Any 2018 Tuition Exchange Stories out there worth sharing? My child will be applying for one next year and I wanted to hear how it played out for others this year. My kid is a high performer and there doesn’t seem to be a lot of top tier schools that participate in the program. I am also sensing that regardless of the percentage of scholarships awarded at each school, most only give out 8-10 per year.
@Gurteen :
It’s great that you are asking about this now. Long story short, my DD applied for 10 TE positions, was accepted to 8 of the schools (one WL, one reject), and received 2 TE offers (plus Syracuse, which is automatic assuming you are accepted). The 2 TE offers were for schools where she was well above the profile. Very good schools however. I have come to learn that you really need to think of this TE award as truly a scholarship. So, as with any scholarship, you need to be well above the 75% stats to receive the award (so even if you are reasonably confident your child would be accepted, you need to post much better stats to get TE). I also have heard that for some schools, you should apply ED to be considered (which seems counter to what I thought ED was about). We did not do that for a variety of reasons, but perhaps we could have been more successful if we did. Also, finding the ‘right’ TE rep at each school seems hard to find. There are HR people who manage that but they have no connection to admissions, and admissions people don’t really seem to know about TE. So it is difficult to get answers/guidance.
I strongly suggest that your child also apply to options besides TE (e.g., state schools) that you could afford or where you might get great merit money. Our state flagship has ended up being the best fit (yet no TE) and that is where my DD will attend!
Lastly, the TE website indicates the % of students awarded TE at each school. Besides the schools that say 90-100%, I would take this with a grain of salt. I think that the %s change every year and I would play it safe - assume it is less than 10% at all schools. One final thought - you might have more luck if you apply to a school in a different geo area. We are in the Northeast and focused on NE schools — very competitive! But we had been told that we might have better luck at CA or FL schools (for example) given those schools might be looking to get NE students.
Good luck!
1 Like
Thanks for the detailed response. You have confirmed what I had been piecing together the last few years. Outside of Syracuse and your home college TE is no sure thing and just another potential full scholarship for your child. Like all tuition scholarships I would expect the competition to be fierce. As a fellow Northeasterner, there are only a handful of schools that would be on my child’s radar. Hopefully one of them comes through.
It is my understanding that USCal gives TE to anyone that is accepted. My D was offered it and it covered 80% of the USCal tuition. In addition they stack merit on top of it up to Full Tuition + $8K for room and board + departmental merit. So if your child is a NMF you’ll get a minimum of FT + $8K + $2K NMF bonus each year with the possibility of other small awards.
Just to add my D also got TE from BU for $33K. She didn’t get it from UPitt but that makes more sense as she is in-state and they save TE for out of state students since it saves them money in their FA budget as TE is HR funds. She looked at Case Western and Mt Holyoke but didn’t apply. She got the NMF at Fordham which is better than the TE award. If your child is interested in engineering there are a number of schools with ABET certified programs.
Thanks for the intel.
Add me to the hunt for a TE school during next year. S19 wants engineering so we are focusing on the TE schools with civil. We will apply at our home institution, in state schools, and maybe an auto merit or two, and maybe a lottery school?? It’s so hard to know stats wise if we are in the park and we’re also in the northeast too. We visited Bucknell, Lafayette, and Villanova earlier this week, all seemingly have varying levels of competitiveness. We are trying to determine if he should take the ACT a second time after getting a 34 on his first attempt.
@MAandMEmom 34 is really high enough for any school in the country. The other areas of the application will make more of difference than going from a 34 to a 35. You could try one more time to see if he can get a 36 which might make a difference at a school like USC trying to boost their profile.
I’d take a look at Drexel (unless you don’t like cities) and UDel.
Thanks @Dolemite we actually had Drexel on the docket last week but when we drove through there on Sunday after touring museums, it felt way too city for him. I love that they have civil and architectural engineering which would let him further figure out his passion. Maybe a summer tour. We have been on again and off again with UDel for no other reason beyond distance.
He also took the notoriously hard February ACT sitting and ironically the math kid “only” got a 32 on math. I say only as it’s a great score but it was his lowest sub score and aiming for engineering, I feel like he might do better as there were trig questions they had yet to cover in precalc. This whole tuition exchange makes a difficult process even more challenging. Fit-wise for his personality, it seems Wentworth, Quinnipiac, and Norwich are his favorites, the last being a quite surprise for me as a total left leaning person. But he’s an Eagle Scout, so hubby (also an Eagle) said the environment is right up his alley.
I received tuition exchange this year at Fordham, Case Western, and Villanova. Nova’s net cost (including room and board) now comes to $23k so I will likely be attending, but my admissions rep called me and said only 4 other students were awarded this scholarship. FYI- I have a 1580 SAT score, 10 AP classes, president of a few clubs and in many other ECs, and have a 96.5 gpa, putting me in the top 6% of my class. Good luck applying next year!
Thanks for posting your stats @cbjs44. It’s helpful to know somewhat where we stand at these schools. Could you share what you plan to study at Villanova? My son also plays cello too, definitely not first chair but has been since fourth grade. Unfortunately our school will not share rank until the fall so I have no idea where he stands in terms of rank or percentage.
I plan to study cognitive and behavioral neuroscience @MAandMEmom
I’m several years from having to use this, but I’m following this thread.
Thanks @cbjs44! Another question…did you (or your parents) reach out to each of the schools early to get the process going? It seems pretty fuzzy in terms of what to do when.
@MAandMEmom The process starts at your place of employment. You follow whatever procedure they have in place but generally you have to be accepted for TE first by your institution, apply and get accepted by the schools your child wants to attend, and then you find out if those schools offer you TE.
USCal was the only school I talked to directly. After qualifying for TE (based on seniority at my work school) and after my D was accepted by USCal in late January I contacted them to see if my D would get TE. The only other place she got TE was BU and that was noted in her Financial Aid package when she got her acceptance.
My mom added the TE schools to which I was applying to her University’s database and I soonafter sent in my normal applications. I believe she began this process around September of my application year
Not 2018, but we went through the TE process in 2017. Following advice I found here, my daughter emailed the TE Liasons at the schools she was interested in before she applied. She let them know she was very interested in attending their school and asked how many applications for TE they normally receive, how many they accept, what they are looking for in a candidate, if it covers study abroad, etc. Each one gave a pretty detailed response in return.
@MAandMEmom I would add WPI to your list if you haven’t considered it yet. My daughter is an engineering major and we loved it there - it seemed like a great environment and they gave her a great initial offer (very close to the TE amount) before replacing it with the TE offer. Ultimately she wanted a more urban setting and went with the TE offer at Pitt (we are OOS).
I agree with the other posters about applying to state schools and other non TE colleges. One thing to keep an eye on though, is the GPA required for keeping any merit scholarships. It seems that most of them require a 3.0 cum gpa or even a 3.5 to keep the scholarship. The TE schools that my daughter was considering required only a 2.0 or 2.5 gpa. Luckily my daughter did well her first year, but it was nice not to have the added stress of worrying about losing the scholarship.
@magecrew I may have even asked you this before, so if but did sorry!! Pitt seems super competitive regarding the tuition exchange as it’s a great school and the COA seems so good compared to many other comparable schools at about $12k after the TE. My S19 has good stats (ACT of 34, taking again on Saturday) but it seems he’d need to be a walk on water type to get Pitt. Could you share more about your daughter? I’m hesitant to visit thinking it’s a no way for him. It’s a 9 hour drive for us as we are OOS as well.
I’m at WPI all the time for my other kid’s EC and always thought it would be a good fit for him but I didn’t visit during the open house and hubby went. Something about the initial large classes was a turn off for them. Every time I bring it up they claim it’s a no…
What initial large classes are you talking about?
The Great Problems Seminars that culminates in annual Poster Presentation Days and celebrates students’ innovative research are very large and have proven to be so effective that the National Academy of Engineering has presented the University, in part, a special award based on the programs proven success. See https://www.nae.edu/Activities/Projects/Awards/GordonPrize/GordonWinners/148200/148209.aspx
Do you mean Freshmen lectures?
Go to page 30 of the latest WPI Common Data Set (CDS) @ https://www.wpi.edu/search/google/CDS%202017-2018#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=CDS%202017-2018&gsc.sort= and you will see class sizes reported on a standard format used by most colleges and universities. This will enable an informed comparison in a common format where you may make comparisons with the same reports made available on many other university websites.
Thanks @retiredfarmer I guess I really need to do research and not rely on hubby. And yes, they were referring to freshman classes.
I also want to say that the panel they selected for the open house they attended last fall was not a good representation of the student body in general. It was entirely made up of athletes and while I know that WPI is not all about sports, it felt that way and made my son feel like he would not fit there.