<p>I have search high and low on the UA website for details about the “hidden scholarship” for students with high ACT scores. Could someone post the details or wording of the offer and from what department that sent it?</p>
<p>You’re not going to find it on a website. </p>
<p>It may be from the College of Arts and Sciences because in the past, it seems like it’s been given to STEM majors who aren’t NMF and/or aren’t eng’g majors and have at least an ACT 35 or SAT equivalent.</p>
<p>It’s been my guess that it’s to compete with some other schools that have been known to throw some bonus scholarships to those with super high stats who aren’t NMF and who are hard science/nonEng’g. </p>
<p>That’s why I think that the OP’s son should choose a science major (he’s pre-med) if he wants the money. It will be unfortunate if he declares a science major after enrolling and won’t then get the money. He can always change later if he doesn’t want to be a science major.</p>
<p>*My son is a current Freshman in the Honors College and Engineering. He had a 34/36 on ACT. He did get the Presidential Scholarship and the Engineering Scholarship. I don’t recall ever seeing the $4000 Scholarship that is in question on this thread. </p>
<p>Could it be because he is in Engineering and he only had a 34 on this ACT?*</p>
<p>Yes…I think it’s because your son is in engineering and/or he has a 34. If he had a 35 and was in the Col of A&S and a hard science major, he might get it. </p>
<p>Could someone post the details or wording of the offer</p>
<p>I don’t know of anyone who regularly posts here that has a child who has rec’d one. We first heard of these offers a year or two ago.</p>
<p>I rarely ever post/visit here, but I figured I’d share information about this since I did receive one of these offers last year during the application process (and nobody else appears to have information about it here).</p>
<p>Last year I was accepted as a Chemistry major originally with a 1480 SAT (MR, from here on out I’ll exclude the writing score), 34 ACT, and a National Merit Semifinalist, and received the Presidential Scholarship pretty much instantaneously after I finished the scholarship application (if I recall correctly).</p>
<p>In the November session of the SAT, I improved my score to a 1600 on the SAT (ACT I did not improve on the second time). I received a letter with December 8 on the letterhead stating:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Hopefully this will give you more insight on the details of this hidden scholarship. The National Merit Scholarship overrides this scholarship. I never saw any details on this scholarship online, and when I asked the scholarships office in the past about it, they kept on confusing it with the Academic Elite Scholarship which I think is reserved for UFE students. I don’t know anything about specific majors that you need to be eligible for it, but hope this helps.</p>
<p>While we have devoted much of this thread to scholarships one can receive to start his or her time at Alabama, I wanted to mention that, once you are on campus, there will be numerous scholarship opportunities to pursue in various majors, etc. The biology and chemistry departments, for example, have additional monies to students who are majors.</p>
<p>Students also can compete at the national level for the prestigious scholarships like the Rhodes, Truman, Goldwater and Hollings. Most prestigious scholarships have certain “standing” requirements such as junior year, etc. Look for these scholarship opportunities once you are on campus. They can greatly help with housing, books, fees, etc.</p>
<p>*wanted to send our congratulations on this latest accomplishment. Based on this new score and your high school GPA, you are now eligible to receive a Presidential Elite Scholarship of $20,500 per year (which is the value of tuition for a full-time student based on the 2010-2011 cost). This scholarship will be renewed each year for four years of undergraduate studies if you maintain a GPA of 3.0 or higher each semester. If the cost of tuition rises, your scholarship will be adjusted to cover that increase. In addition to the full-tuition, you will receive $4,000 per year to be used toward other educational expenses ($16,000 over four years). *</p>
<p>So, there it is.</p>
<p>Since this student received a perfect 1600 M+CR, it’s hard to know how high of a SAT is needed. And, since the student already had an ACT 34, we can assume that a greater ACT score is needed.</p>
<p>As to Momreads’ post.</p>
<p>Yes, there are some scholarships available once you’re a student. For some tippy top students (gradewise and EC-wise), there are some substantial ones. For everyone else, those extra scholarships are harder to get and often not very large…but certainly nice to have to pay for books and such. </p>
<p>Another way to get extra money is to do very well in certain subjects, and the prof may invite you to be a TA for the following semester. Your duties are often minimal…proctoring exams, helping out during recitation or lab hours, etc. You get paid at the end of the semester. This also often leads to having a prof who knows you so well that he/she becomes a good person to get a LOR from if needed for grad/med school.</p>
<p>“should you be accepted into an Academic Common Market program” ~ from thefan’s letter (sorry, my quoting/reply skills aren’t honed!).</p>
<p>What is an Academic Common Market program?</p>
<p>Googled it out!</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.sreb.org/page/1304/academic_common_market.html[/url]”>Academic Common Market - Southern Regional Education Board;
<p>The ACM involves a number of participating states’ public univs (not all public univs in participating states).</p>
<p>If YOUR state’s public univ does not offer a desired major, then you can attend a participating ACM college without paying OOS rates.</p>
<p>Obviously, you have to major in something rather unique for your state not to have one public univ that offers that major.</p>
<p>And…as mentioned above…not all univs in an ACM participate. For instance, even though the state of VA is an ACM member, UVA doesn’t participate. </p>
<p>Some schools only participate at the grad level.</p>
<p>but I waited until I had a 35 to apply… so I wouldnt have increased my score. I’m starting to think I should have applied after I got the 33 and then sent in the 35.</p>
<p>Can you stack scholarships such as the Presidential Elite (full tuition + 4k per year) on top of a NMF scholarship and use the overage to offset the cost of the meal plan? If so, then this really is a full-ride…</p>
<p>As for stacking scholarships, if you are NM, that scholarship will override the presidential scholarship. But, any other scholarship monies you earn, you can stack on top of the NM scholarship. My son, for example, had outside scholarships that allowed him to pay fees and his meal plan the first three semesters at Alabama. He and some of his friends also won additional scholarships once they got to UA.</p>
<p>but I waited until I had a 35 to apply… so I wouldnt have increased my score. I’m starting to think I should have applied after I got the 33 and then sent in the 35.</p>
<p>I don’t think that’s the issue. I think you’ve somehow have been overlooked.</p>
<p>Please contact Mary Spiegel - Executive Director of Admissions and politely ask why you haven’t been offered the Presidential Elite (tuition plus $4k per year). Include name, address, ACT 35, GPA, and CWID. </p>
<p>Email Mary Spiegel at <a href=“mailto:mary.spiegel@ua.edu”>mary.spiegel@ua.edu</a></p>
<p>*Can you stack scholarships such as the Presidential Elite (full tuition + 4k per year) on top of a NMF scholarship and use the overage to offset the cost of the meal plan? If so, then this really is a full-ride… *</p>
<p>No, because the NMF already includes full tuition plus more. (Besides, that would be beyond a full ride…that would be about $25k per year on top of the NMF for an OOS student…and about $13k for an instate.)</p>
<p>However, if you’re an Eng’g or Comp Sci major, then you can stack that scholarship on top of a univ scholarship…because the eng’g scholarship is a dept scholarship.</p>
<p>You can’t stack university scholarships.</p>
<p>We learned that you cannot stack a full tuition departmental scholarship with the Presidential or NMF Scholarship.</p>
<p>True…I forgot that there are some “full tuition” dept scholarships. I think there are some half tuition as well…they might not be stackable either.</p>
<p>I was thinking of the smaller dept scholarships.</p>
<p>why on earth would/should you be able to stack two full tuition scholarships?</p>
<p>The reason Alabama might want to allow stacking is to have an incentive to draw away the super qualified applicant who has an amazing offer elsewhere. (And I am going to assume that most students who have a Presidential/NMF scholarship as well as a full departmental scholarship are going to have some pretty amazing choices.) Remember – neither the Presidential nor the NMF scholarships zero out the student bill. A NMF student still pays fees, meals, and parking and Presidential scholars pay for their housing in addition to those other expenses. It wouldn’t be completely unreasonable to allow multiple full scholarship awards to stack to the extent of paying all those expenses – though certainly nobody is going to fault the generosity of even the basic Presidential/NMF packages. </p>
<p>Alternatively, stacking could also be used to allow students in very highly structured degree programs that already require significant hours beyond the normal load – music or engineering, for example – to use their summers to study at Alabama to earn a dual degree in another unrelated subject.</p>
<p>Why? Pretty much exactly what paying for college said.</p>
<p>Daughter NMSF - should advance to finalist status. She also received Presidential Elite scholarship (tuition + 4k a year). She did have 1600 SAT - math/reading.</p>
<p>Since meals are not provided with the nmf scholarship she was truly hoping that the 4k could be used for her meal plan or for additional opportunities for study abroad that she is planning to do for IHP. </p>
<p>Never expected the full tuition part to be credited to account BUT the 4k a year would have been great - need to make a notation that these scholarships are not stackable so the actual bottom line price tag is known for UA.</p>
<p>Cindy…</p>
<p>You might want to contact Mary Spiegel and ask if the $4k part could be stacked. For a 1600 M+CR, that doesn’t sound outrageous. 
Seems like something could be done…it won’t hurt to politely ask. <a href=“mailto:mary.spiegel@ua.edu”>mary.spiegel@ua.edu</a></p>
<p>Mary is the Exec Director of Admissions. Since Bama has not yet named a Director of Scholarships replacement (used to be Carolyn Rogers), Mary is the one to contact. The ass’t director of scholarships is very nice, but young and probably wihout the power to do anything. Mary runs the entire operation. </p>
<p>As for stacking tuition scholarships, that’s just not going to happen. Don’t think any univ does that. </p>
<p>As for amazing offers elsewhere…if someone with very high stats gets a better offer elsewhere, they should bring it to Bama’s attention. If throwing a few thousand more per year at a 36ACT would bring that student to Bama, then Bama may think it’s money well spent. </p>
<p>The reason Alabama might want to allow stacking is to have an incentive to draw away the super qualified applicant who has an amazing offer elsewhere. (And I am going to assume that most students who have a Presidential/NMF scholarship as well as a full departmental scholarship are going to have some pretty amazing choices.)</p>
<p>Higher ranked schools tend to give “need based aid,” not very large **assured **merit based scholarships like Bama does.</p>
<p>Bama is likely the highest ranked school to give such big **assured **scholarships. A student might get a larger **competitive ** merit offer elsewhere from a higher ranked school, and if that happens, the student can either tell Bama about it, or go to that other school. </p>
<p>That said… It may be a no-brainer…if you snag a rare “full ride” at a higher ranked school, you’re probably going to take it.</p>
<p>I would check with the department before writing off stacking department tuition scholarships. Based on D’s experience, as a NMF, she received a departmental scholarship for the value of tuition. It was stacked with her NMF scholarship. I think the wording may have been the key. Consequently, the actual amount was the value of tuition last year and did not increase when the rate went up for 2011-2012.</p>
<p>Totally agree - Bama has a great scholarship especially for an oos student.</p>
<p>I was just hoping that the 4k could be stacked as she is planning on abroad study - a semester and hopefully at least a summer. She is just trying to control cost as much as she can. She is applying to outside scholarships as well for those that allow the money to be used for fees, board, and educational purposes.</p>