Narrow Down RA Colleges

tk21769
Thu, 27 Nov 2014 19:15:14 +0000

My parents can only contribute $7000-$8000 but we are upper middle class(they have to save for retirement) to my tuition, so I’ll be paying the bulk of full tuition myself …



It sounds like you have a very large gap between your parents’ contribution and your Expected Family Contribution. Do run the online net price calculators on some of those schools.
As Erin’s Dad points out, there are limits on what you’ll be able to borrow. That limit may be much less than what you need to close the gap (even for the UCs at in-state rates, and even with many hours of student employment … let alone for schools like MIT and Stanford).

Bottom line: Unless your parents are willing to carry the large debt (which may be unrealistic), you should be focusing on large merit scholarships (most likely from less selective schools such as the University of Alabama.) The deadline to apply for some of them is fast approaching.
http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out-of-state.html

More selective schools with engineering programs that do offer some merit scholarships include Duke and Washington University in St. Louis. Expect the competition to be very strong.