Possible OOS merit aid for west coast/east coast schools

Paying for College
1

My son is a junior and up until now had no idea where he wanted to apply. His GPA is 3.9 unweighted, he’s taken all AP classes his junior year and will his senior year. He’s ranked 4th out of 683 students. Not National Merit. ACT composite 33 with no prep; he’ll retake that in June. As far as ECs, he just earned his Eagle Scout after a year long project building a labyrinth. He’s done competitive crossfit but no school sponsored sports. He’s involved in the peer ministry program at church and he’ll be doing an internship with a local cardiologist this summer. He also applied for a competitive research internship at the local medical school; he’ll find out if he got that in May. He’s done a lot of community service type projects though Scouts, NHS and our church. He’s also operated a lawn mowing business since he was 14, but that’s probably his only thing that would count as leadership.

He wants to go to medical school, so he’s thinking about doing biology or possibly engineering for undergrad. He’s interested in the west coast; preferably Oregon but I’m researching schools on the west and east coast. We just started seriously talking about where he should apply, but I have done some reading here on University of Richmond and I think he could possibly get merit aid there. Are there any universities in Oregon or Washington with good science/engineering programs that would give OOS merit aid? We live in Oklahoma. We have another son finishing up his freshman year in a state university here, and he didn’t qualify for much merit aid. We were hoping this son would be able to get quite a bit of merit aid, and I’ve talked to him about not spending a lot on undergrad if he wants to go to medical school. Really we just want to see what the possibilities are with his stats so he doesn’t waste time applying.

Thank you in advance!

2

The University of Washington in Seattle has outstanding biology and engineering programs and the (US News) #1 ranked medical school for primary care medicine (#10 for research; the only school with top 10 in both categories) right on campus. UW awards the Purple and Gold Scholarship to OOS students, and in past years, for top students like your son, the awards have been as much as $9k per year for four years. If he is interested in UW, he should also apply to the Honors Program, which has a number of other scholarship programs that are available to OOS students.

3

UW is very expensive for OOS students; can you afford the costs?

4

http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/ lists the following automatic merit scholarships for his stats at east coast schools:

Howard: full ride
Florida A&M: full tuition for out-of-state students (full ride for in-state students)
Temple: full tuition

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1678964-links-to-popular-threads-on-scholarships-and-lower-cost-colleges.html has links to several lists of merit scholarships and low cost schools.

5

I can’t think of any publics that are going to give much OOS merit. You could look at privates like Willamette, Univ of Puget Sound, Gonzaga. Look up the scholarships section. You can try the NPC but it may not include merit since it isn’t often automatic.

6

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for top students like your son, the awards have been as much as $9k per year for four years


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lol…that is nothing.

Univ of Wash is not a good idea. Not only do they not give much merit to OOS, but an OOS student has a snowball’s chance in hell to get into their med school. UW SOM is made up of instate students, MD/PhD students, and some students from a couple of nearby states that don’t have med schools, so their states have an agreement with UW to accept some students.

There are schools that give merit, but your post sounds like you want BIG HUGE merit so that YOUR remaining costs are small. If so, then that is a totally different situation. Getting $20k per year at a school that costs $50k+ will still cost you $30k per year, which from your post does not sound like what you want…but maybe I’m reading too much into your post.

HOW MUCH do you want your remaining costs to be?

7

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Financial: For my oldest son’s FAFSA this year, our EFC was 11000. How will having 2 kids in college affect that number? We cannot contribute much, but he has a small 529 account that he can use at least his first year.
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Your EFC will split to about $5500 per child.

At many schools that will still not result in enough aid not to get gapped.

Can you pay the $5500 per year? more? less?

Merit will not cover your EFC unless it’s so huge ( a free ride) that it covers all costs.

Frankly, it’s sounding like your son needs nearly a free ride. It sounds like you need the school’s award to cover everything so that your contribution can cover incidentals…like travel costs and maybe books.

Please clarify. If your son needs a full ride, then the NE, west coast, PWC is not likely going to be happy hunting grounds.

Are you sure your son won’t make NMSF? Did his score not increase much from soph year?


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Are there any universities in Oregon or Washington with good science/engineering programs that would give OOS merit aid?

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I’m not sure that you’re asking the right question. Sure there are schools that will give OOS merit, but the amount will not likely be enough (basing on your past posts).

I think you need to be asking, which schools (anywhere) will give my child a free ride or near free ride.

8

Sorry for not giving more info on our financial situation. We can afford to pay $5500 - $10000 per year and probably more; but since he wants to go to medical school, I’m trying to stick to the “pay as little as possible for undergrad” rule :slight_smile: My preference is that he get a full ride or as much as possible, so we can limit our out of pocket and limit his undergrad debt. Right now we’re just exploring what his options might be, so that we don’t spend money on applying to places that won’t give merit aid at all. We looked at the list on cc of schools that give automatic full rides depending on stats and he’d be thrilled with most of those schools; PNW is just his first choice. I explained to him that realistically his first choice needs to be schools that give full rides or at least free tuition, so he knows that the PNW is a long reach.

You mentioned that at UW he wouldn’t likely get into their med school - where can I get that kind of information? That’s super helpful and we need to consider that along with merit aid, but I have no idea how to find out about the students at a particular school getting into med school.

9

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1678964-links-to-popular-threads-on-scholarships-and-lower-cost-colleges.html#latest

Read the links in this thread. If you can spend between $5000 and $10,000, your son will need to earn merit awards in the $30,000 to $50,000 a year range for each of four years. There are not a lot of OOS publics that will provide that level of aid. And there are not a lot of privates that provide that level of merit aid.

It sounds like you are not anticipating being eligible for any need based aid.

I would strongly suggest reading the above thread…then also look at your instate public options to see if any might be within your price point.

10

Thank you for the links. The ones I’ve already looked at were the Automatic Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships and the Competitive Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships. I assumed those automatic full tuition/full ride scholarships were just for in state, but I need to take that list and then look at each school’s website to find out.

He won’t be eligible for need based aid. He also doesn’t need a full ride; we can contribute and planned on doing that. We just thought based on his stats, he had some options besides in state. I’ll keep searching.

11

Well, its not on any coast, but Texas Tech gives good deals to OOS, and I think especially for border state (OK).
Direct costs for border state OOS (NM and OK) --Tuition-fees-room and board-- would be $20k this year (and then at least $2-$3K for books, trans. etc). This year a +32 ACT earned $6K annually plus first year $4K. Capping loans at the Direct student loan $5.5K (rising to $7.5K for seniors), would appear to get this into your affordability window. And the TTU health sciences center has a school of medicine.

So, not on the either cost, but it would give you reference point as you conduct your search.

12

I would suggest Miami University in Ohio. It is a great school, and consistently listed in USNWR as a great value. They have excellent results on med school admissions. The engineering school is not top ranked, but it is ABET accredited.

They are definitely interested in a diverse population, and I mean geographically diverse. Your son would have a great shot at merit. It is a wonderful school. I have listed the merit link below. I would also suggest you check out the miami thread, as there are stats listed and what the students received, which is listed below as well.

http://miamioh.edu/admission/merit-grid/

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/miami-university-ohio/1722226-merit-scholarships.html#latest

13

Public med schools exist primarily for instate students. That’s why they exist. The states are pouring a lot of money into those SOMs to produce doctors for that state. Along the same thinking…US MD SOMs exist to produce American doctors, that’s why it’s very hard for an int’l to get into a US SOM.

There are “some” public SOMs that will accept “some” OOS students, but often there is a hook of some sort.

UWash SOM is famous for limiting to instate students except for very few exceptions (Alaska, Idaho and a couple of other states that pay UWash because their states don’t have med schools). That said, UWash undergrad is lousy for merit anyway.

The safe rule of thumb is that an OOS public SOM will not accept you. There are certain SOMs that won’t accept any OOS students no matter what. That said, there are a few public SOMs that will accept OOS students who have a “tie” to the state. For instance, USA med school in Alabama will accept OOS students who attended instate undergrads. And if you’re a female, your chances are even better because the SOM is male heavy. UAB SOM in Alabama is also accepting “some” OOS med students because it is growing their med school.

When making a med school app list, the rule of thumb generally is: Apply to every med school in your home state, and apply to a variety of private SOMs of various rankings.

Keep in mind that ALL US MD schools are EXCELLENT. We don’t have any “so so” MD med schools in this country. The education is flat. They all teach the same thing. They have to follow a defined teaching plan to prepare students for the various USLME tests.

The numbers are available on the aamc.org website. However, the numbers can be misleading since they will include the MD/XXX students who are from OOS, and other special circumstances (such as paid agreements with states that do not have a med school) that a regular applicant can’t consider.

My son is a second year med student. We paid very little for his undergrad. He got FULL tuition plus $5000 per year in merit, which left us with little to pay.

14

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more info on our financial situation. We can afford to pay $5500 - $10000 per year and probably more; but since he wants to go to medical school, I’m trying to stick to the “pay as little as possible for undergrad” rule

My preference is that he get a full ride or as much as possible, so we can limit our out of pocket and limit his undergrad debt.


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Thank you for clarifying. Many of the suggested schools will not work because they will only offer a “tuition discount” (maybe a 1/3 or 1/2 of tuition), leaving you with $30k+ per year to pay.

Since nearly all schools will pkg about $5500-6000 in student loans in a freshman FA pks, then if you want to avoid those, then you’ll have to assume that you’ll pay instead of taking those loans.

Please understand that the so-called free ride merit awards really do not cover COA. They may cover tuition, room and board, but they may not cover books, fees, personal expenses, travel, etc.

A full tuition scholarship will likely leave you with about $15k (per year) in uncovered costs …room, board, fees, books and personal expenses/travel.

To get a “full ride” (tuition, room, board), then you’ll have to “move down the ladder”.

15

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I assumed those automatic full tuition/full ride scholarships were just for in state,
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no, not in many cases.

http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com

This is a compilation of large scholarship awards that are automatically awarded. The awards included in this list meet the following criteria:

  1. Awarded automatically based on GPA, SAT, ACT, and/or class rank
  2. At least Full Tuition/Full Ride in magnitude (or equivalent)
  3. Open to all US students, regardless of state residency, ethnicity, race, etc.
  4. No need-based requirement or component
  5. College must be accredited, public or non-profit private, 4-year degree-granting institution

Key:

Full Tuition: covers the cost of tuition for 4 years
Full Ride: covers Tuition, Room, and Board for 4 years (may include other benefits as well)
exp: stipend for experiential learning (internship, study abroad, etc., allowable uses vary by college)

I have also attempted to calculate the residual cost of attendance (COA) given the scholarship award. NOTE, however, that this was calculated based on each individual college’s published Cost of Attendance, and these estimates may vary in how they are calculated and what costs are included.

Where published, the application deadline for receiving the scholarships is included. Some deadlines are “Priority” deadlines, so awards after the deadline may still be possible.

Some schools give awards on a first-come, first-served basis as funds are available. A notation is included for all schools with this caveat.

==== ALABAMA ====

University of Alabama
Application Deadline: December 1st
Award: Full Tuition
Residual COA: $13,122/year

**Out-of-State Requirements: 3.5 GPA, 32 ACT or 1400 SAT (CR+M)
In-State Requirements: 3.5 GPA, 30 ACT or 1330 SAT (CR+M)
Out-of-State Scholarships - Undergraduate Scholarships - The University of Alabama
In-State Scholarships - Undergraduate Scholarships - The University of Alabama

Award: Full Tuition + $2,500/year
Residual COA: $10,622/year
Requirements (Eng/CS Only): 3.5 GPA, ACT 30 or 1330 SAT (CR+M)
Scholarships - Undergraduate Students - The College of Engineering - The University of Alabama

So, an OOS student with an ACT 32+ would get free tuition. And if he majored in eng’g or CS, he’d also get $2500 per year stacked on top

**

University of Alabama-Huntsville
Application Deadline: June 1st
Award: Full Tuition + Housing
Residual COA: $5,592/year
Requirements: 4.0 GPA, 34 ACT or 1490 SAT (CR+M)
Award: Full Tuition
Residual COA: $9,592/year
Requirements: 3.5 GPA, 30 ACT or 1330 SAT (CR+M)
UAH - Financial Aid - Entering Freshmen - Non-Residents Merit Awards

University of Alabama-Birmingham
Application Deadline: May 1st (December ACT/SAT)
Award: $15,000/year (Full tuition for up to 25 credits per year)
Residual COA: Depends on number of hours taken
Requirements: 3.5 GPA, 30 ACT or 1330 SAT (CR+M)
https://www.uab.edu/students/undergraduate-admissions/freshman/paying-for-college-united-states-citizens/scholarships/item/570-act-gpa-based-scholarships

Troy University
Application Deadline: March 1st
Award: Full Ride (Tuition+Room+Board)
Residual COA: $4,470/year
Requirements: 3.7 GPA, 31 ACT or 1380 SAT (CR+M)
Award: Full Tuition
Residual COA: $10,821/year
Requirements: 3.5 GPA, 27 ACT or 1220 SAT (CR+M)
http://admissions.troy.edu/undergraduate/troy-scholarships.html

Tuskegee University
Application Deadline: Not published
Award: Full Ride (Tuition+Room+Board+Books)
Residual COA: $2,664/year
Requirements: 3.7 GPA, 29 ACT or 1300 SAT (CR+M)
Award: Full Tuition + Books
Residual COA: $11,064 /year
Requirements: 3.5 GPA, 26 ACT or 1180 SAT (CR+M)
Freshman Scholarships | Tuskegee University

Alabama State University
Application Deadline: Not published
Award: Full Ride+ (Tuition/Room/Board/Books+1,200/year)
Residual COA: $2,544/year
Requirements: 3.76 GPA, 28 ACT or 1230 SAT (CR+M)
Award: Full Ride (Tuition/Room/Board/Books)
Residual COA: $3,744/year
Requirements: 3.51 GPA, 25 ACT or 1120 SAT (CR+M)
Award: Full Tuition+Fees+Books
Residual COA: $9,010/year
Requirements: 3.26 GPA, 22 ACT or 1010 SAT (CR+M)
ASU Scholarships : Alabama State University

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Plus more on that link

16

Thank you! That gives me a little hope :slight_smile: Not that I want him to go out of state but I did feel like his stats should get him some merit aid.

17

Quite the contrary - scholarships are only included in the list if they are open to out-of-state students.