A word of caution who want to go to UA for free on a FT scholarship

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Alabama
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<p>The maximum course load for full tuition is 16 credit-hours. If you take any more than that, you have to pay an overload fee per credit-hour. If you are in a 120-hr major, you can get by in 8 semesters averaging 15 hours a semester, but only if you never drop a course or have to repeat a course.</p>

<p>However, some majors like engineering require more than 120 hours to complete (engineering majors require 132 hours), making it is impossible to complete your degree in 8 semesters unless you have advanced credit.</p>

<p>Keep in mind that you also have to plan your course sequence carefully since you may have to take courses that are 1, 2, 4, 5 or even 6 credit hours.</p>

<p>Bottom line is you that basically need to plan your entire college career in advance if you want to graduate in 8 semesters without ever paying tuition or overload fees. If you decide to change majors or to add another major, that will probably pose some difficulties to your plans.</p>

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<p>This is true. Of course it’s true for virtually all colleges that offer free tution schollies. Auburn is even more strict by only covering 15 hours a semester.</p>

<p>One of the blessings of AP credits is that this isn’t often a problem for engineering majors. Typically a kid who has the ACT scores to get the full tuition scholly also has AP credits. </p>

<p>However, if I was truly concerned that my engineering kid (or any kid) might have trouble getting enough credits for some odd reason, I probably would have him take a summer school core curriculum class or two at our hometown college and transfer the credit. That would be cheaper than paying summer housing or OOS credit if that was the case. If this was a concern, it would be a good idea to do this either the summer before starting college &/or the summer after freshman year.</p>

<p>I would check with UA first, but certainly there would be some summer school classes at a hometown college that could satisfy a core requirement or two. </p>

<p>As for planning one’s entire college career in advance… Thankfully, UA has such plans available for students in the undergrad catalog (the hard copy). Each semester has a suggested list of classes. A student doesn’t have to figure it out himself.</p>

<p>UA has purchased an online program that figures all this stuff out for kids, too. It will be available for use, soon. So, if a kid changes his major at some point, the online program figures out what completed classes will still work, and which classes will still need to be taken. This online program will make advising so much easier for the students as well as the university. </p>

<p>Even full-payers need to be aware that changing majors and such will cause more expenses. I guess the purpose of this thread was so parents can be aware that college might cost you something. Hopefully, we already know that. Even those with NMF schollies know that there will be some odds and ends things we will have to pay for. </p>

<p>I hope no one is accepting a UA scholarship with the idea that they won’t have to spend one cent of their own money on their (or their child’s) education. The scholarship just makes it cost less, much less. But, no one should expect to spend nothing. </p>

<p>I know a Vandy student who has full COA no-loans financial aid, but even he knows (and has already experienced) having to pay for a few things himself.</p>

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<p>I’ve looked at theo undergraduate flowsheets for a couple of the engineering departments, and they all have several semesters where the plan is to take 17 hours of courses. So I wouldn’t rely on those alone. I’m unsure whether the departments will update those flowsheets to take into account the new cap on curse load.</p>

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<p>I think you’re referring to Degree Works, which is already up and running for students who enrolled under the 2008-2010 catalog.</p>

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<p>So how much is the overload fee?</p>

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<p>My theory is that the $2,500 Engineering scholarship on top of the Presidential is there to cover the extra fees… just thinkin’</p>

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<p>Like I wrote earlier…</p>

<p>Since your concern is about extra costs for those who get the free tuition scholly, my points stand.</p>

<p>Typically those engineering kids (ACT 32+) come into college with AP Credits. That reduces any/much need for any semester to be 17 credits. All it takes is for a kid to come in with 2-3 AP tests’ worth of credit (about 14-20 credits) for the concern to be moot.</p>

<p>And, again, for the rare full tuition scholly kid who doesn’t have AP credit, he can take a summer school class at his local college and transfer those credits to UA. There’s more than one way to handle this. </p>

<p>And, yes, that annual $2500 ($10,000) scholly given to Engineering students who have the free tuition, more than covers any extra fees.</p>

<p>Again, no one should accept the scholly thinking their entire education is going to be free. Whatever minor charges are here and there are miniscule compared to what you’d be paying without the scholly. Every school has various extra charges. Like I said, Auburn charges after the 15th credit and Auburn charges a $250 “student fee” every semester.</p>

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<p>This is where that adding machine tape comes out! Just kidding. Can’t put a price tag on fit.</p>

<p>Tried to do some calling to Bama before filling out forms, but no one in.</p>

<p>Do you think everyone’s tailgating already?</p>

<p>We’ll be at a swim meet, but I’ve got the timer set for the game. Hoping to catch a glimpse of the campus on TV.</p>

<p>Enjoy!</p>

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<p>Overload fee is $290.00 per hour in-state and $810.00 for out-of state.</p>

<p>Also, even though the subject of the thread targets scholarship students, the advice applies to all students, I think. Degree Works is especially useful for students financing their own way through college.</p>

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<p>^^^</p>

<p>Like you said, the subject of the thread targets scholarship students - since the issue is what the full tuition scholarship doesn’t cover. </p>

<p>I could be wrong, but I don’t think UA has that many OOS engineering students who don’t have a scholarship since most engineering students have high stats. And, again, most have at least a few AP Credits, which removes the need to have any/many 17 credit semesters.</p>

<p>Again…If I was the rare OOS Engineering student w/o any AP credits, and I didn’t want to pay the overage cost for the 17th credit, I would take a summer class or two in my hometown to fulfill some odd Core requirements…US history maybe??. I could do that a community college.</p>

<p>This is my DS1s third year and my DS2’s first year, I doubt I’ll ever have to pay an overage fee since they both entered UA with AP Credits. If I have to pay such a fee one time, oh well, they will still graduate without costing me a whole lot of money :)</p>

<p>Glad to hear that Degree Works is in use. I thought it was but when you posted the need to carefully plan one’s schedule, I thought maybe there had been a delay in its implementation.</p>