Asking for a friends whose daughter is a fantastic student and wants to leave Florida but would need merit aid. 31 ACT on her first try and pretty much a straight A student including lots of AP classes.
A few that come up often are…
https://www.uah.edu/admissions/undergraduate/financial-aid/scholarships
https://www.utdallas.edu/finaid/scholarships/
https://scholarships.asu.edu/estimator
@ucbalumnus maintains a thread somewhere with a great list. Sending up the Bat Signal.
About what cost of attendance are they targeting? Does she have a preferred engineering major?
Possibly chemical but not sure yet. She had 100% bright futures so her tuition would be free here
In Florida so her parents want her to find somewhere that won’t cost them anymore than going to school in Florida. Kind of a tall order. She is looking at UCF and UF here.
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/21089443/#Comment_21089443 includes some colleges that have engineering majors.
Note that UCF doesn’t offer Chem Engineering, but USF (and UF) does.
Also, with a 32 ACT score (one more point), she may qualify for the automatic USF Presidential Award, which is $20,000 ($5,000 per year). USF has a very good engineering progam (as does UCF and UF).
http://www.usf.edu/admissions/freshmen/admissions-scholarships/index.aspx
Sticking with the Southeast, the University of Alabama has a good chemical engineering program, and offer OOS merit scholarships, based on test scores and GPA. She currently qualifies for the UA Scholar, which is $76,000 over four years ($19,000 per year). If she gets her ACT score up to a 33, she would be selected as a Presidential Scholar and will receive $100,000 over four years ($25,000 per year).
https://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out-of-state.php
Auburn also offers OOS merit scholarships, and has an excellent engineering program.However, they are not as generous as UA.
http://auburn.edu/scholarship/undergraduate/freshman.html
Other state flagships also offer solid engineering programs, and some offer very good merit awards. They should also look at schools from Clemson (less generous…) to Mississippi State University (very, very generous…).
After the “Flagships”, they can look at the more regional schools (often called “directionals”), such as UAH, UAB, etc.
University of Maine at Orono has ABET-accredited engineering and is currently matching your in-state flagship tuition. Orono has an airport with non-stop flights from some Florida airports
Engineering
https://umaine.edu/chb/
Flagship matching
https://go.umaine.edu/apply/scholarships/flagship-match/
Look at Tennessee and South Carolina
I think it is ridiculous to forfeit Bright Futures to leave Florida just because that’s what a 16 year old wants to do. There are 20+ schools in Florida publics to pick from, plus another 5 or so privates that will come in at a low price (Miami, FIT, Embry-Riddle).
No way an OOS school, even with free tuition like UAH or Alabama (although I don’t think a 31 gets you free tuition) is going to beat free. I’d throw this back on the child and tell her to research where she can beat the BF price.
She isn’t unwilling to stay in Florida. Just curious as to what other opportunities could be available to her. Would love to spread her wings and leave Florida if possible. If not. She will be happy to stay in state.
No school will come close to the maximum award Bright Futures. It covers expenses, and most OOS programs only cover tuition. She’ll still have to pay room and board, plus travel.
Bright futures doesn’t cover room and board
31 act is a bit low for most full tuition offers. In addition to the schools already metioned I’ll add Louisiana Tech to the mix. 31 ACT will get you a OOS tuition waiver plus enough scholarship to cover tuition (by my math).
http://admissions.latech.edu/tuition_fees/scholarships/freshman-scholarships.php
They have some strong engineering programs worth considering.
FWIW unless her stats go up a bit I would think her best options are in Florida.
If you want full ride for stats, there are Tuskegee in Alabama and Prairie View A&M in Texas.
But many full rides at other schools are competitive, so should be seen as reaches.
A 31 will get you full tuition at UAH.
I read “full tuition and most fees plus $300 for books” to be inclusive, but must be wrong.
Ohio University would likely give her an OOS scholarship plus a a signature scholarship and their engineering school has been giving engineering scholarships. It’s a beautiful campus and worth looking into.
Here’s an idea. Perhaps she could take the great FL deal but plan a summer and/or semester abroad. (It can be tricky to do semester abroad as an engineering student, but with AP credits and advanced planning it is sometimes doable).
It’s tuition, most fees and $300 for books. Meal plan and dorms are extra. But it’s still incredible. Especially for those of us that locked in for Florida prepay when our kids were born. If they get full bright futures we can use the tuition money from the prepay for housing. My kids are staying in Florida for sure.