@CrazyMomof3 I think those are all great choices! So it’s really down to what/how she does while at school that counts. Don’t spend what you don’t have to!!
Maybe I am figuring something out - do they have separate lines for “Grants” and “Merit Awards” (latter such as Leadership and Rensselaer Medalist Awards"?
My son’s NPC indicated almost 10K per year more merit award, and we assumed we made too much for him to qualify for Federal loans. But he got the full amount of Federal loans allowed from what we understand, so since RPI decides how to “award” loans for their students, that makes sense (unhappy sense).
I am very happy to hear so many people have great choices other than RPI that are less expensive. We have many reasons for my son to attend RPI, one thing is that his program has only so many colleges ABET-accredited in it, and also he wants a subspeciality within it. For example, he looked at BU and even applied there, but they didn’t have his subspeciality so it would have been his last choice.
As for those waitlisted, good luck on being admitted from the list. I’m not sure if anyone has seen stats for the ED and RD applicants, maybe the numbers will make sense.
I wonder if anyone who is a medalist gets his/her merit award…
@rhandco From the financial aid section of this website and FAFSA I learned that the unsubsidized Stafford loan is offered to even wealthy people. The only way to access it is by filling out the FAFSA. Congratulations to your son.
@rhandco a little confused by your post. My understanding is that the anyone can get the Stanford loan (unsubsidized) as a freshman it is $5500 ($6500 as a sophomore & $7500 as a junior & senior) that’s per the federal government rpi doesn’t determine that.
Sorry if I’m misunderstanding your comments.
My son was offered three loan types: Perkins, subsidized, unsubsidized. I thought the last type was the only one that was regardless of income, I could be wrong.
The Perkins site says “exceptional financial need”. The Stafford site says that anyone can be eligible for unsubsidized loans, and that subsidized loans are “for financial need”.
I don’t know, maybe any EFC below the COA is considered having exceptional financial need?
Last year, my son got a merit award of 31, 500 per year , guaranteed for 5 years. Grades were below the mean, SATs were very high. He is a legacy and an eagle scout and an URM. We weren’t expecting any merit so were pleasantly surprised. He is thriving at RPI and feels that he made the right decision (despite the very rigorous course load).
@Pepper17 Did your son get work study ? I wonder since students are reporting that classes are tough, if work study would actually be detrimental ? Some of my friends say that it’s great and helpful for my kid’s classes but I am not convinced. I have one friend who suggested we ask for more work study money !
No work study. We didn’t get any need based aid. He spends what little free time he has with his frat brothers. If he worked, he would have no free time at all. We got him a ski pass and he has only been able to go once, and skiing is one of his favorite things.
High SATs = merit aid for RPI, per the NPC and the FA office.
Poor GPA is meaningless - my son’s GPA was not very good (ugh, still is not very good).
@pepper17 just curious is it guaranteed for 5 years or do they have to qualify for the coterminous program to get the 5th year?
Do they allow the freshmen to join fraternities/sororities first semester? I thought many schools were moving away from that .
I got accepted into the Architecture program!
I thought my SAT score was going to severely hurt my chances, but I was accepted.
I had a 1710 SAT score, but I had a very strong portfolio, essay, 4.0 GPA and recommendations.
My SAT II scores weren’t so beautiful either: 550 World History, 550 Physics, and 550 Math II.
Good luck to everyone waitlisted!
@Sunnydaydream, 5th year is for the master’s program, if I remember correctly. He would have to be accepted first. He rushed first semester and is now a member of a frat but still lives in the dorm. Socially, this was important for him but it took a lot of his time. I would have preferred that he waited until this semester to rush.
@rhandco How high do the ACT/SATs have to be for great merit? My daughter got a 34 on ACTs (top 1%), high GPA (4.6), excellent essay (checked by parents, teachers, etc.) and decent extra curricular (lots of clubs, sports, a couple leadership, job). Her merit isn’t even close to what others are reporting. Our EFC is pretty high, though. Wondering if that’s involved somehow.
Congratulations to your kid. I also am a (former) engineer and have a lot of respect for RPI graduates.
My son had 2100 SAT, which is 96th percentile. He is just under 75th percentile for RPI accepted students M + CR. I don’t know if they have similar ACT stats available, but I can’t imagine 34 being lower than 75th percentile of accepted RPI students…
We had EFC of 35K. His merit was 15K per year. The total merit plus loans puts us about 8K over our EFC. And like many, we don’t think our EFC is fair (we’re not going to just stop going on our 35K per year vacations!).
My bet is that it isn’t true merit aid, it is based a lot on EFC. Which is good.
The only way to tell is to take two students with very similar EFCs and different SAT scores, and see if the merit aid is really EFC based to a greater extent than SAT scores.
I have seen or heard nothing related to GPA influencing merit aid, and I can vouch for that in my son’s case as his GPA is not that good and his aid appears to be decent based on what others have said.
Thank you for the congratulations, he is really happy to be accepted. It is difficult when you have a child needing LD accommodations; now we have to get RPI on board with them.
My son’s SAT is 1500 (750 math, 750 cr) 710 writing so total of 2210. EFC 14k+. Has been offered $46k/yr. we are stunned by the offer. He is also 1/2 hispanic (Cuban) pursuing physics, so I’m sure this also plays role. His GPA is 93.5 weighted (don’t know unweighted). lots of tough decisions to make.
RPI’s 75th percentile is an ACT of 31. I’m just really scared of committing to the cost that many colleges are expecting.
@Sapphire50 That’s amazing! Congratulations to your son! Where else is he considering? Even though we may have to pass on it, RPI is a fantastic choice.
@CrazyMomof3 Thank you. In the spirit of beware of what you wish for he got more acceptances than we anticipated and its a bit overwhelming. I know it’s a nice problem to have and we are very fortunate but he’s got some tough decisions. He applied to 10 schools and was admitted to all of them. Five are Sunys - stony brook, Binghamton, Geneseo, Oneonta and New Paltz. Stony and Bing have offered full tuition scholarships ($8k/yr and we’d pay room and board) and he has been admitted to the Scholar program at Stony. Since he wants to major in physics we have eliminated all SUNYs from our list but Stony Brook, since it is strongest in physics. So obviously the Sunys are an incredible deal financially, and he likes the stony brook campus. We live in Westchester. He has also been accepted to University of Rochester ($18k scholarship, still waiting on total financial package) Northeastern ($30k/yr merit scholarship plus $8k thru various subsidized and unsubsided loans and work study, University of Pittsburgh ($10k scholarship/year), UMASS HHomors a College ($12k scholarship). Plus RPI. planning lots of accepted student visits and waiting for all the financials.
@Sapphire50 those are good ‘tough decisions’ to have. A 46k offer from RPI is pretty phenomenal.
@vmt I know. We were floored. He and his dad are visiting Monday March 30. Looks like a beautiful campus and amazing facilities. Boy/girl thing a little off putting but I don’t know how much that concerns him. He and I are Headed to Pitt tomorrow and Monday. We’ve already been to rochester, northeastern and Umass, but heading back to Northeastern Next weekend, and a rochester April 3, UMass later in April. whew.