My son was accepted to U of A, and we’d all be thrilled if he went (think it would be a perfect fit).
He did not, unfortunately, meet the criteria for the scholarship. He goes to a very competitive private school in CA, and had some medical issues during 10th & 11th grades, so his GPA was only a 3.1. His ACT was a 34.
We cannot afford full tuition. Does anyone have any tips on how to get some FA $$? I know he’ll be successful there. He is a CS major, and will be awesome. Any help anyone? He’s our first, so this is all new! My daughter (junior) is interested also! heck, maybe we’ll move there!
There is nothing that the school offers comparable to the out of state freshman merit scholarships. If you can move, there are criteria that need to be followed which include parents employment - you can not move for just for education purposes, you must have employment in the state of AL and that will be verified with your employer. Please consider the financial obligations before committing to the school and saddling your son with student loan debt. Too many sad stories of parents having to pull their kid from their dream school once the tuition bills start rolling in.
Unfortunately, the merit req’ts are quite strict. His ACT is very good, but as you know, his GPA is the issue.
If you were to move to AL with full-time employment this summer, and were to show that to UA, UA has been known to give immediate instate rates, but all the i’s must be dotted and t’s must be crossed…and all done by a certain date (I believe before frosh semester starts.)
You could also try appealing to the director of scholarships, mentioning the medical issues that interfered with his GPA. If you try this, you must indicate that your son will enroll if an adequate merit scholarship is awarded.
Late to respond, but is it possible your son’s private high school doesn’t calculate a weighted GPA?
When my son applied back in 2013, UA would allow the school to attach a note from the counselor calculating GPA and weighting advanced classes accordingly.
If your son’s school doesn’t currently weight GPAs, ask them to recalculate because UA will accept whatever criteria the high school uses.
@mom2collegekids We are looking at Alabama for 2020. If the transcript has both weighted and unweighted GPA, for merit purposes will they use the highest?