<p>GAMomto4 - The stipend increased to $3500/year, so it is actually a $10K difference over 4 years.</p>
<p>NC2Bama: Shortly after S decided to go to UA (so this would be sometime in May), I did call the scholarship office (because you never know unless you ask, right??) to ask if any future scholarship increases could be applied retroactively, and the answer was No. </p>
<p>Like you, we know his package is very generous but the class just before him and now the class after him have an even sweeter deal!</p>
<p>By adding the extra two semesters of out of state tuition and increasing the value of the NMF stipend, UA has returned the scholarship to roughly the value of the scholarship as it stood for the classes prior to this year’s entering class by substituting other valuable benefits for the value of the four year housing guarantee. They must have taken a large hit on their yield of NMFs by decreasing the scholarship for this year’s entering class. Guess the class of 2013/2017 had the bad luck to be the guinea pigs on this.</p>
<p>One of my daughter’s very close NMF friends would be enrolling at Alabama had this offer been available to the class of 2013. She chose Texas A&M instead because she is a nursing major and the family could not afford the out of state tuition at Alabama for the extra semester that nursing students must take. Definitely Alabama’s loss in this case – she is an amazing student.</p>
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<p>I truly don’t want to sound ungrateful, and we are so thankful for the generosity of the university, but this just seems patently unfair. Why should this year’s freshmen NMF’s be penalized for their misfortune of being born in the wrong year? If the yield of NMF’s took as much of a hit as has been speculated, then it shouldn’t cost them a whole lot to make it right, and it would certainly be a nice gesture.</p>
<p>I actually was not one of the people who complained about the reduced housing stipend this year. Yes, four years of housing would have been nice, but I understood that times change and finances change and there is always a possibility that scholarships will change as well. But to have a single year that gets significantly less benefit for the exact same stats while all other years get more is just not right. IMO.</p>
<p>I do think that Bama should, at least, offer those two extra semesters. I think that those affected, who feel that there should be an adjustment, should contact Mary Spiegel. She’s the one with the power to do the adjustment. </p>
<p>since Bama wants to grow its grad school anyway, this seems like the easiest way to make amends.</p>
<p>Are there any other scholarship options for the 2 grad semesters? Looking at OOS tuition for those is getting kind of scary & it looks like S is headed in that direction. Have others with Presidential been able to at least get instate tuition or something.</p>
<p>I don’t think that those with Presidential are just given instate tuition for grad school. However, maybe there are some steps your son can take to start establishing Alabama residency now? </p>
<p>He’s got an apt, right? Does he have an Alabama drivers license? Did he register to vote in AL? Look to see what’s needed to establish residency for a grad student.</p>
<p>What’s his situation? Is he going to start some grad classes before he finishes undergrad but still needs to take more grad classes after undergrad?</p>
<p>Hey NCmom,</p>
<p>I’m so happy for you! I think we can all agree that you were the most stressed out about this! Lol. Now my D will apply also…</p>
<p>Thanks BigDaddy. I wouldn’t say stressed. I never lost any sleep, but was definitely anxious though. For the record, we had a similar situation with DS four years ago. He attended a Science and Math public boarding school here in NC which gave free tuition to any NC public university upon graduation. Wouldn’t you know that the year DS started, the state did away with that grant. Worked out fine for DS as he didn’t want to be a Tarheel anyway and is a proud USC Trojan today (also on a Presidential Scholarship BTW). DD also would just have gone to UNC if this scholarship hadn’t panned out. Although she isn’t interested in being a Tarheel either. Thankful it is working out in her favor. I am a firm believer that the end up where they are meant to be.</p>
<p>Sounds about right. Funny that your kids didn’t want to attend one of the most desirable state flagships in the country! My D loved her visit to Chapel Hill but knows being OOS the odds of admission with decent merit aid is almost zero.</p>
<p>^I’m making the same decision. Chapel Hill is going to end up being roughly 80k more expensive for me than Alabama. I want to go to law school, so it just makes more sense to save up.</p>
<p>Son made the same decision, did NOT want to be a Tarheel and NC gives it’s bright kids a big $0 in merit $…son’s 2nd choice was Georgia not UNC…</p>
<p>Yes neither NC son or daughter would consider Chapel Hill. They aren’t born and bred in NC like most their friends and really want to branch out. They see Chapel Hill as an extension of HS. For what it is worth, BigDaddy, DH and I are UVA grads and neither NC kid considered UVA either. They want blaze their own trail and both seem to have found schools that fit their needs and desires. I can’t even imagine DS at Chapel Hill. I am sure it will be the same when DD heads to Bama in 12 months!</p>
<p>It’s not surprising. Lots of kids won’t even consider an in-state school. My D isn’t applying to a single TN school. We are northern transplants. My DW and I went to Catholic collegs. Fordham for me and King’s for the W. my D also isn’t applying to any Catholic schools. I was just suggesting the irony of so many OOS students dying to go to schools like UNC-CH and UVA. I’m all for forging their own path!</p>
<p>Yeah. I frankly don’t understand those spending 30k to go to UNC from OOS.</p>
<p>Are you kidding me… I’d gladly forfeit the rest of my NMF housing scholarship for an extra year or tuition. I guess I’m off to talk to Undergraduate Admissions.</p>
<p>sorry - have to say it -
Why should this year’s freshmen NMF’s be penalized for their misfortune of being born in the wrong year?</p>
<p>why should any freshman be penalized for their misfortune of being born in the wrong state? NMF has never been about the same award for the same scores or for that matter, different years. You don’t get to renegotiate on your car when the following year’s one has a different price. It may not seem fair, but totally UA’s call.</p>
<p>^^Exactly right, AL34.</p>
<p>Thumbs up AL34!</p>
<p>AL34, my sentiments exactly!</p>
<p>If we lived in a different state my D would be an NF. We don’t. She did not get the NF scholarship. But, mom and D have been on their toes. Meaning we made the housing deposit the second it opened. Resulting in D having day one time slot to get her first pick if dorms. She also received top pick move in time, football package she wanted, etc. D has said the FB page is full of people whining about not getting this or that when they did not make deposits in a timely fashion or procrastinated about logging on to sign up for this or that.</p>
<p>You wait, you get what’s leftover. Fact of life. Kids need to learn this valuable lesson but their parents need to live it by example.</p>