You’re right, it was misleading. He is “1st generation immigrant”, that is, born to immigrants, but not 1st gen college student.
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I heard people referring to it as “4th campus of University of Illinois system” 
When we toured Tuscaloosa campus we bumped into 3 other families living less than 10 miles from us (my son was wearing t-shirt with the logo of his school).
But Bama is not Purdue, or UIUC, or Georgia Tech. So the plan is to apply and, if selected, to understand what would be the cost of these.
It is my understanding that NPC still does NOT give you the final price, even though it was literally the intent of requiring colleges to have one. In some cases it might be possible to get the admissions to “sweeten the deal”, especially if the student is high achieving and you can show them that he has other, much more attractive, options. Is that not correct?
Purdue is notoriously stingy with merit money. They have focused on keeping the cost down for all students. It’s highly highly unlikely to see merit money and they do not negotiate.
At peer private schools they may be open to matching a competing offer but typically not at public flagships.
I also think with the federal funding cuts, merit money is going to be harder to come by this cycle.
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As long as he fills out the application correctly, he will become a finalist. 15,000 of the 16,000 semifinalists become finalists. He has a corroborating SAT and GPA so he’s all good.
University of New Mexico offers an automatic scholarship for your son’s stats that will get him in-state tuition rates. COA is under $28K/year
ABET accredited MRE program.
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What bout Buffalo?
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Your UIUC cost wouldn’t really be $42K. That cost includes an estimated cost for books, spending money, travel costs etc. In reality, all of those tend to be lower, especially for in-state students. And if and when he moves off campus he will probably save additional money.
(Of course nothing will be as low as Alabama, UT-Dallas, UCF or the other big merit for NMF schools.)
I’m assuming you mean in pedigree (true) but you’d not necessarily be correct in the career outcome.
Sent you a A PM. See the green envelope in the upper right.
i had the same thoughts as you when mine turned down Purdue with merit. His words that rank/perception are for magazine sales and parents rang hollow to me but his outcome and amount of interviews and offers proved me wrong.
And let’s be honest, campus wise Purdue is nice. Bama is pristine. UIUC not so nice …ok that’s subjective. But many feel the same way.
best of luck.
Another option might be Marquette. I’m not sure you can get to your price point, but this is a strong student…so worth the try.
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I wouldn’t say this about the “off campus” student housing at UIUC, which is really still “on campus”. It’s gotten very expensive in the last few years. Staying in the dorms would be cheaper in most cases.
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From what I understand, the NPC at Georgia Tech can be wildly inaccurate and almost everybody out of state pays full freight. Financial aid mostly goes to support in state Pell grant students.In your position, it would take a very elite school such as MIT to surpass UIUC in state which is one of the top engineering undergraduate schools in the country and has a top 10 undergraduate mechanical engineering program. https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-doctorate-mechanical?_sort=rank&_sortDirection=asc
If trimming down your list, I would trim some of the out of state flagships. They typically do not meet financial need and you are paying a premium to go to an out-of-state school where you have a top in state engineering school at in-state rates.
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I agree about off-campus costs. Both sons moved off-campus after freshman year. Even with roommates I still think it cost the same or more. It’s not like ancient times when I went to school. You could definitely lower expenses off-campus back when, especially if you rented from slumlords. Memories.
Staying in-state would definitely save money for travel expenses. For reference, hotels on/near campus at FSU were over $1k per night during graduation this year. Further out were still $600/night. Surge pricing.
OP – Since Purdue is on your list, you might look at the Purdue Data Digest, here: https://www.purdue.edu/datadigest/; and especially the links to “Applications, Admits, and Matriculations” and “New First-Time Beginner Profile”. You can plug in your son’s stats to some of the interactive links on these sites, and perhaps get an idea where he might fall relative to recently admitted OOS applicants to Purdue.
In regards to potential NMSF money, my son – who graduated from Purdue in 2022 – received $250/semester for his NMF status; it was nice but not an overwhelming amount. As @momofboiler1 mentioned, Purdue is stingy with merit money, especially for OOS applicants. You might look at some of the schools that give lots of money for NMSF/NMF status; and you might include the University of Oklahoma on that list, as it awards some good NMSF/NMF money, here: National Merit Finalist Scholarship . The University of Tulsa has traditionally been generous with NMSF scholarships: National Merit Semifinalist Package - The University of Tulsa
I also second the suggestion of @tsbna44 for University of Alabama – Huntsville: solid engineering programs, plus the presence of the Army’s Redstone Arsenal and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center; and the U.S. Space Command will be moving to Huntsville, also.
Have you visited the campuses of any of the schools that you have listed, besides UIUC? Sometimes that will help you narrow down and weed out some of the schools on your list.
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Yes I’m very aware that UIUC is very highly ranked in engineering specifically (and I believe it’s top 10 in CS too).
Got it, so Michigan and Georgia Tech might not be the best idea. I still think Purdue is ok since it’s lower COL so OOS is roughly the same as UIUC in-state. In my mind it’s almost UIUC’s twin, midwest, small towns, middle of the cornfields, and good name recognition.
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I think if you have any extra slots unused and you can handle the workload, applying to a school like Ga Tech is ok - because with Stamps - it “could” hit budget. It won’t…but at least the possibility is there - whereas at Michigan or School of Mines, it’s not - if that makes sense.
Another strong aero school that’s a safety but with a stellar rep, a built in aero industry nearby, and would be in that $40K range - is Arizona.
It would be a safe choice - but given the largesse and success that the NMF schools have and you have other kids - I’m not sure any other schools will even come close from a lifetime ROI POV - not UIUC, not Purdue, not anyone.
NMF is the golden ticket, especially when you have other kids to pay for and limited funds.
Alabama, as an example, has amongst the most if not the most in the country. They are buying brilliant kids in - so your son will be in good company - really at any flagship - as those that buy kids in (WVU, Miss State, UAH) are very strong in aero and loaded with academically accomplished kids.
For MIT Stanford etc, I see it as a lottery. The price of a ticket is application cost + time. From what I understand the “holistic” selection process means they have so many very qualified applicants that they can select any subset of them and still have all overachievers. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out they literally thrown a dice sometimes to decide who gets in
Of course I need to make sure I can afford it if my kid wins.
Thank you, I never heard of it, will definitely research!
I also know a person in IL whose son went to Iowa state. And looks like a lot of kids from my son’s HS apply and get there. I’m not sure why I overlooked it, we might take a tour.
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Please run the NPC for MIT and similar schools. If it’s not affordable don’t apply. If he gets in and it’s not affordable it will become a very difficult conversation.
If he gets in and you decide to pay for it will you do the same for siblings? That’s another very difficult conversation. Either situation could cause hard feelings.
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Thank you, will definitely give it a consideration!
When you ran the NPC for Texas A&M, the calculator did not account for the fact that an OOS NMF is guaranteed non-resident tuition waiver plus 10.5k per year (see link, 3rd paragraph below the NMF table). Thus, the COA is only around 22k. You can get this number by looking up the COA for a Texas resident (which an OOS NMF effectively is) studying engineering (which costs slightly more than other majors) and subtracting 10.5k from the result. In addition to the waiver, starting Fall 2025, an NMF (actually NMSF suffices) is not required to go through an entry-to-a-major (ETAM) process that sometimes scares students/families away (see link). So there is a lot to like about Texas A&M.
As for Georgia Tech’s NPC, be careful with what it says on the result page: “Based on the information you have provided, the following calculations represent the average net price of attendance that students similar to you paid in the given year 2023–2024.” So it’s not really the net price for you, but the average over a group of people similar to you. I saw this alarming statement when I ran it for my child a few months ago. I was also surprised the NPC asked so few questions unlike those of most other schools. I asked my child to ask their friend who is attending Georgia Tech engineering as OOS whether the school gave any financial aid, and the answer was ‘no, not a penny.’ I’m not sure if Georgia Tech does in general, but you want to be careful with what their NPC result actually says.
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