<p>In terms of merit aid, among the OOS public schools with strong CS departments, any thoughts? I found a thread from 2009 with some discussion of this but more recent feedback would be most appreciated.</p>
<p>I think I read on Penn State’s website that they consider Merit Aid for IS and OOS equally. If you have strong grades, my son got great merit award at Michigan State plus and offer for free study aboard, paid research or teaching and some other perks. </p>
<p>Would you consider private schools as many give great merit aid. If you post your GPA and SAT/ACT scores we can try to help you. </p>
<p>I would be interested in this question as well. </p>
<p>Stats for S:
30 ACT
3.9 GPA UW</p>
<p>EC nothing special. </p>
<p>I know about Alabama, but would like to hear of any others. </p>
<p>^^
How much merit do you need? what do you want the net costs to be?</p>
<p>@fflmaster </p>
<p>@mom2collegekids </p>
<p>We don’t have a particular dollar amount, but comparable to Ohio State would be good. </p>
<p>Pa state tuition for Pitt or Penn State is more then Ohio State or Alabama OOS. </p>
<p>looking for other options in a similar price range. </p>
<p><<<
We don’t have a particular dollar amount, but comparable to Ohio State would be good.</p>
<p>Pa state tuition for Pitt or Penn State is more then Ohio State or Alabama OOS.</p>
<p>looking for other options in a similar price range.</p>
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<p>?
Well, how much is Ohio State after any merit your child has been offered? </p>
<p>I’m guessing that you mean that PSU’s and Pitt’s instate tuition with no merit is more than Ohio State’s and Bama’s OOS after merit scholarship deductions. Right? I know that Bama’s net cost would be about $13k…what would Ohio State’s be??</p>
<p>Did your child apply to Purdue? Did you apply to Arizona State? Texas A&M? </p>
<p>Where has your child applied so far?</p>
<p>@fflmaster </p>
<p>The University of Utah had a very strong computer science program, a generous in state tuition policy, and good merit aid. However it does have a large commuter population. Personally I’d choose Ohio State in a heartbeat if both were affordable and access to the outdoors wasn’t a primary driver of the college search.</p>
<p>Depending on the stats, the University of Arizona can give good merit but it’s not automatic. </p>
<p>Both Iowa State and the University of Iowa have rather good merit aid for OOS students, and the applications are some of the easiest of any school. </p>
<p><<<
The budget I’d max 20,000 per student (2) if evenly spent.</p>
<p>Being twins, my boys and wife would prefer attending same college.</p>
<p>Just one has a bit stronger stats today and he knows he wants to major in engineering or computer science. The other is a complete undecided at this point.</p>
<p>Income $70-80k per year
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<p>@fflmaster </p>
<p>?
Can you clarify? You say 20k per twin, but then you say “evenly split”? That is confusing. Are you saying that your twins will split a family contribution of $20k? It would be unusual for that income to be able to afford 20k PER TWIN unless you have a LOT saved for their college. </p>
<p>I also wanted to make a comment about something you wrote awhile ago…You wondered about students borrowing whatever they need (100k) for undergrad…and you mention knowing people that did that and were able to pay off their loans. </p>
<p>First of all, not too long ago, students could borrow the full COA without cosigners thru Sallie Mae. But, that turned out to be disastrous once college costs boomed and soon kids were borrowing huge amounts …and not paying the loans back. For about 15+ years, cosigners have been needed…and most parents will not cosign for a variety of reasons…don’t want their naive child saddled with huge debt, don’t want the risk that the child can’t pay, can’t qualify to cosign multiple years, can’t qualify to cosign multiple children (each cosigned year, the FICO score takes a hit, so once Child 2 goes to college you can’t qualify for his cosigned loans…or in your case of twins, maybe after soph year, you wouldn’t qualify to cosign $40k more debt after already cosigning 80k for the previous two years. Parents don’t want their children choosing a school that they later have to leave because loans can’t be obtained. We all know that the parents are on the hook to pay if the child can’t make the payments (and that DOES happen), BUT…did you know that the cosigning parent is still on the hook for cosigned loans if their child dies or becomes disabled?</p>
<p>I have been following a college Facebook page of college parents. It is heartbreaking to see how many find that they can’t qualify to co-sign the loans needed for their child to CONTINUE at their current school…and they have to sadly tell their child that the child can’t return to that school. Frankly, I think it was crazy to even start down that road, but some parents do and then either everyone ends up with too much debt or they can’t qualify at some point and the kids have to come home WITHOUT a degree!</p>
<p>You claimed to know people who borrowed 100k, got 100k incomes, and paid off the debt no sweat. That would be unusual. Most newish grads aren’t making the incomes to be able to afford the payments along with rent and other costly living expenses. Perhaps some of that debt was for grad or professional school? And, now student loan interest rates are higher, and less is subsidized…so the debt just grows while the student is in school.</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids </p>
<p>^^lots of questions and info to go through. </p>
<p>First, my boys are Juniors and we are starting the process of college selection. </p>
<p>I am pushing that we look at Alabama, but I want them to pick a school they prefer. Mainly due to the great merit aid for my boys. One wants computer science and the other is more undecided today. </p>
<p>I also know of Ohio States good OOS merit aid once you hit certain scores in testing. </p>
<p>Yes, we are PA residents and I have been told that Pitt and PSU are very poor with aid. Thus the costs run around 30,000 COA. I would like to be around 20,000 if possible. </p>
<p>I have family and friends that have had to borrow well over 100,000 and luckily were able to pay off due to the field they are in. However, I agree today is much different then those past days. I would prefer both boys to find the lowest amount possible in loans within reason. A friend’s child is attending a local non-ranked school with a crazy amount in loans. I don’t want my boys to have that burden, but also don’t want them to attend a regional school that will hurt their opportunities after school. </p>
<p>20,000 is a round number I am throwing out there, and that could change dramatically as well break everything down. But I do have parents (grand parents) that would help. </p>
<p>Oh good! the boys are just juniors. Gives them both time to improve scores for better merit.</p>
<p>Are they taking BOTH the SAT and ACT? If not, they should! Some do better on one than the other. Also, with the SAT, they really only have to practice the M and CR sections since most schools don’t care much about the W section…and rarely is the W considered for merit. </p>
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<p>Again, are you saying that you and your wife can together contribute $20k PER twin…or $10k per twin ($20k total per year)?</p>
<p>@fflmaster </p>
<p>@mom2collegekids
20,000 per child</p>
<p>SAT taken already once. 1300 and 1280 scores so far. (CR and M)</p>
<p>ACT taken once 31 and 30 scoring. </p>
<p>Scheduled ACT again in February</p>
<p>Leaning toward concentrating on ACT at this point. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.act.org/aap/concordance/pdf/reference.pdf”>http://www.act.org/aap/concordance/pdf/reference.pdf</a> indicates that the ACT scores are higher than the SAT scores. Any gain on the ACT will be helpful, in contrast to the first 60-80 points of SAT CR+M gain not helping.</p>
<p>How did they do on the PSAT (for National Merit)? What’s their class rank?</p>
<p>Minny has a lower list price to start with, so merit money could bring the cost within range:
<a href=“University-Wide Academic Scholarships | Office of Admissions”>http://admissions.tc.umn.edu/costsaid/schol_campus.html</a> </p>
<p><<<<
@fflmaster
20,000 per child</p>
<p>SAT taken already once. 1300 and 1280 scores so far. (CR and M)</p>
<p>ACT taken once 31 and 30 scoring.</p>
<p>Scheduled ACT again in February</p>
<p>Leaning toward concentrating on ACT at this point.
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<p>Thanks for the clarification. </p>
<p>Sounds like the ACT is the right test for your twins. I wouldn’t be surprised if they both end up with 32+ by next fall. </p>
<p>@purpletitan Does UMinn have a scholarship grid to see how much is given for particular stats? UMinn has been raising it’s OOS tuition. It’s still a super bargain for those who live in Wisc, North and South Dakota and Manitoba. </p>
<p>@mom2collegekids:</p>
<p>I don’t see a grid. The Gold National scholarship covers the difference between in-state and OOS tuition, however. You have to be in the top X% of your class (top 10% gets you a scholarship to cover half the difference between in-state and OOS tuition).</p>
<p>Being NMF is a little better as that knocks $10K/year off tuition.</p>
<p>Then again, if the kids are NMF, they can get full-tuition at several places, including UNL (with the honor Raikes school) and 'Bama.</p>