University of Alabama seems like a really generous school in terms of merit aid scholarships for undergraduate students. Are they as generous towards graduate students? I couldn’t find much about financial aid for grad student on the UA website, there was mostly info for undergrad students.
Here is a link…it is NOT an easy process to understand, so be forewarned. I get the impression that you are tapped on the shoulder for the grad fellowships rather than a straightforward application process. Much is left up to each department. In my opinion, UA is not as generous with grad students, as they are with undergrads. Grad funding stems from a completely different pool of funds than the undergrad scholarships.
http://graduate.ua.edu/publications/finhandbook/
I don’t think they are as generous toward graduate students. Some departments have more money to give than others. It seems like PhD students have a better chance at funding than students pursuing just a masters. And a lot of the money is for TA work as opposed to scholarship money. There are scholarships out there, but there is no “guaranteed” money for stats like there is for undergrad. My daughter had a full tuition scholarship plus an additional fellowship undergrad; for graduate school (with comparable stats) she only had a part time TA position.
At many/most universities, financial aid for grad students is based on merit. The awards are usually far more generous to PhD students, although some depts award some for masters programs.
As for UA…they are like other universities.