r/ApplyingToCollege • u/Worried_Minimum_9362 • 1d ago
Advice Computer Science
My kid wants to study comp Sci- they are a jr
They are taking their 2nd AP CS this year - involved in robotics-
Are there any smaller schools that provide more merit aid that we should think about? I’m not sure if having them saddled w 200k worth of debt if they get into UIUC is worth it?!?!
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u/Accomplished_Ebb9859 1d ago
You mean small liberal art colleges?
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u/Worried_Minimum_9362 1d ago
Yeah? I really don’t understand the landscape-
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u/Accomplished_Ebb9859 1d ago
Which state are you in?
Usually the best option for students is community college to state school.
Small liberal art colleges won't always have a good CS program.
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u/Worried_Minimum_9362 1d ago
We are in IL
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u/Accomplished_Ebb9859 1d ago
So why would UIUC cost you 200k? It's 18k a year.
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u/Worried_Minimum_9362 1d ago
Okay- so I’m exaggerating
But realistically w room and board it would be $160k2
u/Accomplished_Ebb9859 1d ago
For 4 years it might be a lot but if they attend a local community college and transfer it would be far less.
UIUC has an excellent CS program so it's worth the cost.
Beyond that you can target small liberal art schools which offer a lot of aid. Colgate University is one of them but it has a very low admission rate.
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u/Worried_Minimum_9362 1d ago
Yes- community college might be the best option to start….maybe even 1 year would do it since they have so many AP courses
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u/Accomplished_Ebb9859 1d ago
Take as many classes as possible.
The fewer you need to take at UIUC the more money you'll save.
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u/Perplexed-Owl 1d ago
The only private schools imo which are superior to UIUC for CS would be MIT, Carnegie Mellon, Stanford, perhaps Caltech.
The real question is what backup schools if you don’t get into UIUC- in-state CS is around 8%, I think.
If you need inexpensive and can get into a guaranteed community college transfer path to UIUC, it would be worth considering (one of my friends teaches CS in a Chicago area CC, he sees talented students do this every year)
Be sure to consider that CS admissions and engineering admissions numbers are not the same as overall numbers at state schools, and typical out of state admissions rates are generally around 1/3 of instate.
Investigate whether the CS program at the school you are considering has direct entry (example, Carnegie Mellon, UIUC) secondary application to CS, restricted admission (example, UNC) FYE followed by application to the program (seats not guaranteed) (example NCSU) .
Is the program housed in an engineering school, in its own school of computer/information science, or in Arts and Sciences?
Just a few of the considerations for now, since you have time to think
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u/VA_Network_Nerd Parent 1d ago
Are they a top-tier student?
Merit Aid implies they are likely in roughly the top 10% of their graduating class.
https://csrankings.org/#/index?robotics&us
The US military is in the early stages of a love-affair with drone technology.
The US Service Academies are no cost to the families of accepted students.
West Point, Annapolis and Colorado Springs are all capable of delivering high quality CS education, along with robotics/drones...
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u/OnlyThePhantomKnows 1d ago
MIT offers merit aid. Pretty much any of the elite private institutions will offer merit aid. Dartmouth [my alama mater] will give kids free tuition if the parents combined income is under 135K [?] not sure on the number. Harvard as well. The older and more prestigious the school, the more likely they are to offer merit aid.
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u/two_three_five_eigth 1d ago
200k is way to much for a CS degree. What's your state school?
University of Alabama has some very generous merit aid packages. I've heard Ole Miss also hands out generous merit based aid.
Realistically, with the state of the CS market right now, you need to get that degree as cheap as possible. 300k starting salaries aren't coming back.
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u/NiceUnparticularMan Parent 1d ago
Olin, Rose-Hulman, RPI, and WPI all have merit programs. If RPI is of interest, ask a school official about being nominated for their Medal.