<p>I am trying to help a neighbor kid with no parental support figure out what colleges he should apply to and hoping you all can help. </p>
<p>EFC : $2700
Intended major: Engineering (either Chem or Civ)
SATs: 2070; CR/M: 1350
GPA: 3.95
AP's: passed 3 tests so far; will take 4 more in spring
Washington State; he is willing to travel out of state though
ECs: a few club leadership positions </p>
<p>I know that community college would be this student's best bet, but he really really needs to get out of his home. Obviously, UW is a good option, but I'm hoping some of you can suggest other meets full need matches.</p>
<p>With high need I would recommend Northwestern, UNC and UVA but those scores are probably not good enough. Possibly Bama or UA Huntsville.</p>
<p>I think that he might need generally a generous private school with engineering that is not that competitive. </p>
<p>It matters who that CR/M=1350 breaks out. Hopefully, higher math. </p>
<p>I’m thinking
University of Rochester - very close to need blind and full need
Case Western
RPI
Lehigh
WPI</p>
<p>Do the Washington public universities’ net price calculators list a net price of under about $10,000 for him? (that is probably about the limit a student can reasonably come up with from direct loans and work earnings, though lower is obviously better in this case)</p>
<p>Some of the schools with automatic merit for his stats listed at <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-19.html#post16145676[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-19.html#post16145676</a> include:</p>
<p>Alabama - Huntsville (full tuition, remaining cost $9,592)
Howard (tuition, fees, room, remaining cost $9,711)
Prairie View A&M (tuition, fees, room, board, books, remaining cost $5,324)</p>
<p>A retry on the ACT or SAT for a higher score (like 32+ ACT or 1400+ SAT CR+M) may get some more of the scholarships.</p>
<p>There are also <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-4.html#post16224918[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-4.html#post16224918</a> to try for.</p>
<p>He needs to consider the total economic package. Travel costs will not be part of many scholarships. Time and costs for travel may mean not being able to return to family and friends during breaks within semesters. Being away from everyone with a common cultural background can be an issue. I understand needing to get away from home- living on campus was a lifesaver for me eons ago. Going away to a Washington school may be the best plan- even if it means living on campus only a few miles from home.</p>
<p>The state of Washington has been terrible lately with fin aid, almost all loans, trying to recover from all the prepaid tuition kids hitting college now, but he still should apply to UW and WSU.</p>
<p>He has a pretty good shot of academic scholarships at WUE schools not in CA: U of A, Montana State, U Wyoming, U Idaho, CO State. Make sure to apply to the Honors Colleges as there are extra scholarships available there.</p>
<p>^Magnetron: UW has met full need for both of my kids last year and this year–with substantial grants and institutional scholarships. I don’t have any idea what is going on at WSU, but the aid at UW is phenomenal.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I will go through each schools net price calculator and freshman profile to see if we can find any other matches. </p>
<p>Would love to see more suggestions too.</p>
<p>WSU “gave” us a $21,000 Parent Plus loan and a $5500 Student Loan - their version of financial aid, and fairly typical from what I hear from others. WWU offered $1100 scholarship to go with the loans - not much better. I know a couple of high stats kids at U Colorado who got decent aid to make it about the same as in-state here, but still not what your friend needs.</p>
<p>Northeastern University in Boston can be generous for high-stats kids who come from outside the northeast. (School is attracting regional diversity.) The opportunity to do paid co-ops at NEU will also help with the travel costs to and from home.</p>
<p>Off topic…Magnetron…I know YMMV depending on EFC(ours was 9.5K) and stats, but we were pleasantly surprised with the non-loan aid at Western too…$11K in scholarships (divided only between 1st 2 years though) and a $1K grant. I will add though that the my DH negotiated the aid up a bit when he called FA and told the administrator there that it was “stupid” for the net price at WWU to be higher than at UW. :)</p>
<p>Please be cautious of the CC route. I am not familiar with the Washington area, but I had a lot of friends go to CC -> engineering, which was cheap for the CC and they were promised all credits would transfer. But then they had to be at university for 3 years, to finish all the requirements for the engineering major, even though they already had 2 years of CC credits. This is also usually with limited financial aid at the university. </p>
<p>I would second ClassicRockerDad’s suggestion to check out generous private schools and schools where the student would qualify for merit aid.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>At many other schools, there is an optional formalized co-op program. For example, UW offers it: [About</a> Engineering Co-op | UW College of Engineering](<a href=“http://www.engr.washington.edu/curr_students/coop/about/index.html]About”>Career Center @ Engineering | UW College of Engineering)</p>
<p>Even when there is not a formalized co-op program, many schools have lenient readmission policies for students who withdraw in good academic standing; this can be done to create an informal co-op.</p>
<p>Will this applicant be the first generation to attend college? If so, and depending on how the CR/W scores broke out, I would suggest looking at MIT that has a strong program to support first generation college-goers and strong finaid.</p>
<p>Is that 3.95 weighted or unweighted?</p>
<p>unweighted </p>
<p>SAT breakdown: CR 620; M: 730</p>
<p>And, truthfully, I’m not sure about the first generation status, but either way, this student doesn’t have the stats for MIT, does he?</p>
<p>Agree with classicrockerdads list, but those schools are closer to east coast, so there will likely be travel involved.
I’ve heard Rice gives a lot of aid too, but have no personal experience.
Does he have ECs that might set him apart?
I can’t answer the MIT question but I have a distant relative who got into Stanford, and being the first in her family to go to college may have helped.
Good luck</p>
<p>I’m in the process of checking freshman profile stats and net price calculators (some of them ask for more detailed info than I have though) for the schools you have have suggested. </p>
<p>What other schools are similar to those in CRDs list? </p>
<p>WUE schools might work, but I’ll be surprised if any of them meet need. I’m going to check though. </p>
<p>Student doesn’t have any unusual ec’s unfortunately.</p>
<p>An unweighted GPA of 3.95 is very good and even better if he is coming from a competitive high school. The GPA will suffice for just about anywhere. Perhaps he should sit for the SAT again. If he can bring it up another 130 points (which is not an unrealistic jump with a little prep), then he could apply anywhere and have a shot. Of course he may want to select schools that are known to be generous with aid.</p>
<p>The reason that there are more northeast schools on the list is simply that a much larger fraction of east coast students go to private school in the northeast than in many other parts of the country. Over time, many have build up a pretty good endowment to support a tradition of good financial aid. </p>
<p>That’s also why we don’t have too many flagships of the caliber of UCs, Michigan, Wisconsin, Washington, etc. </p>
<p>Other schools that give good aid and have engineering but are real reaches are
Cornell
Carnegie Mellon
Northwestern
Harvey Mudd
Rice
Johns Hopkins
Tufts</p>
<p>I’m having trouble thinking of other private schools that might offer good financial aid that also have engineering that aren’t in the northeast.</p>
<p>I would take a different tactic and look at the western engineering schools like New Mexico Tech, University of Wyoming and Montana State where his geographic diversity might yield some scholarship aid in that major.</p>