<p>We were in your spot 10 years ago.
Similar stats, income, in NJ.</p>
<p>Son always wanted out of state in pricey private.
Ended up instate, TCNJ then Rutgers.
He could have been in Alaska, we never saw him!
Graduated magna cum laude and earned a trip to masters out of state.
Even the 80k total for undergrad was a strain for us and son took 18k Staffords.</p>
<p>Best of luck!</p>
<p>*So what is the profile of students who are going to school OOS? *</p>
<p>1) Affluent and can pay all/most costs</p>
<p>2) high enough stats to get into needs met schools and family can pay the CSS family contribution.</p>
<p>3) high enough stats to get huge merit and family can pay the rest.</p>
<p>Frankly, your D falls into that gray area where her stats aren’t quite high enough for most of the schools that give great need based aid, and yet she’s a very good student. But your family income limits affordability. </p>
<p>Re: the $20k per year…is that assuming that you’ll return to work? If not, unless you have good savings to draw from, it would seem impossible to pay that out of current income. That would be about $1600 a month out of current income for 48 straight months. That wouldn’t be possible for many with similar incomes.</p>
<p>When visiting said campuses we didn’t get the sense that there was a great divide… All seemed to be like people like us… Such a conundrum…</p>
<p>It’s really hard to get a good feel for others’ circumstances during campus visits. Those students may have college funds, or very high stats that would get huge merit. And, some people don’t “show their wealth.” The so-called average looking family may be business owners with high incomes.</p>
<p>it seems like a good major she is interested in and cou.ld get a job right out of undergrad with,</p>
<p>Frankly…no. </p>
<p>BiomedE is one of the only eng’g disciplines that almost requires a grad degree. The OTHER eng’g disciplines easily translate into employment after a BS. That’s why I suggested ChemE, MechE or EE instead, because those majors give her a choice…work after BS…or continue into biomedE for grad school. BioMedE for undergrad is VERY limiting.</p>
<p>Not sure what to think now about the whole biomedical thing, something D wants to study… Advice?</p>
<p>Since most kids change their majors once they’re in college (even within eng’g), it wouldn’t be wise to choose a school based on biomedE.</p>
<p>Also, many schools that do not have biomedE will offer some classes of biomedE (even if they don’t have the major). My son was ChemE and he took biomedE classes at his college (that didn’t have biomedE).</p>
<p>Could you explain what “gap” is? I am assuming it is the additional money we need to provide above what school would give and what the EFC is?</p>
<p>Yes.</p>
<p>And the schools that give the best aid, don’t use FAFSA EFC. They use CSS Profile and their OWN formulas to determine what you should pay…and some of those don’t meet need either. </p>
<p>Nearly all FAFSA only schools do NOT meet need.</p>
<p>Thanks mom2college kids…we will need to check out other schools that might have other students like D and have families with stats like ours…Do you have any suggestions? This whole process is or has become so complicated from when I was applying to schools!</p>
<p>So it seems that we should not only fill out FAFSA but CSS too… Are there any other forms we should be filling out that may not be as well known? Thanks.</p>
<p>Hire a good quality private SAT tutor. I was amazed at how the tutor changed my daughters whole approach to the test. 6 hours, about $600, and a huge increase in her scores. I think girls have a hard time with the not quite sure of answer part of taking the SATs (this is backed up by studies not just my sense). A good tutor can get her to accept that aspect of the test with comfort and can do more than just a book. It sounds from what you say about grades that your daughter is capable of doing well on the test, so a few hours will help.</p>
<p>Ontocollege, each college has its own financial aid application requirements. You will need to read carefully on each separate website…AND note the deadlines which you should NOT miss by even one minute. These will also vary by school.</p>
<p>Most schools require the FAFSA (there are a couple that do not…but not any you have listed). The FAFSA will become available on January 1 of your daughter’s senior year of high school.</p>
<p>Some schools (about 300) also require the Profile. This will become available on or about October 1. If your daughter applies early action to any college, there will likely be an early priority filing deadline for the Profile…beginning of November or so. </p>
<p>Since finances are apparently a huge consideration for your family, I would suggest your daughter NOT apply Early DECISION. But early ACTION and rolling admissions would be fine, along with regular decision.</p>
<p>Some schools have additional requirements like their own financial aid form, or submission of previous year’s tax returns. </p>
<p>Bottom line…you need to look at EACH school’s requirements for applying for financial aid and adhere to THOSE requirements. They vary wildly by school.</p>
<p>Apply widely, very widely if finances are a concern. Apply early in the application season (not necessarily EA or ED) We would never have been able to predict final costs (merit aid) ahead of time. We had listed schools based on cost and that list completely re-ordered dramatically when final results were in ~ you won’t know until the end. Tell your D she should not fall in love with any one school, or at least you will not honor that approach. Make sure she applies to a few (so she has a choice) of “financial safeties” that you know you can afford.</p>
<p>Given that you are in NJ, in state may not be your cheapest option. In fact, Rutgers COA is well above your $20K budget.</p>
<p>Your most affordable options will likely be OOS publics where student qualifies for merit aid and/or OOS tuition waiver. Some examples would be UAB, Mississippi State, Louisiana Tech, etc. See the sticky threads at the top of this forum. Higher test scores will open up more options.</p>
<p>You might want to check some of the SUNY colleges. If you can afford $20,000 a year, and your daughter takes the full Direct loan every year, these might be affordable even at OOS rates.</p>
<p>Stupid question, what are sticky threads?</p>
<p>The trick is to expand your search. You do not need to go to a top 50 school - there’s graduate school for that. You will get help if you don’t get stuck on certain schools, or have a thing about prestige. </p>
<p>For grins and giggles, I ran the NPC at Rochester Institute of Technology, where my daughter attends and there is a biomedical engineering program. With your D’s GPA and an income of 85000, it estimates you would get a $19000 grant - this does not include any loans, which would be another $5500. That basically halves the cost of attendance, and you may get merit aid too. This calculator did not ask for standardized test scores.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone! Mama duck, how does your daughter like a tech school? My D wasn’t sure those would give her a broad typical college experience…she thinks she likes a beautiful, college like campuses with beautiful older buildings, wants to study abroad, wants marching band, maybe crew and basketball, along with service clubs, fun clubs and isn’t into the typical party scene with drinking…</p>
<p>OOS Sunys are about the same price as Rutgers in state.</p>
<p>If she can commute to : Rutgers, TCNJ, Ramapo, Montclair State, NJIT, you can bring the cost of attendance down to your $20,000 range. Of course, you will most likely need a working car for her.
Rutgers has biomedical engineering. NJIT and TCNJ also have engineering, although I’m not sure about biomedical.</p>
<p>I don’t think Biomedical engineers start at the same salaries as other engineers. I know one person who was working as a post doctorate fellow at a hospital at a fairly low salary.</p>
<p>“Sticky” means the threads at the top of the forum with a push pin and “IMPORTANT:” before the subject.</p>
<p>I would still send an app into UA-B. She may only qualify for a lower automatic scholarship, but as a female eng’r, UA-B will likely throw some other merit in there as well…and for being OOS. </p>
<p>UA-B has BiomedE as well as other eng’g. It has an airport just a couple of minutes away. It also has a very good med school on campus. It has many med-related research opps. However, it has more of an urban setting, so that may not be as desirable as a campus with a more traditional “college look”. </p>
<p>she’d qualify for:</p>
<p>$12k per year with her stats. That would be assured. The remaining costs would likely be under $15k per year.</p>
<p>From eng’g, she’d likely get one of these:
Scholarship awards generally range from $1,000 to $4,500 per year and may be combined with other scholarship offers.</p>
<p><a href=“Error 404 | Not Found”>Error 404 | Not Found;
<p>If she could get her ACT up to a 30, then as an eng’g major, she’d get free tuition plus 2500 per year from Alabama. It doesn’t have BioMedE as a major, but does offer some of the classes…and does have Bio&ChemEngineering, which is so close and much more marketable. </p>
<p>Remaining costs would be under $15k per year. So, with a $5500 student loan, you’d be paying under $10k per year.</p>
<p>For SAT, she’d need a 1330 M+CR score.</p>
<p>BTW…keep in mind that most US college students do NOT go away to school. That is a luxury. So, don’t be surprised if “most students like your D” are commuting to their local public.</p>
<p>ontocollege, my D has been at RIT for two weeks and loves it. She didn’t think she would want a tech school at first, but she feels totally at home. She likes that it’s heavy on guys (more for the lack of girl drama than a potential dating pool). A lot is done to provide support for women, and I heard through the grapevine that they give very very good scholarships to women in the engineering college (apparently most women are in the arts or business programs). She says there are parties around, but they are mostly house parties and she’s not interested. She has quickly found a core group of friends, and her roommate is from Long Island. RIT has a strong art school (which is what she’s in, though in a more technical major) so there’s some balance. They also require a liberal arts core and have a great study abroad program. Co-op is required of most majors, including hers. They don’t have early action, but you can back out of Early Decision if the finances don’t materialize based on the projections they send you in January (obviously, still should not enter that lightly or unless it’s your top choice). We’re from the South, so I’m waiting to see how she deals with winter! PM me if you want more details, and I will pass on specific questions to my D.</p>
<p>what kind of schools does your D like? </p>
<p>Traditional?</p>
<p>Techie type universities? </p>
<p>rah rah (big sports to watch and cheer for)</p>
<p>quiet</p>
<p>big city</p>
<p>rural</p>
<p>thumper1…we live in NJ and are going to look at a few SUNY schools for that reason.<br>
Attending SUNY OOS is just about equal to attending TCNJ (most competitive of all NJ).</p>