<p>First of all, hello and thanks for reading this thread. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post here because I'm not a parent but you guys seem really knowledgeable so here we go.</p>
<p>I'm looking at colleges to apply to and I'm an african-american female planning on majoring in computer science/computer engineering. The issue here is that according to the tuition calculators I've used I'm considered too rich(?) (family income $100,000+) for financial aid. I feel like the calculators assume that I'm swimming in money and driving a BMW to school which is definitely not the case. So I need to find schools that offer good merit aid!</p>
<p>I've read around and see a lot of people say that it's beneficial to be a minority or a female because more are needed in the computer science field. I know it's a good thing for making it easier to be accepted but is it a good thing for getting better financial aid?</p>
<p>My stats aren't amazing but my SAT score is 1820 (670 CR/560 M/590 W). I'm redoing it in October and feel I can do a lot better in my writing and math scores. I have a 3.9 UW GPA. I'm the captain of my basketball team and volunteer at the food pantry from time to time. I have also taken 4 APs and I'm taking one more this year. </p>
<p>Here are some colleges I'm considering:
Drexel, Georgia Tech (my 1st choice depending on the aid I receive if I get accepted), UMass Amherst (in-state), UMBC (heard they have a women in engineering program), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, NC State, Northwestern, Ohio State, Purdue, RPI, Texas A&M, Auburn, UVA, and Virginia Tech.</p>
<p>Can anyone suggest anymore schools that would give a good amount of merit aid? </p>
<p>think that your cr/math =27 act? as you mention an alabama school (auburn) you might want to look at uab too. your current 27 would get you 10K per year against total cost of attendance of 22-25K. if you get that score up to 28 then you get 15K per year. uab is 26% AA. urban school, 11k undergrads. has an honors track for computer science as well as a 5th year masters for cs. </p>
<p>Have you looked at University of Texas at Dallas (UTD)? They have terrific engineering and comp sci departments and some great merit scholarships.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that merit scholarships get applied to NEED first, so they won’t reduce EFC unless the merit is so HUGE that it covers ALL NEED and then cuts into EFC.</p>
<p>For instance, if your EFC is $30k, and a school costs $50k, then your “need” is $20k. So, you’d need a merit scholarship that is LARGER than $20k per year so that after “need” is covered, then EFC is reduced. </p>
<p>In another thread you mention that your family doesn’t have much extra money. That means you will have a very unaffordable EFC. </p>
<p>how much will your family pay each year?</p>
<p>Are you a Nat’l Achievement Semi-Finalist?</p>
<p>I don’t think any of the typical OOS publics will work for you. You might look at some privates that wnat more female URMs…like maybe RPI.</p>
<p>the application process is costly and time consuming. You really need to have a list of schools that have a good possibilty of working/being affordable and maybe a couple of reaches.</p>
<p>Do you want to stay with larger schools or are you open to smaller schools? One school to consider if you are ok with a smaller, more rural school is South Dakota School of Mines. Your stats are fine for admissions, your minority status and gender are HUGE pluses 70/30 male to female ratio there. </p>
<p>I would also start applying for minority scholarships, women in STEM scholarships, etc. outside of school.</p>
<p>As for merit aid from the school’s themselves. That generally does NOT reduce your finanical aid but bringing in outside scholarships usually does.</p>
<p>If you want a larger school, University of MN will be less expensive for out of state then the rest of your schools and the tend to give pretty generous merit aid for out of state schools.</p>
<p>Have your parent’s run the NPC? Do you have accurate information in there?</p>
<p>I was thinking of taking out loans for my tuition so my parents don’t really have to pay. Then they’d pay for things like books, board, and meals. I’ll try to get some more private schools on my list. I do not want to go to a small or rural school at all but thanks for the suggestion. Also, what is the NPC? I have never heard of it.</p>
<p>You can only take out loans totaling <$30K over the four years. Your parents would have to cosign or borrow the difference.</p>
<p>NPC is Net Price Calculator. It’s available on each school’s web site. You have to check each school because they calculate costs and income differently. Google net price calculator [school name].</p>
<p>also within the net price calculator, check individual components listed…i have seen some that list up 5000 in travel expenses… you might be able to adjust some costs listed</p>
<p>WPI (Worcester) offered my son even more than RPI did. Both schools are looking for more female applicants. WPI is pretty small, but is part of a 5 college consortium.</p>
<p>Comic…you can’t borrow your parents’ share. </p>
<p>You can only borrow the following amounts:</p>
<p>frosh: 5500
soph: 6500
jr: 7500
sr. 7500</p>
<p>And, since full loans will ALREADY be in your FA pkg, you won’t be able to borrow ANYTHING towards the family EFC.</p>
<p>People often forget that loans will already be in their aid pkgs (except for a few elite schools), so they think that they can use Stafford loans to reduce EFC. Then they find out there are Stafford loans in their FA pkgs already. </p>
<p>To borrow more than the above amounts (which is NOT a wise thing to do), your parents would have to qualify and co-sign for EACH year. Those loans put THEM on the hook, which is why most parents won’t do it. too risky. </p>
<p>Wow…Parent56…what schools have $5000 for travel expenses? That’s usually an area that schools UNDERestimate. I’m always shocked when I see travel estimates like $300 or $500.</p>
<p>WPI, RPI, Case Western - likely to give good merit aid. It would help to bring up the Math component score of the SAT in particular though.
All of these are looking for high-achieving females and URM’s. Case Western will like you extra because you’re coming from the east coast to Cleveland ;-)</p>
<p>“WPI, RPI, Case Western - likely to give good merit aid”</p>
<p>What do these schools base their merit scholarships on? If test scores are a main factor, then I don’t think a 1230 Math + CR is high enough to get merit from those schools. .</p>
<p>Have you considered looking at some SAT Optional schools.
@ [The</a> National Center for Fair & Open Testing | FairTest](<a href=“http://www.fairtest.org%5DThe”>http://www.fairtest.org)</p>
<p>Have you considered HBCUs for example at Howard you could get full tuition (apply now)</p>
<p>I think your list is a good start. I might drop UVA – it’s a big reach for you, you’re not likely to get merit aid if you do get in, and it’s not well known in your field anyway. Clemson might be a good addition in its place.</p>
<p>UA-Birmingham is a great suggestion. Also look into UA-Huntsville, which has strong engineering programs and a variety of merit scholarships available.</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids -
Well, except for special named merit awards that have specific requirements it is hard to predict what schools will offer merit awards and how much. My son got amounts that ranged from $0 to $20K. We couldn’t always figure out why one school offered 12K and a competitor school offered 20K if he seemed to be in the same position relative to their other applicants in terms of GPA and scores. It can be a crap-shoot so you have to cast a broad net.
We talked to someone who had been an admissions officer at Case Western and he told us my son would like get a good award because he was above average AND he was applying from the Northeast. He said kids in the Northeast tend to go to schools in the Northeast, or Mid-Atlantic states, sometimes California. Many kids in our area would not think about colleges in Cleveland. No offense to Cleveland He said it would make a difference.
Yes, her test scores are low and this can work against her in merit awards, but as a female URM applying as a CS major at an engineering school she is quite rare! Since her GPA is high they might be willing to give her the benefit of the doubt and assume she is not a great test taker. In fact, WPI has a test-optional admissions policy because they understand some nerdy and/or creative types don’t test well.</p>
He said it would make a difference.