Hi guys, out of the schools listed can you tell me which is the most generous with financial aid and which is the least generous. Basically can someone rank them in terms of financial aid. Note that I am an OUT-OF-STATE student for all of them. I’m applying for bioengineering/biomedical engineering if that plays a part in anything. I’m not looking for an exact number just want to know if any of them are stingy with financial aid and not worth applying to. And if they’re bad with financial aid do they give good merit based aid even if you’re not like top 5%.
- University of Pittsburgh
- University of Maryland - College park
- Union College -NY
- Carnegie Mellon University
- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
- Northeastern University
- Bucknell University
My parents only make about 30k a year and aren’t helping me with college, so I don’t want to apply to any schools known for not giving any need-based aid such as NYU
Did you run the Net Price Calculators for the schools on you list based on your family income?
The NPC should give you a good idea of what kind of FA you will receive.
Merit goes to students with super high test scores / grades. What are your numbers?
@ClarinetDad16 My weighted GPA is a 4.008, my ACT score is a 32, and I will have taken 7 AP classes by the end of my senior year, I barely missed the cut off for top 10 % (it was 4.1+) so I’m in the top 20%
@Gumbymom I did but I wasn’t sure about the accuracy of my results because they seemed a bit off, so I was wondering generally speaking if any of these schools are known for giving better financial aid to OOS students than others. Also, is it best to apply early action to receive the best financial aid package or does that not matter.
In general, out of state state schools are not great with merit - with a few exceptions such as Alabama and Temple.
Next you should focus on schools where your stats are at the 75th percentile and higher. Schools give money to their best applicants.
And finally, pinpoint schools that meet financial need (without leaving gap)…
And do you check any boxes?
- legacy
- first gen
- urm
- pell grant
Etc
http://www.firstgenerationstudent.com/find/29-elite-colleges-can-actually-afford/
@ClarinetDad16 Do I count as first gen if my parents attended school in a different country before immigrating to the United States?
You know that not all of those schools are state schools, right? UMCP and Pitt are, but the rest are not. So your state of residence does not matter as long as you are a U.S. citizen. You would get the same aid regardless of residence.
What seemed “off” about the NPC results? Shockingly high EFCs? Only Union and Northeastern on your list say they will “meet need” (by their definition, of course). So you can expect a gap between the aid and what your family can comfortably pay. If your parents are divorced, own a small business, it own rental property, then the NPCs aren’t so accurate. Otherwise, they are usually a reasonable picture.
In that case no I am not a first gen student
I wanted to check the calculator’s accuracy so I did it to a school my brother attends and the number it spit out was much higher than his tuition. He received a lot more aid than the net price calculator claimed. And he attends an in-state private school.
Any tips for maximizing aid. All these schools are gonna be 25k + according to the npc. And thats unaffordable since my parents only make 30k per year and aren’t in a position to help me pay. So besides Union and Northeastern do the rest of the schools on the list not give much aid?
So each school had their own calculator. And some likely are more accurate than others. Also, most do not show merit aid, unless it is automatic for stats. Do you know if he has any merit aid? Or are his loans being applied so the bill he/your parents see doesn’t have that amount as owed, but in reality it is part of his tuition?
I would not assume you will get more aid than the calculator shows at other schools.
University of Maryland and RPI are kind of like my favorite at the moment 
You’re right I just asked and he apparently received $6,000 per semester. Which accounts for the inaccurate npc calculation.
So RPI would really cost me $26,000 dollars without merit aid and U Maryland would cost me $25,000. Do you think I could receive some sort of merit scholarship or are my stats too low 
I am wondering how Maryland could be only $25k if you are OOS as you stated earlier. It is closer to $41k for tuition, fees, room & board, and I am not aware that they give need based aid to OOS students.
Idk that is what their net price calculator told me. It’s a lot cheaper than the sticker price, but still unaffordable for me
RPI’s calculator however didnt include room and boarding, so it would probably cost me over 30k