He has some time to think about it, but as you describe him as a “dandelion” kid with many interests, D1 sports will own him and all his time. There will be little beyond school and sports. He may be happier with one of the other scenarios. Especially if he wants hands on engineering opportunities like internships, study abroad, and a chance to be an EMT, etc.
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I will when he applies, his brother is a HS senior right now.
Our financial situation is every changing and in flux. So, NPC’s aren’t helpful. I do think there is a possibility that someplace known for great aid would come back as very affordable, but it’s equally possible it will come back as full pay.
My understanding is that some schools will do a financial/merit aid preread for athletes before ED/SCEA is submitted, but not yet.
Can I ask, was your son recruited for rowing? If yes, did the know how much aid he would get before he submitted? Did he submit ED?
Some of the engineering tech schools are D2 so do offer merit and athletic money. My daughter was a civil eng at Florida tech with a merit scholarship, athletic scholarship (and since we were Florida residents, lots of Florida money too). Civil is the smallest department in engineering, but she loved it.
Colorado School of Mines is expensive on paper, but also a D2 school that gives scholarships, has had a top football program(you didn’t say which sport and it will make a difference as to how much money there is) for the last several years, gives a lot of merit money. My nephew (admittedly, an instate student) attends there now and has gotten more and more merit money every year. Last summer studied in Italy and I think it was covered. He plays club hockey for them and I think those costs are covered. It is also not ‘known’ for civil, but all engineering schools in the west focus on rocks and water because those are the engineers that we need most in the west - engineers to move rocks and find water (and oil) My niece went to school at CU Boulder and is a water engineer (civil) and CU is not known for water, but does have a good program and also has an environmental design program outside engineering, so there are cross over classes.
Other western schools to look at (remember, rocks and water) are Montana, Montana State, Idaho, Utah… pretty much west of the Mississippi and you are going to find lots of civil engineers even if the school has another focus in engineering (agriculture, aero, electrical).
Recruiting happens later for D2 and D3 schools. My daughter had decided she didn’t want to play in college and all of a sudden spring junior year she says she wants to play, and, oh, she’d like to play D1. I told her that boat had sailed (she did have some D1 options but they weren’t top programs for her academically) so she looked at D2 and D3. The D3 programs were mostly at LACs and she didn’t like those. She liked D2 the best and Florida Tech was a great mix of academics and athletics for her, and financials for me. Because it is a tech school, athletes were assumed to be there for the academics first and athletics second (there were a few exceptions even on her team), and that’s how it did work out.
At School of Mines, since almost every student is in engineering, almost every athlete is in engineering. It does make a difference in the mind set of the athletes and the coaches. (It would be the same at MIT, WPI, RPI, etc.)
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If OP has the money, I think a summer research program in the area of water resources or hydrology would be better for a student whose focus area is set: Secondary Student Training Program - Belin-Blank Center although it might be tricky to find a program with a specific focus on civil engineering/water resources/hydrology
I would also explore club sports for his athletic interests. Some are very robust, but don’t have the same time commitment as a varsity sport does. And many club sports participants have a lot of fun!!
He had spoken with the rowing coach a number of times, and the coach had expressed a lot of interest in him based on his 2k times (the only objective measure for skill in rowing is how fast you complete 2000 meters in a rowing machine). But at 5’11” my son is short for a rower, so no one was really actively coming after him - all the coaches he spoke with were mostly at his instigation. We didn’t do any pre-reads (academic or financial aid) at WPI, which we did do at the other school (Lehigh) where he was seriously talking with a coach. So there was no real idea early about how much merit aid he might get. At least at the time (haven’t paid attention since) WPI only had early action, not ED, so we applied there and other schools with the idea that he needed to get the total under $55k for us to be willing to pay for it.
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Also, re: merit aid, if you haven’t seen this yet you can google the phrase “common data set” and the name of any college and see a wide variety of information about the school. Go to the financial aid section, and there is a sub-part for average merit aid. I feel like it’s section H2a, but I could be misremembering. Here’s the WPI CDS https://www.wpi.edu/sites/default/files/2025-02/WPI_CDS_2024-2025_2-27-25.pdf
You’ll see that the avg merit aid now is higher than it was when my son was applying. Looks like now it’s $22k awarded to the 558 students who had no need based aid.
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Yes, we’re looking at all options.
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But are you seeking $35k as the title says - because if so, it appears the schools note won’t fit that cost zone.
I am not sure what you are saying here.
The title of the thread says less the $35k.
I gave a large list above.
Most every recommendation I’ve seen since are above or well above $35k.
Is the title wrong ? Are you not seeking schools at $35k or less ??
If so, maybe that can be removed from the title.
Thanks
The OP explained this in the first post. $35k is not a hard limit. They can afford more, but the student would like to keep costs down, so they are interested in learning more about schools that offer merit.
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No, I am specifically asking about options where there is a chance that a kid with his stats could get generous merit aid. Kid is currently saying that he feels that he can get a good education at the flagship for $35K, so he doesn’t see a point at applying to schools where the COA will be higher. I can see his point, but we will likely be in a position where we can consider schools that cost more, and I’d like to at least look at some of them.
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Ok, I think the title is wrong then. I put alternatives at $35k or less due to merit - was focused only there per the thread title.
No problem.
Thanks for clarifying.
Given the interests, I think Arizona would be a great choice - today mid 40s. Strong in engineering, language and hydrology.
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Someone, not me, edited the title. When you see something added to the title in parentheses, I think that’s always a moderator.
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We are getting a little off topic…but this isn’t true. Any senior member can edit a post subject. I did NOT edit this one, but I have corrected words spelled incorrectly and the like.
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Maybe I should say, it’s usually an edit by someone other than the OP. I’m not objecting to the edit, I’m just explaining that I didn’t write it.
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I think something good to do is there are three interests:
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CivE - you can look at curriculums or even set up info interviews with schools to see if there is coursework in the areas of interest
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If not, would a minor in hydrology be helpful to complement? If so, find those schools with depth
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Who has Arabic - that’s another filter and likely the easiest. School of Mines doesn’t appear to have Arabic. Easy to remove. WPI does.
That sort of thing because with his interests, you don’t just want a cheap school but one that can meet the needs that align with his interests which are pretty specific.
Good luck .
Thanks
Folks other than just moderators can edit a title. I’ve edited out the $35k!
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