Pretty much every national school DC applied to below ~40 offered at least $18K per year, some much more.

Anonymous wrote:My DS, a CS major, received merit from Northeastern (30K) and Case Western (25K). He chose UMD, however, because instate tuition was still cheaper than the other schools he got into that offered merit. My other child, not a CS major, also went to UMD and got a merit scholarship (5K per year).

We had similar situation. My DS received merit aid from Northeastern, Case Western & UMD (we are in VA), enough to bring tuition down to just several thousand dollars above VA instate.

Anonymous wrote:My DS, a CS major, received merit from Northeastern (30K) and Case Western (25K). He chose UMD, however, because instate tuition was still cheaper than the other schools he got into that offered merit. My other child, not a CS major, also went to UMD and got a merit scholarship (5K per year).

Smart decision!

University of Denver
Santa Clara University
Pitt

The University of Puget Sound offers a computer science major and generous merit aid. It's a small liberal arts college with a pretty campus in a nice city (Tacoma, Washington). Most CS alumni go to tech companies in the Pacific Northwest or California, or to grad school.

OP, how much is your budget?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:is your kid a NMS finalist?? many schools give full cost of attendance for cs. Even UMD gives a univ sponsored NMS scholarship.

No, they don't. They waive the application fee for NMS finalists. That's it.

My Son got $2K per year as a NMF

RPI and WPI

My DS, a CS major, received merit from Northeastern (30K) and Case Western (25K). He chose UMD, however, because instate tuition was still cheaper than the other schools he got into that offered merit. My other child, not a CS major, also went to UMD and got a merit scholarship (5K per year).

Anonymous wrote:West Point and the Naval Academy have very good computer science programs and are “free” if you can get accepted. They’ll even pay you to go there.

Not OP but I wish! My daughter has ADHD so it's out. Military still discriminates against people with disabilities. Ironically the structure the military offers is the best thing for people with ADHD

West Point and the Naval Academy have very good computer science programs and are “free” if you can get accepted. They’ll even pay you to go there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:University of Maryland College Park. My CS graduate received the Banneker Key scholarship (full cost of attendance, plus stipend).

Humble bragging at its worst... really infuriates people

A humblebrag is a brag thinly wrapped in a complaint/confession: Larla got so many offers of a free ride that we spent weeks going to admitted student events to help her decide. And then after all that, she decided to go to Harvard, which doesn't offer merit.

PPs comment was a statement of fact. I don't know how it could have been more neutral unless you want her to lie about or apologize for the facts.

Exactly. Congrats to PP who posted actual information for one school.

Anonymous wrote:Many (perhaps even most) colleges offer CS as a major now. Figure out some of the other attributes you are looking for in a college (big/small, rural/urban, near/far) and then find colleges that meet those parameters that are outside the top tiers of overall rankings. That's where you will start to find merit aid. Then look at the CS departments of those schools.

There's a whole world of schools outside of Ivies and the tip-top SLACs (such as Amherst and Pomona).

If merit aid is that important, start with the generous schools and then cull the list from there, rather than working at it from the other direction.

How do you know what the generous schools are?

Anonymous wrote:If you mean full ride scholarship, there are not very many. If you mean get the price down to state school in state or a little lower than it is possible. Roanoke College has a decent program and for top students offers enough aid to make it a little cheaper than VA Tech or UVA. Lot cheaper than W&M. Other SLACS do too. Probably not enough difference to offset the difference in opportunities though. In state UVA and VA Tech CS is popular for a reason. Mason too, not enough people consider Mason. Hard to beat for most people given the price and opportunities several state schools offer contrasted with the limited merit aid available.

To get a full ride merit scholarship, you need to find a school where your kid is at the 90%+ for SAT/ACT and GPA and acceptance rate is 50%+ (so a true safety). It also helps if you help fill a demographic (ie from a state that not everyone else is from, or a female in STEM, etc. ) Full ride scholarships or close to it are out there, but you wont' find them at a T50 school or most schools where acceptance rates are less than 50% as those schools have plenty to pick from to fill their class that will come for no merit or minimal ($10K when tuition is 50K+) I have found that smaller schools tend to be more generous---large state schools just do not typically offer a lot of merit awards.

Denison and Ohio Wesleyan.