I think colleges are more interested than ever in identifying and attracting a larger pool of potential candidates to increase socioeconomic and racial diversity on campus. And this includes a lot of schools that are not T-whatever. Just as examples, U of Evansville and Nebraska offer great merit $$ to NRP awardees. So does Louisville.
It is a dual edged sword. On one hand, there are more awardees on the other hand, there is more dilution of prestige.
1 Like
Hey just wanted to give some information on anyone thinking about Alabama. When I first began this process I never truly considered Alabama since I automatically assumed it would just be a big sports school without a large focus on academics even with the scholarship. However, my parents convinced me to give it a visit because of how large the scholarship was and I can say I was genuinely surprised. The facilities they had for my intended major(business) were amazing and a fun fact about Alabama TA’s dont teach classes professors do. So it’s much easier to build a strong relationships with professors. Also the honors college(which people with NRP are automatically admitted to with a secondary application) has a bunch of major specific programs, opportunities and creates smaller classes. Another thing was the dorms, which out of the 16 schools we visited was the best we seen. 60 percent are suite style which are 4 singles and a shared common room with a kitchenette and 2 bathrooms. And the majority of the rest are doubles that come with a bathroom inside. Which means no having to go to a communal bathroom every day which to me is a massive plus. I think Alabama gets put in a bad light because of how big sports is at the school but from my visit I believe its on par with a South Carolina or even a Penn State. To summarize, what im trying to say is don’t discount Alabama or any other similiar schools just because its not necessarily higher “ranked” if there is one thing going through this process has taught me is that rankings by us news dont matter its your own ranking that counts.
10 Likes
Very true. Rankings are bogus and I think are biased against certain types of Red state schools. Look at outcomes instead. My son is starting out (lol) as a Chemical Engineering student. He was admitted to several programs and some are ranked higher. We looked at USF and Bama. Bama students had better outcomes and higher salaries.
Couple of other things about Bama – only about 24 semester hours worth of core courses versus almost 60 at most schools. This gives kids opportunities to pursue double majors, multiple minors, special BS/MS type programs etc.
Finally, Bama has more National Merit Scholars that any other schools and over 20% of students come in with SAT/ACT equivalent of 1400+. That’s 8000+ students that are high stat. So, the intellectual muscle of the school is nothing to laugh at.
3 Likes
Agree. We used the College Scorecard site by the department of education to compare schools. Very useful info re outcomes.
2 Likes
Anyone else worried about the direction Florida is taking with diversity and equity efforts? My son refused to apply to Florida public schools because of fears that are now a reality. He will be studying psychology and doesn’t want to have courses that focus on equality or gender studies to be banned. It’s sad because some public schools like UF have given merit for college board awards, at least for Florida residents. But will that be abolished as well? And will other states like Alabama follow a similar path? Very sad.
“New College of Florida’s Board of Trustees abolished the office handling diversity, equity and inclusion programs during a contentious and emotional meeting Tuesday that included testimony from students worried that a board reshaped by Gov. Ron DeSantis is making the school unwelcoming to minorities.
DeSantis [appointed six members to New College’s board]on Jan. 6 in an effort to transform the school, putting the small Sarasota institution at the center of the GOP’s nationwide pushback on education policies aimed at supporting historically marginalized groups, including racial minorities and LGBTQ individuals.”
3 Likes
Yes I am concerned too.
This was just posted online. Notice it says for employment and admissions. Doesn’t say anything about scholarships…. Yet. Many Scholarships have always been focused on specific groups- e.g. stem students, dyslexic students, women in stem, Hispanics in stem, etc.
Yep the pattern is expanding 
It just makes zero sense, but when it comes to politics, reason and common sense don’t come into play I guess.
1 Like
Barry University in Miami is a top choice for my son. Do you think we have any reason to worry if it’s a private school that is proudly inclusive and progressive?
I think private schools have a lot more leeway. It’s the public schools that are at the mercy of the governors.
That’s what my son was thinking so he feels good about leaving it on the list. He was a semi-finalist for their full ride STAMPS scholarship but was not selected as a finalist. However they gave him an extra $4k in addition to his other awards so with the honors program (extra $5k) and pep band (extra $1k) we’d be down to $16k COA which is just a tad higher than our lowest SUNY option. It’s a small Catholic school in Miami Shores and is a Hispanic Serving Institution with great diversity (over 25% Hispanic and over 25% African American.) It checks many boxes and he really liked the vibe.
3 Likes
This is absolutely 100% why I did not want my daughter to go to a public university in Texas and did not let her apply to any universities in Florida. I think private universities in general are safer and certainly private universities in Florida are safer than Texas, but with the exception of Rice, private universities in Texas tend to range from conservative to ultra conservative (Baylor? TCU? SMU?). With the new “education” laws in Texas and Florida, I would not want my daughter earning any degree that will be controlled by the politicians of one party in extreme reactionary mode to everything. Texas and Florida, leading the way to teach fake history, fake science and censoring all books we don’t like. Welcome to the Dark Ages. Seriously hope Disney shuts its doors and leaves.
9 Likes
Agree. If we had a crystal ball 12 years ago when we decided to move from CA to TX, we wouldn’t have! We aren’t in a position to move now. My daughter wanted to go to a local college so… here we are. Lots of big government going on in places that used to be against big government. It’s just craziness all the stuff they are prohibiting. It’s sad that A&M (and others) had this mission to increase diversity in enrollment to reflect the diversity of the state but the governor decided to prohibit it.
3 Likes
I’m concerned as well. My son is admitted to several schools, including public universities in Florida. He did not apply to a particular Texas school with a strong program in the area he wants to study as he felt like it probably was too conservative for him.
I suspect the environment on campus is more accepting and my sense is that DeSantis is doing this as much for the headlines and to run for President than anything else. The issue is that if this starts to really resonate with voters (beyond MAGA crowd), then every other red state will follow the culture war nonsense. So then — where do we send our kids? Believe me, I already suggested that he study outside the country! The way my son looks at this is that perhaps the state needs another voter that doesn’t buy into this nonsense! I love the youthful optimism and I do believe this generation will not tolerate this nonsense.
It’s interesting that DeSantis started with a school with undergrad population less than 700 students. I believe this is intentional. If he wades into UF or other large schools I wonder if the FL voters would be as tolerant of that move? I realize he’s asked for data from the other schools, but as of yet there is no fall out. We will be watching what he does.
I’m trying to shut my mouth and let him make his own decisions. If he goes to one of these places and it is intolerable, then he can always transfer I guess.
3 Likes
I agree DeSantis is doing this more to get headlines as he prepares for a likely presidential run. This stuff might play well in Florida or conservative politics but tell me how attacking educational freedom & slamming diversity efforts (on top of restricting a woman’s control over her own body and refusing to support reasonable gun safety laws) leads to a win in a national election. I think (pray) the MAGA days are over now that they are showing their true colors and not being so subtle. Having said that, I’m disappointed there isn’t more push-back from students, administrators and businesses like Disney. They seem content to let themselves be bullied. I’ve heard of some protests on campuses like UF but they need to push back HARD and this deserves major media attention or the bullies will just be more empowered. It should have started with Disney saying farewell to Florida. Republicans used to be against big government, now it’s their top priority. Very sad. My kids are both ok with being in a red state for college (although gravitate to more progressive cities within the red state) so they can make change from within (yep-I have idealistic kids too) but they refuse to attend public schools where state government dictates the rules. My daughter attends Loyola New Orleans and is very happy! My son would love to study in Miami where you walk around and most people speak Spanish. But they are both frustrated with the backwards thinking in many states which is generally not reflected on campuses.
3 Likes
I completely understand. It’s hard having to now factor insane racist politicians into college planning, especially with college costs factored in since the state school options are the cheaper options for most. I agree that everything DeSantis is doing is for headlines and to gather certain elements to him. That being said, many states have already started following his lead with proposed anti DEI laws, “don’t say gay” type laws, anti-drag laws, and all kinds of other random laws that have nothing to actually do with governing, but lots to do with bluster and catering to the LCD. Of course, just because DeSantis is doing this stuff for attention and votes, doesn’t mean he doesn’t believe it and doesn’t mean it isn’t a hugely dangerous precedent. He is single handedly setting the civil rights movement back 100 years. On top of that, yesterday I read they have proposed a law that any blogger or online writer who wants to write anything about him or any republicans have to register with the state and submit monthly reports. If they don’t, they will be fined $2500 and $25 each day thereafter they don’t come in compliance. Freedom of speech indeed. People are often willing to grin and bear it, I think in certain times, messages need to be sent and people need to just not spend money in Florida. Don’t apply to schools there, don’t vacation there, don’t travel there.
Oh, and to answer @AmyIzzy 's question above - I do think these anti-DEI moves will eventually impact scholarships at state schools in Florida and Texas. There is already a lawsuit in Texas against like 6 medical schools (being filed by America First Legal, the brain child of former Trump employee Steve Miller) for, as they claim, illegally admitting students based on race. So, it is only natural that next they will come after any little scholarship money that goes to under-represented minorities.
2 Likes
I haven’t been on this thread in a long time but just wanted to share my D23’s NHRP merit scholarship award amount from Northeastern (admitted EA). We were disappointed that she only received $14K/yr from the scholarship, half of what we had hoped. Her scholarship was specifically tied to her NHRP status. For reference, she has a 1560 SAT, a 4.0 uw GPA, all 5’s on her AP exams, plus some international recognition for her art, among other ECs and a PT job.
I will be interested to see if anyone else receives a higher award. If not, I’d guess that Northeastern is pulling back on this type of scholarship. With her stats it almost seems like she could have done better had she not had the NHRP status. It’s such a bummer because this award puts Northeastern way at the very top in terms of net price versus her other scholarships, and she was really interested in NU. I guess NU doesn’t need to use scholarship money to attract this population anymore.
3 Likes
Same here NU only gave 10k merit for the NRP scholarship making it impossible to attend. It’s a great school but it is not worth the egregious price tag.
3 Likes
My son is NHMS and applied EA to Northeastern but was deferred to RD. We aren’t even sure he will get in but don’t have high hopes for merit if he does. We knew a student who received 50% off of COA about 5 years ago for NHMS but those days seem to be over. Were they generous with Financial Aid? In other words, did the final price match your NPC or what you thought you’d pay? Or was it way off? NU offers a pre-read if you are considering ED (we were) and they said we’d pay about $32k COA if he gets in, which is lower than we thought they’d expect but $5k-$14k higher than most of his current offers. Not sure the ratio of merit to FA if he gets in but the final number should come out to about $32k. I’ll let you know if that pans out. Our EFC is $17k to give some perspective.
The one that surprised us was Fordham. They offer full tuition for NHMS but it’s competitive. My son got in but did not get the full tuition award. He was given only $10k in merit and $20k in FA so the price tag was $53k, way higher than any other offers. That’s a hard no!
1 Like
Same experience with NHRP at NEU- sorely disappointed in a 12k award.
To me it’s no loss- I find the schools tactics to be stats among the most aggressive, which to me, indicates they want to fake it until they make
it. They are in the outside looking in on the top 40.
D23 however believes the hype. So it has made for an interesting series of conversations. They market themselves professionally and punch well above their weight.
But re NHRP- they seem to have made a pivot in which they don’t feel the need to buy as many high stat kids.
2 Likes