I’m hoping this will start the discussion at least. American parents have a huge shock when they see prices, so imagine how international parents would feel… Plus, it may start some form of college saving if they haven’t started or on the contrary inform their child they have set some money aside.
But as an international/NYS resident, OP’s best bet is with SUNYs. 7 applications may even not be enough, since probably OP will apply to Bing, SB, and Buffalo, hopefully Alfred for Biomaterial Engineering, then only 3 are left, which is really not much for engineering with such a complicated application (low GPA, but drastic upward trend, rigor) 
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Thank you! I will try to check out Cooper Union- it seems like a nice community and being close to the city seems like there is a lot of opportunity. What about the Webb Institute? It’s not very popular but it seems like a very small college (which would be beneficial for me). I am eligible for the 7 schools fee waiver so I will utilize that and apply to all SUNY’s and Cooper Union.
I am not sure what school to designate as early decision. How much is it an advantage to go early decision?
Right now my parents are able to afford yearly 20k so they want me to attend somewhere around that range, but I will ask them exactly how much they are setting aside for my college tuition.
I can try to visit cooper union. Maybe RIT too.
Right… I feel as if my worst part of my application is my GPA, which is the most important part too. But I really was unable to focus on school for periods of time due to family issues. So though it is unfortunate, I will make the best of what I have right now.
Speaking on that topic many people have suggested that I need to explain my gpa on my application. Is this advised? I don’t want to be making excuses but only giving an explanation for a dip in my gpa.
Yes, ED provides a boost in many cases, but you need to make sure the NPC is within your $20k budget.
You’re right - you don’t want to look like you’re making excuses. Does your counselor know the circumstances that led to this dip? If yes and there are legitimate reasons, it’s better to have her/him explain it the counselor report.
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My opinion…unless you are absolutely SURE your family can pay the net cost to attend a college…you should not apply ED. Yes, some of these colleges will be an easier acceptance ED…but if you can’t pay…what’s the point.
In my opinion, you would be better off having multiple acceptances and financial aid offers…and net costs…to compare so you know which ones are affordable. If you apply ED, you are one and done if accepted. The expectation is that you will accept the admissions offer and matriculate to the ED school if accepted. You won’t get the chance to compare offers.
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If there is a true reason for this…let your school counselor explain it in their letter.
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Cooper Union would be through CommonApp, for which your GC should indicate you’re eligible for a fee waiver, too. It means you’ll be able to apply to several othe colleges through CommonApp, though these would be reaches and where ED would be most beneficial. Note that you can ONLY apply ED to a college that meets 100% need for internationals, preferably one that uses HEOP if you qualify for that (HEOP is a sort of preferential admission for NYS residents at NYS colleges, your GC should be able to help you with that).
Mark in your calendar, about a week after summer vacation starts, to familiarize yourself with the CommonApplication - it opens for real Aug 1 and usually stops operating from July 20 till Aug 1 so you’d need to be familiar with it by midJuly, including cross referencing the apps on CommonApp that match HEOP colleges.
Then you have your 7 “free” SUNYs: Bing, SB, Buff, Alfred - 3 are left, so investigate carefully which those 3 would be. See if some SUNYs that offer engineering offer “free apps” if you can visit their campus so that you could have more than 3 “other SUNYs”. Keep in mind SUNY Bing/SB/Buff are reaches for you, despite your upward trend, because Engineering is SO competitive.
Alfred, in particular, offers a highly successful, less-known program. As a result, the ROI is excellent and admission criteria not as stringent as elsewhere (but you need to be able to do the work bc it’s highly rigorous.) Because it’s housed in a private college, it’s smaller and has a superb student:faculty ratio and environment.
https://www.suny.edu/campuses/ceramics/
This would be worth “showing interest” to. 
Another program that sounds right up your alley with a smaller college, great facilities, solid Engineering, and (because it’s less-known) slightly less stringent admission criteria is SUNY ESF:
https://www.suny.edu/campuses/esf/
This is another good bet for you:
https://www.suny.edu/campuses/sunypoly/
SUNY Albany has EEC, SUNY Oswego and SUNY New Paltz have various Engineering programs, and NYIT rounds up the group of colleges you should look into.
You’re REALLY lucky to be living in NYS. 
ED can be a HUGE advantage at private colleges that offer it. In your case, you’d have to make sure the NPC indicates they’d cover need and that they’re part of HEOP if you qualify for that. The fact a university is part of HEOP and you’re HEOP eligible does NOT mean you will be granted admission with a great scholarship, since funds are limited - it’s amazing that the State of NY works with all its colleges in order to help less-represented/economically or educationally disadvantaged students achieve college success, but the colleges decide how they impart the - limited- funds. However, it means they’d look at your GPA in the context of your personal history (as explained, in as much detail as possible, by your GC, who may need a careful, thoughtful narrative from you).
For the record:
http://www.nysed.gov/postsecondary-services/heop-projects-and-contact-information
20k will be sufficient for SUNYs, especially if you can get a NYS grant or STEM scholarship. For everywhere else, you need to run the NPC, look at the net cost, and select ONLY those that are 20K and below. The NPC is meant for US students so they would present the best-case scenario, probably not applicable to you, so if the NPC shows 23K you know that college is out because there’s no way it’ll be affordable. Note that not all universities offer Engineering and few of those “meet need”… So, you’ve got a lot of cross referencing and NPC running to do in the upcoming 2 months in order to have a preliminary list.
Cooper Union has automatic tuition scholarships but run the NPC AND check out housing prices.
Same thing for CCNY, which DOES have a sort of dorm, though not exactly “on campus”.
Look into the Honors programs at CUNYs that offer Engineering as well as into Macaulay (long shot but worth a try).
College of Staten Island and City Tech both have Engineering+Housing and are easier to get into than others.
In NYC, include the cost of transportation.
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Today my parents and I calculated the prices on the college specific NPC’s. And my parents said they would be able to afford around the ~25k mark (+/- 3k), and if I am able to do federal work-study (when I am an F-1 student), I can also contribute to the tuition. I think work-study would be a great option later on when I turn 21.
These are the estimated costs from the calculators, they’re including tuition and rooming, food, transportation:
Buff: 25k w/ 4k grant
Rochester: 33k w/ 52k scholarships/grant
SBU: 21k w/ 1k scholarship
RIT: 34k, not considering anymore
Bing: 23k w/4.5k grant
Cooper: 29k w/ 16.5k grant and 22k half tuition scholarship
Alfred: 26k w/ 13k dean’s scholarship and 1k visit grant lol (biomaterials engineering)
Looks like bing, sbu, buff and cooper are my cheapest options 
They fall within our range which is happy.
I took a look at uiuc tuition just for fun and it’s 69k. 
not that I’d get in, it’s just so much.
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As an international student, I don’t believe you are eligible for federal work study. @kelsmom can verify this.
But it looks like you have some affordable options! That’s great.
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This makes sense! Looking at my stats and the newly found costs, what schools in state do you think I can apply ED? Any other ones that you think I might have a chance if I went ED? I am thinking bing especially since engineering is a reach for me.
My counselor is aware of the circumstances, I’ve kept her updated and she understands how it’s made an impact on my gpa. I will definitely ask her to include her perspective in her letter
Why do you feel the need to apply ED? Given your financial considerations, it might be better to be able to compare multiple acceptances with multiple net costs.
The NPCs are giving you an estimate. Not an actual award.
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Did you specify the biomaterials engineering major when your ran the Alfred NPC? Because this is a publicly-funded program, the net price is lower than for the university generally.
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Thanks for all this help!!! So reading through this, when school starts up again I will let my counselor know of all this I learned.
I think as of right now RIT and alfred are not affordable, along with rochester. however I have some good options.
I checked out ESF. They don’t really have engineering programs that aren’t environment related, which wouldn’t be a great match for me. I don’t think I would do very well in that major but the campus seems so beautiful!!
I will look into suny albany, oswego and new paltz too! NYIT is somewhere I would be interested in because I actually know a researcher from there and he has a very interesting lab : )
I do not qualify for HEOP. I will look into the NYS grant and STEM scholarships though!
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Also…a reminder…the net price calculators are currently set for students enrolling fall 2023, and that is not you.
And yes…financial aid calculations and awarding policies can change from year to year.
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Because my parents believe that if there’s a program at a college I visited and I really like it, and the estimated cost is somewhat close to the actual cost, then I would benefit from attending there even if it a little bit more expensive. However if the cost would be overly inflated (like 5-6k over what we expected), then there’s no way that I would apply ED anyways.
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Ohhhh okay I was initially looking at mechanical engineering. Ok looks like the new cost is 26k with a 14k grant.
Thank you!!!
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Ok makes sense! How much does it usually vary? Do you predict it will be actually higher cost or lower?
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There is no way to know. You will need to run these things again in early September or so.
But really…I’m not positive ED is a terrific idea…unless you are very prepared to take the admission offer
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I was just looking at NYU tandon engineering (35% acceptance rate apparently… dunno how true that is) and it’s NPC for me is 15k with a 66k grant… so I was thinking ED for something like that.
Please feel free to humble me if I’m reaching too high 
