Hello, our daughter visited UA and LOVED it! We are thankful she qualifies for the 19,000 for OSS. She plans to retake the ACT with the goal of earning presidential 25,000.00 per year. As an OSS she still has 20,000.00 plus in expenses. Any parents experience getting more scholarship money stacked on the automatic merit aid? We (she) is hoping to get her tuition to 8,000.00 or less.
Thanks in advance.
My daughter is looking at UA too. We are in the same boat ACT score wise. Just missed the presidential this ACT not sure if she will take again. Looking for additional money too.
Here is UA’s resource page for finding external scholarships https://scholarships.ua.edu/types/external.php
Our hs guidance counselor works with seniors to apply to local funding sources as well.
Which UA? Sounds like you may be referring to Alabama.
Are you trying to get “net costs” (not tuition) down to $8k?
You may be looking at the COA, subtracting merit, and getting that large net cost. Bama pads their COA by including the cost of its private bedroom super suites, so you can instantly reduce the COA by picking a standard double. That reduces cost by about $4k immediately.
The first year is the most expensive because of the mandatory all you can eat meal plan…pricey. After the first year, students can either choose a cheaper plan or choose not to have a meal plan at all. So, savings there after the first year. Virtually everyone chooses a cheaper plan or no plan after frosh year. The all you can eat freshman plan is too much food and pricey.
Many reduce their book costs simply by buying used or renting text books
The amount estimated for personal expenses and travel are controlled by your choices/spending habits.
On your own, you can reduce the COA by at least $5k for freshman year, and possibly more for the other 3 years by not choosing the all you can eat meal plan.
But getting back to your question…if the student majors in eng’g or computer science, there is an additional 2500 per year award.
For other majors, it’s unknown. Dept scholarships are very competitive with limited funds. Add’l awards would be small, altho every little bit helps.
The physics dept has a huge scholarship. They host a high school physics competition every yr and the top 2 scorers on the individual test (as in not team) are awarded the equivalent of in-state tuition that can stack on top of the presidential. They do not have to major in physics to receive the scholarship. If they do major in physics, they are also eligible for the Barr scholarship.
Randall Research Scholars (formerly CBH) https://honors.ua.edu/programs/computer-based-honors-program/ offers some students scholarships. So does University Fellows.
Thank you! Your reply was very helpful. And yes, looking to get COA down to 8,000 or below, your info is very insightful. Do you have a child at UA? (Alabama)