If the University of Rochester might be affordable, it would make an excellent match for your son’s academic interests.
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$20K merit at WPI is pretty standard without much variation. Their calculator was messed up when my daughter applied. Her merit and need aid were fairly close to her offer but the cost of attendance in her offer was almost $10K higher than the calculator value. To me WPI is a school that some people are willing to pay premium for because they like the unique curriculum.
You may want to still consider looking into RPI. Their $19K Leadership Award is fairly standard but based on my daughter’s award and an awards database that we used, they do tend to offer more additional merit scholarships if you are in a target group of theirs (EA scholarship, Laptop scholarship, Woman’s leadership scholarship, etc.) Some renewable; some not. Note that some were new for 2022-2023. RPI’s calculator was not at all accurate for my daughter last year.
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The WPI net price calculator is terrible. We were at the open house this weekend, and I spoke to the head of the financial aid office. He said, “don’t use it at all, we just put it on the website because the federal government makes us, and we don’t try to make it accurate. We just use what the government gives us.“ I was extremely disappointed with that response, especially since I know many schools have fairly accurate NPCs.
I asked if he could give any better information than me just making a random guess about what we would need to pay. For instance, could I use the CSS EFC as a fairly good approximation? He said, no, there’s no way for me to have any idea what we would need to pay at the WPI. That is very disappointing because it is one of my sons top choices, but if we are expected to pay what the FAFSA EFC says we can pay, we can’t afford it.
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My son applied in 2014. Both the awards and the tuition have gone up since then, as has the standard award for Medalists. Women get higher awards though because WPI works very hard to keep their class balanced. I agree, it’s a unique school. It was in my son’s final 3. He ended up at Cal Poly.
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WPI is an IM school that does not used FAFSA. It is a separate aid calculator much more detailed than FAFSA. We had different EFCs for FAFSA and IM.
Note that there are college planing services that do have databases of past award letters and better calculator than most of the schools have on their website.
I’m not familiar with IM. Is that the CSS or something additional? I know WPI requires the CSS.
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So if it’s engineering or another major - you always go engineering.
So Michigan is out based on cost. Purdue would be a fair reach sub. Or Minnesota perhaps.
With his stats, Alabama is likely the best deal. Forget $45k. How about $20k or less. Great engineering facilities. One of few ecoCAR teams if he likes cars. Tons of smart kids. Y ? They buy them in. See link below.
Bama is 58% OOS and has the most national merit finalists. It’s cheap which is the reason. Others like Miss State and Arkansas will work. Miami of Ohio for mid size. UAH if he wants mid /small 10k kids, many engineers, a great job market nearby and dirt cheap. They also have auto merit.
You already got great names from others like WVU. There’s also schools like UTK or TN Tech, Kentucky, maybe Delaware. Since you have huge ASU, he might look at Tucson (u of Arizona) or another giant - UCF.
Someone mentioned Missouri Science and Tech. Mizzou also has engineering.
Sounds like he wants a smaller school so that’s your UAH. But also a U Maine. Or throw in a wildcard - South Dakota school of mines for more focus. In state it appears JMU offers general engineering. Florida Tech is another to look at especially if interested in aviation/aero.
Really tons of great options.
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Your options of George Mason and VCU seem like good ones to have on the list as potential instate options. And well under your budget.
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Yes. IM = Institutional Method. WPI (And RPI) use College Board’s CSS Profile to determine an EFC. I know that FAFSA is changing this year and renaming EFC but I am not sure if CSS Profile is changing.
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Another thing to consider when looking at engineering programs is direct admission. Some schools have competitive admission requirements after sophomore year. Direct admission is preferable. One reason to like a school like Pitt.
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One thing that confuses me - he likes the aesthetics of the big state schools.
The RPI and WPI are not going to match that - from a size standpoint alone.
Hopefully he gets into Va Tech. Yes it’s big but I’m not sure there’s a nicer campus in the country.
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Wow… lots of great input here, I really appreciate it! Mainly I wanted to hear what other schools are out there that we would have never thought about, and I’ve gotten some great suggestions.
As far as costs go, theoretically we could go higher, but I’m skeptical of a return on investment for some of these schools – if he got into say Stanford, well, we’d probably try to make that work. But I’m not sure paying $70K per year for a good but middle level school makes much sense if he gets into another middle level school that costs say $35K. Given that he really is a very laid back kid that seems to do fine anywhere.
I also appreciate the info on WPI, that’s high on his list b/c he likes the project based learning and he’s interested in the quarter system, although he’s fine with the normal semester since he’s used to that now.
ASU is on the list b/c we have family in Phoenix and my sister in law works in the engineering department and knows all the professors there. And it’s engineering program is ABET and seems pretty good. It’s cost would be a bit under my threshold. So that’s how it got on the list. But imo, a large party school would probably not be the best personality fit.
What he liked about UVA and University of Michigan’s campus was it just fit into his idea of what a college should be like… nice architecture, quads, fun college town.
I grew up in Louisiana and I would have never in a million years thought of sending my kids to Bama… lol.
I’ll have to look into it though b/c that is a great deal and I never would have known about it. Thank you.
In addition to the $28k, there’s a $2500 engineering scholarship for the SAT score. They have kids turning down the ivies not just for there but many public schools.
Lsu is another great one.
Bama has great facilities although my son says they don’t use them. A whole quad. He’s interned at the same auto manufacturer the last two summers with kids from Ga Tech, Purdue, etc. his two roommates last year from Ga Tech weren’t brought back. He was.
It’s the kid. Jobs want ABET. Sure in some cases they seek out specific schools but most just want ABET so in many ways you are right about ROI. Companies pay what they pay regardless of where you go in most cases.
Now a kid at a higher ranked school may do better because they are motivated to begin with. I believe all these schools have the resources but do the kids take advantage of them ??
Look at UAH too. Huntsville has tons of engineering jobs. And slam dunk auto merit.
Why spend $45k if you can spend less than half ??
In all honestly, my kid got into Purdue with merit and I wanted to spend the extra $20k. But he chose Bama because he got his own dorm room - the Honors dorms is like that. And Purdue over enrolls and causes a housing issue.
He’s likely to be hired where he interned but already has an interview Monday for a chemical company and was invited to complete a test for a plane manufacturer - to decide if they’ll interview him.
So any kid can be successful from any school. But they have to want it. Engineering is brutal and has a high failure rate - or as my son says, they switch to business :).
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Thanks… out of curiousity I looked at LSU as well, and they said he could expect $19K merit scholarship.
My thoughts on undergrad college is that you can get a great education at a lot of schools, as long as you are willing to put in the work. What’s nice about more elite schools is it is easier to fall into a group of kids who will push you, whereas at these large state schools, those very smart kids are there, but it’s also easier to get swept up into other things while there.
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Yeah. I’m not buying that.
Elite kids at elite schools get swept up, sometimes moreso, trying to keep up with the joneses.
If we were talking anthropology or even business I might agree. But not engineering.
If you make it to second year, you busted tail. And you have to be committed. But yea, they won’t have the handholding.
But they may also not have the pressure of say a WPI. Now admittedly I don’t know that aBOUT WPI but they clearly have students with mental health challenges so I’ll assume based on pressure.
My daughter visited LSU - we did an LSU and Tulane trip. She LOVED LSU but didn’t apply for other reasons…liked the campus for more than Tulane in fact.
How about La Tech as another low cost option….but not easy to get to and LSU. On our visit LSU said they were losing to Bama and Ole Miss and were going to look at upping their $$s.
Don’t discount WVU either or UTK or UK if he likes a city. And U of Cincy too.
So many options at $45k ……sooooooi many.
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WVU would be nice because it’s not that far away.
18 year old me would be aghast at talking about sending my kids back to Louisiana when at that time I was ready to escape. But 18 year old me was a bit of an academic snob.
Totally agree with the above recommendations. If Iowa State was in Ann Arbor everyone would be going there but really good engineering school. Many grads I talk to early have multiple job offers.
Also Michigan State was mentioned. For a laid back kid this would be a great fit. Plus if you get into honors it’s like instate tuition, get a mentor, $5,000 for study abroad and probably a t-shirt… Lol. I like their approach and they get jobs. Pretty much may Big Ten school they will with great research facilities… I am saying this with with my son just graduating from Michigan engineering…
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I am not an engineering expert. Thankfully, there are others on this thread who are and can call out any points that I am missing. Your in-state schools have a high reach (UVA), reach/target (Va. Tech), and two safeties (George Mason & VCU). Basically, it feels as though you have big state schools largely covered by your in-state options. All the schools I’m going to mention are ABET-accredited for bio/biological engineering. Most of them are much smaller schools than your in-state publics, which would provide a very different in-state experience and/or they are in areas that are considered among the best spots in the U.S. for biomedical engineers (New Jersey, California, Salt Lake City, Philly, Minneapolis).
The pattern is the # of undergrads, Cost-of-Attendance (COA), % of freshmen without need who receive merit aid, average amount of merit aid and an approximate cost after merit aid. Merit aid is not guaranteed, but at some institutions, the vast majority of students receive it, making it highly likely that your son would, too. Of course, these are average amounts and your son could receive more or less, as the university sees fit. But these prices (with info sourced from here) can probably give you a ballpark idea of anticipated costs. And places that fell over budget were kept for informational purposes.
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Florida Institute of Technology has about 3500 undergrads; $60k, 73%, $16,750 → $43k-ish
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Gannon (PA ) has about 3200 undergrads; can’t locate a Common Data Set (CDS) but COA is around $53k and I’m very confident that your song would get sufficient merit to bring this well below the top of your budget.
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Illinois Institute of Technology has about 3k undergrads; $71k, 100%, $28,054 → $43k-ish
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Marquette (WI) has about 8k undergrads; $63k, 94%, $17,904 → $45k-ish
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Michigan Institute of Technology has about 6k undergrads; $52k, 87%, $6318 → $46k-ish
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New Jersey Institute of Technology has about 9k undergrads; $53k, 70%, $14,821 → $39k-ish
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Rochester Institute of Technology has about 14k undergrads; $69k, 79%, $13,450 → $56k-ish
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Rose-Hulman (IN) has about 2100 undergrads. He could switch over to biology, but this is really an engineering school. $70k, 32%, $21,671 → $49k-ish
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Saint Louis (MO) has about 8700 undergrads; $65k, 87%, $23,776 → $42k-ish
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Stevens Institute of Technology (NJ) has about 4k undergrads; $76k, 95%, $18,983 → $57k-ish
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The College of New Jersey has about 7k undergrads; $45k, 26%, $5,077 → $40k-ish
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U. of Hartford (CT) has about 4k undergrads; can’t locate a CDS, but the COA is $62k and I strongly suspect that sufficient merit aid would be given to bring this into budget
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U. of Minnesota – Twin Cities has about 36k undergrads; $48k, 33%, $5417 → $43k-ish
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U. of the Pacific (CA) has about 3300 undergrads. $70k, 73%, $19,071 → $51k-ish
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U. of Utah has about 26k undergrads; $46k, 100%, $8,217 → $38k-ish
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Widener (PA ) has about 2800 undergrads; $67k, 99%, $27,600 → $40k-ish
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Look at Louisville. Has a great engineering program that focuses on experiential learning, generous merit and cost will be well below $30K. Your son’s stats are close to my son’s. Texas Tech could be a safety with great merit. cost will be ~$25K.
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