<p>Ok so, my number one pick is the University of Illinois-- Urbana Champiagn. I am a Mechanical Engineering major and I was accepted into their honors program for engineering. However, the tuition breakdown is 48k. I filed for fafsa and all they offered was loans but I dont want to be in debt for years after I graduate! not to mention I want to be able to pay for graduate school. The university did not offer me any scholarship money so thats also a no go. I was wondering if any current students who came from out of state have any ideas on how I could pay for the school and how I can get scholarships from external companys not associated with the school? This school is the only school I want to go to and I need to get at leans 10k in scholarships per year! thanks!</p>
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Good thought. I can’t think of ANY scholarships available from outside organizations that will help you here. They would probably only be good for your freshman year. What other schools did you get into? What is your home state?</p>
<p>Mechanical Engineering is offered as a major at MANY colleges. What you need is a school with ABET accreditation. UIUC is NOT the only school with this.</p>
<p>I hope you are at least considering some other options for college. Getting $10,000 in outside scholarships is a very lofty goal beginning your search at the beginning of April. Most local scholarships are for much smaller amounts and are for one year only. You need to plan your college funding for ALL four years, not just the upcoming one.</p>
<p>You say that UIUC is the ONLY place you are considering. What WILL you do if your funding comes up short?</p>
<p>As an FYI, most OOS students accepted to most OOS public universities find themselves in exactly the same situation as you…very little funding is provided to them by the university.</p>
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<p>For this question you should be posting on the UIUC or Engineering forum.</p>
<p>You don’t say where you live, but the Midwest Student Exchange Program allows students in certain states to pay in-state tuition for certain programs at certain Illinois colleges.</p>
<p>Beolin…is that exchange for majors offered in the home state?</p>
<p>I live in california! i was accepted to the University of California at davis but i really didnt like it there. i really enjoyed illinois. and illinois is 4rth for electrical engineering which is what I want to do! and i was hoping to get money for it but doesnt look like its gonna work out</p>
<p>UI is not a school that has much if anything for OOSers . They are so strapped for money that they count on that OOS premium for the extra money it brings in. So, it is highly unlikely that they are going to come up with anything for you.</p>
<p>You can check if the tuition exchange is applicable to you, but usually that involves majors that you can’t get in your own state. But you can look. As for finding a sponsor for the amount, finding someone wanting to invest or bet that kind of money on an undegraduate is not going to be easy. Never knew any company that would do this unless it’s for a valued employee that has been working for a while. There are companies that have tuition reimbursement programs but you have to be working there already, full time and you go to a local school part time. Who want to pay for a pig in a poke?</p>
<p>i didnt mean like a company i meant like random scholarships for writing essays or something…</p>
<p>Fastweb and other such sources have lists of scholarships you can pursue. What you find now is usually it. Not much for upperclassmen. So take what you get now and divide by 4 and put 3/4 of it away for the future.</p>
<p>Do keep in mind the costs are only going UP. It was a shock to my one son when he saw the costs for his second year at college, as the school raised their tuition, as they continued to do each year, and housing for upperclassmen cost more. On top of that, he did not the outside scholarship he had that previous year. Then one course he took required that he buy a package of collected writings that one could not get on line or second hand, and that really brought up what he needed to pay right away. My current college kid got hit by some misfortunes last year that really made things tight for him. It’s pretty clear one should have some financial leeway because things can go wrong or not as expected and if you are financial strapped, extra costs can sink you. These financial aid officers have ice in their veins when it comes to sad student stories, and they have seen many a student have to leave because of lack of funds. Not much they can do most of the time, when the school simply does not have the money. Uof I is not flush in funds. Illinois is in trouble regarding school funding. No extra money there. </p>
<p>Can you even come up with the money? You are limited in loans as an UG without involving your parents.</p>
<p>Only 2 Illinois schools participate in Midwest Student Exchange- Greenville, and Lewis and Clark CC.</p>
<p>[MHEC</a> : MSEP Participating Institutions (52)](<a href=“http://www.mhec.org/MSEPParticipatingInstitutions]MHEC”>http://www.mhec.org/MSEPParticipatingInstitutions)</p>
<p>At UIUC tuition costs are fixed at the freshman level for all 4 years. Haven’t applied to any other schools that operate like this. Not sure if rm/bd is similarly fixed.</p>
<p>[University</a> of Illinois > University-Wide Student Programs > Residency](<a href=“http://www.usp.uillinois.edu/guaranteed_tuition/index.cfm]University”>University of Illinois > University-Wide Student Programs > Residency)</p>
<p>Checked, just tuition is fixed, nothing about rm/bd. Here you can see what happens to tuition if you take more than 4 years to complete degree</p>
<p>To the OP…in one post you say you are a mechanical engineering major and in another say you want to pursue electrical engineering. There are MANY colleges with these programs and ABET accreditation. That is what you need. There is nothing magical about UIUC.</p>
<p>If you are unhappy with your affordable choices this year, take a gap year and apply again next year to schools that will guarantee you the aid you need to attend. I would suggest that OOS publics be removed from your list if substantial aid would be needed to attend.</p>
<p>Well, that is a sweet feature. So OP would not have to worry about tuition increases, just coming up with the costs as laid out freshman year. My guess is that room and board can be flexible with intrepid students able to come up with less expensive options off campus with room shares and living frugally. So it come down to whether the OP and parents can come up with the cost.</p>
<p>What are your parents willing and able to pay? What are your other choices in terms of cost? </p>
<p>Frankly, I would not be wild about paying a huge premium for an OOS public as a parent for a program that can be pursued in state for a much lower price, unless I had budget set up as to what I was going to pay for college, and the cost was within that budget. This is a talk you need to have with your parents. If they can afford this and you know it isn’t going to be a big problem for them to pay it, then you are good to go. If you know this is more than they can pay,…well, you know the right thing to do. You are not likely to find anyone who will pay this kind of money for an 18-22 per year, other than a parent of that young adult.</p>
<p>thumper1:</p>
<p>You must be enrolling as a non-resident student at a participating Midwest Student Exchange Program campus to receive the discount.</p>
<p>I thought the exchanges were regional because you had to come from a state in the region. California and Illinois are not in the same region.</p>
<p>State schools generally don’t give much aide to students from outside their states.</p>
<p>^lastminutemom196 is right. Student is not in the same region, even if UIUC were a participating institution.</p>
<p>i didnt mean like a company i meant like random scholarships for writing essays or something…</p>
<p>Not really. “Random Scholarships” that require an essay are usually local scholarships that are for small amounts and only for freshman year. For instance, a local Rotary club might be a source for a small one-year scholarship for $1000 for the chosen essay.</p>
<p>There’s no incentive for random sources to be putting out multi-thousands of dollars for multi-year scholarships simply for writing a good essay. </p>
<p>Also, any sizeable multi-year private scholarships had deadlines a long time ago…and typically had a high need component to them. If I’m remembering correctly from another thread, it sounds like you don’t have high need because it sounded like your family is able to pay about $30k per year ( such as at a UC). Not sure what you were expecting from filing FAFSA. That’s an app for fed aid, and your EFC is way too high for fed grants.</p>
<p>On March 28, the OP posted elsewhere that he/she was not going to be going to UIUC because of the costs…and was trying to decide between Cal Poly SLO or UC Davis.</p>
<p>Those sound like they are very affordable as the OP also states that his family could afford the $50,000 cost of UIUC on that other thread.</p>
<p>I do believe the instate choices the OP has will ease the cost burden on his parents, especially if he takes the Direct loans to help cover some billable costs, and has a job for personal expenses.</p>