Thank you. I appreciate your help. I have heard all good things about Pitt. Is there a way to search graduates on LinkedIn?
@thumper1 He applied and was accepted at York, Ship and Pitt. No other pending applications. He wants to pursue Computer Engineering. His SAT score is 1360. GPA 92% in the top 10% of his class with AP classes
Depending on what his GPA on a 4-point scale is, he may qualify for some of the large scholarships listed here:
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/21015126/#Comment_21015126
If the schools where he qualifies for large scholarships are otherwise suitable (intended major and other criteria), then they may offer lower cost options for him, since it looks like even your least expensive option requires parental loans.
Another thing to consider with Pitt is the opportunity to co-op. Pitt seems to have a pretty robust co-op program where participating students alternate between semesters of study (where they are paying tuition) and semesters of work with a company (where they are earning money). If your son does 3-4 co-op terms, he could likely save $10K each term for tuition. He would still need 8 semesters of full-time study (where you are paying tuition), but that would be spread over 5 years, making it a bit easier for you to contribute. Can Shippensburg offer the same?
I was referring to Pennsylvania grants.
@Collegefrazzled There is a small but strong tech and start up community in Pittsburgh. (I used to live there and worked for a start up.) Because of Carnegie Mellon, most large tech companies (e.g., Google) have opened offices in the city. This has the effect of providing more opportunities for Pitt students as well.
Again, I’d suggest looking at job placement statistics for grads. For Pitt, the information is located online under each school. Ship has some information under the Computer Science department but it is not very helpful. You should call the school.
In the end, college is just a step in the journey of life. You just need to make sure it connects to where your child wants to go next (post college).
Can you get your son to be specific about what he doesn’t like about York?
No, he shouldn’t automatically go to the cheapest option on the table. But given the debt involved here- I’d be leery to taking York out of the equation if he’s avoiding it because a kid he dislikes from his Freshman English class is going there (or some such disqualifier). And if it’s not too expensive- I’d DEFINITELY be taking another visit- perhaps meeting up with a professor in the department- before I turned it down.
I am a big fan of Pitt; don’t know enough about Shippensburg to have an opinion. But stuff happens, tuition goes up every year, and it looks like you guys are looking at a whole lot of loans. If York allows your son to stay within the Federal loan limits- I’d take a very slow and careful look again.
Pitt does not have an on campus residency requirement.
He might be able to save money by living off campus with roommates and cooking meals.
Also Pitt has an established coop program where he could earn a good sum of money.
If he could take the engineering first year curriculum locally, he could save money and transfer to Pitt then.
Has he applied to Elizabethtown College? He might get merit there.
http://cfweb.cc.ysu.edu/finaid/estimator/est_estimator.cfm
Also run the net price calculator at Youngstown State U. They give good merit.
@mommdc I have to check with our community college regarding the credits but my son is interested in going away for college. Ohio is out of state for us and over 5 hours away so I would rather not add that as an option. Thank you
@blossom thank you. We visited York and my son said he didn’t like the campus or dorms. Dorms were very small and had No AC. I will try again to ask him to reconsider it. Didn’t apply to Elizabethtown but I will check it out
@mommdc I just checked Eliazbethtown Tuition is 58K. I think it’s getting late to apply to other colleges now. Not sure when we could visit them
Don’t check the tuition… check the NPC. (Each college is required to have a Net Price Calculator on their website. They don’t have to reveal their formula, which is different for each of them, but the NPC will tell you what you will be expected to pay and how much of a discount you can expect.)
It’s not late to apply - most selective colleges’ deadline are January 2-10, with a bunch around January 15.
It may be late for some Honors College but not all. (Your son should always apply to the Honors College).
When kids need merit, it’s not uncommon for them to apply to 10 colleges so that they can compare offers. The best scholarships are given by the colleges themselves so your best bet is to broaden the list.
Have you run the NPC on Lafayette? Lehigh? Bucknell? What about Temple?
Youngstown State may be in Ohio but it has very generous scholarships that many Pennsylvanians find make it cheaper than their instate options. And if you’re ok with Pittsburgh, Youngstown is just across the state border.
Elizabethtown has good financial aid but not sure about CSE.
Another top school for CS with good merit is Marist. However, it’s less likely to be within budget than Youngstown State - check the NPC.
Computer Engineering is ABET accredited at Elizabethtown. They have a 100% job placement rate. And he should be eligible for a $29,000 scholarship.
A lot of these LACs want more boys to enroll. It’s worth a try to have some more affordable options.
@Collegefrazzled Is there a yearly cost you are looking at that you could live with? @MACmiracle suggested Elizabethtown, with $29K a year scholarship, that would still run around $30K a year.
That would be a good number for a lot of posters on CC, but you need to go with something you can live with, so if possible, what would you be comfortable borrowing?
That’s why we say run the NPC, they might give need based aid too.
@laralei @mommdc I think $30K is too high. Ideally I would like less than $90K. Does each college give their own need based aid? I thought there was a cap on federal aid and loans. can students borrow more than $5,500 in federal loans? Thank you
Yes, each college gives their own need-based aid, and many don’t much of anything beyond the federal grant level… (like Pitt.).
Private colleges generally give a lot more need-based aid, depending on the FAFSA EFC, but a lot of them use something called the CSS Profile, which is a much, much deeper dive into your finances, and can result in a significantly different EFC than that generated by the FAFSA.