p>
<p>@fflmaster On Naviance, I like to pick the college then click on the graph icon. It shows the child’s stats relative to others that have applied to that school and whether they got in or not. It gives a good picture of how difficult a school is to get into from your high school. (Keep in mind that some schools have gotten more selective in just the last few years. For those newly more selective schools, Naviance can give an overly optimistic picture.) If your child’s stats are borderline for a school, then merit aid will be too.</p>
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<p>They’re not very well known for engineering/CS, however. SUNY SB and Buffalo also have stronger engineering/CS programs.</p>
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<p>Keep in mind that NYU’s tuition over $50k per year after factoring in room and board and other expenses. $8k/year won’t cover much. I thought it was bad enough when I received $8k/year to cover ~$31k almost 2 decades ago.</p>
<p>They do offer 100% or near-full ride scholarships, but your academic stats would need to be in the same ballpark as folks getting admitted to Ivies or comparable elite colleges. </p>
<p>I would not call Pitt a green campus. And if you want green, lush, traditional college feel- miami U. in oxford ohio would be the choice over Ohio State. It is comparable in freshman statistics and it has 16,000 undergrads. </p>
<p>OP budget of $20,000 - $25,000 - with twins I am assuming that is total for two? That means you are looking for places where you pay room and board, and merit for tuition.</p>
<p>Glad sons are juniors - you have time to search out schools, make visits. I found it helpful to have something to look colleges up in addition to internet. US News and World Report Best Colleges is available at places like Barnes and Noble (supposed to stay on sale for a while, through Jan 26). Alphabetical list of colleges by states in back with some info - helps you at least look at what is in your geographical area and area states - some smaller schools may have a great program that interests son/sons yet you may not have heard about.</p>
<p>It helps to be really clear on CC because if your budget is for both, that is of course more limiting than if you are talking about this budget for each.</p>
<p>Are your sons going to attend the same school or are they wanting to go different places? Are your resources going to be equally spent?</p>
<p>Excellent out-of-state merit aid with those stats: U of South Florida, U of Kansas, U of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, U of Alabama, U of Mississippi, Texas Tech, West Virginia U.</p>
<p>George Washington U costs $60,000 a year. With a $20,000 merit award, the balance would be $40,000.</p>
<p>Ditto BU and NEU.</p>
<p>Run the net price calculators on the schools listed above.</p>
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<p>I’m a big Depaul booster (D is an alumna) but tuition room and board is now over $52,000 a year. You can get merit money for a 29 ACT, I believe, but that aid is nowhere near $25,000 a year.</p>
<p>@SOSConcern </p>
<p>The budget I’d max 20,000 per student (2) if evenly spent. </p>
<p>Being twins, my boys and wife would prefer attending same college. </p>
<p>Just one has a bit stronger stats today and he knows he wants to major in engineering or computer science. The other is a complete undecided at this point. </p>
<p>With $20,000 each from you, Penn State at in-state list price would require each of them to come up with $10,000, which would be a stretch budget from federal direct loans ($5,500) and student work earnings.</p>
<p>What about Gonzaga (7700) or Texas Christian (10,000)? Also, if one likes DePaul and the other doesn’t, Loyola Chicago is 9700 or so students. and not far from DePaul.</p>
<p>@fflmaster with two kids going off to school at the same time, will they qualify for need-based financial aid? Have you run any net price calculators yet?</p>
<p>@LBowie the NPC seem all over the place. </p>
<p>Not sure if we can get any need based aid with income between 70 - 80,000 per year. Hopeful to get some. </p>
<p>So far, the schools,showing up here do not meet full need for all students. At many of those schools, institutional need based aid is hard to come by. But at some, merit could be possible.</p>
<p>The NPCs are “all over the place” because different schools have different policies with regard to awarding institutional need based aid.</p>
<p>You might want to try SUNY-Stonybrook. Very strong for CS. My son is in CS at Syracuse and likely you’ll get nothing from them re: merit aid. We are paying full freight and have two in college right now.</p>