Have you run a Net Price Calculator on any college that meets full need? It is helpful to understand if they agree with the <10k contribution.
Is the $10k with or without the federal student loan? If you are willing/able to add the loan, it opens many more opportunities because now you are looking for full tuition not tuition+ (rare).
I have done many Net price calculators but we are also self employed/ own a business so I am told those won’t be accurate at all. Unfortunately our business is not thriving so we really need financial aid. We are very open to student loans and work study.
Penn State and Maryland both have excellent engineering programs. University of Pittsburgh is also a great option. It depends which state you live in because schools with in-state tuition are often significantly cheaper. If you are interested in the military, consider the service academies or possibly ROTC at another college of your choice. Also, your stats are impressive so perhaps apply for a scholarship at a private college (many private colleges look expensive but a student like you can get a full ride!) Good Luck!
You can try for financial aid, but I would mostly look for merit. I think that you are going to have to expand your geographic range. I will be the first to tell you to look at the Alabama schools. Also, he may qualify for a full tuition at Miami University (OH). I would first concentrate on finding a good safety. A safety for you is going to be defined more by finances than academics. Then you can go merit hunting.
He should definitely put U of Alabama at the top of his college list, as they have great engineering and aerospace programs.
there are more helpful threads on the Financial Aid forum, plus many experienced CC posters hang out there.
Many (most) merit scholarships are difficult to understand if and how much you may receive from the colleges websites. You likely will not know until you have an acceptance letter in hand. This is different from financial aid where a NPC can give you a good estimate for most people. That is why I would work on some safeties first. They need to fulfill 3 criteria. 1) Near 100% chance of admittance. AND 2) 100% chance of being affordable AND 3) A place that he would be happy to attend.
Once you have 2 true safeties. Then you can go hunting. The most important thing about merit hunting is that your son (and you) have to understand the school is an option IF AND ONLY IF the merit exceeds an amount to bring the total cost below $X. Don’t fall in love with a schools that has unknown merit awards until you have one in hand. Also, read the descriptions correctly. Miami Universities merit awards look automatic. However, there is a line that says "Miami University merit scholarships are highly competitive and, thus, not guaranteed. " http://miamioh.edu/admission/merit-grid/index.html
Also important - if he’s interested in engineering, he needs to look at programs that are accredited by ABET. You can find out what ABET accredited degrees a school offers here: http://www.abet.org/
Merit scholarships at most schools are competitive. There are some schools that do have rules, such as being above a certain GPA and SAT/ACT score guarantees X amount of dollars, but in most cases it’s awarded based on the applicant pool. Cutoffs vary from year to year based on the strengths of the different applicants applying.
If your home state is MA, you do have some good state U options as mentioned above, but be sure you’re familiar with how tuition and fees are handled in MA. There are full-tuition scholarships out there for UMass schools, but fees are typically not included - and fees are higher than tuition!
Thanks everyone… @InigoMontoya you are right. For example he won a scholarship based on MCAS scores that pays his tuition to a state college but that only amounts to $1,700. Not much considering Umass Amherst will cost over $20,000 in state. I think he would be very happy going south. Do any of you know a good option for Engineering in the southeast?
How about Georgia Tech or Virginia Tech? We live in MA as well and my daughter applied to mostly Southern schools (private and state). She was not eligible financial aid but did receive Merit aid from each school…some a significant amount. Cast the net…in terms of schools in different geographical regions. There are lots of fantastic schools outside of the Northeast.
"Do any of you know a good option for Engineering in the southeast? "
University of Alabama! one of the colleges that offers FREE tuition for students with your DS stats.
@Skippy00
regarding applying to colleges that offer Merit scholarships- MANY have EARLY deadlines, so be SURE you those applications are in on time, or you can lose the chance for big $$.
a required early application for scholarship consideration should not prevent your DS from applying to other colleges EA.
There are a number of schools in the Midwest that offer money to good students. Everyone wants to be on one of the coasts - but there are many good school in between. Valparaiso was one that was very generous. It’s a smaller school but has a strong engineering program.
I agree with @menloparkmom - make sure you are aware of deadlines, and whether or not a separate scholarship application is required.
Think about variables such as location and size of school. Then use the ABET site to identify accredited engineering programs, and find some schools and look at their scholarships.
We wanted him on the east coast because we live here and want to cut travel costs. Getting to and fro as well as storage for belongings etc can add up too. We are definitely open though if we will save on tuition/boarding and only pay for transportation.