Hi guys, out of the schools listed can you tell me which is the most generous with financial aid and which is the least generous. Basically can someone rank them in terms of financial aid. Note that I am an OUT-OF-STATE student for all of them. I’m applying for bioengineering/biomedical engineering if that plays a part in anything. I’m not looking for an exact number just want to know if any of them are stingy with financial aid and not worth applying to. And if they’re bad with financial aid do they give good merit based aid even if you’re not like top 5%.
- University of Pittsburgh
- University of Maryland - College park
- Union College -NY
- Carnegie Mellon University
- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
- Northeastern University
- Bucknell University
I would suggest you run the net price calculator for each of these colleges to find out about need based aid. Pitt, Maryland, RPI don’t guarantee to meet full need for all students. I’m not sure about Bucknell or Union…check their websites.
For merit aid…you would need to tell us your stats…SAT or ACT score and GPA and class rank.
@thumper1 I did, but I wanted to check the calculator’s accuracy so I did it to a school my brother attends and the number it spit out was much higher than his tuition. He received a lot more aid than the net price calculator claimed.
My parents only make about 30k a year and aren’t helping me with college, so I don’t want to apply to any schools known for not giving any need-based aid such as NYU.
My weighted GPA is a 4.008, my ACT score is a 32, and I will have taken 7 AP classes by the end of my senior year, I barely missed the cut off for top 10 % (it was 4.1+) so I’m in the top 20%
Did your brother get any merit scholarship money? Where does he attend? Is it an instate public?
UPitt and UMaryland probably will not be affordable.
What is your home state?
You don’t have any financial safeties on your list.
You will not get merit aid at Northeastern with your stats.
I’m from NJ and my brother attends an in-state private
Is there any way I can improve my stats to get merit aid. What kinds of stats do students who receive it usually have at NEU? Also doesn’t it help that i’m a girl and going for engineering
Would it help at all that if you superscore my ACT it would probably be a 33-34. Would I at least be in honors?
Or is there any way I could maximize the aid I receive the net price calculators all said that I would have to pay around 25k+ for each school and thats pretty unrealistic for me
Are you applying for Questbridge? If so - hurry because the deadline is September 28 and it is not a quick application.
If you fit the ethnic requirements consider applying for Gates Millennium.
I am white so I’m not eligible and Questbridge isn’t partners with any of the schools I’m interested in plus by now it would be too late to try and apply
You have a second thread with the same question… not a good idea going forward.
Sorry I wasn’t sure which category I should put it in. But thanks for the tip I’ll make sure not to do that next time I post a question. For future reference is there a way to put it in more than one category or move it to a different category?
You need to be very careful when reading the results of the NPC. Some schools include all aid you’d be eligible for, including loans, parent loans, some grants. Merit is sometimes included, sometimes not. You say your brother received other ‘aid’ but not the source.
Do any of the NPC list that you will receive a Pell grant? If so, are they all in the same ballpark? Is the $5500 Stafford loan included? Any state programs you/your brother should receive?
Now that you have run a few NPCs, call the school and ask to go through the numbers with a counselor.
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Is there any way I can improve my stats to get merit aid. What kinds of stats do students who receive it usually have at NEU? Also doesn’t it help that i’m a girl and going for engineering
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try to increase your test scores.
Being a girl in eng’g won’t help with merit. It might help with admissions at a school that is “boy heavy”, but not likely with merit at any of your listed schools.
Besides…do you realize that if you get a merit award, the school may remove some of the need based grants it awarded?
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Or is there any way I could maximize the aid I receive the net price calculators all said that I would have to pay around 25k+ for each school and thats pretty unrealistic for me
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Well, since you know that’s not affordable, you need to identify some financial safeties. WHAT schools are your financial safeties??
You mention your parents’ modest income, but do they have assets? properties? a business?
What did CMU’s NPC show?
I have financial safeties like Rutgers and TCNJ, but i’m trying to eliminate at least 2 of the schools I listed above.
Cmu showed 17,000, but I might remove it from my list because I feel like it is a high reach
Merit aid usually goes to the top 1-3% of students, not 25%. But if your score is at 75th percentile or lower, you know the chance for merit aid is low.
“Some” merit is sometimes awarded to the top 25%. However, to get the BIG merit, test scores often need to be in the top 1-5%.
Alabama is an exception. It does give large merit to those with test scores in the top 25%.