I was referring to the list of schools OP is planning to apply to.
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Ok - I saw this so is why I said that. All good.
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Appealing success is unlikely.
If the $30k is what your parents will pay, then the $10k difference could be (barely) covered by a federal direct loan and some part time work earnings. But that is very much a stretch budget with no room for error (e.g. difficulty finding a part time job at school – availability varies) or unexpected financial setbacks.
University of Miami offers several merit-based scholarships to incoming undergraduate students. The Department of Computer Science offers both the B.A. and the B.S. major plus a 5-year B.S.-M.S. program.
On what basis? You will need some good reason. Simply that the amount of need based aid isn’t enough will get you no place.
Could you please list the specific courses you have taken each year in high school?
I agree…and please read the rest of the post this is in. Without complete information, it’s impossible to give you even a guess.
Northern Arizona University cut its out-of-state tuition to $16k, and you would get an automatic Summit scholarship for $6,500, so tuition would be $9,500. Fees would be about $1,343, and food and housing is estimated at $14,432. So those three categories would be about $25k.
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When was this change ? Or is it upcoming ?
They are showing $53.3k COA - about $46.5k tuition, room and board.
It’s called the Flagstaff Advantage Rate. The auto-merit scholarships are called Summit, Peak, Ascend, and Trailhead.
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What is your class rank? Even if you dont have the official rank, the AOs can probably tell using the school profile to make an estimate.
Rice considers class rank as very important. If you have average ECs, you will need top academics.
Since Rice does not admit by major, you may also have an admissions advantage if you apply as a humanities major but only if your ECs actually demonstrate an authentic interest in humanities rather than just “gaming the system”.
They really care about demonstrated interest. And you want to talk about their “culture of care”, their residential colleges, and an overall theme of collaboration.
Case Western - IMO, you’re probably going to get a merit scholarship but it may not be enough to get it down to $30 or even $40k.
Wow incredible. I wonder why it’s not on it’s COA.
Thanks. Colleges are getting aggressive as there are less students. Thx for posting.
Another great low cost option in a really nice, touristy downtown. And skiing right there.
U of Utah has an excellent CS program. Admission to both the University and the Honors College (which has its own housing plus robust programming) would be virtually assured. You’d be likely to get some merit too. It would probably be over budget for the first year unless you get a particularly great merit offer, but they have a path that would allow you to establish residency in the first year and pay in-state rates for years 2-4, which would be solidly under budget. So this could be added to the list of auto-merit schools that were recommended above.
Appealing a need-based financial aid offer has virtually no chance of moving the needle by 10K/year unless there are truly notable extenuating circumstances that make the standard formula inappropriate for your family. An appeal based on a generic assertion that your family can’t afford what they formula says you can will not be successful. To be clear, I’m not disputing that what you can afford differs from your expected contribution; I’m just saying that this typically is not considered grounds for appeal. If Rice is your top choice and you think you may have grounds for a FA appeal, contact the FA office now and ask whether a pre-read would be possible, so that you can determine whether there’s any point in applying ED. ED means you’re committing to attend as long as the school provides the aid that the NPC promised; if the promised aid isn’t enough, then an ED application isn’t appropriate.
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I wish more took this as appropriate. I mean, parents and school counselors sign a binding agreement.
And thanks for the additional school.
Thanks everyone for the suggestions and advice. I really appreciate you taking the time to respond. I’ll definitely look into the schools you mentioned and do some more research.
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Thanks! I hadn’t considered NAU before. The Flagstaff Advantage Rate looks pretty interesting. I’ll take a closer look at their CS program and costs. Appreciate the suggestion!
Make sure your family is budgeting for expenses like health insurance - another $3-5k. So with that and travel, is your budget really $30k.
Today U of Alabama is $52202 out of state - tuition, room and board. Your stats get you $30,500 off so do the math.
UAH is (today) $41,462. Your merit will be $19k.
You’ll have similar at Ole Miss and Miss State plus New Mexico.
A TN Tech is a more focused school, aboot $32k for tuition, room and board. You’d get $5k or $8k off.
C Michigan mentioned earlier - these are the types of schools that will recognize you. You saw NAU b4.
There will be more…
Thanks for the suggestions! I checked the latest costs, and I’m getting around $50,378 for UAH and $60,400 for Alabama with direct and indirect costs. My budget is around $30K a year. I’m hoping to cover health insurance and travel through internships or work. I’ll definitely check out the other schools you mentioned. Thanks again for the help!
You are missing auto merit as I showed you.
$30.5k at Alabama and $19k at UAH. This is an automatic scholarship based on your #s. Bama is $28k plus 2.5k for an sat over 1420.
When u look at COA, you should look at tuition, fees, room and board. These are called direct costs because they are what you are paying the school. They are fixed.
Don’t use the rest which are indirect. They are variable. Yes you have travel and insurance as I noted but every school uses different #s. They aren’t real. The only apples to apples are tuition, fees, room and board.
If you are including travel and other things in your $30k, then you have to reduce the $30k. But someone going from Asia to Alabama has a different cost than from a local. So you can’t use the figure they provide. Same with personal and even books.
Hence I noted above tuition, fees, room and board.
If you mean $30k all in, then you need to reduce your college budget by however much transport, insurance and personal will cost. I don’t know where you are or what that will be but if overseas, it won’t be cheap and if you go home several times a year, you need to add that cost. If you stay in a dorm for the summer, you need to add that cost.
I will tell you that at Bama and many but not all schools, your cost can easily go down when you move off campus. But schools in expensive areas (and Flagstaff may be one - you’d have to check), costs will go up.
Here is the merit info on Bama and UAH. The schools I mentioned above have automatic scholarships - so cost on all those is over $30k. But for your accomplishments, you get scholarships from them automatically.
However, the indirect costs may vary for the same student at different colleges, and travel costs from outside the US are likely to be greater than from inside the US.
Yes I noted that and said that their budget may need to be reduced by whatever they plan those costs to be.