cost of college

qclabrat

Well-Known Member
RPI is a good school, but as you noticed expensive, not sure how they are with financial aid, i never got around to applying, got into Stevens ED1 before RPI was open for applications. I also got a full ride offer from NJIT (one of the best state engineering schools in NJ tbh) but i understand if she doesnt want to be in Newark, still worth a look, and they do (or did back in 2007/2008) a rolling admissions, if you go to a visit day you can apply in person and get an answer day of, they sent me right up to the honors college for financial aid assessment when they say my information.

Applying ED is in some schools case a binding decision, you are basically saying if you accept me i WILL go to your school, as such they tend to offer less aid to those who apply early (at least thats how it was when i applied).
Wow full ride at NJIT, you must be super intelligent and/or part American Indian...jk
My brother went to NJIT and thought the area was a bit unsafe, he kept a loaded revolver in his night stand, back in the mid 90s. But Newark is better now, we visited earlier this year and they are investing loads back into the school infrastructure. She seems to prefer the true campus feel, but will keep the school inconsideration.

There is a difference between early Decision and early Action. The Decision one, like you mentioned, is binding. Early Action is not, and provides a response by December so that the applicant know better where they stand. I've heard ED does improve your chances to get in a little bit, but EA could actually be negative. Reason being that the schools is making offers earlier and essentially holding a place for a student till possibly May 1st. There's now also a "Priority" application, which I can't figure out for sure. I think it's like early action, but there is no guarantee of a response by December and sometimes it's even within a few weeks.
 

qclabrat

Well-Known Member
As someone who graduated debt free 3 years ago this thread hurts, going back to school for a more marketable degree has me feeling guilty about my son's chances. I wish I went to trade school.
Check the Latino box son....jk
It does help, my buddy is Latino, his wife Irish/Italian. They live in a real Waspy town (Bernardsville) and his son never identified being Latino despite his dad's name being Hector. Mother is sure that he got into all his schools include the ED choice because of his dad. However getting in doesn't mean you get a break in the bill. They are now being hit with almost 100% sticker. They are now so glad they decided to have only one child.
 

brendini

Member
Haha, 15 yrs ago when we went to our financial consultant, we said we wanted to save for college to anywhere our kids could get into to. So he picked Princeton and told us to save $1M for our two kids. Now PU not in the cards but I'm not ready to give my savings for any 50k per year school. I personally can't see spending that much unless it's a top choice school.

Surprisingly a lot has changed since then (when I applied to undergrad I was told the same thing) Now they are huge on the initiative that any student that can get in, they will make it affordable. This is relatively new in the last 5 years or so. The only kids paying full tuition are the ones who are independently wealthy. I finished grad school there in ‘16 and many under grads I taught were from upper middle class families but were paying close to Rutgers level tuition. They have a insane endowment and donations grow their endowment 100x compared to tuition, and they’ve figured out that sacrificing tuition dollars drives donation returns 10x, they’re playing the long game. The bigger challenge is getting in which at this point is a total crapshoot even if your kid is insanely brilliant.
 

brendini

Member
One other thing- has she looked into Women in STEM scholarships that are out there that aren’t tied to any specific schools? Maybe they’ve all dried up, but there used to be tons of them sponsored by foundations and corporations.
 

qclabrat

Well-Known Member
One other thing- has she looked into Women in STEM scholarships that are out there that aren’t tied to any specific schools? Maybe they’ve all dried up, but there used to be tons of them sponsored by foundations and corporations.
yep, we've been combing the scholarship books and websites. National monies are hard to get due to competition, so we been focusing on more local foundations.
 

A Potted Plant

Honorary Sod
Check the Latino box son....jk
It does help, my buddy is Latino, his wife Irish/Italian. They live in a real Waspy town (Bernardsville) and his son never identified being Latino despite his dad's name being Hector. Mother is sure that he got into all his schools include the ED choice because of his dad. However getting in doesn't mean you get a break in the bill. They are now being hit with almost 100% sticker. They are now so glad they decided to have only one child.


I had maxed out fedral grants, scholarships from everyone, money is out there I have 0 relationship with my parents and their country but it didn't stop me from going to the embassy and getting a scholarship from them.

Money is out there you just have to ask for it.
 

qclabrat

Well-Known Member
I had maxed out fedral grants, scholarships from everyone, money is out there I have 0 relationship with my parents and their country but it didn't stop me from going to the embassy and getting a scholarship from them.

Money is out there you just have to ask for it.
you can make lots of money being a consultant to parents and kids too lazy to do this on their own.
Should do it like lawyers where you charge them 10-20% of what you get for them.
Hmm, Chinese embassy scholarship, there's probably more Chinese kids in NYC than all of Colombians in the US. But that's good to know. I'm going to suck it up and do the financial piece for her and have her focus on applications.
 

A Potted Plant

Honorary Sod
you can make lots of money being a consultant to parents and kids too lazy to do this on their own.
Should do it like lawyers where you charge them 10-20% of what you get for them.
Hmm, Chinese embassy scholarship, there's probably more Chinese kids in NYC than all of Colombians in the US. But that's good to know. I'm going to suck it up and do the financial piece for her and have her focus on applications.

If your daughter was part of anything ring then up and see if they offer anything. I've gotten scholarships from the neighborhood house which was my pre k, PAL where I played youth sports, and I even got one from an indigenous something something fund since my mother's family was displaced by industrialization in Colombia which forced their "tribe" to join society.
 

rlb

Well-Known Member
What kind of engineering is she interested in? At my firm a pretty decent chunk of folks are from NJIT, and most others from RU. A few Lehigh folks in the mix as well, which might not be a bad place to look if she wants to avoid the city.
 

qclabrat

Well-Known Member
What kind of engineering is she interested in? At my firm a pretty decent chunk of folks are from NJIT, and most others from RU. A few Lehigh folks in the mix as well, which might not be a bad place to look if she wants to avoid the city.
we visited Lehigh and not only is it hard to get in (<20% acceptance rate), they are pretty expensive. Though Lehigh is on her list as she liked the school size, but wasn't crazy about the campus. Her ideal choice would be a school between 10-20K students.
Btw: what's the male:female ratio of engineers at your firm?
 

rick81721

Lothar
we visited Lehigh and not only is it hard to get in (<20% acceptance rate), they are pretty expensive. Though Lehigh is on her list as she liked the school size, but wasn't crazy about the campus. Her ideal choice would be a school between 10-20K students.
Btw: what's the male:female ratio of engineers at your firm?

At Colgate I'd say more than half the chem Es were female.
 

qclabrat

Well-Known Member
What kind of engineering is she interested in? At my firm a pretty decent chunk of folks are from NJIT, and most others from RU. A few Lehigh folks in the mix as well, which might not be a bad place to look if she wants to avoid the city.
forgot the answer your first Q, either Electrical or Materials are her top choices, She's also open to others like Industrial and Computer, so she really doesn't know...
 

rlb

Well-Known Member
we visited Lehigh and not only is it hard to get in (<20% acceptance rate), they are pretty expensive. Though Lehigh is on her list as she liked the school size, but wasn't crazy about the campus. Her ideal choice would be a school between 10-20K students.
Btw: what's the male:female ratio of engineers at your firm?

Not sure about the overall ratio TBH, but I'd say that new hires are 50:50 or pretty close. There are certainly many more women engineers here vs. when I started here almost 14 years ago.
 

The Kalmyk

Well-Known Member
At Colgate I'd say more than half the chem Es were female.

My sister played soccer here on a scholarship. They have a strong alumni network- one that keeps people connected over the years. Colgate has a very strong alumni reach out program. It got her a job in NYC then San Fran where she is living now. While it maybe pricey, knowing how to network within their alumni list can really help put you in a good place early.
 

tonyride

Don't piss off the red guy
Personally I think college tuition today is obscene. Depending on your major or field of study it doesn't have to be expensive, even today. Granted, I'm an old fart so college was "cheap" back then but since I had to pay my own way through college I had to find the cheapest or least expensive way possible to get the best education I can. I worked part time to earn my tuition money and I lived at home. I only had 1 goal in mind and that was to get my engineering degree. Not to live the college life or to join a frat. No, I had a 1 track mind and that's to get a degree. So what I did was for the first 2 years I went to a community college to get an associates degree in engineering. I made sure that upon graduation I was able to transfer all the credits to an accredited 4-year college where I could earn a bachelor's degree. Keep in mind that it doesn't matter where you start, it only matters where you finish. As an engineering major no matter what engineering discipline you're going for (mechanical, electrical, civil, chemical, etc.) everyone takes the same basic fundamental courses (calculus, physics, chemistry, etc.) in the first 2 years of school. Kinda like pre-med before you go to med school to specialize in what area of medicine you want. Since 2 plus 2 equals 4, water boils at 100°C, and when you combine sodium with chloride you get salt whether you're in a community college or at MIT it doesn't matter where you learn the basics. In fact my Calc 2 professor in my community college also taught the exact same class at Rutgers and he said to us that we're the smarter ones because we're paying a lot less to learn how to differentiate equations than the students at Rutgers. So I graduated with my associates degree with no college debt and transferred 100% of the credits to NJIT here I majored in Mechanical Engineering. Still working part time I graduated 2 years later. I wasn't making enough at my part time job to pay the full tuition at NJIT so I had to take out student loans but it was only for 2 years and with the money I was making I was able to keep the loans low. I lived at home to keep the cost low. So I guess my point is if feasible and when available don't overlook the possibility of starting at a community or county college if your main focus is getting a good quality education with a marketable degree. Again, it doesn't matter where you begin. Only matters where you finish.
 

qclabrat

Well-Known Member
My sister played soccer here on a scholarship. They have a strong alumni network- one that keeps people connected over the years. Colgate has a very strong alumni reach out program. It got her a job in NYC then San Fran where she is living now. While it maybe pricey, knowing how to network within their alumni list can really help put you in a good place early.
LOL
 
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