My kid got it the survey. They may be trying to gather data for their regular admissions model. I think the bar to apply to RPI EA is quite low and they may be trying to ascertain which fraction of their accepted students applied because of the low bar vs have genuine interest in actually attending the school, or alternatively are the discounts they are offering off of full tuition sufficient to keep the school competitive. Also RPI is the furthest school from home for my kid, since we are on the west coast, so again they are probably trying to get a preview of what their yield rate will be from certain demographics.
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My son did NOT get the survey. We are 20 minutes away and it is very likely he will attend. (He is a legacy, and we thought the merit offer was good.) I think it would be difficult for most kids to answer the likelihood when they are still waiting on regular decision colleges and have merit packages from a few schools because of FAFSFA delays.
My medalist received her award about a week ago. I’ll bet yours is coming soon.
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We got surveys from RPI and Stevens Institute. It’s not a surprise. Stevens did the same thing when my other kid was applying a few years ago.
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Good to hear it’s not that unusual to get this sort of survey.
It’s mildly stressful on our end, though, to get it before receiving a concrete award offer. This is such a strange year (for applicants and colleges) with FAFSA delay, but it’s hard to say how much we want to “buy” something when we don’t know what it will cost! And will a “maybe” vs. a “probably” affect how much is offered? 
Hope not.
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I’d fill out the survey and mention that you are still waiting to get a merit offer. I’d also email the financial aid office and ask about it. It won’t hurt your offer. They are very nice.
Congrats! What is the institutional grant?
$4,100 for us, which brought the total almost to what the NPC had predicted.
ETA: I assumed you meant how much? Or did you mean what is it? If so that was the need-based aid they gave after the scholarship to meet our calculated need.
Thanks for your reply. Our NPC had need based aid listed, but the FA letter received this week only had merit $. I am wondering if need based aid will be offered once FAFSA processes? At the moment the NPC is about $7,000 less than what is in the FA letter.
Did you get the “New York State shopping list“? I found that really helpful for seeing how they calculated costs. It wasn’t in the financial award letter, it is a second document on the portal. I’ll see if I can find the screenshot I had of ours, but what I remember is that they only reached what they calculated as our family contribution by including the student loan. Also, what they calculated as our family contribution was a little bit higher than what it had been when I ran the NPC in the fall.
I don’t think numbers will change after the FAFSA data goes through. RPI uses the CSS, which has all the information from the FAFSA and more.
ETA: Here is a thread where I post the screenshot and talk about the New York State shopping list:
According to the CSS methodology, our family contribution should be around $42,000. Without the loan our family contribution is about $47,500. With the unsubsidized federal loan, we just about meet the $42,000. When I ran the NPC, it said we would pay $39,000. So the difference between the NPC and our cost without the loan is about $8000, similar to what you mentioned for yourself.
ETA2: The exact numbers are a little funny because I usually only look at tuition plus room plus board. The shopping list document uses total cost of attendance which is several thousand dollars higher. So, although the shopping list documents says our cost of attendance is $47,500, I consider it more like $43,000 because I don’t include the extra expenses like travel, books, living, expenses, etc. that the document includes in the COA.
Hi, my son is accepted for CS with 30.5K leadership award and EA scholarship. One question to the community is that this leadership award is only for the first year? If so, the COA will soar from the second year…
I believe your son will receive that merit award each year. Definitely contact the financial aid office with your question, but I think you are set!
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Thank you, Paleochick. That would be amazing. I will check in!
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