Need help with college selection - looking for merit aid

College Search & Selection
1

My sophomore son did much better on the ACT than expected, with a 34 in April. We had assumed he would attend a state school, but now he wants to try to expand his options. Here are the rest of his stats:

White, male
GPA = 3.9 UW
ACT 34 composite, M-31, R-35, E-33, S-35
Small rural school in Western NY, very average school
Honors classes when available, AP CS this year, junior year AP US history, AP Micro, AP, AP Physics 1; senior year plan AP Chem, AP Eng, AP, AB Calc - all the APs his school offers except art
EC- Very involved in scouts, lots of leadership there as Senior Patrol Leader, plus lots of community service, works as camp counselor. Also loves to sail and will be a volunteer teacher at sailing school this summer. Should finish Eagle project this summer. A few school clubs too, but those don’t take much time.

Major - Engineering, he is thinking mechanical, but too soon to say for sure

Financial - Our EFC is 34K, we can afford 18K so with loans around 23K max, and we’d prefer he not take loans

Safeties - SUNY Buffalo, Binghamton and maybe Stony Brook. Also Temple if they still offer their scholarships

Obviously he will prep for the PSAT this fall, but with the test changing and NY being a traditionally high cut off state we aren’t counting on National Merit.

He doesn’t have many requirements for a school. He is pretty easy going and laid back, and he probably would be happy at most schools. He doesn’t like a high stress environment, so no schools that have a pressure cooker reputation, but other than that he doesn’t have many preferences, at least not yet. He visited some schools with his older sister a few years ago, and had no strong opinions one way or the other about those schools. He says he’d like to go someplace “different”.

We’d like to visit some schools this fall, so I went through the list of competitive scholarships with him to try and find some where he might get enough scholarships to make it affordable. These are the ones that sounded good to him that are close enough for a visit:

U. Maryland
Northeastern
Stevens Institute of Tech
University of Rochester
Rutgers
Hofstra (maybe)
WPI
Lehigh
Lafayette
U. Delaware

There are also a few he liked that are too far to visit right now (U. Miami, USC, Michigan State, N. Caroline State, Alabama, Vanderbilt). So we are going to come back to those later and hope visiting some closer ones helps him get some idea of what he likes or doesn’t like.

So I’d love to get some feedback on how likely merit aid actually is at some of these schools for an unhooked white boy in engineering. I don’t want to spend a lot of time visiting schools he has only a small chance of getting enough aid at to attend. We did that with his sister, and it made it harder for her to “settle” for a state school (her stats were lower.)

2

At Alabama the likelihood of merit aid is 100%. http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/ Vandy, MUCH more competitive. Most other Public Us will either have no or little merit aid for OOS students. UDel did have merit $ last time I checked.

3

He will get merit aid at most of them, but it might not be what you hope for. Look at Olin and Cooper Union. They won’t be under 18K but they will be somewhere in the 20s.

4

I am from NJ. You have Rutgers listed there but Rowan is the school in NJ for ME.

Rowan is considered a top school nationally for ME and does offer merit to non nj residents.

Rowan is actually highly ranked nationally in all engineering disciplines.

5

Alabama and Auburn would both be good options, Auburn is ranked higher and provide 16k annually as well as a one time 1k technology stipend but Bama will give a 25k any all scholarship and will also provide a departmental scholarship in the neighborhood of 2k for engineering if I am not mistaken

6

Refreshing to hear! Most students here on CC claim that they attend one of the best, most prestigiou high schools in their state.

At Northeastern he would in all probability get a major merit scholarship and perhaps be in the running for the Scholars program (full tuition). It is important to show interest.

7

You have a very good merit chance with Northeastern…my kid went in with a 33 (but also an intriguing back story) and won $25,000 a year, renewed annually.

8

Yes, @redpoodles that is exactly what happened to my daughter, she got aid, but not enough to come close to what a SUNY would cost us, because it the costs are low and she got merit aid at a number of SUNYs too, which made it even more affordable. And my son should be competitive for merit aid at Buffalo, so that is liable to be one of his cheapest choices.

Alabama is definitely in consideration, but my gut feeling is that while my son says he will go anywhere when it comes down to making a decision he will choose closer to home rather than farther. Of course that could change, he is only 16 now. Right now he actually likes Michigan State better than Alabama, and while the merit aid there isn’t guaranteed it seems like he has a good chance at getting enough to make it affordable. He is a legacy at MSU, which is probably part of the appeal.

Thanks for the feedback on Northeastern @SouthernHope and @TomSrOfBoston, it does seem that they offer more aid than most schools. And I will check out Rowan @BatesParent2019, I haven’t heard of that one, but it looks like it is smaller that Rutgers which he might like.

9

tammy21- Are you also aware of the NY SUNY STEM scholarships for full tuition at SUNY schools?

http://www.hesc.ny.gov/pay-for-college/financial-aid/types-of-financial-aid/nys-grants-scholarships-awards/nys-science-technology-engineering-and-mathematics-stem-incentive-program.html

Other good NY schools for engineering depending on aid: Clarkson, RIT (great coop program), RPI, Cornell as a reach.

10

Pitt’s engineering school is strong and they offer significant merit to high stats OOS students. His ACT is great, would need to be in top 5% of class as well (at least that was how it worked this year). Not automatic like Alabama or Temple but may be worth a look. Maryland also offers some competitive high value merit awards to OOS.

11

What about Case Western?

Alabama is majority OOS students. It knocked our socks off when we visited! Definitely apply there and have an attractive financial safety in the bag early on, so u can proceed with the remainder of the admissions cycle w less stress.

12

Stony Brook has solid MechE, so it’s really hard to beat for value (top 10% class rank + STEM = full tuition). Boston U is a good possibility. Watch his math score at the tech-oriented schools.

13

Consider Tulane. Excellent merit awards for strong students who show real interest in the school. Vanderbilt merit is probably out of reach (pretty much Harvard/Stanford contenders) but the school is very generous with financial aid so be sure to run the numbers to see what they would consider your EFC to be. Those are the two I know well. I hear Ohio Wesleyan also offers merit aid and is considered one of those “schools that change lives.” Congrats and best of luck to your son.

14

If you are going to look at engineering programs in the South, you might take a look at the following:

Clemson University in South Carolina; here is a link to merit scholarship information: http://www.clemson.edu/financial-aid/types/scholarships/cu-schol-recruiting.html

Georgia Tech; here is a link to merit scholarship information: http://www.clemson.edu/financial-aid/types/scholarships/cu-schol-recruiting.html

Additionally, I think that Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois has a pretty decent mechanical engineering program; here is a link to scholarship/cost information: http://www.bradley.edu/admissions/freshman/cost/

15

A few more schools with good engineering programs in the South/Midwest:

The University of Kentucky. A friend recently visited the College of Engineering with her son, and was very favorably impressed. Here is a link to merit scholarship awards at UK: http://www.uky.edu/financialaid/scholarship-incoming-freshmen

The University of Tennessee. Your son might qualify for a full tuition scholarship there: http://onestop.utk.edu/your-money/covering-costs/scholarships/volunteer-scholarship/

The University of Cincinnati, which has a good College of Engineering and Applied Science. Here is a link to merit scholarship information there: http://admissions.uc.edu/scholarships.html

Also, as a general reference on engineering programs, try this link: http://best-engineering-colleges.com/

16

He should be able to get a full ride from the University of Alabama Huntsville. They also have a strong mechanical and aerospace engineering program.
Take a look at this: http://www.uah.edu/admissions/undergraduate/financial-aid/scholarships
I’m a high school junior with similar stats as your son, so far I’ve found UAH and Howard University for full rides.

17

For eng’g, Alabama would cover tuition (whatever the amount is…even as it increases), plus 2500 per year.

If he makes NMF, he’d get more.

I don’t think the UAH award is a full ride. I think it’s tuition and housing (not meals, books, fees, etc).

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Alabama is majority OOS students. It knocked our socks off when we visited!


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Roll Tide! :slight_smile:

18

If you visit UA and have time, also visit Mississippi State (geographically not far drive from Tuscaloosa). My DDs didn’t like their MS State visit (one just finished freshman year in eng at UA), but a fair amount of students do like it there - good engineering reputation and smaller campus and town. You may want to have AU on the list - then you can compare between the more historical engineering school and UA’s programs. Generally speaking, UA is more generous on scholarships, and your son will also do well with MS State scholarships, however AU did surprise me with a friend’s HS graduate (she is Hispanic and a state level athlete, top 5 in class,national merit scholar) who awarded her 10 AU scholarships starting with National Scholars Presidential Scholarship and ending with 2015 Regional Winner of Bryant-Jordan Student Athlete Scholarship - she has an older sister at AU, so there was a family relationship there. Twin sister went to another school with 3 scholarships.

I believe the key thing for your son is the transition from his current academic setting.

Good luck to him on the PSAT.