<p>This seems like a good fit for my rising junior but it seems almost 100% cost prohibitive which is a shame. What other schools might fit the bill that are maybe less expensive, offer better need-based or even merit aid and have similar majors, and similar campus feel, and under 3K freshmen? (Possibilities would be engineering, architecture, music, computers, some sort of design, science maybe, etc)</p>
<p>Not looking for the tippy top in selectivity. Probably looking at schools that accept at least 20% of applicants and definitely open to schools that are less selective.</p>
<p>WPI offers merit aid and is small and intimate. Apparently it has 3,849 undergrads which surprises me because when we visited it felt tiny! 56% acceptance rate, but fairly self selected group: SAT range (middle 50%) is CR/WR & MA: 1240-1470 and CR, MA, & WR: 1830–2180.</p>
<p>Also look at Rensselaer, Missouri U. of Science and Technology, Colorado School of Mines, Tennessee Tech, and U of Alabama at Huntsville (which gives terrific merit aid). All are smaller, undergraduate-heavy engineering schools with functioning campus life that aren’t brutally tough to get into. The public schools have a lower out-of-state sticker price than RH as well (total cost of attendance in the $30-35k/year range rather than $55+ at RH).</p>
<p>Olin College of Engineering might be a good fit. It is a new and small engineering school in Massachusetts. It has less than 400 students, but it is close to other colleges like Babson and Wellesley. I could be wrong but I think Olin students can take some classes at those colleges. Olin awards half-tuition scholarships to every student accepted, which would bring the cost of attendance down to around 40k per year. It is, however, a rather selective school with a 17% acceptance rate.</p>
<p>Just want to make sure that you know that at Rose-Hulman 71% of freshman (444 out of 621) received need based financial aid with average scholarships and grants of $23,650. See H2:</p>
<p>Personally, I visited RHIT and Lafayette and I thought they had very different feels. They are both small but Lafayette seems like a small LAC with an engineering department (felt similar to Bucknell and to some extent Lehigh) and RHIT is a small very focused engineering school.</p>
<p>Just a plug for RH. My son applied and was accepted with an $18,000 merit scholarship. That puts tuition in line with a public school. He ended up deciding that he didn’t want to go engineering, so he went to a different school, but if he had stayed engineering, RH would have been the place. If possible, have your son attend Operation Catapult in the summer after junior year. It’s three weeks of engineering and fun. It’s a couple of thousand for the program, but if you attend Operation Catapult you get a couple of thousand off tuition each year.</p>
<p>I was also going to suggest WPI. My friend’s son goes there and loves it (his sister will be going as well).</p>
<p>Stevens Institute of Technology might be worth a look. Even though it is right near NYC, the campus itself is small, and I thought very pretty. Not quite as pastoral as Rose-Hulman (which we also looked at), but it’s right on the Hudson with gorgeous views. It is small and very engineering focused like RHIT. </p>
<p>I’d suggest also at least looking at Lafayette and Bucknell . . .they both have engineering, but have the small size and beautiful campus. They aren’t quite as engineering oriented, but my son ended up preferring them both to Rose-Hulman. Personally, I loved Rose-Hulman, but it’s such a personal decision.</p>
<p>Several students in our area have chosen Valparaiso University over Rose Hulman when financial aid packages don’t come through. It is very well-respected in the Midwest and a great college environment. The admit statistics are a little misleading as they instruct applicants to apply only if they meet GPA/SAT requirements. </p>
<p>It is ABET-certified and graduates are hired throughout the Midwest.</p>
<p>Cal Poly SLO as a California resident (although it is slightly larger, with about 4,000 frosh)
South Dakota Mines (small, cheap, but engineering focused and may not have much for the other majors)
New Mexico Mines (like South Dakota Mines, though not quite as cheap)</p>
<p>Thanks for all the suggestions. I’ll look into these further.</p>
<p>What about Lehigh?</p>
<p>Also, I ran the f. aid calculator at RH and it scared me away. We’re a family of 5 with one already in college, make under 80K and I saw very little need-based aid.</p>
<p>Don’t know my son’s SAT scores yet-hoping for over 2000. He’s not a super high achiever in terms of national awards or anything like that. His biggest area of accomplishment is actually on the cello. He has some special needs (diabetes, vision disability, mild hearing loss). He will take dual-enrolled classes for his last two years of high school. He’s super duper creative and designs things (art, games, video games) all the time.</p>
<p>Yes, we’re Ca. residents but we may be moving for financial reasons; thus, I’m willing to look at most places but probably not the south or far northeast.</p>
<p>Someone suggested RIT, but they aren’t small like RH (RIT = 15 thousand students). Campus is also VERY ugly, all monolithic 70’s red brick (they own the color of the brick)</p>
<p>Be careful when you move, because if you move at the wrong time, he may lose California residency for college purposes but not gain residency in the new state for the first year or so of college, depending on the rules of the state schools there.</p>
<p>RPI is probably too far northeast, but my son goes and likes it. We didn’t get any financial aid, but I understand they are fairly generous. Lots of merit aid offered also.</p>