Beginning early last summer, our family embarked upon a labor of love to help Philip find a great value to study biomedical engineering. In the process, we came across some great values worth sharing with our broader readership. While you should certainly look at your state’s university system as well as prestigious private colleges that offer generous need-based and merit scholarship, here are some hidden gems that are also worth investigating.
#10 - U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. The USMMA is the fifth and least known of the five Federal Undergraduate Services Academies. All costs of attendance are covered by the U.S. Federal government in exchange for a service obligation. However, unlike the other Service Academies, USMMA graduates may chose among a variety of options to fulfill their service obligation, including working for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). There are only seven majors from which to choose, but these are generally interdisciplinary majors, so USMMA graduates are in a strong position to pursue graduate study in science, engineering, business, law or even education.
#9 - Louisiana Tech University. Louisiana Tech is a fantastic state university with great programs in Engineering, Science, Business, Education and traditional Liberal Arts. Campus life includes Division I athletics including Football, Men’s and Women’s Basketball and eleven other sports teams. Campus housing is mostly newer apartment-style residences, although there are a few older dormitory buildings for freshman. At the time of this writing, total in-state costs are only around $16,000 per year and the school offers generous merit scholarships, including their “Bulldog” out-of-state tuition waiver scholarship that requires only a 2.5 GPA and combined SAT or ACT scores that are only marginally above the national averages.
#8 - College of the Ozarks. The College of the Ozarks offers a tuition-free Christian liberal arts education that includes an on-campus work requirement of 15 hours per week during the school year and two forty hour weeks during breaks. They also offer a summer work program which enables students to cover the cost of room and board. This cost-friendly liberal arts education attracts some of the most interesting and academically-talented students from across the country and the world. Admissions decisions are based upon a combination of need and merit If the campus religious culture is appealing, the school offers a great education.
#7 - Webb Institute. For those looking for a college that most resembles J. K. Rowling’s “Hogwarts” Webb could easily be declared the winner. It is small, beautiful and rustic and it costs significantly less than even in-state public institutions. Tuition is waived leaving only the modest cost of room and board to be covered by loans and family resources. Before dismissing Webb because it only offers one field of study, realize that Naval Architecture and Maritime Engineering is an interdisciplinary major, so many Webb graduates have moved on to other fields of science and engineering, as well as law and business through graduate-level study. Webb graduates can be found in senior leadership positions across a wide variety of industries including entrepreneurial leaders in information technology. The school has roughly one hundred students, all of whom live on campus. If the idea of spending a large part of one’s college career in and around boats and the water is appealing, this highly competitive engineering school that even boasts a highly competitive sailing team might prove to be a dream come true!
#6 - Berea College. Like the College of the Ozarks, Berea is a Christian liberal arts college that keeps costs down for its students with an on-campus work program. The college dates back to 1855 and its admissions policy focuses on attracting the most talented student body possible. Its non-sectarian Christian philosophy aspires to be inclusive, and the school attracts its students primarily from the surrounding region but its student body as a whole includes all or nearly all fifty states and over fifty foreign countries.
#5 - The Cooper Union. Here’s a chance to go inexpensively to a small college in the East Village of New York City for Art, Architecture or Engineering. So far, Cooper Union has managed to remain tuition-free for undergraduates but tough economic times and a shrinking endowment may force the school to charge at least a nominal tuition. While New York is an expensive city, there are plenty of small student-friendly apartments near or a within a tolerable subway ride from Cooper Square. Additionally, roughly 20% of men join a fraternity while 10% of women join a sorority.
#4 - SUNY Geneseo. The public ivies get a lot of media attention. But there are also a handful of public “little ivies.” Geneseo provides the experience of a small, competitive liberal arts college at the cost of a state university. And at least at the time of this writing, Geneseo’s out-of-state costs are comparatively low, especially when compared to larger “public ivies” like UC Berkeley, the University of Virginia and the University of Michigan.
#3 - Olin College. Olin is a new and very small school focused on engineering. While it began with the lofty goal of being tuition-free, its endowment was hit hard by the economic downturn. Students now pay half the tuition rate of a competitive private college. Nestled in the suburb of Newton, Olin shares the greater Boston metropolitan area with scores of other schools including heavyweights like Harvard College, M.I.T. and Wellesley College.
#2 - Deep Springs College. If the Webb Institute is Hogwarts, then Deep Springs College is Walt Disney’s “Triple R Ranch.” There is no cost to attend Deep Springs but the school requires at least twenty hours of serious labor per week. Beginning in the Fall of 2013, Deep Springs will be coed, rather than all male. Deep Springs is a two year institution conveying an Associates degree, only. Its graduates enjoy high acceptance rates to highly competitive four year institutions, including 16% transferring to Harvard College.
#1 - Harvard Extension School. Not to be confused with the prestigious and highly competitive Harvard College, Harvard University’s Extension School offers an Associate of Arts (AA) degree, and a Bachelors Liberal Arts (ALB) degrees in twenty fields of study including Biology, Computer Science, Economics and Mathematics. While a minimum GPA and 16 in-residence credits are required to graduate, the Extension School offers open enrollment classes online and on-campus at a for-credit cost of roughly $1,000 each, bringing the cost of a Harvard University degree within range of the cost of a degree from a State University.
Bonus - The Minerva Project. Since this University has not even officially begun offering classes at the time of this writing, it does not qualify for the “top ten” list. Nevertheless, this ambitious undertaking seeks to provide a rigorous, prestigious and cutting-edge twenty-first century university education at half the cost of a conventional university education. If your student will not be starting college soon, this may be a very interesting a viable option. Keep an eye on it. I certainly plan to keep an eye on it.
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