Can you suggest any colleges or universities in the North East that may have good merit awards for a possible engineering, math or physics student? My son has a 1530 and a 4.0 GPA. Nothing in sports or clubs. Very interested in a Math/Physics program. Thanks in advance.
Rather than go by âgood meritâ, it would be better to set a budget for net COA.
Depending on your budget some of these may work: UMass Amherst, U Maine, UVM, UNH, SUNYs w/ engineering, Union College, Clarkson, WPI, RPI, RIT
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It depends on what you consider âgood meritâ and your budget ; )
My D saw significant money from RPI and Clarkson.
Our experience 5 cycles ago was that it was relatively easy to get private schools down to the $40K/year mark. Much more difficult to go below that in the Northeast unless you are looking at your instate options.
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Binghamton would likely give merit if you are OOS. What do you want the final cost to be?
We are in NYState. We have 30,000 a year saved for the 4 years. Was planning for a state but the kid is very bright and wants to go to a big school.
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Have you looked into Pitt, UDel, or Rutgers?
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Have not been on my sonâs list. Thanks.
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$30,000 is not easy out of state in the northeast. You have some great and affordable choices in NYS, but to answer your question:
Stevens is likely to provide good merit money but itâll probably still cost $45k.
Rutgers may provide you with enough merit to get you to the upper 30s. Perhaps a federal loan can help bridge the gap?
UDel will likely provide good merit, but itâs not particularly well known for engineering so I donât see the benefit of going there vs an in state school.
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I was just going to sayâŠbe careful about giving up a strong SUNY for a school that might not be known for engineering.
It will be hard to get to your price point in the northeast.
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NY is a BIG state, with lots of options. Iâd suggest Buffalo. The school isnât that enormous but great pro sports there!
AgreeâŠlook at Delaware, Pitt (apply early), university of Maine for cost and if he likes outdoor winter sports and things like hiking. Itâs very possible all of these could hit your price point.
Iâm not sure you can get the cost down to $30k a year, but maybe UMass Amherst is worth looking at.
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UDel is world class for Chem E, and no slacker for other eng majors.
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I would agree. We know recent engineering grads who have done very well in terms of internships and jobs too.
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Oh, yes. I forgot about Chem E! My bad.
I wasnât aware of its reputation in other engineering fields.
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Buffalo is pretty big. There are just over 20,000 undergrads and about 10,000 grad students. There are also multiple campuses and a bus system.
UB is strong in engineering and I recommend putting it on the list.
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DS (engineering, much lower stats) received $25-$38k from Clarkson, UHartford, Quinnipiac, UMaine, and Manhattan College. All ended up +/- $30k four years ago.
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We are from MA, and my S24 is applying for engineering. We were hoping to hit some possibilities under $30,000 a year. The schools we found that had engineering and got under that point were SUNY Oswego (which only has electrical and computer engineering; came in at $26,000/year for him as an OOS student) and Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania ($21,000/year).
From previous experience, UMass Lowell has pretty good and a wide variety of engineering and he would have qualified for either a full tuition or half tuition scholarship. Since room and board is about 18,000 a year, total cost would have been under 30,000. You would have to look into what costs and scholarships are available for you as an out-of-state student.
I have heard that University of Maine can get you into that range also. My son wasnât interested so we did not explore it for further.
None of the more prestigious schools are going to come in under 30,000 a year if you donât qualify for need-based aid. My older son is at WPI and it seems like it runs about $55,000 a year for people without need, and down to as low as about $30,000 for people with significant financial need. I have heard RPI also gives merit aid, but from my reading it sounds like it would bring the cost down closer to the 50,000s if you donât have need.
A lot of the bigger name public schools in the northeast will get you into the $35,000-$45,000 range if you can stretch that.
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For what itâs worth, when I ran the NPCs (which included academic statistics and estimated merit scholarships) for most of these schools for my S24 they all ranged from $40,000 up to a bit over $50,000 per year. My sonâs stats were slightly lower than the OP, only a 1500 SAT and 3.92 GPA, so maybe with the better numbers he could get the costs lower.
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You might also look into Manhattan College
ETA - sorry, this isnt a big school.
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RPI seemed to give enough to match in-state UConn tuition, and when the student got a merit award, too, at UConn, when the family asked nicely, RPI matched the reduced tuition, too.
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If your son is a junior in high school, look at RPIâs Medal Scholarship, âThe RPI Medal.â Your sonâs high school would need to nominate him this winter/spring. Itâs a fantastic scholarship. They can only nominate one student.
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