So that would be the choice we would give him to make difference. We are planning no loans for us, and that’s our range. If he wanted to take difference in loans he could. He’s $$ conscious so I’m thinking he won’t but that’s also a good option for him to decide what the most important factors are for him.
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Waiting till Friday to see what score is from earlier this month.
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Not from what I have heard. It also is close to city which I know he def doesn’t want, part of why he doesn’t like Rutgers. Too urban. Lots of kids going into city but it is a great school. My husband got his masters there
UAH is Alabama Huntsville
. It’s mid size -10k kids and Huntsville is a medium size (few hundred thousand) city. It’s rated by one tops for young people. It’s NASA’s second city or as it’s known Rocket City and there are jobs galore there.
MS State is next size wise. Very good program, followed by Bama where my son chose - over Purdue (literally so he could have his own dorm room). Turns out he works with Purdue and Michigan types so he chose well.
Why these ? Automerit so Bama is $49k but with a 1400 you get at least $24k off. That’s minimum. UAH is $39k. But you get $19k auto merit. MSU will be similar.
So if it were me and not sure what type of engineering - I’d ensure I had:
- Schools that will make costs no matter what. Just some are - but there’s more:
Bama, UAH, MSU but Central Michigan is $27K - no out of state costs - and they have auto merit - $8250. So under $20K. Ole Miss.
W Carolina is $20K all in. Depending on the engineering discipline, Keane, Montclair State, NJIT, TCNJ, Thomas Edison and William Paterson also have ABET programs of some sort.
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Schools that “may” hit budget but aren’t assured. SUNYs, U Maine, Michigan Tech, Michigan State, Grand Valley State (almost assuredly), U Kansas, Tennessee Tech (most assuredly), WVU, etc.
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Hail Mary schools - it’s possible but unlikely - Purdue, UF (FSU is more likely with a high SAT for a tuition waiver but it’s campus is off a few miles and shared with Florida A&M), UMD has the Banneker Key, Ohio State, U of SC, etc. Miami of Ohio is another.
Schools that have no merit - you can only apply if you do the Net Price Calculator and it meets your cost. You can still apply otherwise - but it’s likely time wasting.
Sounds like you might have done this but…below is SUs. So #1 above is most important - because if all else fails, you have a home.
Now schools come in all shapes and sizes - so there will likely be one size wise and environmentally he’d be ok at.
Hope that helps.
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So the difference between a Bama and U of SC is - Bama is auto merit. It’s assured. U of SC isn’t assured but it’s likely.
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Great list of schools we didn’t know about. So grateful for the list. Thanks so much. I feel like I’d be comfortable with him picking 2 reach needs met schools but wanted more $ reasonable option based on his stats. These all sound like great options so really appreciate the suggestions!
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No, the highest they gave (the year my daughter applied), was three merit awards stacked together that totaled $45k. That would still leave it over budget for OP.
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There’s more that are low cost - that’s just some off the top of my head.
What kind of engineering?
What are his likes - not NYC. Does he want big rah rah, smaller, ?
Needs schools don’t reward $$ on stats. They reward on need. That’s why you do the NPCs.
Schools like Alabama or UAH reward on stats.
See link.
We were a merit chasing family. When you have that, some schools that I listed in bucket 2 or 3 will get acceptances (if you pick right) but cost too much - you take them off right away.
Bucket 1 may or may not be your preferred schools - but they are your most realistic schools.
Don’t forget, from NJ you have travel costs, etc.
But Bama, as an example, has over 1500 kids from IL, 2K from NY/NJ/CT.
Why?
Football, weather, gorgeous campuses - and likely most of all - $$$ for smart kids.
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A 1400 SAT and 3.9 GPA would qualify him for an automatic $16,000 merit scholarship at Missouri S & T. That would bring freshman costs to under $35K. Competitive scholarships could bring costs even lower.
S & T is located in Rolla, a small city about an hour and a half south-west of St. Louis.
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So interested in school with decent sports as a fan. Somewhat rah-rah, he’s kind of open. Not city, not too small. Mid size but would do bigger.
He’s a kid who has these stats with minimal work, naturally smart but not crazy motivated. The most he studied throughout high school was the month before he took the fSAT to go from a 1300 to 1400. So we looked at more challenging programs where he would have to rise. If he’s put in that situation, he rises, but if he can be complacent, he tends to be complacent so that has been a consideration from my stand point.
We were lucky with my daughter to find a school she loved but get it in the price point we needed. He’s much easier but I still would like to find him a school he can love. It’s the mom in me. But I don’t see going into debt to doing it, hence all the research.
UAH is hockey…but not most sports. A school like TN Tech (small conference but D1 sports - 1AA football) could work. MS State for big sports (SEC).
Kansas is a could be. Big sports. Louisville is another “could be”.
CMU, Southern Illinois charge no OOS tuition and W Carolina is $20K. All have minor sports - like 1AA football and 1A hoops.
There’s more - just have to research.
I based on a 1400, not 1300 - so that will impact some of these.
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Below are some schools that your son may want to research that seem to meet a lot of the criteria. The athletics grade is from student surveys on Niche.
For schools that don’t have auto merit charts, I would urge your family to run the NPC as if the NPC asks for academic stats, it will usually provide a minimum amount of merit aid that he could expect.
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Gonzaga (WA): About 5200 undergrads; A for athletics. This is a could meet the price but not a guarantee.
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Marshall (WV): About 8200 undergrads; sticker price of about $33k and he would qualify for a $14k/year merit scholarship, with an additional $500/year if he participated in the honors program (source), so this would cost less than $19k/year; A for athletics
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North Dakota State: About 9800 undergrads; sticker of about $26k and would receive at least $3k/year in scholarships (source), for a price of about $23k; A+ for athletics
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Ohio U.: About 19k undergrads; Sticker of about $48k; A- for athletics. There is no merit table, but the school can be generous with scholarships (source for more scholarship info).
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U. of Dayton (OH): About 8200 undergrads; sticker of about $63k; A- for athletics. They offer scholarships of at least up to $33k (source). This is a could meet the budget place.
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U. of Louisville: About 16k undergrads; sticker of about $41k; A+ for athletics. Your son would receive at least $16k in merit (source) bringing the price down to about $25k. This is a city, but it’s not like NYC.
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U. of Maine: About 9300 undergrads; sticker of about $48k; A- for athletics. They do a flagship match program and students who apply early action may receive $3-5k in extra merit (source).
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U. of St. Thomas (MN): About 6k undergrads; sticker of about $65k; A+ for athletics. This is a could meet budget school, but not a guarantee.
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U. of Wyoming: About 8300 undergrads; sticker of about $35k and it appears he would receive $12k/year in scholarships with his weighted GPA (source) bringing the price down to about $23k; A for athletics.
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West Virginia U.: About 19k undergrads; sticker of about $41k and your son would receive at least $17k/year (source) bringing the price down to about $24k; A for athletics.
These schools had less than an A- for athletics from Niche student surveys, but wanted to leave them here in case they become of interest. They are all schools that I thought could have a path to affordability, but did not research further to find out more.
- Miami U. (OH): About 16k undergrads; sticker price of about $57k; B+ for athletics
- Michigan Tech: About 5900 undergrads; sticker of about $54k; B for athletics
- Southern Illinois - Carbondale: About 8200 undergrads; sticker of about $26k; B+ for athletics
- SUNY New Paltz: About 6500 undergrads; sticker of about $34k; C for athletics
- The College of New Jersey: About 7100 undergrads; sticker of about $35k; C+ for athletics
- U. of Hartford (CT): About 4100 undergrads; sticker of about $62k; B- for athletics
- U. of Idaho: About 9300 undergrads; sticker of about $40k; B+ for athletics
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oooh - yeah - Marshall is a good one!!! Probably a local type but another to hit th emark.
This was exactly my first thought. I would at least apply in case nothing else comes in as affordable.
I will admit that I tend to judge Rutgers largely based on the many people who I have met who graduated from Rutgers. This includes fellow graduate students (in a master’s program in a very good highly ranked program), a former boss, some coworkers, and some friends or relatives. They have all made Rutgers look very good.
For us, coming from the Northeast, it was tough finding out-of-state schools in the US that came in at $30k/year or less (the exception outside the US was based on the fact that both daughters have dual citizenship). We did not look at schools in the south such as Alabama that are known for good merit based aid for out of state students.
I do wonder how many of the out of state schools listed in the original post will come in under $30k per year. I think that being accepted and finding a school to be not affordable is just as big or bigger of a risk compared to not being accepted to any particular university.
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He’s at 1400, but just took again! Hoping for a 1450. That’s the goal
Thanks great info!
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Would you be willing to look at University of New Mexico? I think you would be close to your price point.
@WayOutWestMom can talk about University of New Mexico, as well as Mexico Tech (she knows the accurate name).
Both would be worth considering for engineering.
Univ of New Mexico has auto merit for OOS students with 3.0 GPA OR 1030 SAT.
LUE+ will give him in-state tuition & fees which is $11,210/year. Meals & housing add another $12,300/year.
State flagship, about 17,000 undergrad. ABET accredited engineering. Urban campus, but largely surrounded by campus town, county hospital/UNM med school and established residential neighborhoods.
Basketball team is top ranked in the Mountain West and seeded #7 in the NCAA tournament this year. Go LOBOS!
Albuquerque is mid sized city of about 600,000- 700.000.
There is an international airport about 15 minutes from campus. Southwest, Delta, American, United, Alaska, JetBlue and Spirit all have flights into and out of the airport.
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (aka New Mexico Tech)
Small tech university in Socorro, NM, about 75 minutes south of Albuquerque in I-25. Enrollment ~3500 undergrads.
OOS tuition is $27,247 but tuition discounts available. Instate tuition ($9375) w/ 3.25 GPA and 1270 SAT. High achieving students are eligible for additional scholarships to further reduce costs.
Housing & meals $10,350/year.
ABET accredited engineering
No sports teams to speak of, but there is a PGA approved championshuip golf course on campus.
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@MelWood please read the post above about the two New Mexico Universities. Both have excellent engineering, and both would likely give your kid instate tuition based on his stats….just like U of South Carolina did for the sibling.
New Mexico is really a gorgeous state!
@WayOutWestMom can add some of the internship opportunities there…if you are interested.
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What does this mean?