Hello everyone,
I’m a rising senior that’s interested in Northeastern and their co-op program. However, I don’t believe that I would qualify for very much need based financial aid (from CA with income of about $150k a year, I will have a brother in college for two years of my enrollment) so I’m looking for schools that offer generous merit aid. Here are my stats:
GPA: 4.59 W, 3.94 UW
SAT: N/A
ACT: 33 (M:34 R:33 S:34 E:30 Essay:8)
Rank: 7/474 (top 2%)
I have taken four AP courses, World History (10th), Biology (11th), English Language and Comp (11th), and US History (11th). I got 4’s on Bio and World History and 5’s on Lang and US History. I also have three years of Spanish, one year at the honors level. I also took a Physical Geography class this summer at a local community college that I got an A+ in.
Senior year course load: AP Government/Honors Econ, AP Lit and Comp, AP Stats (or AP Calc, not sure), AP Art History, yearbook.
EC’s: Sophomore class vice president, 4 years of Academic League (2 years JV 2 Varsity), participated in Academic League All-Star match for my school district, yearbook editor in chief, JV water polo 2 years, JV swimming 2 years, Varsity swimming 1 year (most likely swimming again senior year too), nominated for RYLA and Boys’ State (could not attend either), participated in AP Bridging program to aid incoming freshmen, vice president of Oceanography Club, Key Club member, CSF 3 years, club swim during off season
Do you think I would receive substantial merit aid from Northeastern? Does anyone have experience with Northeastern’s merit aid and have stats similar to mine? Any advice or feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much for reading!
Northeastern costs about $60K per year. If you qualified for one of their big $30K per year awards, can you afford the remaining $30K per year?
Lots of colleges have coop programs.
What major were you considering? I guess not engineering if you are not taking calc.
@BobWallace Yes, my family would be able to afford the $30K per year. Good point, I’ll definitely look around for more coop programs! @BrownParent I’m probably going to be a Biology major, as I’d like to become an infectious disease specialist. I’m fascinated by microbiology but I know that Northeastern does not have a designated microbio major.
I just finished my freshman year at Northeastern (and loved it, for what it’s worth!). It’s been pretty hard to predict their merit aid as of late, but stats to seem matter quite a bit. I had a 94/100 UW GPA, and a 35 ACT (along with a pretty standard EC list- varsity track captain, editor of newspaper, part-time tutoring) and was awarded $20k/year in Dean’s scholarship. This wasn’t the past admissions cycle, but the one before, so it’s gotten more competitive as well. I’m just one data point, but I was impressed by the merit awards. I also received a smaller, more personal merit award/scholarship program of $3500/year.
As for financial aid, Northeastern also did really well for me here, but I can’t tell if it’s because my need was dramatically reduced due to my merit scholarship or their financial aid is really very good. They do preferential packaging, meaning you’ll likely get a more attractive award with better stats, so that would probably help you. I also had an income around $150k with an older sibling who was a junior when I was a freshman. I had my need almost entirely met; I was awarded just shy of $10k in grant aid, $1500 in work-study, $4000 in subsidized loans (Stafford & Perkins), and $1000 unsubsidized Stafford. There was a gap of maybe $1000 or so.
Super important: when will you have a sibling in college? Your EFC with 2 kids in college is half the normal EFC, so if you apply when he’s in school, NU’s original aid package will (likely) be considerably larger. Because Northeastern promises to never reduce grant aid or scholarship funds (provided you meet academic requirements for merit money), your financial aid would be at that high level even after your brother graduates. On the other hand, if he’s younger, NU would base your package on a higher EFC. NU absolutely does re-evaluate packages when there’s a significant change like a sibling entering college, but there’s usually less incentive to make the offer quite as sweet when you’re already a student and it might not be as good.
Let me know if you have any specific questions! I’d definitely apply.
Thank you so much for the great information @novafan1225! It’s funny how similar we are, my older brother will also be a junior when I’m a freshman in college. It sounds like that’ll work in my favor. I’m definitely interested in Northeastern, right now my parents mostly want me to go to a UC but I see the value in a private education at Northeastern. The coop program, location, more individualized attention, and smaller class sizes all make it very appealing to me. The main dilemma is getting the yearly cost of attendance down to about $30,000 a year, which is what my parents would expect to pay for a UC. I think with some of Northeastern’s solid merit aid it could be a serious contender for me if I get accepted! Thanks again for the response, I really appreciate your insight and invaluable experience.
Have your parents run NEU’s NPC to find out what the results are. NEU only meets need for 42% of students.
The student above had a 35ACT which may not sound like it’s much better, but in a college’s eyes, it is. A 35 is likely in the top 3% of the school.
http://www.northeastern.edu/financialaid/aid/undergraduateawardingprocess/
This page also has a number of “case study” examples, where Case Study #2 has stats and income similar to both of ours. It’s not a complete picture at all, but worth noting that even in this pretend scenario a 2230/4.4 is awarded $20k in Dean’s.