Was very excited about the NMF scholarship at alabama but Just found out my son missed NMSF by 1 point . He has a 35 ACT so will get free tuition (and the $2500 engineering scholarship). Are there other scholarship opportunities to cover room and board?
Look at any affiliation or legacy you might have, such as through military service. Look at major related scholarships. Look for organizations from your state or hometown. Did you or a parent graduate from UA? The UA alumni organization has a merit scholarship for members. Good luck!
Every high school student should look to their guidance department for lists of local area scholarships. Although these scholarships are usually for small dollar amounts, winning several can quickly add up. Most of these scholarships will be for a single payment, but others may be renewable from year to year. The good thing is that at The University of Alabama, these scholarships are allowed to be stacked with the larger merit monies UA awards.
I would have my student fill out as many of these applications as possible. Usually high achieving high school students will be eligible to apply for quite a few awards. You will find your local pool of applicants to be much smaller than the pool of applicants in a national scholarship competition. This gives your student better odds at winning. Make sure that your student follows all the details of the scholarship applications. I remember some of the applications had picky requirements, involving several steps and essays. Yes it’s work to apply, but at my student’s senior high school awards night, many of the top students won multiple awards.
Also, try for some of those national scholarships if your student is eligible. Is this work…yes, but money is a possibility.
In addition to the above information, don’t forget to have your student fill out the scholarship application at The University of Alabama. All students should fill out the scholarship application, otherwise they may leave potential money on the table.
My son received 4 awards from local businesses/organizations. Most were small and 3 of the 4 were only for freshman year (the 4th was renewable for 8 semesters). But in total the awards amounted to over $7000, which in addition to the engineering award of $2500 paid the majority of expenses his first year.
He also applied for many national awards and received none of those.
Not right away, but your son could co-op and earn money to help pay for room and board.
He can also try retesting and getting an ACT 36…if he gets that, then he would get the Presidential Elite award.
He has taken AcT 4 times trying for that 36 and got a 35 every time
It’s not written as “automatic” but we’ve seen applicants who have perfect scores get it (who weren’t also NMF).
In the past, the PE award is:
4 years of tuition
1 year of housing
Around $3k annual stipend
$2k of study abroad money.
Almost the same as NMF.
If he’s otherwise interested in CBH or University Fellows, they sometimes award additional funds to certain students. I wouldn’t do them just for the money, though.