I ran the net price calculator for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and was left with a figure of $14,000 after grants and scholarships. This is nowhere near affordable on its own. How likely is RPI to give me more grant aid if I asked for it? I would need at least another $10,000. My family’s yearly income is $6000.
Another important thing I want to ask: how picky is RPI about waiving the CSS Profile? I’ve had no contact with my biological father since 2003, so filling out his CSS is impossible.
And before you go suggesting public alternatives, please realize that I have no state residency anywhere despite being a US citizen. Most public universities are unaffordable for me.
No one will be able to tell you if RPI will waive the profile. Keep in mind that they are also a school that does not meet 100% demonstrated need
You can try for a waiver of the non-custodial parent’s information on the CSS. It is up to the school, and your circumstances.
If you’ve brought the price down to $14k/yr, you’ve already received a lot of aid. It’s impossible to know if you’d get more without knowing what you’ve already received in the estimate. Pell? SEOG, aid from RPI, loans?
Contact the RPI finaid office and ask them. I bet they will waive any info from a bio dad who is truly absent. I didn’t go to RPI but I was in a similar position with no info from an absent parent and it wasn’t a problem anywhere, but this was a few decades ago.
Good luck!
" I have no state residency anywhere"
The state of Utah allows students to gain residency for tuition purposes regardless of where their parents reside even while attending school as an OOS student. Takes about 12 months. Look at specific school policies for gaining in state tuition.
Another other option is to look at state schools that have no or very little difference in tuition for OOS. Minot State, Bemidji State, University of Minnesota Morris, Dixie State, etc.
Or schools that offer big merit aid that effectively waive the oos surcharge like UAH, UNM, etc.
You can borrow $5,500 if you file a FAFSA. Are you pell grant eligible (federal aid for low income families)? Have you run the FAFSA4caster?
$6,095 max pell
$5,500 student loan
$11,595
-14,000
-2,095 (you should be able to work a summer job and come up with this)
Did the RPI calculator already list your Pell, loan and work study? If so, those amounts are probably the same wherever you go and the dollars may go further at a school with lower tuition.
@BuckeyeMWDSG
I am a senior. Twelve months will be a bit late.
The NPC estimate already included Pell Grants, but did not include loans or work study.
I will try UAH, but I run into the same problem. I would have to ask for more aid.
The hope is that I am accepted to a meet-full-need school and pay next to nothing.
That’s fine, but you asked about RPI and getting more aid because you asked for it. That’s unlikely.
@twoinanddone
Very well then. No point in considering RPI.
You have to go to a school that meets full need. Or go to community college for the first two years. Those are your choices.
As for gaining state residency, Missouri also grants residency after 12 months in the state. Obviously, it’s too late for freshman year. What students do is spend freshman year as an OOS student, then live in the state over the summer to complete their 12 months. Then the next three years you are an in-state student.
Remember to include student health insurance when budgeting. If you aren’t under a parent plan with coverage in the state you attend school you have to buy it. That can cost $3,000-$4,000/yr.
Also, if you are male remember to register for selective service within 30 days of your 18th birthday. Your FAFSA will ask you if you have registered.
Or you can take a gap year to get residency in Utah, Missouri, or another state that allows it, or perhaps your parents will be residents of a state by that time. The state where you graduate from hs may grant you instate rates.
@twoinanddone
Not possible. My parent is not a US citizen. I will be alone in the US.
@brantly
I will not sink as low as community college. I’d rather take a gap year and try again.
^^^ I wouldn’t expect much more useful help from this site with an attitude like the one displayed above.
Nothing wrong with community college. One of the best journalists I know started at a CC in Texas, transferred to UT Austin for her final two years, then got a master’s in journalism from Columbia University. That’s a great, efficient use of the system, IMO! She works shoulder-to-shoulder with people who went four years to elite schools, including me.
@brantly
I’m not interested in journalism. I want to study engineering — community college isn’t riguorous enough.
It is also a matter of honour. I would be a disgrace to myself, my family, and my school if I ended up in community college while students nowhere near my caliber would go to schools like Purdue and Georgia Tech simply because they have money.
NPC are not always accurate. I would still apply, especially if your stats are high. Are you eligible for the RPI medal merit scholarship? Will you look for outside scholarships too?
Where else are you applying? What are your stats?
(BTW, there is absolutely nothing wrong with going to community college to get your general ed requirements out of the way!).
@momofsenior1
My college list is largely made up of the créeme de la créeme — some Ivies, MIT, Stanford, Northwestern, Rice, and the like. My list must be heavy on reaches due to finances.
I don’t have any true safety options that are affordable.
Right now, I have a 3.99 UW GPA.
My SAT is a 1390. With the work I put in over summer, I expect a score in excess of 1480 this October.
I took subject tests in Math II and Physics: 730 and 800, respectively.
You can also look at schools where your stats would put you at or above their 75th percentile and chase more merit money on top of financial aid. If you can get your SAT score up, you may want to look at schools Pitt, Cincinnati, and Akron. You could end up with many opportunities in honors college.
there is no honor in having money, and there is no dishonor in not having it.
You are really looking at this equation the wrong way. Apply your engineering skills here- analyze the available data and draw your conclusions based on that.
You can take as many gap years as you want but there are a couple of facts that are not likely to change over time:
1- Whether or not a college is “picky” has nothing to do with whether or not they will waive getting information from an absent parent. Every college has its own policies; every college uses its own standards and fact gathering to make decisions on a waiver.
2- You need to approach college with the right attitude- you want to get a degree in engineering in the most efficient/rigorous way possible. Given your financial and geographic limitations- what options are out there for you? Looking over your shoulder at who goes to Purdue is a waste of time and energy.
Where do you live now?