thoughts on this list of engineering schools for my son to vist/apply to?

College Search & Selection
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<p>his stats :</p>

<p>SAT: 720 math/540 english/580 writing (re-taking SATs again in october and ACTs next week)</p>

<p>not sure of class rank, GPA unweighted 3.7 ish, weighted,unsure but has to be close to 5</p>

<p>AP physics, AP bio, AP econ, AP psych, lots of honors classes (precalc, calc, history, spanish etc)</p>

<p>has good community hours (at least 200 by now and he's only a junior), has his own side business buying/fixing up/selling stuff like mopeds, go carts, mini bikes, etc.</p>

<p>he's a smart kid but very low key. is not into prestige or super competitive, cut throat environment, prefers small to mid sized school, non urban.</p>

<p>finances: looking for yearly college costs to be under 20k. so we will probably need some good/decent merit aid. Cost is going to be a HUGE factor here.</p>

<p>He wants to major in either Mechanical or Civil engineering. We live in New Jersey. Looking to be within 300 miles of home (mostly due to not having the money for all the travel expenses back and forth )</p>

<p>Here is our list of places to visit and maybe apply:</p>

<p>match:</p>

<p>Rowan (visited already and really liked)
The College of NJ
Widener
Loyola Maryland
York College of PA</p>

<p>Reach:<br>
Lehigh
Lafayette
Cornell (extreme reach I know, but it keeps coming up in searchs when i put in his stats...)</p>

<p>any comments, advice, other schools to consider ????????????</p>

<p>thanks in advance!</p>

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<p>I have heard good things about TCNJ - not sure how the $$ work, but it is affordable for in state. Have you looked at Wilkes Univ? I know some kids going there who have gotten nice scholarships with lower stats than your son. I dont know that Lafayette or Lehigh will give any merit aid in your situation.</p>

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<p>Rutgers (Match)
SUNY Buffalo (match)
SUNY Binghamton (high match)
Pennsylvania State University (match)(expensive out of state)its rural though</p>

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<p>surfcity: thanks for a quick reply, will research wilkes, thanks. so are lehigh and lafayette too high a reach for him? is it worth our time to visit the schools? at what point would his scores need to be to qualify for any kind of merit aid there?</p>

<p>xtremepower:</p>

<p>hes not interested in rutgers, its a HUGE school, he thinks he’d feel a little lost there.
penn state is WAY to expensive for out of state
will look into SUNY binghamton. I was concerened about lookinginto OOS state schools due to cost, etc…</p>

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<p>Alfred University (NY) established in 1836 as a co-ed university.</p>

<p>He would probably receive merit aid, mechanical engineering available there and is ABET accredited.</p>

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<p>What about Syracuse or University of Rochester?</p>

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<p>[Alfred</a> University : Financial Aid : Undergraduate Freshmen Scholarships](<a href=“http://WWW.Alfred.edu/finaid/scholarships/]Alfred”>http://WWW.Alfred.edu/finaid/scholarships/)</p>

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<p>If you think Penn State is expensive, but I’m sure schools on your list like Lehigh will be even worse. Most oos schools will be like that. </p>

<p>Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using CC</p>

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<p>thanks guys, adding alfred, syracuse and univ rochester to list to look into.</p>

<p>luminiz: lehigh and lafayette made it to the list because i keep seeing how they meet “100% of financial need”. I went to a college financial aid seminar and was told that private schools have more money for merit aid, look for schools with large endowments, etc. i have heard sometimes you can go to an elite private school for less than a state school, is this a myth, ??</p>

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<p>" I have heard sometimes you can go to an elite private school for less than a state"</p>

<p>This is true - if you get good aid at a private school, it can often be cheaper than state schools. Unfortunately, usually the schools who give great aid are often also competitive schools with large endowments.</p>

<p>Lehigh and Rochester gave me generous aid. Syracuse was so-so.</p>

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<p>

It’s not a myth, but you need to put the word “sometimes” in bold. Publics are not known for FA packages heavily tilted towards grants, but privates with deep pockets may have an income level below which they tilt heavily towards grants. Thus there are cases where the loans required to attend the in-state public are much higher than the loans required for an elite private; in some cases the elite private requires little or no loans.</p>

<p>But I wouldn’t count on that. Especially since you say that you are looking for significant merit aid. To me that means you have a high enough income that the FAFSA says you should be able to contribute heavily towards the cost of college, but the number is not one that you can swing. You should understand that in order to get merit aid, you need to be looking at schools where your son is going to be at the top of the pool.</p>

<p>You should also look at schools with coop programs. Students can earn a decent amount of money doing these. It is also excellent preparation for entering the career.</p>

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<p>mikemac: unoffical fafsa says efc 11k. i know each school has their own forrmula. we had several years of unemployment for my husband and this past year is our highest earning year, but we have alot of debt catchup to do from yrs of unemployment so…
and yes i know that my son has to be at the top of the pool for sig. merit aid.</p>

<p>should we be casting a wider geographic net? are there more affordable options much farther than 300 miles from home? (NJ)</p>

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<p>Have you looked into njit yet since you are in nj? I mean it is a Decent safety public school that has pretty generous merit aid. </p>

<p>Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using CC</p>

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<p>Here is a thread with discussion of coop schools: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/1100479-what-engineering-school-has-best-co-op-program.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/1100479-what-engineering-school-has-best-co-op-program.html&lt;/a&gt; Regardless of financial need or not, students come out of these programs very well prepared for the job market. </p>

<p>I’m not by any means a financial aid expert, but if your EFC is 11K then it seems that you should qualify for significant need-based aid at most schools. You might want to look into this further on the Financial Aid forum to find out what kind of packages you might expect.</p>

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<p>Cost of attendance for tuition, room, board and fee is $35,092/year for mechanical engineering at Alfred.
If son gets Presidential merit scholarship of $11,500 that brings it down to $23,592 for the year.</p>

<p>I do not know how that price compares to in-state New Jersey publics, which are probably the least expensive options.</p>

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<p>@aubrey26, now that you have posted an EFC of 11k, you would more than likely receive need-based aid at Alfred University, not just merit. AU meets a high percentage of need.</p>

<p>Inamori School of Engineering has co-op, research opportunities, honors program etc.</p>

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<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-17.html#post15743177[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-17.html#post15743177&lt;/a&gt; can give you some ideas for safeties (and target scores for his next SAT and ACT tries).</p>

<p>You mention federal EFC of around $11,000 per year. Is your AFC (actual family contribution) similar to that, or different? What kind of ASC (actual student contribution of work earnings and loans up to the Stafford limit) is acceptable to you and him?</p>

<p>Try the net price calculators on each school’s web site, to find out what need-based financial aid will come up with. Most out-of-state public schools are not generous with need-based aid; some privates are good with need-based aid, but they tend to be the most selective ones.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, Rutgers and probably other NJ publics may not meet need even for in-state students (though they are not as bad as Penn State and UIUC with respect to their in-state students).</p>

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<p>Just to clarify, most private colleges do not offer a lot of merit aid, unless the student is really exceptional. But many do offer great need-based aid. See if you can find those that are need-blind and not need-aware if possible. Good luck.</p>

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<p>How come he is waiting until October to retake the SAT’s, given his scores and the need/desire for merit aid?</p>

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<p>Match:
U. Rochester
Case Western Reserve
Pennsylvania State University</p>

<p>Reach:
Lehigh University
University of Michigan
University of Virginia
Carnegie Mellon University</p>

<p>Sometimes more expensive schools have larger endowments - something to look into…</p>