Narrowed it Down(little help)

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Nov 28, 2018
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Well my son narrowed it down to Wyoming/Boise State/Alaska for mechanical engineering. Entering his senior year he has a 4.5 (highest he can have) and a 1320on his SAT, he is going to take it again.
Anyways looking at college cost and scholarships. He will get the WUE but wondering what luck you guys have had at other forms of scholarships. Trying to make this as affordable as possible and don’t want to miss anything.
He more than likely will do 2 years at a JC if we can’t get the cost down. He will also have a job during the summers and school year to help.

He has also entertained the thought of becoming a pilot but the overall cost worries him.

Just a lot to process
 
I know this is not helpful from an exact location standpoint, but I did two years in junior college (saving roughly 40 to 50k), and graduated from a Big Ten university out of state. I could not recommend this route more strongly if financially the other options don’t work out. I thought my JuCo education might eventually but a career obstacle. I am now an MD and had no issues pursuing the career I desired.
 
JC an in state school were huge savings for me. If he can get a good technical education while living with you, he’ll obviously be in the best place, financially.

Flying ain't cheap- there are scholarships out there, get on google and start digging. I got a few grand by doing that. Think of it as a part-time job.
 
I do some work for a flight instructor who has some rentals. We were talking about students and flying and all that stuff the other day.

I asked about cost and timing. I was told it costs about $16,000 and takes about 4 months to complete. But many students never finish.
The ones that do go on to work for the airlines.

As far as JC, both my kids went.
My daughter did her 2 years and went on the get her bachelors degree in business.
She’s now an auditor for a large business.

My son did 2 years (JC/Tech) and immediately got hired on as a maintenance electrician at a major ski resort. Climbing towers and working with high voltage.
Now he’s a field electrician for Tesla and services the supercharger stations across western Colorado
He’s 28 and making bank.
 
JC to a 4 year will more than likely be the option he takes. As for why those 3 schools. He wants to put himself in the best position to live in the west. Everything he thinks about is hunting and the outdoors. Staying home or going to the B10 increases the chance he doesn’t get there. He saw what happened to me and doesn’t want to risk it. I went the athletic route and got almost of all my school paid for.

Cal Poly could be an option after JC but I doubt he gets in straight from high school.

If he can pull in some more money besides the WUE and get the price down I would prefer him to just go straight from high school. I am hoping with working and a little more scholarships he can get the total closer to 40,000-50,000 for 4 years. Not sure what scholarships look like coming out of a JC to a 4 year.

Going to be a busy spring figuring all of this out.
 
Not opposed to a trade but still believe that an engineering degree in the long run would be a better situation and open more doors.
I have told him do the degree and try to to some trade stuff during breaks and summer to see what it like.
He is going to be fine either way. Good kid with the right mindset. Really good personality and can talk to be pretty easy, hard working, smart and holds himself to a pretty high standard.
 
JC to a 4 year will more than likely be the option he takes. As for why those 3 schools. He wants to put himself in the best position to live in the west. Everything he thinks about is hunting and the outdoors. Staying home or going to the B10 increases the chance he doesn’t get there. He saw what happened to me and doesn’t want to risk it. I went the athletic route and got almost of all my school paid for.

Cal Poly could be an option after JC but I doubt he gets in straight from high school.

If he can pull in some more money besides the WUE and get the price down I would prefer him to just go straight from high school. I am hoping with working and a little more scholarships he can get the total closer to 40,000-50,000 for 4 years. Not sure what scholarships look like coming out of a JC to a 4 year.

Going to be a busy spring figuring all of this out.
My advice… go in state. Somewhere 2 plus hours from home so he’s “on his own”. Get a great education that gives him the ability to go in any direction, including a trade, then use that degree to start applying for jobs in the desired state.

He isn’t going to have time or money for hunting while in college with that degree. School first, then a lifetime of hunting. I went to school in San Diego and while I gave up hunting for a few years, it was worth it. 😜
 
University of Wyoming will not have many local jobs or paid internships, engineering or in the trades. Loan amounts are higher than some schools because of that. In town tradesmen don’t make squat so a contractor that works on high dollar vacation/second homes out in the boonies will have the best side jobs.

I don’t know if WICHE applies to junior colleges, but look into it rather than go off standard non resident rates. A huge advantage to going with a Wyoming JC if going to UW is the classes will be locked in to be accepted by the university, but some weird collection of classes from a different state may not have as many credits transfer regardless of the grade. As long as classes closely match what’s in the UW course catalog you’d probably be fine - first two years of engineering and calculus are pretty standard.


If he’s a good self learner and decides engineering isn’t his jam, don’t overlook Western Governors University online degrees. Inexpensive, fully accredited and a dedicated studier can knock out a 4 year degree in 2-1/2 years.

 
No offense, but engineers are a dime a dozen. I'm retired from a major defense contractor and they went through them like underware. Specialize if possible. Alaska for sure if he want's to be a Aviator.
 
Taking engineering classes 5 days a week September through May doesn’t leave much time for hunting…at least not the expedition/adventure type hunting most of us associate with western states. I would advise him to stay in-state to keep costs down. Graduating with a bunch of student debt is a burden to be avoided if possible.

I, too, was allured by the idea of going to college out west and strongly considered Colorado School of Mines for an engineering degree. But the cost difference compared to staying in Missouri was too great to ignore. Your son could likely find a summer job/internship out west to scratch that itch between years of college.

Starting at a junior college then finishing at a 4-year school is a great option. My brother took that route, saved a bunch of money, and has had a very successful engineering career.
 
I got a mining engineering degree through U of Idaho and Mt Tech. For my other degrees , I went to four other universities every spring. I worked fall semesters and hunted for all of them.

After the first year I got scholarships for out of state tuition. I got the government to pay for some of it. I worked 6 month blocks over 10 years before I took a full time job.

Pick the schools by available money/ scholarships the department is willing to pay. Pick the careers by internments and placement. I've been retired for 13 years and I still can't make the work go away.
 
If he wants to be a pilot all the major airlines have their own schools. Id look into them.
*kinda. They have cadet programs that partner with flight schools. Some better than others, they also arrange loans more in line with traditional student loans. You have a very big and powerful company that flight school is accountable to, not a terrible arrangement.

If he wants to fly- that is a viable route. Hit flight school right after graduation, get a CFI and start teaching people, then backup with a degree in something other than aviation as you gain experience to get into whichever facet of aviation he is interested in.
 
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