<p>Hello! I’ve been admitted to the University of Alabama, however I am an out of state student. Chances are I probably would have to take out a ton of loans as well due to the fact that my GPA isn’t high enough for any merit scholarships. Unless U of Alabama is extremely generous in terms of financial aid (Is it?). Does anyone honestly believe that paying OOS tuition would be worth it? For those of you wondering why I would want to pay OOS tuition is for the environment and the culture. The ROLL TIDE and etc. Opinions please? Thank you. </p>
<p>Alabama is a great school, but there is no way my son would even be considering the school as an out of student unless he had been awarded the merit aid. Have you run the net price calculator to see what they estimate would be your cost to attend? I could never encourage someone to take out loans to finance the out of state tuition no matter the environment and culture. You might be better served by attending an in-state college you can afford without taking out loans and then travel to Alabama once or twice a year to watch a game or something. But to take out nearly $40k a year (probably could not get that much financing anyway), for the opportunity to yell “Roll Tide!” - well, you would be paying for that experience for years to come. Not worth it.</p>
<p>This question is asked often on the Alabama forum, and no matter how much all of us love the school and all it represents, the answer is always the same. Do not incur a huge student debt to attend an out of state college as an undergraduate. Period. </p>
<p>ditto to all that was said above.</p>
<p>^ definitely agree with the past three posts.</p>
<p>No, you should NOT take out a bunch of loans. Besides, your parents probably would NOT cosign those loans anyway because they’re a bad idea.</p>
<p>How much will your parents pay each year for college? What is your EFC? </p>
<p>Publics charge high OOS rates for a reason. They don’t usually cover those costs with need-based aid.</p>
<p>Although most OOS students do pay full freight or very close to it, those students’ parents are paying. I doubt many of them are taking out large loans. For those who have parents who are happily paying, they find it to be worth it. But, to take out large loans would be crazy.</p>
<p>What were your stats? Bama may still award you some merit if your GPA is a 3.0+ and your test scores are good.</p>
<p>Hello! Sorry for the late responses, but I am very grateful for your insights. @mom2collegekids, I’d rather not go into too much detail regarding my EFC and etc, but trust me, my EFC is no where close to the 40k a year. Also, regarding my GPA and the possibility of receiving a merit award is out of the question for U of Alabama. Unfortunately for me, I attend an IB School where they do not give me a GPA and it is up to the colleges to decide my GPA. Sadly, while every other college I have been accepted to has considered my GPA to be around the 3.2-3.5 range and offered me a scholarship, U of Alabama has put me at 2.73. Even when my counselor contacted them asking why the discrepancy was so high between the U of Alabama and other colleges, they said that GPA was final. My critical reading and math score was a 1300 as well, if anyone was curious. Which takes away any chance of a scholarship.Yes I do understand my grades should be higher, I just was not motivated earlier. Also, regarding loans, my parents told me they would take out any loan for me , because they want to me receive the college experience I want. I have no clue how they will do it… but they keep telling me to go where I want. So, I guess this becomes more of a matter of guilt question. I’m lucky to say I have wonderful parents, but is it worth it to burden them with this debt, even if they say it doesn’t matter what the price is, cause they planned for this?</p>
<p>In my opinion, it is not worth it. There are fine schools in every state. Going into debt in this economy for an “experience” is not wise.</p>
<p>"but trust me, my EFC is no where close to the 40k a year. "</p>
<p>If that’s true, then your parents really cant afford to borrow to go to Bama anyway. And, likely, they wouldn’t qualify year after year. They don’t just borrow/qualify once. They’d have to borrow and REQUALIFY every year. And each year they borrow, their credit takes a BIGGER hit. That’s why there are families who do this, but then the students can’t finish their degrees because the banks say “no” to more loans halfway thru their college education. </p>
<p>Your parents are being nice, but very naive. Don’t do this to them. Go to an affordable school.</p>
<p>If Bama is your dream school, do community college for 2 years, work and save, and then transfer. </p>
<p>My cousin enrolled in a private college without scholarships but was able to qualify for them after her first semester of good performance. She also qualified for on campus work which helped to pay her college expenses. These may be available at community colleges as well. Working can give you an education too!</p>
<p>We were told that Bama would use whatever GPA our counselor manually calculated, since our school doesn’t calculate normally, and we had no problem with Bama accepting it. Your counselor needs to attach the calculation to your formal transcript and re-submit.</p>
<p>Not worth it! I really like the culture, but it’s not so amazing that’d it’d be worth that amount of debt. You can find southern hospitality and school spirit at a lot of other schools. The only really standout thing would be Greek life, which is a HUGE part of the culture, but it’s very expensive & with your lack of financial aid it wouldn’t be financially viable for you</p>