As you know, Penn State gives very little merit aid ($5000/yr. to Schreyer Honors College students, usually nothing to others). Though Pitt is moving away from merit aid in favor of need-based aid, merit awards are still possible for top students like your daughter. If she is interested in Pitt, she should apply now if she hasn’t already done so, as most merit aid goes to early applicants. Temple also gives merit to more students than Penn State does, but you have to be comfortable enough with Temple’s location.
2 Likes
My daughter is now a Sophmore at WVU (others have mentioned here) and we were in a similar situation. PA resident, very high stats, did not qualify for aid most places. WVU was very generous and offered her more merit than what is published on their scholarship grids. She also received more scholarship money after freshman year. It is very aggressive with high stat students.
7 Likes
Each college has its own policy regarding this. Contact each school…and ask.
1 Like
What is the price limit you are looking at? Does in make in-state PA public schools affordable or not?
However, students intending CS at Texas A&M must enter as first year general engineering and then apply for secondary admission to the CS major. The automatic admission college GPA is 3.75, but it is likely that there is no remaining space for competitive admission to CS below that GPA.
It’s going to be hard to beat PSU/Pitt/Temple for costs - 25K is below what they costs though. Assuming she takes the 5.5K federal loan you’ve got a 30K budget. (With Schreyer it’s 5K but thousands apply for 300 spots.)
NC Park, UMD B/K… are all highly competitive - worth a shot but can’t count on it.
Hopefully she’s already applied to PSU/Pitt/Temple and is
For PSU, admission to the Honors College does NOT factor test scores and essays are very important so she needs to think in terms of academic paper, since a professor is going to read this essay) not an adcom.
WVU is a good possibility nearby in case PSU/Pitt/Temple are too expensive or fall through.
Ohio (Miami, OU) also has good scholarships and may not be too far depending on where in PA you live.
NJ and NYS focus on in-state residents and on need-based aid so aren’t too promising.
In VA, look into GMU, VCU, perhaps VT but I’m not sure they’d be within budget even with merit.
Most private colleges in PA try to be competitive with PSU/Pitt, so you’d need to run the NPC to see which ones may be within budget. Look into Muhlenberg, for instance.
Throwing this in (because it is life-changing and potentially lethal/you don’t need to reply): how comfortable is she with going to a state with an abortion ban (ie., WV, AL, KY…)? Could be 100% fine but if not, it really means you need to look at PA, MD, and VA only OR further away.
2 Likes
It depends on the school and location. We will try to help her with Penn state tuition even if she didn’t get any merit which will be close to 140K. So just trying to look for comparable schools like Penn state . Since they have rolling admission we will know soon. Daughter is also going to apply for UPitt as well.
1 Like
Elizabethtown has the Stamps for full-tuition and an honors program.
2 Likes
You can call at any time, but policies will vary. At the public U where I once worked, requests for professional judgment reviews weren’t considered until much later in the admissions cycle (February or March). When I was at a small, private school I would review once I was given my aid budget by our board. Most schools won’t do a review if the student hasn’t applied, although some may - and many schools that do rolling admissions won’t review until the student is accepted. In other words, it’s all over the map. Most schools have very lean financial aid staffing, so they can only do so much. That’s why a review may not happen early in the admissions cycle.
I agree that chasing merit is a good idea. If you want to add in a couple schools that might work if your income is adjusted by the school to reflect current income, that’s fine. Just be sure your child understands that it might not work out, and have at least one safety + an automatic merit or two (or three) on the list. Keep in mind that even if your income is adjusted downward, there may not actually be increased grant aid as a result. The income may still be too high for grant aid, or the school may not meet need. You can try plugging in your adjusted income into the school’s NPC to see what aid might be.
Pitt has true rolling admissions, but PSU has Early Action (apply before Nov1 with ALL test scores, transcripts, etc RECEIVED by then= learn by December 24), then priority rolling (apply by Dec 1/learn by end of Jan) and “basic” rolling where applicants are only considered where there’s space left. If you applied “Rolling” rather than Early Action, thinking it was like at Pitt, and already sent the app, you can ask for it to be modified to the EA plan by calling.
5 Likes
Thanks for your input. We will try to have some automatic merit school in our list.
I had emailed them looks like they give only 6K per year.
That’s not correct - per their website - see link below - once you are named a finalist.
My confusion is initially I suggested schools that you auto “crush” it on national merit - but you said your student needs to stay in the PA or adjacent state area.
Which is most important?
-
The money - regardless of where or
-
Staying close to home - even if you have to stretch financially?
3 Likes
The President’s Endowed Scholarship and the National Merit Recognition Award are considered “eligible scholarships” for the purpose of determining the eligibility of non-residents (students who are not residents of Texas) for the non-resident tuition waiver. Beginning Fall 2017, students must have a minimum of $4,000 of eligible scholarships awarded by Texas A&M each academic year to qualify for the waiver. For more information about the non-resident tuition waiver, visit scholarships.tamu.edu.
2 Likes
Yes , staying close to home is very important for us overall that’s why we are targeting many public schools in our area and adjacent states.
Might be worth looking at some of the OH schools - Miami, OSU, Cincinnati, and Dayton all give money for NMF.
2 Likes
What @MYOS1634 said about Penn State’s admissions deadlines is accurate: you are guaranteed an earlier answer with Early Action. Their rolling admission is confusing and not the way to go if you want an early answer.
Could your daughter do Penn State’s 2+2 program, where the first two years are at a Penn State branch campus and the last two are on campus? If she is able to live at home those two years, she would be in your budget for sure.
Getting merit at Pitt or Penn State will be tough. If you check out the Pitt 2026 thread on college confidential from last year, one mom surveyed everything for in state/OOS/major/merit/etc. If I am remembering correctly, not a single CS major received merit. Many who reported were fantastic students, with 1500+ SATs and the ECs and other impressive qualifications to match. The issue is there is an abundance of top students applying to CS programs that are capped. At Pitt, at least, it is necessary to apply early and to not expect merit.
As others have said, a CS major is marketable regardless of the college. If she wants to stay close, one of your best resources for chasing merit is probably her high school guidance counselor. He or she may be able to let you know which regional schools tend to give the best merit and with which your high school has the best success.
Good luck!
1 Like
Thanks for this advice, then we will apply early action to Penn state and we will read those description carefully before submitting.
1 Like
This is why the auto merit or guaranteed NMF scholarship schools like VCU and NJIT are the priority - short of going to a branch school or a regional like Millersville - but this is a top student and likely doesn’t want that.
Filling in with the let’s hope schools is fine - but especially in CS, stay within the defined budget. You’ll be much happier than with going into debt.
3 Likes
Going to be hard to beat NJIT with some of the other suggestions thrown out here. I think the branch/regionals- as great as they are for some kids- are not going to be the kind of environment a kid like this is likely looking for. And sure, it’s only two years… but that’s half a college education. I don’t know where in PA you live, but some of the branch options are fine, solid schools for elementary ed but don’t have the kind of rigor a kid who wants an academic/CS environment is going to crave.
OP- without divulging too much- where in PA do you live (generally)? It’s a big state. So someone suggested looking in Ohio- which is a great suggestion academically- but not great if you live in Philly and she doesn’t want to be that far from home…
This will help us tailor our suggestions.
1 Like