Pls help any suggestions for OOS Engineering Schools that offer great merit aid

College Search & Selection
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<p>camomof3 - I actually thought of USC, but man I read on these forums it seemed super competitive. My son has ECs but nothing near what those kids have done. We are retaking the ACT and SAT. USC had a presentation at the beginning of the year really wowed our son. But on paper the school looked so expensive.</p>

<p>Another thing I notice about inner city schools especially SF. My son went to talk to his counselor about schools etc. Was referred to this man in charge of quote college conseling. He was sent home with this documentation that asked me to fill out and provide a W2. Which I refused to fill out. But basically from my understanding the schools college counseling is geared toward lower income etc. I refused to provide my W2 or financial information to this individual who I’m guessing is from an outside funded organization. Almost all of our S’s college guidance has come from me. All the college fair people that showed up were all States and UCs and like a few privates but the only notable name was Whittman and USC. bleh. It was horrible. I had to go find outside college fair type events at CC sometimes more than 40-50 miles away. What little I do find out from the school, I find from my aunt who is a counselor for a different grade. Sorry for the rant. I do understand limitations of public school. I understand being active etc. I notice there isn’t much guidance of paying for college at public schools. So I assume they think everyone qualifies for grants, or is going to take out tons of loans, or has this large sum socked away in the bank.</p>

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<p>A college counselor legitimately would need to know something about the family’s financial situation in order to be able to suggest schools that are within budget, or have some idea of what the student can expect in financial aid and net cost (even in the wealthiest counties, the percentage of students who can full-pay the most expensive list price schools is very small, so a reasonable assumption is that nearly all students will be looking for financial aid and/or have cost limits). For example, the college counselor encountering a needy student whose dream school is NYU can stress to that student that decent need based aid from NYU is unlikely, so that the student needs to get one of the big merit scholarships, not merely admission, to attend.</p>

<p>But if you prefer to keep that information private, you need to do your own assessment of the cost and financial aid angle (perhaps by using the “net price calculators”) and/or ask more anonymously (such as on here).</p>

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<p>USC is generally considered a lot better now than it was a few decades ago. Back then, its reputation was more like, “University of Spoiled Children” – i.e. academically mediocre sons and daughters of very wealthy people. But now, it has a larger percentage of Pell Grant recipients (19%) than any other highly prestigious university other than UCLA (37%), Berkeley (36%), Columbia (26%), MIT (19%, tied), and Emory (19%, tied). (However, Pell Grants are available to students from bottom 40-50% household income families, so 19% is not as impressive in absolute terms as it is in relative terms – though low quality K-12 education probably shuts out a lot of lower income students from applying to college in the first place.)</p>

<p>It is now thought to be nearly (but not quite) as selective as UCLA these days, though it also has a reputation of favoring test scores more heavily than the UCs do.</p>

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<p>I realize they need that kind of information. But I can’t remember the name on the letter head. But I remember the organization was connected to questbridge based on looking at the school website and some other local foundation. I remember specifically it was to help URMs, first one in family to go to college, and I did see it was affiliated with questbridge (which we don’t qualify). So being Asian, and from two college educated parents of middle income completely shut us out. bleh</p>

<p>USC looks amazing, we’ll apply. I just think it might be too much false hope. If we can figure out how to pay for USC might as well aim higher toward Stanford. we definitely won’t get a pell grant, and our child does not fall on the spoiled child side even though he is an only child.</p>

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<p>Take a look at Ohio University in Athens. We were there last weekend with our son and it is beautiful. It has something called a Gateway Scholarship that pays up to full tuition. I think that it’s engineering program is developing. Athens is a small town, but you can fly into Columbus.</p>

<p>Our daughter is at Pitt. LOVE Pitt and its generous scholarships. She is an applied math major, physics minor and took three years of Japanese and a semester of Korean. She is thinking about engineering grad school.</p>

<p>On an amusing note, DD attended a summer program for gifted kids at Truman between 8th and 9th grade. Every year after that she received a birthday card signed by the admissions staff. </p>

<p>Oh, and I am a grad of Iowa State; DD got about half tuition from ISU.</p>

<p>Good luck with the search.</p>

46

<p>@OP – With regards to changing majors at SLO, it is far easier then in past years. Changing majors within your department is very easy, for example electrical engineering to mechanical engineering if you have the grades. It is also somewhat easier to change majors from engineering to other colleges. However, from business to engineering or agriculture to engineering, it gets really complicated – not impossible, but certainly not easy. If you choose SLO you want to be sure of what you want to major in. Life will be much easier. My kid went from General Engineering to Mechanical Engineering and he was approved immediately and notified electronically. He also had a 4.00 GPA after his first quarter. If his grades were significantly lower, he would have had to sign an agreement and put a course plan together with an academic counselor.</p>

<p>With regards to my tax advice about reducing your income, I did not mean it literally! What I meant was to talk to your tax accountant and see if there were tax strategies you could uses to reduce your AGI on your tax return. I am a self-employed financial consultant and I legally write off many expenses related to my business. It is possible for me to have a lower AGI, if I use the right strategy. However, I’ve been unable to do that as my income is still too high. A way that you could write off more is if you had a side business.</p>

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<p>mdmom - Ohio University Athens, hmmm never heard of it. I’ll definitely look into that. For Ohio only one you usually hear about is Ohio State. I actually got information from Iowa State Ames, the brochure make it sound really appealing. Then again so is Grinnell. Pitt sounds like and amazing school, your daughter is so fortunate!</p>

<p>Ucbalumus - I definitely think USC has come a long way. But its still USC, pretty pricey. My son would love to go there. But even room and board is very high following most CA schools.</p>

<p>osakadad - Hehehe I sort of took it literal. I can actually apply to go part time. No side business. I work a flexible schedules. So I leave my house at 5 am with family in tow and usually get home around 6:30-7 pm daily. Not much room for that side business. Son is working on all these club things and wife is a work a holic as a 3rd grade teacher. Certain days she teaches an origami class for her after school program. Other days she teaches personal development to other teachers in math. I’m the one with a little more time on my hands. I do not bring my work home at all. But being the driver I attached to both of them.</p>

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<p>So we got some more information. My son was thinking of going away this summer for a paid summer program at a place like Missouri S&T. The school looked appealing with the programs and activities you can join. They can make a solar car how cool is that. But its interesting that a research school like that has about 5 times the amount of science related majors compared to most school which are the opposite.</p>

<p>Missouri S&T worth putting on the list? The sticker price isn’t that bad, they do have some merit aid. I can’t tell if it would offset it enough.</p>

<p>I also looked into Ohio University, but the scholarship fine print didn’t specify the instate vs out of state. So no idea if he would even qualify. The website wasn’t that great for that type of stuff. Reviews show that Ohio U is a big party school, does that mean its not that great academically? or if you don’t want to join a frat will it be an issue?</p>

<p>Osakadad - I saw your posts about Cal Poly Pomona raising their largest endowment ever. You think that will impact scholarships the coming year?</p>

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<p>It is not that hard to find schools with mostly STEM majors, though they are in the minority.</p>

<p>MIT
Caltech
Harvey Mudd
Georgia Tech
Colorado School of Mines
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology</p>

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<p>How low is your net cost limit? From previous posts, it appears to be less than the approximately $23,000 per year that Cal Poly SLO’s in state list price is. Missouri S&T’s list price for out of state is about $34,000 per year. Minnesota and Virginia Tech are slightly less, but still higher than Cal Poly SLO in state.</p>

<p>It does look like Alabama with the out of state Presidential Scholarship plus $2,500 engineering scholarship comes out to about $11,250 per year.</p>

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<p>ucbalumnus - For Missouri S&T, you’re right even with a $10,500 OOS scholarship it would still be $24k. Doh I wonder what I was thinking when I looked at that. Maybe the schools are becoming a blur. Alabama still sounds like the best alternative, financially. He still dreams about Pitt. Which we’re definitely applying too.</p>

<p>Yeah the STEM major schools are easy to find. But most have really high COAs. Excluding GA Tech and NM I think. But most don’t give that much merit aid. Sigh I’ll keep trolling the forums for more idea. But by this summer he’ll be solid on what he wants to do. I hope its engineering since I researched all this.</p>

<p>Nevermind GA Tech OOS is still $39k (decently high) even with remote possiblity of merit scholarships which go to about 100-150 people out of 5000.</p>

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<p>If Alabama at $11,250 per year is affordable, then your list of safeties would likely include the following:</p>

<ul>
<li>Alabama with Presidential Scholarship plus $2,500 engineering scholarship.</li>
<li>Commute to community college, then transfer to UC or CSU, where a higher cost of attendance can be sustained due to savings during the community college years.</li>
<li>Commute to San Jose State. They list something like $17,571 per year commuter, but much of that seems to be what you would be paying for him as a high school student anyway, so the added costs above that would likely be tuition, books, and commuting costs for around $10,000 per year.</li>
</ul>

<p>Reaches that would be cheap if he got in:</p>

<ul>
<li>Stanford. Claims need aid will cover full tuition for families under $100,000 per year income. Other costs when living on campus are about $17,000 per year, but commuting after freshman year (when students are required to live on campus) can save some money here.</li>
<li>Berkeley mechanical engineering with full ride Drake Scholarship.</li>
</ul>

<p>Remember that if he moves on campus or near campus when going to school, your household would not have his added expenses for food, water, etc., so some of the living expenses for on-campus living would be counterbalanced by this savings.</p>

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<p>What you and your son probably want to do is make a list or spreadsheet of all of the schools under consideration, or which are suggested to you and your son, so that you and your son can have all of the information in a well organized form for making application and enrollment decisions.</p>

<p>Record the following for each school:</p>

<p>A. Check which [ABET</a> accredited](<a href=“http://main.abet.org/aps/AccreditedProgramSearch.aspx/AccreditationSearch.aspx]ABET”>http://main.abet.org/aps/AccreditedProgramSearch.aspx/AccreditationSearch.aspx) engineering degree programs the school offers.
B. Use the “net price calculator” on the school’s web site to get an estimate of financial aid and net cost.
C. List merit scholarship amounts that are guaranteed by stats (e.g. Alabama’s Presidential Scholarship and engineering extra scholarship). Make note of renewal criteria.
D. List merit scholarship amounts which can be applied for, but are not guaranteed (e.g. Berkeley’s Drake Scholarship, if mechanical engineering is the chosen major).</p>

<p>B - C will give you the net cost after scholarships, assuming reasonable renewal criteria. B - C - D will give you a “reach” net cost. If B - C - D is affordable, but B - C is not, then the school becomes a “reach” since your son will be aiming for the scholarships, not merely admission.</p>

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<p>ucbalumnus - Wow thats a good approach. I will do the spreadsheet and breakdown soon. Just figuring out which ones offer scholarships that are automatic is hard vs which ones might be reaches. Hmmm But that does sound like a good approach. I’ll definitely look into that suggestion. Do you think UAB is a reach financially?</p>

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<p>UAB offers the [$15,000</a> per year Blazer Elite Scholarship](<a href=“Error 404 | Not Found”>Error 404 | Not Found) that should be automatic with your son’s stats. [Cost</a> of attendance](<a href=“Error 404 | Not Found”>Error 404 | Not Found) is $20,906 to $24,350 per year for out of state (depends on meal plan).</p>

<p>Assuming the higher cost of attendance, subtracting the Blazer Elite Scholarship gives a net cost of $9,350 per year.</p>

<p>In the above scheme, B = $24,350, C = $15,000, D = ? (there are other scholarships, though how easy or hard they are to get, especially if one already gets the Blazer Elite, is not known), so B - C = $9,350 per year.</p>

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<p>Another reach possibility: [url=&lt;a href=“http://www.robertsonscholars.org/]Robertson”&gt;http://www.robertsonscholars.org/]Robertson</a> Scholarship<a href=“full%20ride”>/url</a> at Duke, which offers biomedical, civil, electrical and computer, and mechanical engineering. The scholarship is also available at UNC Chapel Hill, but UNC Chapel Hill does not have engineering (though it does have other subjects like math, computer science, and physics).</p>

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<p>it is quite easy to keep the cost of uab closer to 20906 per year… the suite style dorms have mini kitchens and the apartment style dorms have full kitchens, with stoves, fridges etc…the 24K per year cost includes about 3800 for food…they wont use that much…S2 is now on the 700 per semester plan and doesnt use all of that. uab does allow you to stack any outside scholarships you receive on top of blazer.</p>

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<p>The Robertson is out of reach.</p>

<p>Look at The Cooper Union. Every admitted student gets a full tuition scholarship.</p>

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<p>Also look into Auburn. They have a good engineering program and like Alabama have decent merit aid.</p>

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<p>Auburn has the highest ranking for engineering in alabama, UAH (Huntsville) often is referred to for engineering due to its proximity to nasa facility and research park and also has a very good program. Think there have been some recent changes to auburn oos scholarships but they are still very good for good stats.</p>

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<p>*If Alabama at $11,250 per year is affordable, then your list of safeties would likely include the following:</p>

<ul>
<li>Alabama with Presidential Scholarship plus $2,500 engineering scholarship.
*</li>
</ul>

<p>With the Bama Presidential tuition scholarship and $2500 engineering scholarship, the remaining costs shouldn’t be quite that much after frosh year. Frosh year has a mandatory high meal plan of 160 meals per semester. After frosh year, no meal plan is req’d…so you can either pick a lesser plan or no plan.</p>

<p>UA OOS tuition and fees: $21,900<br>
Room and board:… $8,564 (Standard double dorm)</p>

<h2>Books and supplies: …$1,100 </h2>

<p>Basic school expenses…about $32k</p>

<p>Estimated personal expenses: $2,300<br>
Transportation expense: $1,158 </p>

<p>Santookie…Is your plan to have all basic costs (tuition, fees, R&B, books and maybe travel) covered by tuition and family funds, and then have your child pay for “day to day” expenses from earnings from a summer job and/or part-time job during the school year? </p>

<p>BTW…when comparing costs, be sure to compare details of ACTUAL meal plans and dorms. Some schools include a rather cheapy meal plan or their cheaper dorms in their COA…that can be misleading if your child (especially boys!) need more meals per week or doesn’t want Dungeon Dorm with no A/C. </p>

<p>Also… if looking strictly at COA, note how much has been added in for travel and personal expenses. I’m amazed that there isn’t more of a standard for these expenses. Some schools estimate hardly anything for travel or personal expenses in their COAs.</p>

<p>I think it’s easier to compare “Basic Costs” (tuition, fees, room, board, books - while noting different R&B offerings)</p>

<p>Also…look closely at “university fees” and “course fees”…these can be wildly different at various schools. </p>

<p>University fees can be things like Recreation Center fee, Health Center fee, Activity Fee, Student Center Fee, Bus Fee, etc, etc. At some schools, these can be well over $1k per semester!</p>

<p>Course fees are related to particular classes. Think of them like “lab fees” or “art fees” or “tech fees”. At some schools these can total as low as $200 per semester or as high as $1k+ per semester! (FYI…at Bama, they run about $250-300 per semester.)</p>

<p>Anyway…Some schools have resorted to significantly increasing fees because they want to avoid large tuition increases. In MA, the fees are about $10k or so per year! Shocker!!!</p>