Excellent. Funny thing is 4 years ago you could get to around $35,000…lol…
There are so many better choices on her list for engineering. When I think of Tulane it doesn’t resonate engineering to me. Just saying…
1 Like
I agree 100% and I’m a Tulane alumni. I know Tulane is great with merit aid, but engineering isn’t a great match.
My D has similar stats and budget. There are state schools with auto merit that are mentioned above, and a few competitive scholarships that might be worth your time.
GT gives instate tuition to a decent number of kids and it’s not that hard to apply. U of Southern Cal also has a lot of merit scholarships, but it’s more competitive. If she gets NMF most Florida publics (UCF, UF, and FSU) are free through the Benaquisto scholarship. Also, she can use the Benaquisto at U of Miami and stack other merit.
I would strongly suggest you run the NPC (net price calculator) at MIT, Princeton, and Stanford. We are close to full pay at most privates but in the $30-40k range at those 3. We felt like it would be worth the extra money for those schools.
Finally, engineering isn’t all that different from school to school, so check out all of the public schools because she might find one that makes her heart sing. The Arizonas, Utah, and Montana State are popular public engineering schools in the mountain west.
2 Likes
I thought University of Richmond didn’t have an engineering major at just that school.
Alabama, Arizona and University of New Mexico should be on her list. She might also be a contender for a great merit award at University of South Carolina.
4 Likes
Are you talking about the Provost Scholarship at GT? They only give approx 40 of those out which isn’t a lot, especially when you consider the caliber of accepted students at Tech. Or, is there another scholarship that you’re referring to?
1 Like
Provost and Stamps are both available to OOS students. IIRC both combine for about 80 scholarships. I agree it’s not a lot, but compared to other top schools it’s one of the largest.
Tough to find big merit awards at top schools.
1 Like
If you are thinking of the Pell grant, she might but she might not. Pell grants are changing their formula. Currently the EFC gets divided by the number in school but that won’t be true in 4+ years.
Pell grants only go to those with a significant amount of need. If your oldest has a $24k EFC, even if divided by 3 that would mean $8k each, and that’s not low enough to get a Pell grant (today’s formula and limits).
1 Like
If she gets National Merit, it opens up a lot of possibilities. The florida public schools, plus U Miami and Embry-Riddle have the Benacquisto (although make sure it is still funded as that’s currently an issue). Florida Tech offers a lot of merit and if she also wants to play her sport, there are athletic scholarships too. Fla tech and Embry Riddle also like women engineers, and there are more scholarships available for them (and Colorado School of Mines too).
2 Likes
Keep an eye on what happens with the Florida budget this year. There is a bill in the Senate that, if passed, would discontinue the OOS Benacquisto after this year’s class. Hopefully, it will not pass!
3 Likes
As others have mentioned the Arizonas. University of Arizona is very, very generous with merit ($35k/yr for a 4.0).
ASU is generous with merit and well-ranked engineering (Fulton) + she would be a very strong candidate for highly ranked Barrett Honors. They have a merit estimator you can use and the merit is based on objective measures so not a mystery on what you may get. Barrett extra cost will push it closer to $35k, but if gets NMF I think would drop to low $20s.
Another to check into is Tickle College of Engineering at University of Tennessee Knoxville. Similar merit to ASU (except not sure about NMF piece).
D21 (BME) is trying to decide between ASU, UofSC and UTK. We are in-state for NCSU but the secondary admit odds for her discipline are too risky (don’t think it’s a big issue for EE though).
We are trying to stay in same range as you.
4 Likes
D20 was in the same position last year; 160 total (80 each UNC and NCSU) was a scary number.
1 Like
I didn’t either and will have 3 in next year, and we still didn’t qualify for FA. Unfortunately we were planning on major work at our home this past year and have a chunk in saving for the project, but it was delayed due to covid. Instead of a new kitchen, deck, driveway and porch we have full pay (besides merit).
2 Likes
We ran the NPC for those schools and she gets zero financial aid. We live in Maryland and my husbands family is in Indiana/Ohio so Indiana schools such as Purdue/Rose Hulman would not be too far. NC State is also doable. She has said she would rather not be on the other side of the country. Of course I do think if we were able to actually visit some schools, maybe her mind would open up on geography.
1 Like
I totally understand the distance concern and everyone is different in that regard. Some kids want to go far away, some want to stay closer and others could go either way.
The other side of the country piece is what’s holding mine back from going ahead and just saying yes to ASU at this point. She just made the comment yesterday “if only I could pick up ASU and move it closer.”
Her original parameters were within a five hour drive, but we put ASU on her list anyway because bang for the buck it was the best option in terms of cost given strength of program (and as Tigerwife noted our in-state options come with a scary program size limit), so started out as a safety in case nothing closer panned out. Now ASU/Barrett is one of her top picks eventhough UofSC panned out financially (got in-state tuition scholarship) and UTK is same cost + also honors there.
We visited in January. I felt like I was at a resort. It was probably all the date palms, fact that honors college has a resort style pool, and it was 70 degrees and sunny the whole time. 
Mine is concerned she might get bored with all the sunny days 
. Also, it’s the whole, it was a nice place to visit, but what if I find out I don’t like living there factor (vs she knows she likes living in the SE) and logistics (wants a car at college, how to get hers there etc).
ASU does have some YouTube videos and virtual tour options you can check out. That may help your family figure out if there would be any interest in considering expanding geographicallly or not, as some of the out West schools tend to give the best merit. The virtual tour of Barrett was very well done. They are doing in person tours of general campus, but not Barrett yet.
It sounds like you have a great in-state option, so that’s wonderful. I think you are likely running into same issue as us where the schools that are close may not fit financially and the financial fits are outside the preferred geographic area. It’s a struggle.
1 Like
What did your D20 decide to do?
Mine is particularly interested in BME neuro applications, so contemplating UNC and possibility of if doesn’t get into BME doing neuroscience major and applied engineering minor.
You would think the area with two universities flanking a huge health science biotech and research area wouldn’t limit how many students can study BME to a number lower than other places. 
1 Like
Ohio State might end up in the ball park with just their National Buckeye (oos merit) which stacks with their Maximus merit award. You can run their net price calculator which will likely include those awards.
But to get big money from Ohio State you need to apply to their Morrill and Eminence scholarships (need to apply to honors program as well) which require supplemental essays and application by their early action deadline. Usually that’s Nov. 1
To get college of engineering and ECE department scholarships, she’d need to make sure she also applies to their scholarship universe (portal opens after her application generates her buckid info., but before she’d need to accept admission). The ECE dept. has a full ride (one of the few depts with a single scholarship capable of doing so) but I don’t know if it is offered every year or every few years. Regardless there are plenty of smaller $500+ scholarships worth the time to complete that additional application.
Ohio State is in a city, but has a well defined campus with traditional feeling campus areas, denser areas with tall buildings, running/biking trails along the river and even farm land across the river in west campus. Lots of variety depending on where you are on campus.
Btw Ohio State has been graduating female engineers since the 1890’s…
Depending on how much room is in your budget - make sure you are aware of the different pricing tiers for tuition. College of Engineering can sometimes be more than net price calculators and if she is bringing any/many credits in, some schools (Michigan/Penn State?) have higher tuition built in to Junior/Senior years, and that’s before annual tuition increases.
Miami University has a tuition guarantee that includes room and board and also applies to oos students, so families know what they will pay all four years ahead of time.
2 Likes
She surprised us and picked Clemson. The NCSU engineering open house presented everything as a competition, and she was looking for a more collaborative approach. She was more interested in BioE from a materials/robotics perspective though. One semester in and she’s decided to stick with the MechE path; she loves it. Her summer research was actually BioE focused, so she’s still keeping her toe in the water, so to speak. The only thing attractive to her at UNC was BioeE. If she decided to pursue MechE, she’d have to transfer. I think UNC is a great fit for BioE in a neuro or cellular focus path. It’s also hard to pass up the in-state cost of UNC or NCSU.
The merit money was as others have said: other than the known full tuition schools, UTK did the most recruiting with the highest merit at acceptance and subsequent additional offers in February or March; she liked it, but something just didn’t feel quite right. She is however planning on doing their summer forensics program. UGA had an interesting, new program, but not a lot of merit. So many great schools have already been mentioned, so I don’t have any other suggestions that would offer better $.
1 Like
Bama is the top choice. Forget the rank their engineering campus is phenomenal and program is respected. Tesla had more than 100 engineers. My son, got into Purdue, chose Bana for a dumb reason…the dorms. But it’s a very good program. It’s dirt cheap but with your stats even cheaper. Btw my son is at a major automotive manufacturer this Summer.
Arizona is dirt cheap.
Those could be your safety anchor. But UMD is a great school if that’s home.
With those stats throw out some flyers.
But as an engineer jobs will be had even if you went to Towson state.
2 Likes
Seems like there is only one other Maryland state university with EE, Morgan State (in-state list price seems to be well under your budget). Perhaps include that if there is any question about getting into UMCP EE?
1 Like