What's a good FA package from WPI (Class of 2022)?

I am terribly sorry, but I am absolutely livid about the gender argument here. I am a woman, I am a fervent defender of gender equality who studied at a women’s college, and I grew up in the 70’s & 80’s, as I am sure many parents on this thread have also.

Do we not remember as children when ALL police officers were men? ALL soldiers were men? ALL doctors were men? ALL mechanics were men and ALL electricians were men? Oops, don’t look now, because in many areas these truths still hold true. Oh, and remember when ALL teachers were women, except for the principal and the physics teacher? Do we not remember our mothers, who were relegated to certain professions and not allowed to study certain degrees?

In the 60’s, the only STEM-like degree programs open to women were physical education, nursing and physical therapy (my own mother’s experience at Tufts University). The socially-permitted professional roles of women in this country have only started to change in recent decades, and I cannot believe how we as parents fail to see the work that still needs to be done while failing to remember the pro-male society we were born in.

Case in point: did anyone watch the SPACEX launch? And how many female employees were present? Yeah, that’s what I thought.

I truly believe that WPI is making tough decisions to right so many of our societal wrongs, and I openly and whole-heartedly applaud them for it. And, no, I do not have any daughters; just two sons who have been taught to respect their female counterparts. And while we received a piddly FinAid package from WPI, my son received a very respectable merit award. Why? I have already been informed by the all-knowing parent of another college applicant that it is because he is a hispanic international student.

So, give the women a break, and let the race-bashing commence.

@iulianc thanks for the kind words. I think he just needed another acceptance or two to not feel like it was the end of the world that WPI was just over priced for us… he was just accepted to one of his stretch schools. It’s far from home but I think the merit package he received certainly makes up for that. We’re all pleasantly surprised and I suppose it worked out for the best.

My daughter goes to a STEM school, Florida Tech (which I’m sure provided some of the engineers on the SPACEX launch yesterday). It has women astronauts, women student body officers, women head of the mechE society. I don’t know of any extra money for females just for attending the school (there are Society of women engineers, and there is at least one scholarship for women from a women’s group in the area) The school does host female sports teams and that brings in more women (including my daughter) and it gives scholarships for those athletes. Thank you Title IX.

My daughter doesn’t mind there being fewer girls in her classes or even around campus except when it comes time for group projects. She is always the only female in the group, and she finds the males do not do things the way she wants them done (she’s bossy).

@WPIMom no one is saying women shouldn’t have equal opportunity. I am also a woman in a high tech field. Getting accepted is one thing…WPI absolutely should work to encourage women in STEM fields and their public outreach programs are outstanding for this effort … financing is totally separate…because boys need to pay for school, too. I get why they are using merit awards to entice women to enroll…it just makes it difficult for those of us in middle class who cannot qualify for extensive aid and are not wealthy enough to foot the whole bill. Lastly, WPI and other schools also encourage individuals with diverse backgrounds to enroll (similar to encouraging women).

@twoinanddone I am in high tech and my company has excellent balance of men and women. I can tell you that I am admittedly a bit of a control freak… and find that I can depend on male team members to get stuff done reliably but it’s the women that come up with most creative ways to deliver a product or process.

Let’s forget this discussion between male/female aid. This will not solve the issue of getting additional funds to WPI.

A practical question. Does anyone who appeal for revision of Financial Aid or Merit got anything?

My son was accepted with 15k/y merit, no financial aid. That takes Cost of Attendance from 67k to 51k, beyond my 35k budget for the school.

I appealed both the Admission Office (for more merit) and the Financial Office (for something as they gave zero) and both refused. Have anyone got any success with the appeal?

Also, I am considering alternatives in order to close the gap from 51k to 35k. One of them is the Co-Ops. I am assuming that a Co-Op from Jan to Aug of Junior year would provide my son with USD20k. At the same time, can I assume that during this Spring semester I will not incur costs with WPI? My rationale is that this would reduce total cost from 4years @51k to 3.5years @51k. I am a foreign so I do not know if the school will charge me 4x51k regardless of the co-op or not. Can anyone clarify this for me please?

If my rational is true, the total cost would be 3.5x51 - 20 = 158.5k, which in 4 years will cost $39.6k/year. Obviously it would require that the credits of 8 semester be completed in 7.

Another item for thoughts. Does anyone see a room for re-discussion with Admission Office in case later my son is approved by another school of similar level with a better Cost of Attendance, assuming my son still prefers WPI?

ops… his merit was 16k/year. Mistyped

The bottom line is that WPI is on the higher end of college costs. I joke with my son that the tuition is higher than Harvard. For many of us it is just too expensive to attend. My son wanted to apply but ultimately the aid given would not have been what we needed. We decided to save our app fee.

Congrats to all those attending. You have a great opportunity.

@WPIMom

That women’s college taught you how to communicate! When I was at WPI the only bathrooms available for women were located by the administrative offices. One alumnus was distraught because his daughter wanted to be a civil engineer and he was concerned she might hear the construction workers swearing.
:bz

@Viderholen I am really not surprised that they wouldn’t budge…we were thinking about appealing because WPI was his first choice but additional acceptance has since come in (better option, in my opinion) and hopefully other RD he is waiting for so not sure if even worth the effort to pursue but I am letting my son decide. However, I wonder if you might be more successful with an appeal closer to the enrollment date when funds free up from unenrolled students. Just a thought.

Doing a co-op usually extends the time you will be taking classes and he won’t get to go only 7 semesters unless he takes online courses while on co-op. You still have to take then 130+ credits for the degree. My daughter did 8 straight semesters, with no AP courses or credits brought in, and no summer courses. My nephew and his girlfriend, also engineers, also went 8 straight semesters. The girlfriend did a fabulous summer course/internship (I think she paid rather than be paid) in Sweden and Iceland studying volcanoes.

@Viderholen That is disappointing, as I plan to call on Monday to see whether they can make it more palatable financially. We do not qualify for FA besides Merit, which was on the low end according to many of these posts. We are in the midwest, so a student they would want to attract for geographic diversity. No one in our area has heard of WPI . . . but it is a top choice, nonetheless.

@stepmother
If you talk with WPI, let us know if you see any flexibility. I suppose you will talk both Admissions & FA dept.

I only plan to talk with them early April when my son receives results from other colleges.

Tks a lot

I’m sure this will just add fuel to the fire… but at the start of the school year, we attended remarks by WPI President Laurie Leshin, who stated that there had previously been $1million in the budget for FA appeals, and that money had been reallocated this year to expand the scholarships for qualified female applicants. She was extremely proud (as she should be!) of the school’s progress in getting closer to the 50/50 ratio.

@cameo43 I also had a conversation with President Leshin about this, and she emphasized that the $1 million was taken from an appeals fund for non-need based scholarships. I think it is a smart approach, and most importantly, it is working! WPI of course is not alone in trying to increase gender parity among students at STEM schools.

I had a conversation yesterday with a woman whose daughter started at CalTech this year, and she noted that more females were admitted from her daughter’s school than males. Well, it turns out that CalTech’s admit rate for women is three times higher than for men, 15% vs. 5%, as it has been since the late 90’s. As a result, the school has reached a first year 45:55 female to male ratio. Previously, women were only 28% of the typical entering class.

Why is gender even an issue here? Please don’t discredit girls just because there are fewer of them trying for STEM schools…

Onto the subject of this post, I recieved 37k presidential scholarship and a 10.5k WPI scholarship. The financial aid was a few loans that don’t really add up to much… I’m really hoping the local community scholarships I applied for will help with the rest, but I’m still worried that won’t be enough. (Naive person unfamilliar with all this financial stuff still someone please help). If WPI meets an average of 81% need, what do people usually do to take care of what’s left?

@NotTypicalNerd no is discrediting WOMEN for pursuing a STEM education. I am a woman in STEM. This thread has made it apparent that WPI has provided merit awards to women at about 3-5 times the amount that they are providing to men in an effort to get more women to enroll. Ok we get it. It is a strategy that is proving to be successful. What I don’t understand is someone complaining about essentially getting their full tuition covered (47.5k!) by a merit award. Thanks for making my point…throughout this thread.

You were accepted to WPI…you’re a bright kid (I’m assuming?)… to cover the balance which is essentially room and board, I recommend that you get a summer job and and maybe a part time job during the school year…is that so difficult to figure out? If necessary you could even finance the balance with a student loan. After all, according to WPI, their graduates will be making $70k/year. You will be able to afford the student loan payments. (Btw- if my son were to enroll at WPI, he has a $210k gap…he has done his research and knows that a financial award like yours would have made all the difference in the world between going to WPI or not… he will be going to Georgia Tech. Not what we expected and far away but financially feasible. Now do your own research and be grateful for what you have been given. (WPI = Women’s Polytechnic Institute)

@sirius10, I understand you’re bitter that you can’t afford to send your son to WPI, but it doesn’t excuse bullying young women. “Women’s Polytechnic”? Really? “Be grateful for what you’ve been given?” @NotTypicalNerd earned the grants she received.

Most people can’t afford residential college, so I don’t know what makes you think pulling together “just” room, board, books, health insurance, spending, and travel money is so easy. For you, it might be. It’s not for the majority of families in the US. Not all areas have a huge teen job market, and not all low income families have the resources to get their teens to a job, especially one that’s part-time and minimum wage to boot. And they can’t afford to borrow above the federal loan, so while that may be an option for you, it’s not an option available for everyone.

I sincerely hope you’re not turning your son into one of those men who’s resentful of the women he works with and treats them spitefully. Given your attitude here, I don’t hold out much hope. As a women in STEM myself, I’m thoroughly tired of men who treat us badly, who pay us less “because men have families to support,” and who try to drive us out of the field altogether. I’d hoped to see better from other women, but at least now I can understand where the men are getting their attitudes from. It doesn’t make it any less disgraceful.

@Sirius10 64% of undergraduates at WPI are men. In the next decade, the US will need 1.7 million more engineering and computing professionals and right now less than 20% of engineering degrees are awarded to women. This is a field in which women have been historically underrepresented–god forbid WPI is trying to change that! Personally, I am a girl and I was admitted to WPI EA for BME with $32,000 per year. In talking to other accepted students, I found that a wide range of presidential scholarships were awarded. Some girls got less than me, some got more. Some guys got the same scholarship that I did, some got more and some got less. It is silly to think that male applicants automatically got less scholarship money. The WPI presidential scholarship, according to them, is offered “to first-year applicants based on academic performance in high school, recommendations, leadership, extracurricular involvement, and community service.” Hate to break it to you, but maybe the many women (and men) who got higher scholarships than your son are just more qualified? And even if we aren’t, WPI can distribute its scholarships however it pleases. If you’re not satisfied with the amount of financial aid that your son got, file an appeal. Like @austinmshauri said, don’t take it out on the many QUALIFIED women who got scholarships because they deserve it and because it’s about damn time that women have more representation in the STEM fields. Just saying.

Your son will be attending Georgia Tech, one of the very top engineering schools in the country. It sounds like you have a lot to celebrate.