Thank you!
Am I correct that the notation where they use brackets, is often a sign that someone has added something? A senior member, or a moderator, or something like that? I’m just being curious.
If you see a pencil, that means the title has been edited. Since this is your own thread, you should have been able to edit the title back the way you intended. Moderators and forum champions may edit titles to give more information but if it’s incorrect, change it back or let a moderator know!
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Here are some engineering schools which offer excellent aid:
Olin College of Engineering
Cooper Union for the advancement of Science & Art
Clarkson University
Illinois Tech
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Congratulations to your kid who is easy to please and, if he continues on this trajectory, could be a competitive candidate just about anywhere.
WashU and Vanderbilt are two he might consider as Hail Mary apps…they do have full rides available.
Ohio State would probably get to the flagship price, and has some less common languages available. He’d also could be competitive for a full ride there.
In terms of schools that could have good potential for playing as a varsity athlete while being an engineering major, then I might add:
Michigan Tech: About 5900 undergrads with D2 sports. In addition to regular civil engineering, it offers a degree in geological and mining engineering that focuses on, “how to balance the safety of our planet and its natural resources with the needs of society. From the field to the lab, measurement and analysis will drive advancements in water supply maintenance, natural resource management, disaster mitigation, infrastructure design, and many other areas.” There are also several majors in the College of Forest Resources and and Environmental Sciencethat could be of interest, and that allows students to spend a semester at their field research site. They also have graduate certificates that Michigan Tech grads can earn is as little as one extra semester in areas like Resilient Water Infrastructure, Natural Hazards and Disaster Risk Reduction, Engineering Sustainability & Resilience. With your son’s background and AP courses, he may be able to do a certificate that requires an “extra” semester in regular 4 years.
Missouri S&T: About 5500 undergrads with D2 sports. Again, in addition to its civil engineering major, it has one in geological engineering where it describes the purpose of the major as, “We protect the earth through environmental remediation and sustainable management of natural resources, such as groundwater. We protect humanity by identifying and mitigating natural hazards, such as floods, earthquakes and landslides.” It also has an Engineers Without Borders that has four teams that go to three different countries.
Stevens Institute of Technology (NJ): About 4100 undergrads with D3 sports. Offers merit aid, up to full tuition. It, too, has a chapter of Engineers Without Borders, and though I can’t see the club’s website, I did find a study abroad option for August 2025 for EWB members in Peru to work on a project. It appears that there are a lot of hands-on learning opportunitiesbuilt in to the curriculum here, as well.
U. of Idaho: About 9300 undergrads at this school with D1 sports. If your son becomes a National Merit Finalist, he would be eligible for a full ride here (source). It has numerous options that could be of interest (in addition to civil engineering and geological engineering). It describes its biological engineering major as, “Develop solutions to improve food production, natural resource management, pollution control, energy production and more with a Bachelor of Science, biological engineering.” There’s a certificate in environmental hydrogeology, a major in water science and management, and more areas that seem like they could be of interest (but that I’m too tired to link). (This one may not be as easy to be an engineering athlete at…but it would probably be a full ride + engineering.)
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Here is a list of colleges that offer bachelor’s degrees in both civil engineering and Arabic:
It is possible that there may be additional colleges without bachelor’s degree programs in Arabic which do offer Arabic language courses to the eighth semester level (that is commonly specified for Arabic majors at colleges that offer them).
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Nice list - some good merit schools on there. Bucknell likely not one but this sounds potentially up OPs alley. Well the 23/24 CDs shows 91 without need got $22765 on average. And it’s a smaller school. The four non UC flagships - Michigan State, Ohio State, Arkansas and Arizona all will have decent merit / cost. I know Arizona is strong in hydrology and languages.
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There are likely more than “just a few universities in the country with a major river bordering campus”, although whether the presence of a river next to the campus affects academic offerings is another matter entirely.
UF is another to look at. It hits all three areas - civil, water stuff, Arabic. You won’t likely find merit but tuition, room and board is a tad less than $44k.
It’s one of those that show cost is more important than merit per se as some full cost are less than others with merit.
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Thanks everyone, I appreciate all the suggestions.
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Does anyone know how to find out how merit aid is distributed among students?
For example, I looked at the CDS for Ohio State.
Cost of attendance, OOS, would be about $58K. So, to bring it down to our flagship’s level he’d need $23K in merit aid.
The CDS says they enrolled 5,854 students who did not qualify for need based aid, and gave aid to 2,471 of them. The average award was $7,425.
But how do I know whether that’s – most students get around $7K, vs. Some students get a lot more, and some get a token amount.
Their net price calculator doesn’t allow grades or test scores to be entered, so their estimate is zero aid.
(Note: I’m just using this as an example)
An example of an engineering college which does not offer Arabic, but where you can still study it, is Olin College of Engineering. Through their participation in the BOW consortium, Olin students can study Arabic at Wellesley College just across town and connected by a shuttle bus which runs continuously, where there is a major in Arabic.
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Has anyone mentioned University of Delaware?
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I think you have to look up the merit Page for each. So $13.5k max but then you can combine with others. They even have full ride. But to answer you, you likely need to do this for each school to see.
On post 20 I mentioned a bunch at $35k with merit - to take the “hope” aspect out of the equation for you. Those hit with automerit. Ohio State isn’t automatic which is why they likely don’t include in the NPC.
Ohio State says Award amount: Up to $13,500 ($54,000 four-year value); can be combined with the Maximus, Provost or Trustees Scholarship.
Criteria: Those considered are non-Ohio residents (U.S. citizens or permanent residents) who are highly competitive as demonstrated through grade point average, class rank (if available), rigor of high school curriculum, and ACT or SAT scores.
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I can’t pick a college that would be less likely to be acceptable for a kid that would be happy at a big state university and likes sports than Olin. Great school. But far from what this student would be seeking.
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You would think that a kid who likes Ohio State would not like Olin. But the reason I call my kid a dandelion is because I really do think he’ll be happy wherever he’s “planted”. He says he loves our flagship which is also huge with big sports. He went to a summer program at a tiny school and loved that and says he’d be happy there. He’s been dragged to a lot of colleges, to visit family members, or on tours with his sibling and every single time he’s like “this is great! I would love to go here!” The only time he isn’t super positive about a school is if they don’t have engineering, but even then he’s like “I’d love to go here, but I want to be an engineer so I’ll pick something else.”
He loves to make things, and I’ve heard that Olin has a great community of makers. My guess is he’d build a great friendship network and a busy schedule around making hobbies, and he’d find a club team, or another way to stay active, and cheer for the Bruins instead of a college football team, and he’d be happy as a clam.
It’s kind of charming, and it certainly will make the college search interesting, but I also have to admit, that as someone who had strong opinions about things like urban/rural, and size in my own college search, I find it weird. I think my other kid, who has strong opinions about what they want in a college, is more normal.
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What a great attitude and outlook. So many are unhappy in life - but your son will be that always optimistic person everyone wants to be around.
That’s a special gift!!
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I think it’s not a bad idea to have a variety of schools on the list, because a kid’s opinions may change between the time the applications are submitted, and the May 1 decision date. My kids both changed their ideas about what they wanted so many times… my D26 is mid way through her college applications and seems to be still changing her mind about many things every day.
You may find that your son becomes less of a “dandelion” as time goes on. Or not. Hard to predict 
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Exactly. Our DD changed her mind during sophomore year of college. Then she changed her mind again two years after she got her bachelors. And it all worked out.
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I agree 100%. I think that some of the dandelioness is personality, and some is immaturity. I think if we got to May of senior year, and my kid was saying “I have no opinion on the question of Ohio State vs. Olin, so I’ll pick the one that’s a few dollars cheaper”, it wouldn’t be a good sign.
But at this point we aren’t answer the question of “where will he go to college?” That’s a question for a much later date. We’re answering the question of “If he jumps through all the recruiting hoops, what kinds of options, at what kinds of costs will he likely have?” and “If he stops jumping through those hoops, and applies without the athletic hook, what kind of options, and at what kind of costs will he likely have?”
Given that that’s the lens I’m looking through, I am investigating all sorts of options.
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Your kid sounds great.
I don’t think he needs to limit himself to civil engineering though. There are people who work in the area he’s interested in with degrees in Agronomy, Forestry/Natural Resources Management, Geology and even plain vanilla chemistry. Organizations like Doctors without Border and other global relief efforts need lots of different skills. So if your son has looked at the curriculum of a few Civil Engineering programs and think the courses look interesting- fantastic. But it will be hard to combine language fluency AND the ABET curriculum (agree that playing a sport on top of that will be tough- not impossible but tough). So another adjacent type degree is likely to give him more flexibility with course sequencing.
Spouse has a degree in Civil Engineering (and a BA in an entirely different, unrelated discipline) and had exactly one “Gen Ed” type class in four years. So you aren’t looking for a double major in order to gain language fluency- but he’ll likely come close to filling up his “free time” with those required classes.
Good luck.
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