I have awarded four merit scholarships from schools that would be financially viable for my parents:
University of Hawaii at Manoa Regent's Scholarship - Full Tuition, 4k per year, 2k travel (I am a current Hawaii Resident)
University of Alabama Huntsville Merit Scholarship - Full Tuition
University of Alabama Tuscaloosa Engineering Merit Scholarship - Full Tuition, 2.5k a year
University of Houston Academic Excellence Scholarship - 20k per year (And currently being considered for their Tier One Scholarship, which is Full tuition, 2 years of housing, and research and travel stipends)
I also applied to the other universities’ merit programs, although I will not expect much from them due the harsh competition. Which offer would ensure my best civil engineering education?
DD is at University of Alabama studying civil engineering - and she is double majoring with architectural engineering (a sub field in civil) with 3 extra classes for the double major. Very happy with their course offerings. Look at the degree plan (finish in four) for the various concentrations. Lots of opportunities at UA for a bright eng student.
DD has a summer internship. Excited for the opportunities for her.
The extra engineering scholarship at UA; plus more civil eng students and diverse course options than UAHuntsville.
Tuscaloosa is a nicer place to live than Houston (H and I got out of Houston as soon as we could) - and I took a couple courses at U Houston.
However you will have to decide if you want to leave paradise.
If you’re eager to get out of Hawaii, then one of the Alabama universities.
Supposing that to be the case, UAH is basically an engineering school with other programs available. UA is kind of the other way around, I think.
UA has a huge football reputation, which is great if you’re into that, tiresome if you aren’t. 30k students at UA vs about 7k at UAH. Huntsville has an airport and shuttles to Nashville airport. I think UA has a shuttle to Montgomery but am not sure.
I don’t think there’s a bad answer here. Our DD will be attending orientation at UAH next month. She’s not big into sports or greek life, and likes the medium size and feel of UAH.
With Hawaii after you graduate have you looked where most graduates are offered jobs? Many universities the hiring is regional dependent with companies in that region. My DS wants to eventually work in the East so stuck mostly with schools in the East.
@50N40W, I will be very eager to hear about your daughter’s experiences at UAH. As D21 is no Rah Rah kid and UA and the like would be wasted on her. UTD and UAH are the top schools I think would fit D21’s personality kid.
Please keep me update. Wishing your daughter a fabulous experience!
One really has to visit to see if they ‘click’ with a school like UA or UAH. I know a student who didn’t find a tribe 1st semester at UA and went to a lower level AL university (they gave her the scholarships just like if she had gone there right from the get-go, because her high stats were a boost for that school).
Not true about UAH being an engineering school alone. They get a lot of attention for engineering/physics/STEM - esp because we have a lot of high tech employers (Gov’t, contract, etc) that attend for advanced degrees.
I imagine UAH graduates as many nursing students as UA does (UAB has a very big nursing program). UAH is getting a new nursing building soon. UA received a new nursing building a few years ago.
UA has boosted its STEM and Engineering profiles over the last 13 years.
Post #4 is wrong about airline flights for UA. The school does have shuttle services to B’ham airport; not sure about Atlanta airport, but some students with cars fly out of Atlanta. There are also other services to ride share or to arrange for paying for transportation.
Huntsville has a pretty decent airport, but typically flights are more $$ than B’ham (100 mi s of HSV) or Nashville (100 mi n of HSV). Depends if the student has a car or not. There are private shuttle services to Nashville out of HSV too. Huntsville has a lot of regular flights to DC.
A student doesn’t have to be passionate about football to love UA.
Don’t know if one thinks it is ‘tiresome’ to have successful athletic programs that a student isn’t interested in following. My UA DD has not necessarily been passionate about watching women’s gymnastics or men’s basketball - but she has gone to watch some of the meets or games. Some kids like to watch baseball or softball.
UAH has hockey - both student hockey, and Huntsville has a team, Huntsville Havocs (hockey usually not thought of in the south, but Huntsville is ‘hockey of the south’).
We live in Lubbock where Texas Tech with it’s 38,000 students are. D21 is on the campus a lot of the time and A big Rah Rah school is not her thing (it is mine).
Mainly because I don’t have access to the undergrad rankings and I imagine if it is good for grad school it is probably good for undergrad as well. If you are a person who cares about rankings grad rankings are better than nothing.
I totally get that not everyone is into big football schools (my kid sure wasn’t), but be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Bigger schools often mean more opportunities in general. (And the $10,000 engineering award from UA is nothing to blow off if finances are tight.)
OP, sounds like you have a lot of great options. How important is it to you to go to school on the mainland? Is there any chance you can visit any of them before you have to make a final decision?
That University of Hawaii package sounds pretty great, as does the Tier One scholarship at Houston if you get it.
Agree with the others that you should carefully consider where you may wish to live after you graduate. My S attended a U in CA (USoCal); several of his friends stayed in HI and were able to get jobs in HI. S was offered 2 fed govt jobs in HI and one in DC (he accepted the DC one). Keep in mind that travel can add up, especially if you want to spend the Christmas holidays any time in the summer in HI. Also, check out what you have to maintain at each U to KEEP your scholarship and how many (what % of students) keep their scholarships for all 4 years. Housing and other expenses can also add up.
Have you visited each of these Us? It is nice to graduate with little or no debt, so you have a lot of options to choose among. Congrats to you!
Rather than listing scholarships, could you list each university’s net costs for you after deducting the scholarship and any grant (but not federal loans or anything else: only deduct scholarhips/grants). If you get a “+”, like +$2,500/year, please indicate next to the amounts.