Also check NMSU and NMU, I hear they are generous with merit and cost of living is cheaper.
If your child has a 4.0 UW GPA, she would qualify for close to full tuition at U of Arizona in Tucson. There is a new Honors College there that is beautiful. Here is a link to the auto merit awards. R&B is about 13K which is close to your budget. Check the auto merit chart here:
https://financialaid.arizona.edu/types-of-aid/scholarships/freshman-transfer
There are additional smaller awards. For example, Deanâs Exemplary Award for good grades freshman year = $1,000. Doing well in IB curriculum (if sheâs in that program) could result in another 5K towards tuition, etc.
https://financialaid.arizona.edu/types-of-aid/scholarships/2020-2021-terms-and-conditions
Hm. I just looked and I think the largest merit scholarship for freshmen at ISU is $8000 with OOS tuition balance at $16,000. I donât see any full tuition awards. I always had the impression there was more merit going on there. Still a good deal and I think the school is terrific for those engineering kids but, as far as I can tell, no option for free tuition.
Thanks for the suggestions!
App State: no engineering school
Iowa State: merit will not get it down to affordable level
NAU: merit will got get it down to affordable level
@TVBingeWatcher2 just out of curiosity, are you completely against your D taking any loans? She will be an engineer and make good money. Depending on how badly she wants a certain experience, you may want to consider how much she might need to borrow for certain schools. If she likes Alabama, what is the merit she will get with her 1590? How much is left over that she would have to take in loans?
And what are her current affordable options and how do they compare to her wants/needs? Maybe it would be worth it to her to take some loans to have the undergrad experience sheâd like. You could do a quick analysis and figure out that âbig state rah rah school experienceâ at a list of bigger (but not full tuition) merit award schools would cost x above what you can afford and see what your D thinks about that.
@homerdog that is something to consider. Not opposed to student loans, not exactly comfortable either but I realize that is a irrational feeling given her likely future prospects.
Itâs not auto, but University of South Carolina has some generous merit. With their honors college, it was really interesting to my D20.
ETA I see above you donât think your daughter would qualify for their big merits - not sure why though. My daughter was invited to Top Scholars with the minimum being full tuition with a 3.9 UW and 35 ACT. She did have some volunteering and a bit of leadership - but really nothing at all extraordinary. Her big ECs were ballet and robotics.
@Darcy123 Thanks, maybe should still consider it.
@homerdog You are asking great questions! D does really not have any schools that are high on her list. or really any list at all. She has the preference for the "traditional college experience at Rah, Rah school that is not to small and preferably in area of country with green grass. Honestly she is not picky. The school should have a good electrical engineering program. She will not go Greek, but not opposed to a high Greek school like BAMA because she supposes the kids that are in her major are more like her personality (introvert, serious student)
D has only toured one school, (OK STATE) loved the campus. She has never even seen a LAC. She want to do undergrad research in EE and work on campus in math lab. She is not the type who is going to have many friends but if she can find 3-5 friends that are like minded that will be good.
@TVBingeWatcher2 i totally get it on the loan part, itâs something we struggled with also, I wanted to give my kids more than what I had, as neither my husband, nor I ever went to college due to 1) lack of financial support 2) being first gen born to immigrant families.
We are thankfully successful in where life took us and self made but given that we have freshman twins as well who will be in college at the same time S21 will be, weâve told all three that if they do not want to live at home and commute to UNT or UTD (both great schools) then they will be taking out a total of $27,500 in student loans over the 4 years of their undergrad and expected to work for their personal expenses. I feel like with their majors/career ambitions, they will be able to quickly pay off their student loans. They are more than welcome to move back home to save on expenses while they pay off their loans if they find jobs in and stay in the Dallas area.
We want them to have âskin in the gameâ as we say here on CC lol.
@Momof3B , My nephew is living at home commuting to UNT. Dâs dad commuted to UTD. Both great schools. I wish I could get D to look again at UTD (she has done 3 coding camps there) but she refuses.
@TVBingeWatcher2 so what does your Dâs list look like according to her?
@TVBingeWatcher2 What about Ohio University? There are some full tuition awards for the Russ Engineering School that appear to be stats-based and it looks like there are additional awards that might stack:
https://www.ohio.edu/admissions/tuition/ohio-signature-awards
The chart lists the ACT thresholds, but I canât imagine they wouldnât recognize the SAT as well (equivalences are listed higher up on the page for a different award).
As well as having rah-rah sports, there is also a very interesting tutorial-based honors program, which also awards generous merit scholarships.
@homerdog I canât remember exactly why, but I think that thread kept harping on the âwhy apply to Princeton if you canât afford it??â Type thing and an admin closed it. Hopefully he comes back to post results!
Hotels are booked for breakâŠwe settled (I think!!) on JMU, App State, Elon/High Point, UNC Greensboro and Towson. Throw in a visit with my niece and hopefully a tour of the FBI. Iâll need a vacation from my vacation!!!
@mamaedefamilia thanks that looks great, will dive deeper.
@homerdog , I know this is going to sound strange, but D does not have a list. She was all set to go to any of the handful of schools that have the great NMF scholarships including local Texas Tech. At the fore front of her brain is financial practicality. If there were no financial restrictions, she would love UT Austin and even Texas A&M, as most Texas kids do.
I guess since she has always known our financial limitations, she has never entertained schools that would not be affordable.
She will strike down schools that she knows are not what she wants.: Utah State, UTD, UTA (Arlington, TX), UNT (University of North Texas). She would rather go to Texas Tech than any of them.
She does not have a restriction on rural or city (did not like University of Houston) knows she likes the defined campus. I think she would be fine in a small town. When we toured Oklahoma State, she really like how Stillwater was all about OK State, She loved the small town feeling of it. Does this help any?
@TVBingeWatcher2 I just meant - where does she think sheâs going to go to college? She seems to be shooting down affordable options so is she just hoping youâre going to find other options for her? Right now, are there any schools that are affordable that she knows and likes?
@homerdog , I would say right now Texas Tech is most likely, she is trying to make end roads into making relationship with the Electrical Engineering faculty. We had a private meeting/tour with the chairman in EE and she is excited to do the engineering research apprenticeship there this summer. It checks most boxes except it is 8 miles from home.
She romanticizes schools like BAMA with uber school spirit, pretty campus and solid engineering. I have been a member of the closed group of parents of BAMA engineering students. so I share with her all the info I learn, internships, jobs, professional fraternity, etc. She is very impressionable. I recently became member of MS state parent group after looking at their scholarships and seeing this may be doable, so now she is interested in MS State. i guess what I am trying to say, she has visions of college but not a particular college.
I just remembered that my older daughter had a classmate who got a big award at SMU. I checked and the Presidential award (full ride) focuses on academic achievement as the main criteria. I clicked on the current scholars button and the few awardees I randomly looked at had pretty typical HS activities and honors like NHS, scouting, NM Commended, and yes, even academic decathlon. No separate application is required but if your child is selected for consideration, there is an interview.
Thank you @mamaedefamilia
I have to let this out somewhere where my kid wonât see it and get annoyed with me lol:
My math phobic anxiety riddled S21 has a 96 in Pre Cal right now! Granted itâs the first unit lol, but still! He aced the first unit test! He really really likes his teacher, I havenât seen him this relaxed about anything math related since 7th grade, when he had an equally amazing math teacher who brought out the best in him.
Itâs the little things in life!
@Momof3B nice!! Did precalc just start this semester? Itâs a whole year class for us. Hope he keeps it up!