Maybe Calvin University in Grand Rapids, MI. He’d get an automatic $20,000 with his scores which should bring total cost (including room and board) to under $30,000. It’s an LAC but is also ABET accredited for engineering(I don’t really know much about it but see it mentioned on here a lot so I notice that now). You mentioned church so thought maybe you’d be ok with a Christian college if he’s fine moving to the Midwest.
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I also agree with Dayton – I think OP’s son should take a very close look at that one. I think it could be a great fit and they are generous with aid. He should start showing interest by attending some virtual sessions. They will likely schedule a personal zoom for him with one of the engineering profs. I think the institutional mission of the school and their academic offerings could be a nice fit for him.
ETA: They have a “no surprises” financial policy and guarantee costs for 4 years!
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Someone just beat me to the punch above, but wanted to single out U of Louisville. Well-regarded engineering along with many, many other options, and COA for OP would be ~25k (41k OOS sticker - 16k auto-merit for MA student with these stats).
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One thing I would check at each - and it may be a non issue - but does being home schooled impact merit at all?
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Along the same lines, Hope College in Holland, MI is also ABET accredited. D23’s merit only coa was 25k there and we loved the school.
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My brain’s not firing on all cylinders, but I like a number of the options that have been presented so far.
Here are three more that I don’t think have been presented yet between this thread and your previous one:
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Gannon (PA ): About 3100 undergrads. ABET-accredited for CS and Information Systems, as well as biomedical, electrical, environmental, industrial and robotics, mechanical, and software engineering. Some majors that might strike your son’s fancy also include Applied Intelligence, Cybersecurity, Industrial Management and Business Administration (a dual degree with a U. in Stuttgart, Germany), and Risk Management and Insurance. Offers a number of scholarships (with a competitive one for full tuition) as well as academic scholarship competitions based on exams, and your son is a good test taker (source). I’d expect this school to be below $30k after merit.
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Ohio U.: About 18k undergrads. ABET-accredited for CS, as well as chemical, civil, electrical, energy, industrial and systems, and mechanical engineering. Some additional majors that might interest him include business analytics, business administration through the Honors Tutorial College, Engineering Technology and Management, and linguistics! Its honors college is well-regarded and students accepted into it can receive substantial scholarships. I don’t know if the NPC asks for academic stats or not, but I think this is a school that could be a good option.
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Otterbein (OH): About 2200 undergrads. ABET-accredited in Systems Engineering and its degree in business analytics might also be of interest. From the merit aid charts, it appears as though this school will definitely be below $30k, and he might well be competitive for one of the full tuition scholarships (source).
And in case anyone’s wondering, U. of Minnesota-Duluth and U. of Wisconsin-Platteville or Milwaukee all seem to offer extraordinarily minimal merit aid for a student of this caliber (all less than $2k). So, just letting others know so they don’t waste their time.
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Check out GVSU in Allendale, MI (engineering campus is in Grand Rapids). Cost to attend would be $13-14k a year, you could definitely still do honors college (in fact, the honors college curriculum completely gets rid of the gen eds), and has quite a few types of engineering that he would certainly be auto admit to, but also so many other majors as well. I am a current Grand Valley student if you have any questions.
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Wow! Yes, based on OP’s excellent SAT and grades, it looks like he would get their top Presidential Scholarship which grants him in-state tuition plus another 11K off.
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I continue to think that OP’s kid is going to get great merit offers at many schools. That said, what if he decides to stay closer to home and UMass-Amherst is his best option? If he doesn’t get into the honors program, are there ways to make this school “seem smaller” and more cozy? Maybe Living-Learning Communities? Certain majors or minors that have reputations for being collaborative and supportive?
Or is the OP simply not interested in a school this large?
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There are 121 schools that indicate they offer a major in linguistics AND in an engineering discipline, per College Navigator. Not all of them are ABET-accredited, however, or only offer a general engineering or engineering physics major. Others are more of commuter colleges. But in case you weren’t aware of them, I thought I’d provide the link as a resource in case there are any other schools that spark your son’s fancy. Some of the schools include:
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Southern Illinois-Carbondale : About 8k undergrads. Your son would receive $5500 in merit, bringing costs down to below $21k, and would be eligible to compete for a full ride. It offers through a Master’s in linguistics and is ABET-accredited for CS and civil, computer, electrical, and mechanical engineering.
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U. of Kansas : About 19k undergrads. Your son would receive $14k/year in merit which would bring costs to about $23k. This school has linguistics (through a PhD) and is ABET-accredited for aerospace, architectural, chemical, civil, computer, electrical, mechanical, and petroleum engineering as well as CS, engineering physics, information technology, and interdisciplinary computing. And it has an honors program.
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U. of New Mexico : About 16k undergrads. He would receive the Amigo scholarship ($22,919/year + a $200/year stipend), bringing the costs down to about $15k/year, and could compete for a full ride. Offers linguistics (through a PhD) and is ABET-accredited for CS, construction management, as well as chemical, civil, computer, construction, electrical, mechanical, and nuclear engineering. And it has its own honors college.
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U. of Oklahoma : About 21k undergrads. Your son would receive $15k/year in merit, bringing the costs down to about $27k. I know you have family in Oklahoma and know about the state. ABET-accredited for aerospace, architectural, biomedical, chemical, civil, computer, electrical, environmental, industrial and systems, mechanical, and petroleum engineering as well as CS and engineering physics. It also offers a linguistics major and has an honors college.
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It is possible this is a situation where, because we live close & know lots of people who go there, we hear all the bad things. We know there is a significant housing shortage leading to crowding for freshmen and difficulty getting housing as an upperclassman for students not in the Honors College. That is really the main issue with not getting honors.
He would definitely prefer a smaller cohort because he likes to know everyone. And I think overall dealing with administrative hassles and bureaucracy are weaker areas for him. But the size isn’t necessarily a deal breaker.
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No sure you can equate size with bureaucracy. My sons larger school was flawless. A well run machine. Daughters smaller school - definitely have to work harder to make things happen. But she’s more engaged on campus and perhaps that’s part of it.
In what way?
I’m not saying it’s necessarily a better choice than others, but as I recall, it has a number of the non-engineering majors that interest him. It has a strong co-op program, and several accelerated masters programs that could fit.What limitations are you referring to, exactly?
I made the statement based on the below two quotes - so Oswego may work or may not. Best I can tell and correct me if I’m wrong, they offer only electrical, computer and software engineering. But this is how I came to that conclusion. While much of what he mentioned is covered, what if he wants mechanical or- industrial or nuclear or chemical or biomed or other types, etc. ?
“He is adamant that he’s going to start as an engineering major of some sort, and so I’m just trying to help him do that in a way & at a college where he can either love it or change to something else if he doesn’t.”
“So, this is why I say “with engineering“ and it is one of the challenges. He’s not really sure. When I discuss with him what the various types of engineering might be like, he is more interested in things like systems engineering and industrial engineering and computer engineering, possibly electrical or robotics.”
That’s true. If he wants industrial/systems, they don’t have that. I think he was leaning electrical/computer when we discussed it before. They do have CogSci and Linguistics, and a 4+1 masters in HCI.
It’s tough to find “small” but also “every possible major of interest.”
Definitely a bummer that National Merit didn’t work out. Every school has compromises, but compromises are more palatable when they’re free!
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Ohio Northern University, a small private school in Ada, Oh would likely come in budget.
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Your son would receive merit aid at York College of Pennsylvania, making it a safety for both admission and cost. This small private school is ABET-accredited in Civil, Computer, Electrical, and Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science.
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How small a school does he want…and how small a town?
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Since he has been homeschooled, any size student body is bigger than what he is used to. He is really a pretty adaptable guy, so I think he would get used to anything. But he said he prefers smaller schools because he likes to know people, and doesn’t enjoy always needing to meet new people.
He also says he would be fine with a school with no town at all (“dropped in the middle of a field somewhere”) as long as there were interesting campus activities. I think he could be okay with almost any size town except the most populous, busiest cities. Even then, he could probably get used to it if the college had a defined campus.
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Just in case anyone is interested, I worked on getting cost estimates for the schools listed here. Some of them were high-ish, but maybe those schools offer merit aid beyond what they list in the NPC or the list of guaranteed aid (or maybe I did something wrong). I’m going to talk with him about the list this weekend. Thank you for the suggestions!
| School | Cost Est. |
|---|---|
| Miss State | 18000 |
| Ole Miss | 20000 |
| Louisville | 25000 |
| Otterbein | 25000 |
| Alabama | 26000 |
| Iowa State | 27000 |
| KState | 28000 |
| St Louis U | 28000 |
| Kansas U | 29000 |
| North Dakota | 29000 |
| Hope | 29000 |
| Bradley | 31000 |
| Calvin | 31000 |
| Missouri | 32000 |
| Reno NV | 34000 |
| Christopher Newport | 34000 |
| New Mexico | 36000 |
| Dayton | 37000 |
| Gannon | 38000 |
| Arizona | 39000 |
| Ohio St | 39000 |
| ASU | 40000 |
| Texas Tech | 40000 |
| Houston | 40000 |
| Pittsburgh | 40000 |
| Marquette | 41000 |
| Deleware | 41000 |
| Arkansas | 46000 |
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