<p>Thanks to everyone for the welcome – very glad to be here. I posted my son’s info in the Roll Call (good idea).</p>
<p>Mike: he will major in Business (probably Accounting or Finance)</p>
<p>I also have a CA kid that chose to go to Alabama AND received a merit scholarship. It wasn’t because he couldn’t get into a UC. 
My son loves Alabama and so do we! Roll Tide!!</p>
<p>tstep182 we are also from the North Texas area.</p>
<p>I just hope that Alabama residents don’t get too concerned about this out of state percentage yet and don’t start to feel as if their flagship is being taken over by out-of-staters. I have two more California-born, Florida-resident kids to get into Alabama in a couple of years, fingers crossed they will get the same full scholarship as their brother who is heading to Tuscaloosa in Fall 2014. We left California for many reasons, and so I am happy to see that 40% of the admitted freshman class are still Alabama-born, and that 40% of the Honors College students hail from Alabama. No offense to my fellow Californians (I am third-generation Californian myself, and miss my home state - well, as it was when I was a child and teen, not as its demented and degraded self these days.)</p>
<p>I am glad that Alabama is well ahead of the curve recruiting out of state students who are willing and able to pay full price, and that helps my kids, because they are earning those awesome merit scholarships. Good thing since we don’t qualify for any free or subsidized money, and won’t be taking out any loans. The UCs have started to recruit out of state students as well. I paid taxes for over 20 years, and my parents and grandparents longer than that, to support the California university system and I graduated it from it myself, and my kids would likely have a better chance of getting into UCLA or Cal or Davis these days than if we were still living in the Bay Area. But it would not be due to their top stats, but only because they would be seen as money cows for the university, paying the crazy out of state differential. I refuse to pay that differential, even if the California climate calls to us all.</p>
<p>What has impressed me so much during this application and admission process is what a special personal touch the University of Alabama has. Perhaps there are other schools that take such care to tell students like my son that they are appreciated. My son had a wonderful time at the recent Honors Preview Day. He won’t admit it to me, but he really enjoys getting the frequent flow of emails and paper invitations in the mail. The scholarships he has been offered are just amazing, and they are based on his efforts only, not on our income, or lack thereof. If we had stayed in the Bay Area, he would have been eligible to apply to the UCs and would have been a very competitive applicant, but he would not have received any merit aid whatsoever, and certainly no need-based aid. And let’s just say the closest UC to our former Bay Area home, Cal, does not have the charm of the Tuscaloosa campus. My son did notice that the Alabama campus was not very diverse - we live in a very integrated part of Florida, and, of course, having come from the Bay Area, we are accustomed to more diversity - but at least he was not manhandled by panhandlers. That’s another little check mark on the pro side.</p>
<p>So thanks very much to this open-minded, welcoming university, to the great state of Alabama, and its generous taxpayers. My kids will pay the state back someday, because they hope to stay in Alabama after they graduate, putting those degrees to good use. For our family, one side of the family are multi-generational Alabamans (ancestors dating back pre-Civil War) who left the Alabama coal mines in the 40s and 50s, and headed to California to build a better life. They were able to take advantage of what was California’s awesome university system and thriving economy, and all of their children and grandchildren succeeded in California-based careers, and attended UCs and state universities, and now my kids, as the great-grandchildren of those Alabama migrants are returning to Alabama. I think it is great.</p>
<p>Another north tx parent here. 2boys at Bama, and hs senior daughter really wants to go there. Boys are on Presidential +, daughter would be full oos . We are very pleased with UA!</p>
<p>As I have not seen anyone from Illinois chime in, here is my two cents worth. Our funding situation in IL is awful. Although one can get a good education at many of our schools, the money is not available to maintain buildings, sidewalks, etc. The IL schools that we have visited do not have nearly the beauty of the Alabama campus.</p>
<p>Students here often look at Alabama because of the merit aid that is guaranteed. A student with a 29 ACT and good grades can go to Bama for less than many state schools here. Our flagship, U of I in Urbana, offers $500 to National Merit Finalists. That does not even cover gas to get to and from if you live in Chicagoland. They have so many top students from around the country paying OOS tuition, they do not need to give merit aid to attract students. I am not saying that nothing is offered in terms of merit, but it is highly competitive.</p>
<p>When we took our tour of Bama over the summer, I believe there were 6 families on the tour. Three of us were from the Chicago area. Everyone took the time to drive down over summer (I saw the other license plates in the lot) to check out a school that would guarantee merit aid. My opinion is that it starts out as a financial safety, and grows on you. Bama is still neck and neck for us with another top choice that offers guaranteed aid. We have not even finished the applications that we started for our in-state schools. Why pay so much money to apply to find out “IF” you might get a small scholarship, still paying a lot more than some of our other choices that have grown on us.</p>
<p>It’s great to hear that so many OOS students are aenjoying UA. I can see UA becoming like the University of Delaware where a majority of the student body is from OOS, which allows a smaller state to have a large flagship university. At the same time, there is little to no difference in SAT/ACT test scores and high school GPAs between in-state and OOS students, which is hard for some state schools to accomplish.</p>
<p>In terms of UA graduates remaining in Alabama after graduation, it’d be interesting to see if the data shows such a trend. Right now, UA is focusing on improving the quality of its faculty and students as well as becoming more well known outside of the Southeast. One of the best ways to accomplish the latter is for UA graduates to work all across the country and the world.</p>
<p>This shows a states percentage of the UA population as a ratio to that states percentage of the US population … </p>
<p>1 Alabama 25.98
2 DC 4.17
3 Georgia 2.62
4 Tennessee 2.36
5 Hawaii 1.34
6 Mississippi 1.25
7 New Mexico 1.19
8 Kentucky 1.08
9 Maryland 0.95
10 Florida 0.89
11 Virginia 0.84
12 Louisiana 0.82
13 North Caro 0.80
14 South Caro 0.73
15 Illinois 0.73
16 Texas 0.68
17 Missouri 0.63
18 New Jersey 0.60
19 Pennsylvania 0.49
20 Indiana 0.43
21 Kansas 0.43
22 Ohio 0.41
23 Alaska 0.40
24 Deleware 0.35
25 Arizona 0.28
26 Michigan 0.28
27 California 0.26
28 Vermont 0.26
29 New York 0.26
30 Rhode Isl 0.23
31 Wisconsin 0.22
32 Iowa 0.20
33 Oklahoma 0.16
34 West Virg 0.16
35 Washington 0.14
36 Neveda 0.11
37 North Dak 0.09
38 Nebraska 0.08
39 Oregon 0.08
40 Maine 0.07
41 Connecticut 0.07
42 Idaho 0.06
43 Minnesota 0.06
44 Utah 0.05
45 Wyoming 0.05
46 Colorado 0.05
47 New Hamp 0.05
48 Mass 0.04
49 Montana 0.03
50 Arkansas 0.02
51 South Dak 0.00</p>
<p>Another Illinois parent chiming in. So agree with NaperMom’s comments, and I am a U. of Ill. grad. Pres Scholly will reduce COA at Bama to well below half the cost for my baby girl to attend her home state’s flagship school. Make no mistake, U of I is a terrific school, but the Honors Program at Bama will accord her just as many or more opportunities for success and access to grad school.</p>
<p>Merit money/National Merit offer is a reason why many Virginia kids chose Alabama over our outstanding Virginia schools like UVA, VT, JMU and William & Mary. My older son got into William & Mary and the U. of Richmond – did not care for UVA, VT or JMU. Only Richmond, which is a private school, offered any merit money. He would have had massive loans from William & Mary. He has a friend whom he met while at Bama who turned down UVA for the National Merit package at Alabama – her parents saved the money and will help with her grad school.</p>
<p>As a teacher, I remind students that UVA and others have just so many slots for an incoming freshmen class, so take a look outside the state to see if you can find a school that is a good fit and affordable. My younger son has a range of schools that he is considering. Only one is in Virginia. He does prefer schools in the deep south, and nearly every school has good merit money.</p>
<p>Yes, again a similar story to what’s happening here in Illinois. Enrollment at U of I is statutorily capped by the legislature in order to allow other state universities to share more equitably in the pool of applicants. In a highly populated state this causes U of I to be more and more restrictive and in demand each year. We are now being told to budget $32k for an in-state kid who wants biology. Engineering is even higher. Classic supply and demand. This in turn results in more strong candidates looking nationally, and they can find real bargains at schools like UA that find it beneficial to invest in all the highly qualified kids they can.</p>
<p>Add one to the Florida tally! We are from Fort Myers, FL…D just received her acceptance and we are visiting in December…</p>
<p>Thank you to the CC community and to mom2collegekids for all the great info, we wouldn’t have known about the awesome merit scholarships or the great southern hospitality without y’all…Roll Tide!!!</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>You’re very welcome!!! :)</p>
<p>We are now being told to budget $32k for an in-state kid who wants biology</p>
<p>While UIUC is an excellent school, for a bio major who may be premed, that’s a lot to pay unless money is no object in the family.</p>
<p>Ditto here, not sure whether my son will attend UA on Presidential scholarship, but he definitely will be accepted to some of the very highly ranked UCs…we are just thinking that being a star student in Honors College at UA maybe preferable to an overcrowded UC campus… We gotta see how DS likes campus. no tuition would be another nice benefit, savings would come in handy for grad school.</p>
<p>Calmom…where are you from in Calif? I lived in Orange County for over 40 years.</p>
<p>Is your son premed? If so, getting a tie with another state can be a good idea since getting into Calif med schools is super hard since there’s not nearly enough seat for all the applicants…and the UCs are loaded with premeds.</p>