MerryAtHope Posted February 16, 2020 Share Posted February 16, 2020 Anyone know of a good source for scholarships/grants for transfer students (with an associate's) in engineering? I'm trying to help a friend who has a gap between their EFC and what the school can do, but struggling to weed through all the hits one gets when just googling for scholarships! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted February 16, 2020 Share Posted February 16, 2020 I assume that student is coming from a CC? If so, IMO, transferring into a College/School of Engineering in a University is going to be very difficult, in more ways than one. The majority of Scholarships/Grants are almost always going to come from the University, if not all of them. When my DD was looking at outside scholarships, I suggested that she limit her time to the CollegeBoard.org scholarship search engine, which is called BigFuture. https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/scholarship-search If I was trying to help that student, I would suggest to them that they log into their CollegeBoard.org account and go to BigFuture and see if they can configure it to search for scholarships for transfer students. I would trust them. Another site is ScholarshipAmerica https://scholarshipamerica.org/ I am familiar with them because the CollegeBoard had them send the Certificate and Letter that my DD had qualified as a National Hispanic Scholar. (They are in Minnesota) Probably most of those Scholarship Search Engines have 99% of the same scholarships, so if one uses one search engine, they will probably see 99% of what's out there. NOTE: I suggested to my DD that she not spend much time on those web sites and she didn't. I worked with her for hours, 2 different days, after she plugged in her information into the BigFuture web site and we only looked at the scholarships for large amounts of money but I don't think she found any that she applied for. NOTE #2: The best bet for the student in question might be if the CC has Scholarships that graduating students can apply for. Also, from the university where s/he is wanting to transfer into. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted February 16, 2020 Share Posted February 16, 2020 (edited) Agreeing with Lanny --- Virtually all aid ("inside" scholarships) is going to come from the 4-year university (including transfer scholarships).. A student stands a better chance of a transfer scholarship when attending a 4-year school that has an articulation agreement with the CC where the Associate's is being/was earned. Is the student part of Phi Theta Kappa, and are there transfer scholarships available through the student's branch of the CC honor's society? Quite honestly, transfer scholarships are so small, that the cheapest route is to stay within state, preferably in the city in which the student & family live, so the student can be a commuter student to complete a 4-year degree in Engineering. Here are 3 websites with "outside" scholarships (money from sources other than the 4-year university) -- in most cases the student needs to be female, or of a specific ethnic origin to be eligible -- or, require getting a specific type of degree from a specific university (which will likely be out of state which will boost costs out of reach again). Also, these are not necessarily TRANSFER student scholarships: - College Scholarships website: Engineering Scholarships - Prep Scholar: The 50 Best Engineering Scholarships - Scholarships.com: Transfer Scholarships List Perhaps look into Department of Defense SMART scholarships? It is a tuition reimbursement program -- gov't pays some/all of tuition, and after graduation, the student repays the gov't by working for several years as a civilian researcher for the DoD. I have heard that sometimes, some of these positions are just glorified secretary positions, so you'd want to look very carefully at what the jobs would be like before signing up. What about the student working part time while attending school at the bare minimum of full-time hours? Our DS#1 did that for the first 2 years of going back for his Engineering degree. It's HARD, but doable. Especially check in to working for a company like Starbucks or Chipotle that offer a benefit of paying some of the student's tuition -- it is a benefit for employees who have worked for them for a certain amount of time (usually 6-12 months). Or, might there be an engineering company in the same city as the university that offers a tuition reimbursement program. Or internships that help pay towards tuition, while working in the field. BEST of luck to your friend! Warmest regards, Lori D. Edited February 16, 2020 by Lori D. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitestavern Posted February 17, 2020 Share Posted February 17, 2020 In addition to what Lanny and Lori D have said, if the student does receive an outside scholarship, it will likely reduce the FA awarded from the university. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted February 17, 2020 Share Posted February 17, 2020 (edited) 10 hours ago, whitestavern said: In addition to what Lanny and Lori D have said, if the student does receive an outside scholarship, it will likely reduce the FA awarded from the university. Yes, the only way an outside scholarship will help is if the school allows "stacking" of scholarships. If the family has extenuating circumstances, they could appeal to the school's financial aid office for more aid. And if Engineering is the degree field, that's not too bad to accept the maximum federal student loans ($5,500/year for undergrad, dependent student) for each of the 2-3 years needed to complete the Engineering degree -- that's only $11,000-16,500 which is very doable for an Engineer to repay (starting salaries run $50,000+). Edited February 17, 2020 by Lori D. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerryAtHope Posted February 17, 2020 Author Share Posted February 17, 2020 (edited) They don’t use the term stacking, but the school website says that their merit scholarships can be used for room and board, books purchased from the university store, or parking passes if outside grants or scholarships exceed tuition and fees. I believe the student has a gap after loans and a student worker job plus various aid. If nothing else, I’m sure they’ll try going back to the school, but they are also looking for other options to try. It’s an instate school, but nothing available in city. Good transfer agreement with the cc. Good scholarships so far, and I think it’s possible they may come back with another one (their deadline is past, but they have students do one app through a portal and match them up, and I don’t think he’s heard on that yet—it sounds like they just gave preliminary info on the other two main ones that are kind of automatic by gpa. So maybe he won’t end up with a gap. I think they hate to wait for a final word and miss some other deadlines in the meantime. appreciate all the ideas and thoughts! Edited February 17, 2020 by MerryAtHope 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 IMO the Financial aspects of this will be the easiest for this student to handle. Transferring into an Engineering School/College in a university is IMO a tough thing to do successfully and will depend, completely, on the quality of the courses that were taken at the CC and the ability of the student to adapt to the environment in the university. There are TAX implications to outside scholarships, in addition to the possibility of losing other aid from the university, which must be taken into account. It sounds like the university is trying to come up with a financial aid package that will give the student the maximum aid they possibly can and I believe the student should go with that. And, those outside Scholarships may be only for one school year, in comparison to scholarships and other financial aid from the university and the government being good for both remaining school years. Good luck to the student involved! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 Follow on: If the student involved has been accepted by more than one university, I believe that if at all possible, it would be a very positive thing to visit the schools and meet with the appropriate people in the Engineering School/College, regarding the CC of origin and the success if students transferring from that CC and to ask any questions about how prepared one is. This is a difficult road, but one that many students have navigated successfully. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiguirre Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 15 hours ago, MerryAtHope said: I believe the student has a gap after loans and a student worker job plus various aid. If nothing else, I’m sure they’ll try going back to the school, but they are also looking for other options to try. How big is the gap? Are you sure it's not intentional? I went to the U of Houston's Cougar Preview last weekend and sat in on the Financial Aid workshop. They specifically state that they will leave a $4000 gap between COA and aid. Their thought was that a student should be able to earn that much over the summer. I think other schools put that as a line item in their offer and then get to a $0 gap but the effect is the same. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerryAtHope Posted February 18, 2020 Author Share Posted February 18, 2020 7 hours ago, chiguirre said: How big is the gap? Are you sure it's not intentional? I went to the U of Houston's Cougar Preview last weekend and sat in on the Financial Aid workshop. They specifically state that they will leave a $4000 gap between COA and aid. Their thought was that a student should be able to earn that much over the summer. I think other schools put that as a line item in their offer and then get to a $0 gap but the effect is the same. No, I mean even including what he’ll earn. Although to be honest, it can be difficult to get a summer job in our area (and 4K would not be a given here) but he has one now that he’ll have for the summer. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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