I am an out of state student who has been accepted to UA and with scholarships/the help of some family, I can attend Bama for pretty much no cost. I’ve also been accepted to Arizona State(in-state), Penn State, and am awaiting letters from Ohio State, University Illinois - Urbana, UA’s Honors College, and Cornell. I feel pretty confident I’ll get accepted into the rest except Cornell. Actually I’m about 99% sure I won’t get accepted there.
The problem is that my family looks down on UA and thinks it’s beneath me. The thoughts from numerous family members is: 1. Alabama is a ■■■■■■ state. 2. The south is just full of dumb hicks. 3. I’ve worked too hard and am too smart to settle for Alabama. 4. The debt from other schools is worth it(OSU: 40k, PSU: 140k, UIUC: 120k) 5. UA is just a bad school.
So what can I say or show my family to prove that they’re bias/misconceptions against UA are wrong and that Bama would be a good choice for me? I’m also planning on majoring in Computer Science for those wondering. Thank you for the help. This UA forum has done wonders for me in this whole process.
Some other points(I can’t figure out how to edit my post).
I'll get into Cornell no doubt so why even consider UA. 7. They like to look at rankings (US News/Niche/etc.) and they see that Bama is lower then all these schools(except ASU).
There are many people on this website would can speak to the relative quality of UA, and I don’t feel able to argue that point specifically.
However, I think as you continue to have admissions decisions coming in and are discussing your college choices with your parents, emphasizing that you want to complete your undergraduate education with a little debt as possible, and that achieving this is important to you would be a good possible approach. You can’t borrow the amounts you list above yourself, so it is your parents taking on debt for your education and the responsibility of paying it back. You don’t want to burden yourself or them with the debt. It is harder to launch your career when you start out with debt that you could have avoided. It is a big deal to be able to go to college without debt, and you have figured out a way to do so, and the hard work that you have put in so far is what has resulted in this opportunity.
Are you parents willing to pay the full COA at these other schools? Or are you going to have to co-sign loans and pay the loans back yourself? You should not put yourself in the position to owe more than you can borrow yourself ($31,000). That amount will be hard to repay but any more would be a long time burden.
DS was accepted to Penn State, Pitt, and a few other schools w/ good engineering. He got next to nothing in scholarships from them. And we did not have the money, nor would I pay it if we had.
He is at UA and with MANY high stat kids getting a great education. I think it would be a smart thing for your parents to become better educated about UA & Alabama.
He is also having a good time, maybe too good. He just missed the Dean’s List this first semester.
I think he is in a great school w/ great opportunities and really expanding his world. I actually think he isn’t rising to all that UA has to offer, but it is there for him. What more could you want?
You can have a good career coming out of any of those schools, but you will have an easier time staying focused on what you need to do once you are at a school if you don’t have to worry about affording it, and not just for the first year, but all four years. What if they can’t get the loans, or only can get approved for loans for one or two but not all four years? Then you are at a school that you can no longer afford to pay for and you might have to stop attending, that would be much harder on your career, not actually being able to complete a degree in a timely and affordable fashion.
The debt from other schools is worth it(OSU: 40k, PSU: 140k, UIUC: 120k) 5. UA is just a bad school.
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If THEY think the debt is worth it then THEY would be willing to pay the debt back. But, they aren’t…so their opinion about the debt being worth is worthless. People need to put their money where their mouthes are.
Do your parents realize that employers do NOT pay their CS new-hires more money because they graduated from PSU or Cornell or ??
An employer will pay a CS new-hire the SAME salary regardless.
Your family really doesn’t know what it’s talking about.
@mom2collegekids My stats: 30 ACT and 4.0 Weighted GPA with some pretty decent extracurricular. My application was to Cornell was more of a “might as well apply to one IVY” and “there’s always a chance”. While I do love Cornell and nearly everything about it, I know it’s just not likely to happen with my stats.
As for cost (just did some quick math) it would be amount 200k. Wow. Still with that high of costs, Cornell is really the only school I’d consider going into some serious debt with.
Can they qualify for $140,000 in loans?! This would make me crazy to contemplate. As stated previously, you need to have a FOUR year plan to pay for college. Don’t try to pay “year by year”. What happens if your parents are denied for loans in year 3?
You are in a tough position but don’t waver. Some parents do not have good financial sense; that doesn’t meet their children have to follow on the same path.
@mom2collegekids Also I am going to be visiting the campus fairly soon, the only problem is it’s going to be with the half of the family that supports me! Maybe I’ll just film everything while I’m there.
No school is worth serious debt…not even an Ivy. Again, companies will not pay you more.
What do your parents do for a living?
Do your parents realize that 36% of Bama’s students have an ACT 30+? Your stats, while very good, are not top stats at Bama. They’re not even top 25%. I’m only providing this info so that you can tell your parents. I think they think you’ll be surrounded by idiots.
In CS at Bama, most of your classmates will likely have test scores that are higher than yours. Tell your parents that.
Are you a NMSF?
You’re right that you won’t likely get into Cornell, so tell your parents what I said in post #9.
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campus fairly soon, the only problem is it's going to be with the half of the family that supports me! Maybe I'll just film everything while I'm there.
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Who is coming with you? Any parents? Who?
Who is for Bama and who is against?
the bottom line is that they can’t force you to take out loans. If they want to do so and if they want to be SOLELY responsible for paying the loans back, then fine. But, until they take on THAT responsiblity, hold firm.
@mom2collegekids The half of the family that I live with makes enough so that I won’t likely qualify for any financial aide. That half supports and understands Alabama. The other half isn’t financially as secure and ironically enough I would consider that half “snobs” when it comes to many aspects in life, including college.
I am not a NMSF. Unrelated, how do you think my chances of getting accepted into the Honors College are (With the two numbers I provided)?
I’m visiting with my dad whom I live with. My mom’s side of the family, including her, are the ones “agaisnt” UA.
Thank you, I will definitely show them a lot of these replies.
Similar situation here . . . had a conversation about this exact topic recently. My husband and I have researched this issue extensively, and we’re fussing over our only child to go to college so far - so this is a Big Freaking Deal to us. Technically we could afford to send him anywhere, but that doesn’t mean we think it’s valuable to blow an extra $120K for an undergraduate degree. We’re not uber wealthy and we know how hard it is to make that much after-tax $$$.
We would never look twice at UA if we didn’t believe 100% that our son could receive an excellent education there. It is still a top contender on our list (DS wants to study CS too). Look up Jeff Gray in the CS dept. UA has put alot of $$ into their engineering quad and programs and it is obvious when you visit campus.
It is really hard to counter an anti-Alabama sentiment and I have given up trying. We will just have to do what we think is best and let the chips fall where they may. What other people think is none of our business.
@SouthFloridaMom9 Glad I’m not the only one. It sucks that there’s so much prejudice about the state itself. I told my mom once, “If you were to take the entire campus, faculty, student population, and everything else that has to do with the university, and move it into New York or Pennsylvania, you’d love the school.”
