Match Me: Bad ECs Louisiana Sophomore 3.93 UW GPA with CyberSec schools

Chance Me / Match Me
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This link lists states from the lowest tuition to the highest: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings/education/higher-education/tuition-fees

Based on that, I’d definitely take a look at:

  • U. of Nevada - Reno
  • U. of New Mexico (in Albuquerque)
  • Western Washington
  • Binghamton (NY)
  • SUNY - New Paltz
  • Stony Brook (NY)
  • U. at Albany (NY)
  • U. at Buffalo (NY)
  • Any of the UCs (U. of California)
  • Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo
  • Cal Poly - Pomona
  • Cal State - Chico
  • Cal State - Monterey Bay
  • San Diego State
  • UC - Boulder
  • Colorado State
  • Colorado School of Mines
  • U. of Maryland - College Park
  • U. of Maryland - Baltimore County
  • Towson (MD)

If you can get a total price per year that is affordable between your parent’s GI bill and any other funding that they’ll be providing, that would be great. Though the focus here was on schools in trans-friendly states with low in-state tuition costs, some of these places have high costs of living, which might negate the advantage of lower tuition.

Additionally, do you have any preferences with respect to the size of school, size of classes, the importance of intercollegiate athletic enthusiasm, or any other factors that will play a role in your college decision? Any feelings about climate?

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I’m not sure exactly how the GI Bill works, but have you looked at these options ? Office of Veteran Student Success | University Studies | RIT

You might want to find out who the admissions officer is that covers your geographic area and contact them at the start of your junior year.

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The other two Cal Poly schools were mentioned already but Cal Poly Humboldt is also developing a cybersecurity major. I’m not sure whether it will launch in time for you or not, but at minimum, you could major in CS, and there should be enough cybersecurity coursework to specialize in that direction. It’s a very trans-friendly campus and community.

Portland, OR, is one of the most trans-friendly cities in America. Portland State University would be a safety for you, but it punches way above its weight in CS, and houses the Mark O. Hatfield Cybersecurity & Cyber Defense Policy Center. Cybersecurity is not a separate undergrad major, but it is a strength: Cybersecurity at Portland State

Michigan Tech could be worth a look Cybersecurity BS Degree | Michigan Technological University Its political climate is pretty evenly balanced between conservative and liberal students, so not as overwhelmingly progressive as some places, but there is gender-inclusive housing and state laws are favorable. If you’re looking for a smaller, highly-regarded STEM-focused public with an RIT-like vibe and a specialty degree program in cybersecurity, this could be one to consider.

Also, in terms of UC schools, UC Santa Cruz is probably the most trans-friendly of all of them, and their CS is excellent. If you’re going to do the UC application at all, I’d add more campuses than just Santa Barbara. They’re very expensive OOS, though - if your GI Bill funding is just for the first two years, I’m not sure how you’d fund years three and four at those prices, unless I’m misunderstanding something.

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Can your GI Bill cover Year 3&4? Or will your parents cover that (if so, how much)?

What about WPI? It’s a Yellow-Ribbon school, in a trans-friendly school/area, with very strong tech programs.

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Thank you so so so much for a large list of schools to look at!!

I don’t have a preference for a lot of these factors, but I would like to not have to fight to get into certain classes, if that makes sense. So, maybe a smaller school, but not totally small. Around 10k-15k students would be awesome, but obviously I’d be open to going anywhere that’ll fit most of my other wants. I’ve never been into athletics, so whether or not people around me enjoy them doesn’t matter much to me, but it’d be fun to go to a game every once in a while. For climate, I can handle pretty much anywhere I go, so it’s not in my mind when deciding a school. This may be a weird factor to consider, and it’s certainly me being picky, but I’d want to go somewhere that has a good looking campus. Thank you for helping me narrow down my selections!

Wow, I hadn’t even thought of doing this! Thank you, I’ll be sure to contact them.

Firstly, this was a very comprehensive list of schools, thank you so much! I’ll take a look at all of these schools as well.

For tuition there, my GI bill allows me to apply as an instate resident, meaning my cost of tuition would be much lower than OOS. I just looked it up, and that’s around 30k for the two years as apposed to the 80k I’d pay OOS, which seems like a great deal to me. UCSC was a school I was going to research as well, although it was mainly for their campus haha. It seems like a target school for me, so I’ll 100% consider UCSC.

No, the GI Bill will only cover 48 months of education benefits maximum. I went and talked to my parents about tuition for year 3 and 4, and they said they’ll pay as much as they need to for a public school for me to finish out my education. I just worry about making them pay too much for a school, so while it’s not a factor to them, I don’t want to go somewhere with an outrageous tuition.

I’ve heard great things about WPI as well. Thank you for the suggestion!

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Have two years of the GI bill been used, or are they being saved for a sibling?

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No, this website outlines the guidelines for the GI Bill.

"You may be able to get a maximum of 48 months of VA education benefits—not including Veteran Readiness and Employment (VR&E) benefits. "

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Ahhh, okay, that’s much better! In that case, for sure, apply widely within the UC and CSU systems! One thing to note, though, is the whole “I would like to not have to fight to get into certain classes” thing. The UC system can be challenging in that regard. If you could get a Regents Scholarship offer, which confers priority enrollment at most campuses (including Santa Cruz) that would make a big difference on that front, but that’s super-selective and it’s too early to assess whether it’s a realistic possibility.

With the GI Bill, are you regarded as in-state in all respects? I didn’t suggest UW-Seattle before because it’s so ridiculously hard to get into their highly-coveted CS program as an OOS applicant. But if you’d be considered in-state for that purpose too, it could be worth trying, although it’s still very competitive. The Information School is also top-notch, and its Informatics undergrad major has Information Assurance and Cybersecurity as one of the possible focus areas. Informatics is slightly less tough to get into than CS - still not easy, but better in-state than OOS, and if you’re not totally sold on a full-blown CS major, you might find that you like the focus of the Informatics major better, and it could certainly be a great path into an information security career. And Seattle is a great LGBTQ+ friendly city.

UMich is another reachy flagship option, but this could be worth checking out: Cybersecurity – Michigan Engineering | University of Michigan

Also, this page has a number of suggestions re: things you can do while still in high school: Cybersecurity for Students | NICCS

Good luck with your research!

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@jpam, the government also provides excellent scholarships for students interested in cybersecurity and willing to work for the government. Check out:

Scholarships are for 2 or 3 years and include full tuition and a $25,000 per year stipend. After graduation you are required to work for a federal, state or local government agency for as many years as the scholarship you received.

Here’s the list of participating colleges:

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But you only can use half of the 48 months (24 months/2 years)? Because either a parent or sibling has used or will use the other half?

Great info from @DadOfJerseyGirl on options to fund years 3-4.

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These both sound like great schools, but I think they’re too much of a reach for my stats :frowning: Also, I’m unsure as well about the full reach of my in state applicant thing. I’ll have to ask around and see how it applies to other students using a GI Bill.

Also, thank you so much for the resource, I looked through it and it’s great!

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Wow, I had no idea about this, this is great! I’ll probably base my list off of the colleges included in this scholarship, since it would cover years 3-4 of my degree. Thank you so much!

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No, I’ll use all of the 48 months. My sibling is using a different benefit, but I’m unsure about the details of it. My father paid for his education through loans to save the bill for me.

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If you are finishing sophomore year with a 3.93/4.17, I don’t necessarily think you’re out of the running for schools like UW-Seattle and UMich. But you’ll have to reassess a year from now. And also, the most-competitive schools like these are less likely to have specialty degrees in cybersecurity, at the undergrad level, than ones a tier lower.

There are some great options on that SFS list! In addition to ones that have already been discussed, like RIT, WPI, Michigan Tech, and Cal Poly Pomona, there are additional ones I hadn’t thought of, that look promising.

Anyway, just going down the rabbit hole out of curiosity, but lots of cool possibilities!

One more big reach that is not part of the scholarship program… USC is highly competitive, but their median stats aren’t off the charts (3.82/32), and this program could be particularly attractive if you’re interested in the intelligence aspect of cybersecurity: Intelligence and Cyber Operations B.A. and it can be further enhanced with a cybersecurity minor. (The minor can also be combined with a more traditional Data Science or CS major.) It’s a super-expensive school but does meet need (and the first-year admissions process is need-blind), so it could be worth running the Net Price Calculator.

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Am I missing something? 48 months is 4 years, so all of the college should be paid for if nobody else has used or will be using any of the benefit.

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Oh my goodness, wait!!! I’ve been wrong this whole time!! :sob::sob: I don’t know why it slipped my mind, but I totally registered 48 months as two years somehow.

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:tada: Hooray that 48 months is 4 years while 48 hours is 2 days! :tada:

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Well, atleast I know that I get completely free college now LOL. Thanks for letting me know!

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It is such a rare and delightful occurrence here on CC, when a student finds out they’ve been wrong about college affordability and it’s actually good news!! :partying_face:

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Yay!! To celebrate, I’m going to gaze longingly at 500k tuition rate schools!

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