FIFY
The distinction between merit and need-based aid may be inconsequential, depending on your family’s financial circumstances. This is the first thing you should understand.
Just reading this thread for first time, but family and friends back in PA where I’m from have been talking about how Univ of Alabama is offering generous aid to kids from the NE to entice them to enroll. Something about geographically diversifying their campus.
Why are you asking for OOS, then restricting yourself to that limited region?
Provided the distance doesn’t require super pricey airline tix, then what difference does it make?
Exactly. Driving to U Maine Orono which would cost the same as Penn State…could take LONGER than driving to many other places.
Run the net price calculator for Allegheny College and see what you get
Alabama offers generous merit aid (up to full tuition+) to kids from any state or country if they meet the (automatic) qualifying requirements. There aren’t a whole lot of students from PA (my son is one), but that’s changing. And, yes, the reason we looked as far afield as the Deep South is because that’s who’s offering the big $$.
Alabama and Ole Miss, in particular, are extremely generous with merit money. Temple is the only school in the Northeast that offers anything comparable. At some point, unless money is no object, you have to be willing to compromise somewhere. Either geographically (by looking at schools in the Deep South and Midwest), considering an urban campus like Temple’s, or being willing to attend a less selective private school where your stats place you in the top 5% of applicants.
http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out-of-state.html
http://finaid.olemiss.edu/scholarships/
Penn State in-state is about $34,000 a year. I don’t think that meets the OP’s criteria; if it doesn’t, then University of Maine won’t either.
If you are willing to head south, Florida State U offers decent merit to high stats students also. They have a good environmental science program. My youngest daughter who will be attending Temple U also applied to FSU and was offered a full OOS tuition waiver plus their freshman merit scholarship of $2400/yr for 4 years. Since the Florida publics tend to be a lot cheaper than NE/Mid-Atlantic publics to begin with, those scholarships leave a price tag of $16K(for the first year, increases over years 2-4 would need to be considered).
As others have suggested, the University of Alabama is a great choice for big, guaranteed merit scholarships. The same daughter received full tuition from UA, but preferred an urban location, so chose Temple. UA is also becoming a more popular choice for students from our area, and I hear nothing but great feedback about it.
Thanks for all of the feedback! I have looked more into Temple and approached my parents about visiting and it is a go! It seems like a great option, especially financially given their scholarships!
I would definitely rather go south than north (from NW PA), so I will look more into these southern (and midwest) schools. What schools in these areas would give merit for OOS (if public)students with my stats that would bring tuition down to around $20k-$25k? Thanks everyone!\
(Also, if anyone has gone to Temple recently and could tell me a little bit about their experience that would be great! Especially concerning safety in the city.)
Have you looked at Miami of Ohio or Denison, both in Ohio.
How about University of Pittsburgh or University of Richmond? I think both offer very generous Merit Scholarships
You may want to look at U of South Carolina. Their Honors College is one of the top public Honors Colleges in the country (would need to apply as acceptance is not automatic, but your stats would make it worth a try). You would very likely get in-state tuition plus an add’l $500 to $4,000 per year, bringing your cost for tuition, fees, room and board to $20,000 to $24,000 (based on 2015-16 prices). I don’t know how strong their Environmental majors are, but the campus is lovely and there are many OOS students so you would not feel out of place.
I agree. U of South Carolina is worth a look see. They have a great honors college as well…but that honors college application was the hardest thing my kid completed in her applications.
Using your ACT and GPA you might also want to apply to College of Charleston. We KNW a few kids who got great scholarships there as well.
I would also suggest SUNY-ESF (College of Environmental Science and Forestry.
OOS appears to be 35K, you could qualify for up to 8k in merit monies, coming close or under the 30k mark you mentioned. Based on their percentiles you would appear to have a good shot at the larger award. Depending on what they offer it at least would be less than your flagship. That is assuming that your parents are willing to make up the shortfall either in additional contributions or loans of their own to keep you in the NE. It links to Syracuse and has some really nice ENVS options.
http://www.esf.edu/financialaid/costs/1617/sc_nonny_on.htm
http://www.esf.edu/financialaid/esfgrant.htm
The University of Richmond has excellent Bio department and environmental studies program, and It does offer 45ish full tuition/full ride scholarships to freshmen each year, but is has become much more selective in recent years. When my oldest daughter, UR class of 2016, applied back in 2012, the admissions rate at UR was around 40%, this year, it was 31%, and the test scores and stats of students have risen a lot, too.
A 33 ACT is now at the 75%ile for admitted students, and may not be high enough for their bigger awards, although the scholarships are split up by interest area(science, arts/theater/music, leadership, etc), and average scores will vary by interest area. It is entirely possible to major in the sciences as well, getting the scholarship in the arts area(winners must major or minor in the arts area). The science scholarships are very competitive, and a 33 ACT may not be high enough without a hook of some kind. There are some other smaller merit scholarships available, but they may not get you to the price tag you need.
UR does give very generous need based aid, meeting 100% of demonstrated need(they are a CSS profile school).
A friend’s daughter recently graduated from Ursinus College in PA, with a degree in environmental science, she is happily working on a farm in Vermont and loved her time at Ursinus. If you like smaller schools, it may be a good bet. It is one of the Colleges That Change Lives (CTCL) schools, and they offer good merit aid; your scores are probably more competitive for merit aid there.
since you’re now looking in the South…
Alabama will give you free tuition for your stats. Also has enviornmental science and environmental engineering…I suggest that you look at both.
Beautiful campus and you’d be in the Honors College. Awesome dorms, too.
If you decided environmental engineering at University of Alabama, besides full tuition scholarship (Presidential) you would receive $2500/year engineering scholarship. Both are automatic based on your stats if you apply in time during the fall by the deadline.
This new facility on UA’s campus may interest you in the areas you want to study:
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20150524/NEWS/150529815/1291?p=3&tc=pg
“University of Alabama houses hub for water science”
@mom2collegekids is Alabama still giving that extra $2500 to engineering students?
Yes, @thumper1. The $2500 engineering scholarship remains.
It’s that bridge scholarship (that gave some students the equivalent of The Presidential) that’s been discontinued.
Thank you for recommending USC! It is perfect besides the long drive and foreign language requirement, but those are very reasonable problems for instate tuition and great honors college. Helps that flight from Pittsburgh to Columbia is not too pricey, as the same cannot be said for Tuscaloosa.