<p>Hi. I was looking at the automatic scholarships on the UA site, and they all refer to tuition (like the Presidential Scholarship).
Does anyone know if UA will give additional scholarships or grants for housing/board for OOS kids with high SAT & high GPA but who are not National Merit scholars?
(Looking for the no-debt college solution opportunity …)
Thanks.</p>
<p>I don’t know the answer specifically, but there are plenty of outside scholarships available (merit aid as well as financial aid) for students who pursue it. Depending on your career interest, your major, your heritage, your race, your stats, your passions…</p>
<p>@aeromom Do you mean outside scholarships as in the ones on Fastweb? We are looking through those; I was wondering about scholarships/grants that UA will give OOS kids.
Like for those that qualify for the Presidential award, are they known to also offer to pay for room/board?</p>
<p>@scholarme You can apply for Academic Elite Scholarship. It provides another $8500/yr in addition to value of full tuition plus a free Ipad. It is competitive and requires more than great SAT & GPA.
<a href=“http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/elite.html”>http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/elite.html</a></p>
<p>If you are an engineering major, you receive an engineering scholarship of $2,500/yr based upon SAT/ACT scores.
<a href=“Scholarships – College of Engineering | The University of Alabama”>http://eng.ua.edu/undergraduate/scholarships/</a></p>
<p>If you win both Engineering and Academic Excellence, the additional $11K will be enough for room and board plus books assuming you live in non-suite dorm.</p>
<p>Hopefully a Bama parent will chime in here, but from what I’ve seen the highest scholarship for OOS kids (not NM) is the Presidential award. (And just as a point of clarification, they don’t offer a true “full ride” for NM kids. Housing is only covered the first year. It’s still a fantastic deal, but wanted to clarify that.) There may be additional scholarship money for engineering kids, but I’m not sure.</p>
<p>The following information was taken from the “Automatic Full tuition/Full Ride Scholarships” thread. According to the thread, the requirements for the University of Alabama are:</p>
<p>“University of Alabama
Award: Full Tuition
Out-of-State Requirement: 3.5 GPA, 32 ACT or 1400 SAT (CR+M)
In-State Requirement: 3.5 GPA, 30 ACT or 1330 SAT (CR+M)
Out-of-State Scholarships - Undergraduate Scholarships - The University of Alabama
In-State Scholarships - Undergraduate Scholarships - The University of Alabama”</p>
<p>@scholarme There is also potentially additional money given if you are selected as a CBHP student. This is also competitive. </p>
<p>Thanks @voiceofreason66 & @suzy100!
UA was not really on my kids’ radar until I started reading CC threads.
@Shawnspencer - I think she does qualify for the full tuition - based on test scores she does; and she’s only ever had a couple of B’s on her transcript, but her school does a weighted GPA on a 5.0 scale so I’m not sure.
Since it is OOS (approx 14 hours if driving so airfare becomes an issue), have to add up the room+board+travle expenses too.</p>
<p>@scholarme If your daughter’s GPA is over 3.5 whether it is weighted or unweighted she qualifies as long as test scores meet requirement for scholarships. There is Amtrak service out of Tuscaloosa which may cost less than airfare if that makes a difference in total expenses.</p>
<p>@scholarme. There are a number of departmental scholarships but amount and type will vary by department. You will have to research those on your own by area or provide more detail on area of study. </p>
<p>I’m not aware of a “full ride” scholarship. There are various scholarships which, cobbled together, might get you close. As already mentioned, there are the Academic Elite Scholarship (very competitive), CBHP Fellowship (a program you do because you want to do it, not for the money) and the Engineering Scholarship (only go into engineering if it interests you, not for another $2500). I think there is a scholarship given by the Alumni Association that is very generous, plus there are various departmental awards, talent awards and the like. But you may not know about them all up front. For instance, my D has a CBHP Fellowship, which makes a very nice dent in room and board costs, but she didn’t know she was getting it until after she had moved to campus in August of freshman year. It could not have been part of her decision or planning process.</p>
<p>Re #2 (I’m SOOOOO glad the posts are #'d now!!!):<br>
Yes, I do mean outside scholarships like those found on Fastweb (although that is not a very good clearinghouse, IMO). I’m most familiar with outside scholarships that are relevant to a specific professional career path which have national industry associations, such as engineering, accounting, teaching, etc. I am most def not talking about ‘lottery’ scholarships where there are 10,000s of applicants for $500 in ‘prize’ money. I can suggest you start looking for large awards, where the application process yields a lower # of applicants, commensurate with the effort required.
As I have mentioned before in other threads, often scholarships open up a bit once you are in college, because the vast #s of HS students applying now, ‘give up’ applying for anything once they get into college. Once in college, you have MUCH more to put on a resume and you should be involved much more heavily in things that associations are looking for to represent on campus. Find those scholarships that require you to be already in college, work on getting stellar letters of rec and academic endorsements, and become involved on campus with your career interests. There are several groups on campus (or start your own!) that may be relevant to you. PM me if you want to discuss your situation specifically.</p>
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<p>I think in another thread it was mentioned that 900 frosh get the Presidential award, so it wouldnt be feasible to give even half of them R&b…the NMFs/NAs get R&B for one year…and there are often 300+ NMFs/NAs/AE students.</p>
<p>Bama doesnt have enough housing for 4 years to even consider giving 900 students free R&B each year (that would be 3600 students at any given time.</p>
<p>One reason Bama discontinued 4 years of housing for NMF/NA students was simply providing their housing all four years…for free…too expensive.</p>
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<p>I think the cost, after tuition, is about $15k for the first year if pricier housing is selected. The first year is the most expensive because of the mandatory large meal plan. Does your student want the pricier suites housing, or would standard doubles be ok? </p>
<p>If you can pay the $15k, then no debt is needed. If you need your costs to be lower than that, then your child may need to borrow some (maybe just the sub loans), to make ends meet.</p>
<p>What is your child’s major?</p>
<p>@scholarme I didn’t include Alumni scholarship because the highest award of $3,500 plus full tuition is need dependent and priority is given to students from certain counties in Alabama.
<a href=“http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/crimson.html”>http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/crimson.html</a></p>
<p>There are many prior posts dealing with this issue you might want to review.</p>
<p>My kid wants to go into engineering, but is undecided about what kind, so realistically there is a possibility she will change her mind. If she applies to Engineering, I think she will get the $2,500.
UA is already a lot more reasonable than our state flagship, for sure!</p>
<h1>12 - We are a very frugal family, and we haven’t toured yet, but she knows that splurging on pricey stuff while in college = debt when graduating. So assuming the standard rooms are ok, I think her biggest question would be if they have A/C.</h1>
<p>Transportation - anyone know if the Amtrack station in Tuscaloosa is in a safe area? (I have never been there, so no idea).
I think Amtrak give student discounts too.</p>
<p>Honestly UA is farther than we were considering - we were mostly looking in the max 6 to 8 hour drive area. So, feeling a bit anxious.</p>
<p>@scholarme All dorms have A/C and your daughter is eligible for the lowest cost dorm option of 3 to a room if cost is truly an issue. Somerville is only $3790 for the year versus $8800 for a suite room.</p>
<p>what state are you in?</p>
<p>The 2500 per year add’t dollars applies to the entire College of Engineering, including Comp Sci.</p>
<h1>16 - PA</h1>
<p>Some of the other fields she has been thinking of are more in Math/Business.
She’s taking a free online Java course now, and based on the drama, I am thinking Comp Sci is unlikely. LOL</p>
<h1>15 Where can I see the options/prices on housing and food? I can’t seem to find it on the website.</h1>
<p>Are all the Honors Housing the more expensive suites then?</p>
<p>@scholarme Per prior thread recommendations, declare Engineering as major if she is unsure. The engineering scholarship is only awarded to first time freshmen declaring engineering as a major. If your daughter declares another major prior to fall enrollment she will not be eligible for the scholarship. </p>