Does anyone know if the University of Wisconsin-Madison offers merit aid to out of state students? Their Net Price Calculator doesn’t give me any information on merit aid. My daughter has a 4.0 GPA and an ACT = 32.
thanks in advance
To my knowledge, no automatic merit aid to Wisconsin residents or non-residents.
There is little merit aid at UW-Madison. The Kemper Knapp scholarships for NMF are for one year only and focus on in-state students. Here is a related post.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-wisconsin-madison/1401223-automatic-merit-scholarships-p1.html
There are some music students who get a full ride, but they need to have participated in the U’s summer programs.
^^The four-year tuition remission awards for audition winners at Summer Music Clinic are only for Wisconsin residents.
They are not a full ride.
Thanks for the replies. My daughter will be science or engineering. The most recent tuition number is $31K so at least for the purposes of our search that’s the number we will go with.
http://www.engr.wisc.edu/current/coe-current-undergraduate-scholarships.html
At UW-Madison, women in engineering are underrepresented thus are eligible to apply for the LEED scholarship.
There is little merit at UWisc. I don’t think an ACT 32 would get much/anything. I can’t find the reported middle quartiles, but I would guess that a 32 (while very good) is at the bottom of the upper quartile.
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Thanks for the replies. My daughter will be science or engineering. The most recent tuition number is $31K so at least for the purposes of our search that’s the number we will go with.
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^^ I don’t know what that $31k figure applies to, but the OOS tuition is not that high (it’s around $27k), and the OOS COA is about $41k per year. Of course, there will be an increase every year, so for someone who’s considering it for a rising HS senior, it’s probably best to use the $30kish figure for tuition alone (not including room, board, fees, books, etc).
@cobale What is your out of pocket goal at what you can pay each year? What do you want your net cost to be?
Why Wisconsin? As an OOS student, you should not expect much, if anything, in merit aid.
What other options are you considering? What is your instate flagship?
Lack of merit aid was the #1 reason I didn’t even apply to UW-Madison, even though I was instate. Still frustrated by that - there’s definitely some brain drain that results.
The $31K that I mentioned is out of state tuition from their Net Price Calculator estimating tool. It returns a total cost of attendance = $46K. We’re about a 5 hour drive from Madison so it’s a perfect distance from us. It’s also one of the best large state schools in the Midwest based on rankings and reputation. It has a good engineering school and I personally love Madison.
My daughter does not want to go to our own state school (Mizzou). $46K at UW-Madison is not affordable for us though. I’ll look into the LEED scholarship mentioned above.
If Wisconsin is unaffordable…sure…let her apply…but let her also know that if the money is NOT forthcoming, she will not be able to attend…PERIOD.
You live in Missouri. Has she looked at Mizzou carefully, or just dismissed it because it’s in her home state.
Re: engineering. The school needs to have ABET accreditation. With that,mthe requirements for courses are remarkably similar from school to school. In other words, there are hundreds of programs similar to Wisconsin. It’s a great school…but only if you can afford the costs.
With her current stats, I believe she would get a substantial guaranteed merit award from University of Alabama, which has a great engineering program.
https://finaid.wisc.edu/undergraduate-cost.htm
Tuition and fees for 2015-2016 for a nonresident is $29650. There is an approved increase for 2016-2017 of $3000. Engineering has a $1400 surcharge. That brings it to about $34k (not $31k, not $27k).
@cobale I am originally from WI and just returned after spending time there (have lived in AL since 1983).
UW has tightened OOS acceptances and scholarships quite a bit from what I have observed. Friend’s older cousins attended as OOS students, but he did not get accepted for Fall 2015 with excellent stats.
UW and the state are in a process of cut state funding - and a lot of anguish from employees; of course UW Madison is a solid school.
While I was there, a UW graduate with long history of UW family graduates just pledged $50 million to be used for scholarships (Nicholas Family - gift for scholarships is largest ever, WI SJ June 13, 2015 front page - to expand accessibility and affordability, I bet for WI state residents for the most part; they have had matching scholarships for athletic and non-athletic scholarships from this family’s generosity) - his family had earlier endowed $50 million to UW to help HS basketball players continue their education in the UW System - Ab Nicholas was a start basketball player in the 1950’s as a guard,
A prof with research funding recently got lured to U of MN due to the tenure rules under review, and what U MN promised him - from what I read, the UW President first said he would resign if state funding wasn’t at the level they said it needed to be, but then he backed down.
Gov Walker has said UW is going to stay in line with the tenure as other big - 10 schools.
WI has a lot of rural areas where residents are largely conservative. Madison and Milwaukee are with concentrations of liberal to the extreme. It makes for interesting life and the pull. Past national news on the school employee union situation.
Madison WI is a hot bed of State funding with the capitol and the historic and sizable UW-Madison campus. However UW-Madison president (or former president) tried to pull it away from the rest of the UW college system unsuccessfully in the past. I know they have frozen tuition for in-state to keep it affordable for WI residents.
My niece just happily graduated from UW. After her first year in an older dorm, got into off-campus housing - she just recently purchased a car and would have needed to pay $200/mo parking in their apt’s garage, but she got $80/mo parking in a lot behind a house a few blocks from her apt. You can see why many UW students do not own cars or have them in Madison WI. Brother graduated from UW in the 1970’s in engineering. They were WI residents.
Wealthy OOS students attend UW, esp those with high stats that can get in - a HS classmate of mine who is multi-millionaire has one of his 3 kids there - another is at UIUC and another is at Purdue - he has homes in Chicago and in WI; his high stat kids chose where they wanted to go because they could afford to. Son at UW is enamored with sailing and is involved a lot with that EC activity (their WI home is on a lake with a lot of sailing done there; even with WI property, his student is OOS). Historically, a lot of Frat/Sorority kids OOS at UW.
@cobale bring your DD to UA for a visit. That way she could have a good affordable option to Mizzou. Your DD would fit right in with the OOS and in-state students with high stats and excellent education opportunities. My DD is civil eng major, honors college, STEM MBA program, Presidential (full tuition) and Eng Scholarship ($2500/yr, $10K total) at UA. On the trip to visit UA, stop at UAH - also a great option for your DD with merit and with smaller campus. Would fit in with women pursuing STEM at both schools. IMHO UA offers a better option unless your DD wants a smaller school. Huntsville is a bit farther for you based on you being 5 hours from Madison WI, and UA in Tuscaloosa another 3.5 hours drive - however UA and UAH will be financial safeties to consider. UA has a fairly large number of high stat OOS students; great honors college and opportunities.
There are other OOS schools with good merit - can see on other CC threads.Just beware of GPA required to keep scholarship (some require a tougher GPA; many require 3.0).
I can just personally attest to comment in response with personal knowledge. I have graduate degrees from TAMU and UAH, and have worked for both of these universities. Have a friend whose DD attends TAMU for engineering (was NMS, OOS) but has to maintain a 3.5 for that - since she has another scholarship that requires 3.0, she can stay with in-state tuition after she drops below the 3.5 (expected during her sophomore year, even with lighter college load).
My older DD wanted to attend UW because of a young man she was interested in (I found out that piece from her later) - we wouldn’t even encourage or support an application to UW (she will finish a nursing degree at UAB, with great scholarships and low cost). She loves UAB and B’ham - just had a financially unrealistic idea!
Even if DD poo-poos certain safety schools, have them in the mix by getting application in early enough for scholarships (for UA and UAH would be automatic based on stats), by meeting school deadlines. Many kids think their stats will get them into and with scholarships at many places, and then they have their state safely and not much else. That happened to my friend’s son from W VA - she let him totally direct his college process because his older cousins were able to do so (had wealthier parents, and college costs have escalated with age gaps of the students - two of his cousins went to UW).
What can you pay? NM Tech and SD Mines are 2 engineering schools with relatively cheap OOS costs. She may get big scholarships from Stevens/RPI/WPI/RIT/NYU-Poly as a female engineer.
UW-Madison does offer full-tuition scholarships to some First Wave students, but they’re not exactly engineering-focused: https://omai.wisc.edu/program-info/
^^Spoken word and hip hop artists need apply.
In addition to the link in post #5 you should check with your local group of Badger Alumni for additional schlorship opportunities.
IMHO stats are not high enough for female eng big scholarship at some of these places. You have to look at the 25-75% SAT/ACT numbers; higher numbers against the school numbers is key.
Friend’s DD had ACT of 35 and got a big scholarship - in physics. She has almost all costs, tuition, room/board, etc covered with general and departmental scholarships to lure her to OOS private that she wanted to attend.
Check with UW admissions and FA office to get the 411 and the real chances for scholarship money.
Family and DD do need realistic chances and enough financial safeties if and when some of her ‘choices’ just don’t work out.
Have you looked at Milwaukee School of Engineering? H graduated from there - since he was from WI he also received State tuition grant $$ due to low family income and two his first year, and second year three in college. I think chances are better to get better FA and also better education at MSOE if the numbers work out. Based on the most recent US News Best Colleges, UW-Madison had 41% of UG determined to have financial need - avg aid pkg $12,718. MSOE had 83% of UG determined to have financial need; avg aid pkg $23,055.
MSOE is now more than an engineering school when they absorbed the Milwaukee County Nursing Program and now offer BSN. So their aid numbers may be with a heavier concentration of commuter students. I would also check with MSOE FA office to see realistically about scholarship chances - of course run the numbers with COA and estimates on your personal numbers. If DD would consider MSOE.
Yes, DD seems to not want the good school in her back yard that will be very cost effective and a very good engineering school. I do understand if you can plant the child where they are happiest, they may do better with better attitude and the school being ‘their choice’. However for most families, there is a budget.
UW-Madison merit scholarships require separated application. It was disappointing as all other schools my D was accepted offer scholarships directly. As the chance to get merit aid there is very low, particularly for OOS, my D did not even bother to apply and just forgot about it.
MSOE a better education than UW-Madison? In what regard?
http://www.engr.wisc.edu/future/undergrad.html
*UW-Madison College of Engineering:
College graduation rates for students who enter a degree program are more than 85 percent for all 12 engineering degree-granting programs.
Approximately 94 percent of engineering graduates are placed at a job (72 percent) or are pursuing graduate school (22 percent) within a year of graduation.
$59,000 is the average starting salary for an engineering graduate.
More than 200 employers participate in the Career Connection fair each fall and spring.
85 percent of all engineering majors participate in either a paid internship or eight-month co-op experience.
On average students make more than $3,000 a month at co-ops and internships.
The College of Engineering awards more than $1.4 million in scholarship funds to undergraduate students each year.
Our undergraduate student body includes people from 43 states and 50 countries.