Which other schools do you think I should look at?

College Search & Selection
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<p>I am a Senior this year and I'm wanting to major in Civil Engineering in college. I live in Naperville, IL, which is in the Chicago suburbs. I need to find a school that will offer me a package that will bring the total cost down to $10,000 or lower. If I can't do that, I'm going to have to go to a community college, which I really don't want to do.</p>

<p>ACT-33 (36 math, 35 english, 31 reading, 29 science)
GPA- 3.78 (weighted)
Honors/AP classes- Honors English I, II, Honors Geometry, Honors Algebra 2/Trig, Honors PreCalc, AP Calc BC, AP Human Geography, Honors Physics, AP Physics, PLTW Intro to Engineering Design, PLTW Civil Engineering & Architecture</p>

<p>I'm also in Spanish IV and have taken engineering classes every year. </p>

<p>This year, my family's income is about $100,000. Next year, it's dropping way down to around $60,000. I'm going to have to take out loans for everything, my family will not be able to afford to pay anything towards college for the first couple of years. </p>

<p>I already applied to Iowa State, University of Minnesota, and I know for sure I'll apply to Rice University and Marquette University. I might do University of Kansas, University of Missouri.</p>

<p>Are there any good engineering schools that you think I could use as a safety school that I could definitely go there for less than $10,000/yr? Where else should I apply?</p>

<p>Is it a 100% fact that Purdue wouldn't offer me anything even close to $10,000 a year? That's where I've wanted to go for years.</p>

<p>What do you reccomend?</p>

2

<p>University of Illinois??</p>

3

<p>I’m thinking that University of Illinois is too much of a long shot to offer anything even close to what I need.</p>

4

<p>Most OOS public Us will not offer anything other than federal FA to you ($5.5K loan). Try U Alabama, UAB, and look here: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

5

<p>@ErinsDad</p>

<p>No school would offer me any financial aid other than a small loan? that isn’t right. I know for a fact that’s not right.</p>

<p>My friend goes to Rice University in Houston, he had a 34 ACT and 4.3 gpa, his family made around $65,000 a year. The University gave him so much need-based aid that he’s only paying $3,000 a year to go there.</p>

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<p>Erin’s dad was talking about publics where only UVA and UNC have good aid for OOS students</p>

<p>Yes most of the top private schools (except for NYU and other schools with low endowments) give great aid</p>

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<p>do you think it’s possible for Rice to offer me something large?</p>

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<p>I think Rice gives out great fin aid to people whos income is under 100k (or it might have been 80K) not sure about above or how yours dropping will affect that</p>

9

<p>I agree that Rice meets 100% of need. $80K is the magic cut off.

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<p>However Rice will be something of a reach based on their 21% acceptance rate and holistic admissions.</p>

<p>My point earlier about FA was in relation to Iowa State, University of Minnesota, University of Kansas, University of Missouri, Purdue.</p>

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<p>If a school like University of Minnesota wasn’t able to give me enough financial aid, I think that if I went and visited the school and sat down with the financial aid department, they could point me in the right direction of what I could do to get my total costs down</p>

11

<p>For safety purposes, look in the list in post #4.</p>

<p>For reach/match purposes, more schools have competitive merit scholarships that may be enough (make the reach/match assessment on the difficulty of the scholarships, not admission).</p>

12

<p>

I’m sure the tax payers of Minn who pay to support the school might be a little upset if that were the way it worked. Also, most public Us don’t meet need. Most colleges have scholarships listed on their web site. Have you looked at UMinn’s? [University-Wide</a> Scholarships](<a href=“http://admissions.tc.umn.edu/costsaid/schol_campus.html]University-Wide”>University-Wide Academic Scholarships | Office of Admissions) The top scholarship is for Minn residents.</p>

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<p>Or they will give good financial aid to in-state students, but poor financial aid to out-of-state students.</p>

<p>Minnesota starts at a lower out-of-state list price than most, so it can be a viable option for those who can afford a $30,000 per year school but not a $50,000 per year school, but the OP is looking for a <$10,000 per year school.</p>

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<p>i could do maybe $15k a year, but it would still all be taken out in loans. in a couple years, my family will be able to pay something towards school. we just can’t right now.</p>

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<p>You cannot take out $15K/year in loans. You can take out $5.5K as a freshman. Anything more needs to be cosigned or taken out by your parents.</p>

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<p>That seems tailor-made to attending a cheap community college for a couple years, then transferring to a four year school such as UIUC to complete your bachelor’s degree, if none of the automatic full-ride schools in the list linked to in post #4 is suitable for you and no other school gives you enough financial aid and scholarships.</p>

<p>The full or near-full ride schools in post #4 that have civil engineering are Alabama - Huntsville (but you need a 34 ACT or 1490 SAT CR+M), Louisiana Tech, Prairie View A&M, and Howard.</p>

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<p>*AstrosJake</p>

<p>i could do maybe $15k a year, but it would still all be taken out in loans. in a couple years, my family will be able to pay something towards school. we just can’t right now.
*</p>

<p>If your parents’ income is dropping for a few years, then it’s doubtful that they would want to co-sign those loans…they might not even qualify.</p>

<p>Besides, that would be $60k in loans.</p>

<p>BTW…after your parents’ income resumes, they will likely have to play “catch up” on the many things that had to be put on the “back burner” during the income drop. It’s doubtful that they could just immediately start helping with college costs. </p>

<p>At a minimum, you need to apply to some schools that will FOR SURE give you large merit for your stats, so that your remaining costs can be covered with a Stafford loan, summer work earnings, etc. </p>

<p>Purdue costs over $40k per year. You might get a $9k merit scholarship. NOT MUCH. You’d still be stuck coming up with over $30k per year…WHERE would you get that???</p>

<p>You need huge merit from OOS publics.</p>

<p>As for schools like Rice…yes, they meet need. However, your chances for acceptance are just so-so. and, I don’t know if their Col of Eng’g has even higher req’ts.</p>

<p>*Quote:
If a school like University of Minnesota wasn’t able to give me enough financial aid, I think that if I went and visited the school and sat down with the financial aid department, they could point me in the right direction of what I could do to get my total costs down
*</p>

<p>Uh…no…Schools like UMinn already have their hands full trying to uncover enough aid for their instate students who have LOWER COAs. No offense, but they would have little incentive to find you more aid.</p>

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<p>do most privates schools meet financial need like Rice does? If so, it might just be a better idea to look at private schools?</p>

<p>does Marquette meet financial need?</p>

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<p>Only the richest of private schools meet full need, though that is dependent on whether the expected family contribution that that is based on is something your family is actually able and willing to contribute.</p>

<p>Run the net price calculators on each school’s web site to see what kind of need-based financial aid they may come up with. If a school falls short on need-based financial aid, look for whether there are large enough merit scholarships – but then reach/match/safety would be based on the scholarships, not admission.</p>