<p>We rec'vd a nice merit aid package from RPI but as a Texas resident, it's still hard to pay twice as much for a private school. I've thought maybe we could consider transferring as a Jr if my daughter (engineering major) wanted to do that. I compared the Freshman & Soph more curriculum and it's very similar. I just can't see spending the extra $. The only thing that does make me pause is the school size. A&M is roughly 40,000 students...about 8 times bigger. The faculty / student ratio is 20:1 at A&M. At RPI, it's 14:1.</p>
<p>Anyway, just curious to get others thoughts.</p>
<p>I heard some people do this. Where one of the parents calls up RPI (the bursar, or financial aid office) and tells them that they their child is considering RPI but the cost of RPI is very high, and some other school (in your case, Texas A&M) is cheaper. If RPI gave them some more money they would most likely go there instead. My friend was able to get the cost of RPI down to about 12,000 a year.</p>
<p>Wow, 12K a year would be great. That's worth a shot. Thanks for the info.</p>
<p>Have you visited both places? Is ROTC still manadatory at A&M? I have a feeling, that altho both are engineering schools, they may be miles apart culturally. For sure the "college experience" is going to be different. Make sure you have a good match in that respect.</p>