My family has an EFC of about 0: its a little over 100. I don’t expect this amount to increase in the future. I’m going to UT Austin next year but they aren’t providing me with much financial aid, if at all. What are some great engineering colleges–for chemical or mechanical–(grad OR undergrad) that provides full or most need?
I’m not looking for colleges that provide merit scholarships: I think getting into a highly-ranked school for engineering is decent enough.
Cornell, Vanderbilt, Rice, Tufts, USC… if finances are your main concern, any private, transfer-friendly elite university will get you from point A to point B.
For the record (and when compared to UT Austin), freshman financial aid is much better at Texas A&M.
@Fredjan I really would like to attend a college that has an engineering program equivalent or better than UT’s but still acquire full need aid: I hear stories about people paying only one tenth of what other people are paying because their need is so high.
Cornell it is, then.
State universities like UIUC, Georgia Tech, Purdue, and so on won’t offer a dime of financial aid.
Most public colleges DONT offer FA to OOS transfer students.
You’ll have to cast a wide net trying to find a private college that will accept transfer students AND will meet full need, based on THEIR FA projections using the Profile application.
Before applying, use each colleges FA calculator, to get a realistic idea of how much FA you may recieve.
@Fredjan Correction* I’m willing to attend a college with an engineering program lesser–not too low I hope-- than UT’s if I can receive full/most need aid. I read on collegeboard’s websites that these colleges, http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/professionals/colleges-and-universities-that-meet-100-percent-of-financial-need.pdf , can provide full rides as long as parents pay the EFC-- which I could pay myself even.
My initial and still true dilemma is that I don’t which of the colleges in the aforementioned website have strong engineering departments, not out of my universities’ rank-- UT Austin.
@menloparkmom I definitely will look on each college website for their FA calculator once I can narrow a list down for grad school engineering departments.
@Punctilious Cornell and UT have similarly strong engineering departments. In fact, UT ranks slightly ahead.
However, rankings aren’t the end-all-be, especially for engineering.
At the risk of sounding repetitive, Cornell, USC, Northwestern, Tufts, Vanderbilt, Virginia, and Rice seem to be what you’re looking for.
What is the reason you want to transfer? UT Austin is too expensive?
<my family="" has="" an="" efc="" of="" about="" 0:="" its="" a="" little="" over="" 100.="" i="" don’t="" expect="" this="" amount="" to="" increase="" in="" the="" future.="" i’m="" going="" ut="" austin="" next="" year="" but="" they="" aren’t="" providing="" me="" with="" much="" financial="" aid,="" if="" at="" all.="">
@punctiliouseye First you say you have an EFC of zero, it’s a little over 100. Does that mean a little over $100 total?
I’m unclear why you are considering UT Austin if they are not giving you any aid at all. Were you planning to take out that many loans? Your parents would have to cosign most of them, and if you have an EFC of $100 total, they likely don’t have the credit to do so. Please strike UT Austin from your list.
Please go visit the questbridge website. You appear to be a good candidate for this worthy program which helps students of low income apply to college. They will help you find a good need-blind, full-need college.
Need blind=colleges who review your application and without knowing or considering how much financial aid you’ll need.
full-need=colleges who will fund your full financial need. Still, some colleges can be more generous than others in how they define “full need.” Note that some colleges will actually not give loans to people in really low income brackets such as yourself. And some will even pay for you to fly there to visit.
<cornell, vanderbilt,="" rice,="" tufts,="" usc=""></cornell,>
Actually Tufts is “need aware” and you are less likely to get in with that high of financial need. The other schools are valid options.
@Picapole, interesting, one would assume that Tufts is need-blind given its partnership with Questbridge!
Not necessarily. Indeed, if it admits lots of Questbridge applicants, it may have less remaining financial aid capacity to admit high-need applicants in the regular round.
Remember also that schools which are need-blind in admissions can adjust their admission criteria to increase or decrease the expected number of high-need admits without looking at each applicant’s individual need.
If you are competitive for the meet full need schools then you will be competitive for schools with good merit aid like Alabama (though that doesn’t work for transfers).
@ucbalumnus, this 0 EFC student can’t attend UT at all.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/18362286/#Comment_18362286
“For me, I got about 10k in scholarships/grants from UT Austin already and the last 15k are loans(3k in subsudized, 2k in unsubsidized and 10k in Parent Loan for Undergraduate).”
I went through a similar (worse) situation last year and ended up getting a full ride to a highly ranked private university. That much debt for UT, despite its exceptional engineering department, is not worth it imo.