<p>Hi.
So...I'm in a huge dillema.
My parents earn <20,000 a year. and I want to become an engineer.</p>
<p>Most of the colleges I applied to aren't giving me good financial Aid packages.
The colleges that I can afford to go to do not have very strong engineering programs.
For example, Tulane.</p>
<p>Case Western Reserve is a good school but I am not completely sure If my family could afford it since my sister is following up next year.</p>
<p>The rest of the schools I am waiting on are extremely competitive schools.
Carnegie Mellon CIT is a high match/low reach for me. which is not bad.
But the rest are: Cornell, Stanford, Princeton, Cooper Union.</p>
<p>What do i do?
I know that undergrad doesn't matter much, but I'd still like to do what I want to do for the rest of my life...</p>
<p>If your parents earn < $20K, you can’t realistically expect them to contribute anything, and even at an engineer’s salary, you don’t want to start adulthood deeply in debt. I’d choose the cheapest school with ABET accreditation in your major. Check out the engineering threads for more on ABET accreditation - I’m sure it’s in there somewhere! :)</p>
<p>Your life is what you make of it, and you can succeed coming from any school. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>If you don’t get good financial aid packages from the universities that you have applied to, check out your home state public universities and even your closest community colleges. To find ABET accredited engineering programs in your state, use [Accredited</a> Programs Search](<a href=“http://www.abet.org/AccredProgramSearch/AccreditationSearch.aspx]Accredited”>http://www.abet.org/AccredProgramSearch/AccreditationSearch.aspx) Talk with the admissions offices at the community colleges that you can commute to for the first two years, and find out if they offer the initial engineering courses and a formal articulation (guaranteed admission) agreement with the public university’s engineering program. I know several working engineers who followed that route either because of lack of money or because they flunked out of college somewhere else on their first try. </p>
<p>Wishing you all the best!</p>
<p>In all honesty, if you’re even not completely drawn to one of the schools that would put you in debt after your undergrad, its not worth it.</p>
<p>You also mentioned Tulane, which is a great school in its own right. Is it ideal? No. With hard work and internships will it keep you from going where you want to go? No. A good ranking is nice, but hard work rules all.</p>
<p>Stanford and Cooper Union may be quite generous with need-based aid if you get in.</p>
<p>Do you live in a place with good options to go to community college for two years, then transfer to a good (ABET-accredited) state university engineering program? If so, that may be a financial and admissions safety.</p>
<p>Cooper union offers full tuition to each admitted student</p>