@rhandco It is a deplorable what many universities do with recruiting kids that they have no intention of admitting, to boost their US News and World Report rankings from the rejection component.
Anyway the scholarship is “front Loaded” and only for one year, not four.
Also, the fact of the matter is that neither RPI or Northeastern is worth $65K a year, especially when compared to a state school like the University of Florida that may be fully covered by a prepaid tuition plan. The only way these mid-tier universities compete is to either get rich kids that don’t get into the top tier schools, have the kids qualify for a lot of financial aid or give good scholarships.
Someone should get out of the bitter barn & go play in the hay.
@Sunnydaydream I was thinking the same thing ! lol. If you are happy with the school you chose, why continue to bash the one that was beneath you ?
My D just received her award. Merit award was just the Medal Scholarship that we already knew about.
Stats: SAT: 2290 (once), ACT: 36 (once), Rank: 4/463, UW 3.83 W:4.58 (not out of 5). IB diploma candidate, AP Classes (5’s), Leadership positions, Summer jobs, EC’s, Volunteer hours (120+), Also a possible athlete at RPI.
They definitely focused on giving her need based aid as our EFC was very low. Grant was 23k/year. Also all those loans. (I had loans out of engineering school so I know exactly what that really means.)
Considering a Grant is a year to year thing based on Need - this isn’t a great package for her. Our in-state UT Austin costs are much much better than this and a higher ranking school.
@ Sunnydaydream Medical/Health costs are NOT in your financial aid. So if you need health care remember to add in those numbers.
@JWilsonNJ You can’t receive two merit based awards - they will give you the highest award (says on website) so no stacking.
Just wanted to give everyone an opportunity to compare. I really believe these schools have things fixed to a certain extent and know exactly how much to give out and when to use need and to use merit based aid. It looks to me like they are just bringing numbers down to compare to your in-state tuition costs but No more. Sure in our case they used a combination of merit and need but the reality is - it only works for the first year.
@comptrchmom I’m looking at their cost of attending of $66,226 and was wondering if the medical plan was part of that figure (undergraduate fees? Room & board? Personal/misc?) or if it would be in addition to that number. I realize it wouldn’t be part of my financial aid package
Seems to be a lot of talk about different award amounts here. My understanding is that most colleges are “need based”. This means they meet most of your need up to your EFC. Example, we have an EFC around 30k, which I think is bogus but that’s besides the point. My Son’s award included Leadership Award of $14,100 & a grant of $15,800, this is the need based part based on our EFC. Next was $7500 in loans leaving just over $28,000 per year out of pocket (real close to the EFC). Check your total out of pocket versus your EFC and I bet they are close.
I caution you about looking at the total aid number and thinking they gave you a lot. You probably already noticed the loans in the aid section. I personally don’t count this as aid because it has to paid by the student or parent eventually. All you really save is about 5 years of 5% interest which would come to a few thousand dollars. Nothing to sneeze at, but compared to approx. $250,000 for four years at RPI it isn’t much.
For our part, are hoping for outside scholarships and may call the school to discuss the aid once we hear back from all the schools that my Son applied to. We really like RPI, visited there from NC last Summer. However, my Son is already accepted at N.C. State (in state) which makes the price differential a big deal. $28,800 at RPI plus $7500 in loans for a total of $36,300 versus N.C. State’s total cost in-state of just under $23,000. I guess we’re at the point where we start some cost-benefit analysis.
Still waiting on N.C. State FinAid and admission decisions from Michigan, Princeton, & Cornell.
Good Luck everyone!
@Sunnydaydream The paperwork says the health insurance fee is NOT part of the Cost of Attendance that is on your paper. So if you don’t have insurance you will need to add in health care costs that are on their website or you would have your own health insurance.
@comptechmom didn’t see that any where (still don’t but it’s been a crazy long day) so thank you 
@Sunnydaydream It was under General Information (page 3) when it discussed 1. Cost of Attendance. Hope this helps.
I was accepted Saturday!
SAT Composite: 2150, Math: 800, Reading: 640, Writing: 710
ACT Composite: 33, Math: 35, English: 35, Science: 30, Reading: 30
GPA: 90.8/100 weighted
I received $15.4k in merit from Leadership Award and $30,275 in grants and $5071 from NYTAP. Also have $8500 in loans and $2000 workstudy. EFC is $4,980.
Is this considered a good financial package or should I try to appeal for more? After 4 years, it will be $34,000 in loans and total family contribution of around $20,000.
@jwwilson No, my son did not get the medal. This is merely based on the completion of common app, and submission of FAFSA and Profile. I’m as stunned as everyone else.
We are a bit surprised at the financial aid our daughter received since her scores, gpa, etc are pretty high. I guess we were expecting more merit based aid. RPI’s final cost is much higher than WPI or Georgia Tech and of course astronomically higher than our state school (UCONN Honor’s program <20k) which is excellent. Although we are doing pretty well financially right now, we are definitely looking at the bottom line since we have other children. I’m not sure that I can justify the difference in cost. Is anyone else in the same boat? How are all of these parents paying the bills?
RPI is deep in debt; read this article which says that the current president has not made UG education a priority.
No wonder the tution is sky high
Grant/scholarships awarded = $29,000, same as the net price calculator predicted. SAT CR 730, Math 740, ACT 35, GPA 4.0, 15/480, Mech Eng. Will be declining, $37,000 is to much for me. In state at the U of Md is only $19,000 for a higher rated Eng program.
Congratulations to those who really want to attend this school and received awards (merit or otherwise) that make this school affordable. Our EFC is high, daughter’s stats are high, merit award was okay at just under 10000 per semester, but underwhelming given the relatively high price of the school. That merit scholalrship plus the unsubsidized 5500 loan still makes RPI the most expensive option for us. It was a nice compliment to get accepted and offered something, but truthfully, daughter had already decided the RPI was not for her. This was our daughter’s first private school admission and award package and the outcome confirmed my prediction that all of them will be more than we want to pay–but we will see.
Son got 46k including leadership award 8 of which is subsidized loans. and EFC was 20 on letter. Is anyone else looking at Georgia Tech OOS vs. RPI? Ga. Tech OOS cost of attendance is in the low 40’s but I am told they are pretty stingy with OOS aid.
@magfl123 We are looking at GT OOS but D received the Provost. Also looking at UF which would be free. Just don’t know if we can justify RPI?
Waitlisted.
Somewhat surprised but very worrisome for what this warns about my other colleges…
Just saw new post on D’s application site. She was awarded a leadership award of 13,900 per semester. The rest is comprised of student loans at $5500 per year which leaves our family balance at $32,000+. This is way more expensive than GT for us.
That’s a rather alarming article bmoney17. After financial aid we are left with almost $42 k left to pay per year (plus books, expenses, etc.). Over the 4 years, we will need to come up with approx. $168,000.
If we are going to give our daughter $168k, her choices so far are:
1. RPI. Upon graduation she will have an additional 22k in student loans
2. GT. and a much smaller student loan. (Assuming no financial aid. Haven't heard yet.)
3. WPI. No student loans. $26k left over.
4. UCONN. No student loan and approximately $90,000 left over to start a business or as a downpayment on her first home.
I am grateful for any aid and I think RPI is a great school. It’s worth some extra expense in my opinion. I’m just dubious about how much more we might be willing or able to spend. We will have to consider carefully.