This table will help others in the future, I am sure.
I would also make sure to look at the Scholarships/Financial Aid page on each school’s website to see what large institutional scholarships they list that might not be automatically included (like a Presidential Scholarship or Stamps Scholarship). Sometimes those are awarded to only a handful, sometimes to a more significant number (like 10%), but they might require a separate application with an earlier deadline so you will want to look now.
But your student could be a good candidate for some of those and it could drive the cost down further.
Arkansas offers some merit scholarships that are not defined but are substantial (based on being in the Honors College, if I recall, in the neighborhood of $20K). So, you may look at that. Texas Tech and Houston may have changed their scholarships (oh well). Arizona has defined merit aid (I know, my daughter received $30/K a year, bringing the cost below $30/K a year).
I do think some of these NPCs must not be accurate. Some NPC’s may not include merit. For example, I think New Mexico would be lower based on everything I’ve read about their merit scholarships. Pitt will most likely be higher, as it is over $42,000 just for tuition for engineering for out of state students; merit at Pitt is possible but unlikely.
When I run the NPC, I only look at direct costs like tuition, fees, room and board. I know Alabama has really high estimated misc. and travel costs. We are in Michigan and I spent about $1500 on flights last year, including two round trips home at Christmas because he’s in the marching band. And the misc category is more than we spent getting his dorm all set up. I think if you want to include travel, you are better off putting your own estimate in instead of theirs. Same with other “optional” costs since you know what your kid will and won’t spend money on. Or what they will cover with their own money instead of yours.
I think some are off. Did you use NPCs - because Pitt has a listed $42,064 tuition + $1370 in fees and $8738 Housing and $5640 food. That’s $57812. Aid is unlikely.
Also, when you look at NPCs - make sure to take note of the schools that show the $5500 loan as part of the “discount” - it’s not.
Sometimes it’s hard to compare schools because they throw in other things like personal and transport. So I just used the core things. And I don’t use NPCs. Some include merit…but some don’t.
Alabama - because I know it well - your student gets $28K off + $2500 from the college of engineering. So that’s $30,500 off.
They are $32400 tuition and $800 fees. Plus $9524 housing and $5316 food. So that’s $17,540.
btw - one more - Arizona is $41000 tuition (they really went up) + $14400 for room and board.
So $55,400. But unless I’m missing something because of home schooling, a 3.9 (if if it’s in the core classes), gets you $30K off automerit. So you’d be $25,400.
You might revisit all - I don’t think your #s are necessarily right.
In the case of Bama and Arizona, the merit is automatic - not subjective.
How about Cornell College (IA)? It’s one of the CTCL with about $1k students, their program is ABET accredited, has an unusual block plan, and generous merit. Student body is friendly, cooperative, and a majority are from OOS. Residential campus and curriculum might be a good fit for a student with diverse interests and looking for a small, welcoming campus.
For some of the estimates, especially ones that were vague on their merit offered, I used what ColdWombat listed her son got this year as a best case estimate.
You are right on New Mexico. Both the Amigo and the LUE Plus look like they would bring the cost to about $28,000 a year. In one place, however, the LUE Plus says it’s worth about 16,000 a year. But in another it says it is worth 23,000 a year, so that is where I was mistaken. I’m not sure why it lists different values in different places, but I guess maybe it is using a different base cost.
I am going to go back and look at Alabama again, because it looks like there were a few things there that affect the cost that I didn’t catch.
For Arizona, I wasn’t sure that he would make the 3.9 cut off since it says it just uses core classes. His two B’s are in core classes, and he has some classes with As that I wasn’t sure if they would count as core. But it is possible he would get the higher amount.
I’m definitely getting different numbers from you, though like Luanne, I only use tuition, fees, and room & board since different colleges make different estimates for books, travel, and other expenses.
In case you’re not aware, when there’s linked text (blue), it’s usually because I’ve tried to link to the relevant source.
So in this instance, if you follow the linked $14k/year in merit from my post, it will take you to the page where you can see this:
I generally pulled the expenses from College Navigator (the feds’ website with data provided by the schools) because sometimes the colleges make it harder than necessary to compare apples to apples:
At U. of Arkansas your son would qualify for the Extended States New Arkansas scholarship (i.e. any U.S. state that’s doesn’t border Arkansas or is Kansas, Illinois, or Georgia).
And further down on that same page it will show you what the 80% discount on out-of-state fees will give you in terms of total costs. I’d call this about $27k (about $13,5 for tuition & fees and about $13,4 for room & board) but they do show personal expenses, books, and transportation addition up to nearly $6800 more. Obviously, this varies from college to college, as KU was doing $3246 and UNM was doing $4442, which is why I just use tuition, room & board to compare apples to apples.
Although there’s no stats listed by the scholarships, I’d be pretty surprised if your son applied by December 15 and wasn’t among the top 10% of applicants, so those eligible to compete for the Presidential Scholarship. It appears that anyone invited to compete for the Presidential Scholarship (full tuition) is eligible for the Founders Scholarship of up to $24k. Since the scholarship below that is $22-23k, and below that is $20-21k, I strongly suspect your son would get at least one of those, which by themselves would bring the costs down to around budget (slight above or slight below, depending on which).
But further down the page it talks about academic competitions for which student can get extra scholarship money:
As your son is such a strong student (and a strong test taker as seen on PSAT and SAT), I think he’d stand a good chance at doing well on the exams that can result in extra scholarshp money.
Hope this helps. If you need assistance doing this for any other colleges, let me know.
I looked into this and thought he might be interested. However, honestly, he has a terrible memory. I am concerned about the one class at a time model given that he can study something intently for three weeks and 100% understand it, and then a month later, not remember a single thing that he did. we have found that he does much better with class work that requires regular repetition over some number of months that allows him to move information from his short-term memory to his long-term memory.
OK, clearly, I am terrible at this! I’m going to read this more carefully.
But for New Mexico, it looked to me like the Amigo scholarship only offered 12 scholarships a year so I didn’t think there was a good chance he would get it. Am I misunderstanding that?
I see the Bama $28K is posted but here’s the link - and the link to the $2500 engineering scholarship (it’s not a range).
The engineering one is very impactful because some schools (including Pitt) charge more for engineering…I think Purdue, UMN, and others do - whereas Bama is paying you to major in it.
Also, all my numbers use the total cost given, not just tuition, fees, room and board. They do include the miscellaneous and travel expenses, etc. But, now I can understand why that might not be a good idea. I assumed that if the school listed more for travel, it was because they thought it was more expensive to travel to that location because of local airport fees or whatever, and if they listed more for other miscellaneous expenses, it was because they had information that miscellaneous expenses there were more. But it sounds like that is not the case!
I probably would not include this one in my analysis, because I think it is only about a 50% chance he will stick with engineering. In fact, just this evening, when we were discussing the options, he started to waffle a little.
I don’t see anything about Amigo scholarships being limited to 12/year. I saw at the top where they say there’s a limited number of scholarships (of all the types), but I took that to mean that it’s more of a first come, first-served type of thing (i.e. if you apply in October you’d get it, but if you apply in April and their funds have run out by giving it to others before you, then you’re out of luck). Perhaps @WayOutWestMom knows more?
You are right, of course. It was the Regents scholarship that said there were only 12. Clearly, I am trying to juggle too many things. Thank you for the help!
Yeah - every school uses different. If you can pull them out and just have tuition, mandatory fees, room and board, it’s apples to apples. And even room and board can differ - but it’s close enough - you may choose a cheaper or more expensive dorm, etc.
Some schools put merit in the calculator. I know ASU will be $15K off.
we have found that he does much better with class work that requires regular repetition over some number of months that allows him to move information from his short-term memory to his long-term memory.
It was the Regents scholarship that said there were only 12. Clearly, I am trying to juggle too many things. Thank you for the help!