<p>Yes it’s true some privates give out more merit aid. But those will likely be the privates your child is overqualified for. And the cost is so much more to begin with, that a school like U. Maryland is affordable at full freight compared to BU, for example. BU, by the way, is not generous with merit aid, either. (and not one bit green)</p>
<p>@fflmaster and family - Sounds like you have to have a big enough university/college to have the programs for eng/CS son and for the other son, once he can truly decide (which may be during first or second year at college) - offering enough of everything. Also someplace both will get accepted and fits in budget. Need to visit campuses to decide what kind of a fit is good. You want to be able to have them finish where they start (to reap the four year benefits of financial aid and merit) and to hopefully both ‘finish in four’ to keep college costs finite!</p>
<p>It is worth budgeting travel once you have really decided schools to go see that will fit your requirements. This sort of replaces ‘vacation savings’ for many families, or they tie the trips to be visit colleges and local attractions as ‘vacation’.</p>
<p>If your family can explore via all the info available and put together a plan to seek out via visits. I would be picking up on all the great merit and the specific school NPC that works favorably for you. </p>
<p>Be sure both take the SAT and the ACT once - some students do better on one test than the other - and it could make them eligible for merit if their GPA is good.</p>
<p>Sometimes students can get more education for them out of a smaller private - while others can take advantage of larger school honors programs and other advantages.</p>
<p>I would expose both sons to much career planning info, types of courses with various majors - help them eliminate or explore. Maybe their HS offers some electives that would also help (to take in senior year once their other requirements are fulfilled). Does your HS offer any dual enrollment with community or other local college? Get the most out of education currently available. However, getting higher ACT/SAT (so time for preparation/sample testing) is also very worthy - both my kids increased their scholarships - over the 4 years, one increased $12,000, the other over $40,000 - both at public colleges.</p>
<p>Also since they are HS juniors, they can take advantage of a one week summer ‘explore engineering’ program offered at schools like Purdue, University of AL (the UA program is called SITE). It helped my dau decide on civil eng (she is at UA and the fit was great for her). These summer programs fill up fast once they open the registration (UA offers it in 3 different weeks, and doesn’t really advertise because they always fill up - they have offered this program for over 25 years).</p>