<p>I'll probably be applying to Northeastern and Cornell, maybe Boston U. Anyway, I haven't found much in regards to safety schools that I'd like to attend. I want to major in mechanical/aerospace or electrical engineering (I want to work in aerospace) and if I change my mind, it will probably be towards physics/astronomy. My SAT score is 2340, UW GPA is 94-95 and I'll probably be a NMF (PSAT 222). I'm assuming ECs won't matter for safeties, so I won't list them. My EFC is about $3,000 and I doubt my parents can afford that. My first choice safety schools like PSU, Pitt, UMN-Twin Cities and SD School of Mines are too expensive. I've looked at the various threads with schools that have automatic scholarships, but it's rather overwhelming to sort through everything. I won't be able to visit schools not in the northeast or eastern midwest, but I'm open to suggestions anywhere in North America, ideally not in the southeast. I've heard URochester (net price 20k) and RIT (24k) may be options with merit aid, but perhaps they're more matches and too expensive. It's important to me to graduate with little to no debt, if possible.</p>
<p>Try looking in these lists for schools where the residual cost is relatively low (under $10,000 if you are willing to do both federal direct loan and work, under $5,500 if you are willing to do either but not both) and which have your intended major(s):
<a href=“Automatic Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - #300 by BobWallace - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>Automatic Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - #300 by BobWallace - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums; (automatic for stats)
<a href=“NMF Scholarships: An Updated Compilation - #833 by BobWallace - National Merit Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>NMF Scholarships: An Updated Compilation - #833 by BobWallace - National Merit Scholarships - College Confidential Forums; (National Merit)</p>
<p>Out of the first list, you have possibilities in:
Alabama - Huntsville
Howard
Louisiana Tech
Prairie View A&M
maybe Utah State</p>
<p>Out of the NMF list, you have possibilities in:
Alabama - Tuscaloosa
Alabama - Huntsville
Alabama - Birmingham
Arizona
Florida A&M
Florida International
Central Florida
Idaho
Wichita State
Kentucky
Louisiana Tech
Mississippi State
Mississippi
Nebraska
Nevada - Las Vegas
New Jersey Institute of Technology
New Mexico
North Dakota State
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Houston
Texas - Arlington
Texas - Dallas
North Texas
West Virginia</p>
<p>Some of the others in the “full tuition” category may be doable if you can spend less than the estimates on misc, travel, etc. costs.</p>
<p>Note that you can also apply to schools with competitive large merit scholarships as match and reach schools (not safeties). See <a href=“Competitive Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - #50 by BobWallace - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>Competitive Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - #50 by BobWallace - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums; . Also see the National Merit list which also includes competitive as well as automatic-for-NMF scholarships.</p>
<p>Be sure to run the net price calculators on your match and reach schools to get an idea of whether need-based aid will make them affordable, or if you need to aim at merit scholarships there. If you need to aim for merit scholarships, that may cause a match school to become a reach school, or a safety school to become a match or reach school.</p>
<p>You’d be a great candidate for big merit aid at schools like George Washington and Fordham</p>
<p>It would be hard to get enough merit to beat a $3,000 EFC of need based aid if the OP applies to school that meet need. Now you do need to run the schools’ net price calculators to see how THEY look at your need. And if your parents are divorced, have a small business, or own rental real estate, that would probably make the calendar underestimate the need based aid you would receive. Seems like you should be able to make up $3K with summer work and a part time job during the school year IF the schools give you a similar EFC. </p>
<p>If you are looking at merit aid, you need to be aware that not all schools apply a merit award to your EFC – some of them just reduce your need-based aid by that amount and your EFC/cost of attendance stays the same. Some of them even do that with outside merit awards, so you have to know how each school handles it. Sometimes you can tell on their website, but sometimes you have to call and ask. </p>
<p>And @ucbalumnus has given you a nice list to look over. But run the calculators for them. </p>
<p>I applied to both RPI and Ohio State as safeties and they each gave me a lot o merit aid. I got a full scholarship at Ohio State and 20k from RPI. Also, you have really good scores so I think BU is probably a safety and maybe Northeastern too.</p>
<p>Being a “great candidate for merit at…” does NOT make the school a safety.</p>
<p>for a safety to be a safety, the student has to know for sure that he has all costs covered…no gaps because his parents cant pay.</p>
<p>As an eng’g major and a NMF, Alabama would give him…</p>
<p>free tuition for 5 years (some of these semesters can be used to pay for study abroad!)
one year of housing
$3500 per year
$2500 per year from engg
2000 study abroad
iPad…whatever the latest one is.</p>
<p>plus, you’d get some Pell grant money…guessing about 2500 per year.</p>
<p>If you still have some uncovered costs, you could take out a a couple thousand subsidized loan and/or earn some summer money.</p>
<p>the state is home to the second largest research park in the nation…lots of jobs and internships. </p>
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<p>No they wouldnt be. there is no way to know whether this student would have all costs covered. Getting a large award would be meaningless if the student still has to come up with $20k+ per year…which he likely would have to come up with.</p>
<p>keep in mind that his parents cant pay their EFC, so he needs almost a free full ride so that a small student loan and maybe some summer earnings can cover the rest.</p>
<p>this student can grab merit at a number of places…the problem will be that most wont give enough merit to be safeties for this student.</p>
<p>Northeastern would be doable, assuming I’m NMF and that scholarship is still around for next year (under 20k after grants, and then the 30k NMF scholarship). I don’t feel comfortable using a school that accepts less than 1/3 of applicants as a safety though. Alabama is pretty enticing, though my parents don’t really like it. I’ll look at some more on ucb’s list. I checked U of Arizona and that would probably be doable, but I don’t think ASU offers full tuition for NMF anymore. </p>
<p>ASU’s scholarship for NMF: <a href=“https://scholarships.asu.edu/scholarship/1729?destination=node/1729”>https://scholarships.asu.edu/scholarship/1729?destination=node/1729</a></p>
<p>However, the amount now says “varies”. Even if it were full tuition, ASU’s non-tuition costs are about $15,000, which may be a stretch to cover even with Pell + direct loan + work.</p>
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<p>But are there any generous-with-financial-aid schools that have automatic or assured admission for the OP, since the OP is looking for a safety? (Of course, such schools also need to offer the OP’s desired majors.)</p>
<p>If not, then automatic large merit scholarships for the OP would be needed to find a safety.</p>
<p><<<
Northeastern would be doable, assuming I’m NMF and that scholarship is still around for next year (under 20k after grants, and then the 30k NMF scholarship)
<<<</p>
<p>Do not assume that you would get both. NEU would FiRST apply the NMF scholarship, and then they might give more (but likely not). You cant assume a stacking of merit and grants like that at a school that doesn’t meet need.</p>
<p><<<
Alabama is pretty enticing, though my parents don’t really like it.
<<<<</p>
<p>?? when have your parents been on Bama’s campus???</p>
<p>Good to know about merit/need scholarships. I emailed NEU to see how much it would be affected.
In regards to Alabama, it’s just a natural bias I suppose (I have it too but I realize it’s unfounded). And they tend to assume non-religious schools are party schools, public schools even more so. The southeast (and tornado alley and earthquake-prone California) is the main area I didn’t want to go, but I suppose I can’t afford to be picky.
Alabama’s net price is still 18k (under 12k with the 3.5k stipend and the 2.5k engineering thing).</p>
<p>UAH would be a full ride I think and seems better for my interests anyway. La Tech looks pretty good too. U of Idaho also, but it offers less aerospace stuff than the others. </p>
<p>Would I fit in ok at these places? I don’t/won’t drink alcohol, am not very social, don’t care about sports (though I like informal physical activity) and wouldn’t participate in greek life. Easy access to nature is nice too. I prefer down-to-earth people, as opposed to the preppy (maybe not the word I’m looking for) stereotype of northeastern, especially private, schools.</p>
<p>Sorry to be asking so many questions, but it’s not foolish of me to assume I’ll be a NMF this early, right? My state’s NMSF cutoff would have to jump several points to rule me out, so I’m probably ok there.</p>
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<p>If by “party schools”, you are concerned about the prevalence of alcohol consumption, you may want to read about the characteristics of students and colleges that relate to that:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov/niaaacollegematerials/panel01/highrisk_05.aspx”>http://www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov/niaaacollegematerials/panel01/highrisk_05.aspx</a></p>
<p>Of course, individual schools may vary. For example, fraternities and sororities are generally associated with higher drinking, but some colleges have required that the fraternity and sorority chapters there be dry.</p>
<p>But small residential non-women’s schools in rural areas of the northeast or midwest with heavily white (as opposed to black and/or Asian) student bodies with heavy fraternity and sorority participation are the highest risk, so careful investigation of such schools’ social scenes would be in order if you want to avoid a school where alcohol is the dominant ingredient in the social scene.</p>
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<p>You do have to do some things to get from NMSF to NMF: <a href=“http://www.nationalmerit.org/Merit_R&I_Leaflet.pdf”>http://www.nationalmerit.org/Merit_R&I_Leaflet.pdf</a></p>
<p>To be safe, plan for at least one safety that is stats-only or NMSF-based without needing NMF, but if you make NMF, you may choose to replace it with a NMF-based safety if the latter is more desirable to you.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.uah.edu/financial-aid/aid/scholarships/new-freshmen/merit-scholarships”>http://www.uah.edu/financial-aid/aid/scholarships/new-freshmen/merit-scholarships</a> says I would be eligible for the Charger Excellence thing which covers tuition and room/board, but when I do the calculator with a 4.0 GPA and 1590 SAT (no NMF), it says I would only get tuition covered. Am I missing something?</p>
<p>You may want to ask them directly about the apparent discrepency.</p>
<p>Many NPC calcs dont include NMF awards. I dont think Bama’s does either.</p>
<p>UAH’s included the NMF award but apparently not the “charger excellence” (gold scholar or something like that instead)</p>