That’s the situation, as I believe @NiceUnparticularMan , was bringing up to get to budget.
That’s why I asked - why ?
The student will have opportunities in the Midwest and other locales if they want more prominent names - with no loans, employment or more.
That’s not Iowa State or Missouri S&T.
Nothing against the very fine schools they are.
When you ‘have to’ do something, you lose choice and flexibility.
Missouri S&T has scholarships to bring border counties to instate tuition. They may be from one of those counties making it more affordable. Often housing and food is either a high number or an average and there are less costly options as well that can save a couple thousand a year.
Thanks for the replies everyone
I did the net price calculators for the colleges mentioned in this thread
For University of Alabama and UAH, I’m only getting the total net cost down to 25k and 27k with the merit which isn’t bad but I’m not sure if I’m missing something to make them sub 20
I received 14k from Iowa State so according to the NPC it would be around 27k which isn’t great but it could work
For the other schools mentioned throughout this thread, Uminnessota and Mich State net price calculators show 40k and 50k respectively including the merit scholarships; I previously applied to Rose since I had an application fee waiver however it also shows it would be 60k so even with the maximum merit scholarships it says it gives (25k) it wouldn’t be affordable
Northwestern, Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, and those types of privates in the T20 would be great and I am planning to apply to at least Carnegie Mellon and Northwestern but they are very selective and I am just trying to a good alternative just in case I don’t make it into UIUC
I guess at this point being in the midwest isn’t a strict requirement, really just a preference that I used to kind of start my college search
U of Alabama has a large amount of miscellaneous and travel costs. If you just look at tuition, fees, housing and food, it’s a more realistic budget, I think. Even flying my son home multiple times a year, we only spend $2k on travel. You should get $28,000 from the automatic chart and another $2500 for engineering. Take that off the COA from this page: https://afford.ua.edu/cost/ and you’ll be under $20k.
UAH full COA is only $47k with transportation included. You qualify for $21,000 based on their scholarship chart. And you may not spend all the optional costs.
Edit - I see @Luanne answered similarly as I wrote.
Net cost includes a lot of extras that vary by school. So I’m looking at tuition, room and board.
So direct costs - I put below - are $49188. It’s been steady for years.
Based on your stats, you’ll earn $28000 in auto merit and $2,500 from engineering for your SAT so $30.5k off.
So you’re a bit under $19k. When you look at the NPC they are including indirect costs - $2186 for transportation and over $3k miscellaneous. Don’t use those #s bcuz each school makes those up.
As an aside, and mine moved off campus the last 3 years, but if I spent $70k over four years, I’d be surprised. As @Luanne noted going off campus at most schools, including Bama, provides a save.
Plus at Bama if you join the Honors College, you’ll get your own dorm room and shared bath with one.
I love the Purdue campus - not UIUC or OSU. Aesthetically and dorm wise, Bama puts all to shame.
UAH direct costs are $38,836. Automerit for you is $21k. So you are under $18k.
That doesn’t include books, transport, eating out etc.
When you run #s I’d only use direct costs. The rest are school made up and usually bunk.
Bama is your UIUC. UAH is a much smaller school (10k or so), no football, but single rooms too in the dorms although not quite Bama nice) . Huntsville has lots of jobs, affordable housing (my son’s 23 year old friend who was a MechE just bought an 1800 sq foot home for $280k that my son said was new and nice ( he visited yesterday) - that person went to Bama but works in Huntsville.
What is your home area in Illinois ?
I agree on applying to the high end reaches. These two and Ms State are simply assured backups vs the selective ones where you have to get in and then hope the NPC was accurate.
Btw when I looked at Iowa State and Missouri S&T and said they don’t work, I used direct costs minus merit.
My daughter is a freshman at UAH with a tier lower scholarship and my bill for spring is right around $11k. She spent about $200 on books her first semester. The estimate in the COA is $2662! And we will fly her home at the end of the semester, but will not pay anything close to $2400 in transportation costs. Maybe if you include the hotel to move her in, go to orientation, etc. But even then I think we’ll be well under. The misc charges are what you make of it. She has spent very little as she does free things on campus, eats her meals as part of what is included mostly. I do send some thing from Amazon, but maybe $150 total? And since rooms are all suites, she does have to supply toilet paper. I think the NPC is high.
Have you looked at the NPCs at colleges like Rose-Hulman, IIT, and Case Western? Maybe Marquette as well.
Old article but the trend remains intact with over 1500. Like you, they needed or wanted a price and it was delivered.
Otherwise all those kids would be at closer to home schools - border states etc.
Note that the OP tucked this in regarding Rose-Hulman:
Lots of great suggestions already. Add Rice to your list if you’re willing and able to travel as far as Houston. With the assistance of The Rice Investment | Office of Financial Aid | Rice University , you can expect your Cost of Attendance at a minimum to be tuition free. Highly regarded Brown School of Engineering & Computing offers 16 majors, including Mechanical Engineering.
The other thing with RHIT is OP named large, bustling campuses.
RHIT is tiny like a hs and isolated.
What type of school environmentally do you seek OP ?
Take budget out - large, small, urban, rural ?
Grand Valley State U in Michigan is a very popular university with our SE Michigan area. Everyone seems to really like it a lot. You’d be under $20k there as well, with their top scholarship that gives in-state tuition and an additional $11,000/year. I have never visited, but know quite a few students there, including some in engineering, and they all seem to like it a lot.
FWIW - Iowa State has a really strong engineering program and I know plenty of IL residents there that have had great outcomes! Congrats on having two great safety acceptances!
I would also not recommend going into debt when you don’t have to. Engineering is very egalitarian.
I did not see that originally!
If those sorts of private colleges are out of range, the OP may well need to largely focus on other Illinois in-state options if they want to stick to the Midwest and Illinois itself does not come through.
Agreed - the gvsu was a great rec. c Michigan another. And the various Illinois directionals.
I’m wondering though if RHIT gave no need aid if either the NPC was filled out properly or perhaps the student has less need than they think.
The private schools will not use FAFSA. They will use CSS.
I’m guessing the issue is the former but if RHIT is really $60k for this student, it could be the latter.
Not universally true. Rose Hulman and Butler, both mentioned here as midwestern options, only use FAFSA.
I stand corrected on those (thanks) but I was referencing CMU and Northwestern.
I may be wrong but then it seems RHITs NPC was off or perhaps the #s put in wrong ??
Just seemed a high #.
As an alternative to Rose, another small, well regarded Midwest engineering college is the Milwaukee School of Engineering. I ran the NPC with your $16K SAI and it showed the net cost to be about $19K with an automatic scholarship for your gpa.
I just did another Rose Hulman NPC which gave me a 40k net price. Looking up Rose Hulman net price calculator on google brings up two results both on their official site. The 60k estimate was for the net price calc that did not include merit.
@Luanne @tsbna44 Thanks for clarifying the alabama schools cost. I think I’ll apply there as more safeties since they could end up being the cheapest schools I get into.
@tsbna44 I am in the Chicago suburbs area and I’d prefer a large school in a somewhat urban area, maybe not Chicago big city urban but in suburbs or a college town. I am not really opposed to a small school or anything though.
@NiceUnparticularMan I looked at Case Western, net price is estimated at around 30k so it might still be worth apply to but I don’t really know if that would be worth it over the alternatives. I’ve looked at IIT however my parents want to avoid me going there as I think my dad used to live around there and apparently it wasn’t the best area.
OP’s stats would get a full ride at UAH’s neighbor AAMU, which has ME: Scholarships - Alabama A&M University
If the OP is willing to to the state of Alabama, there is another full ride here: Freshman Scholarships | Tuskegee University