<p>Hello everyone,</p>
<p>New to the whole college thing son from Missouri who hopes to be bama bound. He was accepted in August we have paid the enrollment deposti, housing deposit and registered for orientation. We completed the Fafsa the day we got our taxes done on Jan 20th. Now we are just waiting to see what the bottom line is $ wise to see if he can go or not. Anyone know when we can expect that info? How realistic is the EFC? He is ranked in the top 1% of his class currently 28 out of 496. 3.8 GPA with AP classes however his best on the ACT is a 22 (terrible at standardized tests). We are holding out hope that we can swing it because he will be devastated if he can’t attend. Bama was his first choice prior to our campus visit during homecoming weekend in October after that it has been his only choice. Roll Tide!</p>
<p>Hi,</p>
<p>need-based aid is not based on stats, it’s based on EFC.</p>
<p>What is your EFC? If it’s below 4000, then you will get some federal Pell grant dollars.</p>
<p>I’m a little concerned because you may be under the impression that EFC is all a family has to pay. That isn’t true. EFC is just a number to see if you qualify for any federal aid…which isn’t much. Usually only enough to pay for in-state tuition and commuting…certainly not enough to pay for OOS tuition, room and board, etc.</p>
<p>I wish the feds would change that acronym because it really is a misnomer. It confuses people into thinking that schools are going to charge a sliding scale based on EFC. That isn’t true. It’s just a number to determine eligibility for fed aid…small grants and loans.</p>
<p>How much can you contribute towards your son’s education each year? OOS tuition is about $20k and room, board and books can be another $9k+.</p>
<p>What major did he select? I’m concerned that his ACT will prevent him from getting a dept scholarship…unless they only look at his GPA.</p>
<p>Is he a under-represented minority? If so, then there might be some scholarship money given.</p>
<p>Unfortunately no he is not a minority. Our EFC was 9k so I am aware that we won’t get pell or anything. However I did think that there would be other types of merit based scholarships besides those based soley on ACT scores. So basically are we looking at no aid past the 5,500 loan? I really appreciate any help and advice. His major is Kinesisology in education.</p>
<p>Did he fill out the education scholarship form? I think the Ed dept has its own scholarship form (it did last year).</p>
<p>I don’t know exactly what each dept bases its scholarships on. I thought it would be GPA and test scores, but maybe not. Hopefully, in your son’s case, they will weight his GPA more heavily.</p>
<p>With an EFC of $9k and being OOS, I don’t think you’ll get much more than a $5500 student loan for need-based aid. i don’t know if you’d get work-study or not…but that would only pay for “day to day” personal expenses…not tuition, etc. </p>
<p>The balance would be a Parent Plus loan…but that would end up being too much.</p>
<p>How much can you contribute each year?</p>
<p>Did your son get any merit scholarships from other schools?</p>
<p>I feel I need to add…</p>
<p>In reality…test scores are usually weighted far more heavily than GPA. A school’s ranking is affected by the avg test scores of the frosh class. The ACT/SAT middle quartiles are what perspective students/parents look at when they evaluate a school. </p>
<p>Schools will literally “buy” students with high test scores because it helps the school increase its range of middle quartile stats. For example…Bama middle quartile range for ACT is 21-28. That means that the upper quartile consists of students who have an ACT of over 28. </p>
<p>the reason why test scores matter so much for scholarships is this.</p>
<p>There is a large pool of students with high GPAs in the US. For example, at Bama, 33% of students have a GPA of 3.75 or higher. 50% have a GPA of 3.5 or higher. 43% graduate in the top 10% of their class (like your son).</p>
<p>There is a smaller pool of students who have high test scores. </p>
<p>Lastly, there is an even smaller pool of students who have high test scores and high GPA. those are the ones who typically get the scholarships.</p>
<p>However, that doesn’t mean that your son won’t get anything. At this point, no one really knows for sure. Award letters go out sometime in March (late March, I think).</p>
<p>It also merits a mention that test scores impact US News and Forbes rankings pretty heavily. Although most people realize those rankings aren’t the end all be all, they do frequently determine if a top performing student will even consider a particular school. SO schools are left pandering to high testers and not GPA’s so much. Plus GPA’s are so subjective. A 4.0 at a small rural school, or an inner city school may be a 3.0 at a prep school, or a suburban school.</p>
<p>It really is a flawed system, and needs to be addressed. (As does the college ranking system, but that is a topic for another thread on another day!)</p>
<p>My D made the comment that it seemed really unfair that one test can determine so much, and many scholarships don’t even consider the hundreds of hours of leadership, and service, and taking the hardest courses possible and maintaining a 4.0 GPA, it is all based on one test taken on one day in the junior year. HOWEVER, we certainly aren’t turning money down LOL!!</p>
<p>GOOD LUCK, & ROll TIDE!!</p>
<p>nicollec: There are scholarships devoted to leadership or community service. Check with your guidance department to see if they know of any. I have had students earn a scholarship for their experience as an Eagle/Girl Scout.</p>
<p>^^
Nicolle’s D has the NMF scholarship, so she’s probably good to go. :)</p>
<p>However, any add’l scholarships would be great, too.</p>
<p>M2CK: Those additional scholarships/grants are nice to pay for books, fees and meal plans, along with a good portion of a study abroad.</p>
<p>DS did better on his SAT IIs than on his SAT I, yet most colleges (with a few exceptions) do not seem to care one bit about SAT IIs. (I’m guessing SAT IIs don’t factor into US News rankings.) However, a giant UCal study showed that SAT IIs and GPAs (despite the subjectivity factor for the latter) are actually better predictors of college academic success than the SAT I. </p>
<p>It’s true: The system is flawed. US News rankings seem to have had some adverse effects, I’m thinkin’. </p>
<p>Best wishes, kdk! I hope your son gets a good award.</p>
<p>DS did better on his SAT IIs than on his SAT I,</p>
<p>Do you mean in score numbers or in percentiles? The percentiles on the SAT IIs are very harsh.</p>
<p>For instance…</p>
<p>for SAT I…Math…a 700 is 94th percentile</p>
<p>For SAT II …
Math Level I…a 700 is 83 percentile
Math Level II…a 700 is 65 percentile</p>
<p>Physics…a 780!!! is only 88 percentile.</p>
<p>In scores. You’re right about those percentiles!</p>
<p>Math II – 790 (He scored 700 on the SAT I)
Latin – 800 (supposedly 96th percentile. Does that mean 4% scored 820 or so? LOL! I’m guessing they figure the percentile from the bottom of the range, not the top.)</p>
<p>DS scored only 700 on the Physics SAT II, but he’s not planning to be a physicist, or any sort of scientist or mathematician, so I guess it’s OK! ;-)</p>
<p>I assume the harshness of the percentiles reflects the self-selectivity of the pool of kids taking the subject SATs…?</p>
<p>If we had it to do over again, we’d encourage DS to retake the SAT I rather than focusing so much on prepping for the SAT IIs – which colleges really do seem to ignore (largely), at least when it comes to awarding merit aid!</p>
<p>Latin – 800 (supposedly 96th percentile. Does that mean 4% scored 820 or so? LOL!</p>
<p>LOL…no, it means that 4% did as well as your son. </p>
<p>I think it’s funny that if you take Chinese and get a 800, that’s only a 57 percentile.</p>
<p>*Math II – 790 (He scored 700 on the SAT I)
*</p>
<p>a 790 in Math II is 88 percentile…while a 700 in math SAT I is 94th percentile. </p>
<p>the SAT II’s are confusing…people see 740+ as really high, but not necessarily percentile-wise.</p>
<p>The same goes for the Quantitative (math) for the GRE… an 800 in the Quantitative is 94th percentile…but, interesting…a 740 in the Verbal is 99th percentile. And, from what I hear, grad schools don’t get many in STEM majors with high Verbal scores. LOL</p>
<p>Here’s the link for SAT II percentiles <a href=“College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools”>College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools;
<p>thank you everyone. We had no idea how important individual tests would be we focused on the classes and gpa. He has taken AP everything APUSH, AP Bio, AP chem, AP government etc. He is ranked number 26 out of 523 students in his class. I guess we will just have to wait and see.</p>
<p>GPA is important, but so many kids have high GPAs, that really only test scores can then be used to determine merit scholarships. Even the “test optional” schools usually use test scores for merit consideration. </p>
<p>If I were you, I would send an email detailing how much your son wants to come to Bama but you’re concerned about affordability. Stress his GPA and curriculum and that he just doesn’t do well on standardized tests (did he take the SAT?). </p>
<p>Include what state you’re from.</p>
<p>Right now, there isn’t a Director of Scholarships (because the director has been promoted to another position), so I probably would contact Mary Spiegel…she’s the Executive Director of Admission and she’s very involved in Enrollment Mgmt. She has a vested interest in making sure the school has enrollment from all areas of the country. </p>
<p><a href=“mailto:mary.spiegel@ua.edu”>mary.spiegel@ua.edu</a></p>
<p>Mom2 thank you so much I will give it a try.</p>