That is, the destination school for OOS merit scholarships? Serious question. Ole Miss still offers full tuition, and offers it to applicants with slightly lower stats.
Yes, I think the changes in the Alabama scholarships are going to send more top students to Ole Miss. The raising of the ACT score for the Presidential Scholarship from 32 to 33 reduces the eligibility pool by about a third. Add to that the fact that the Presidential will now be about $3,100 below tuition and not indexed, and it’s certainly not as generous as it was.
Ole Miss has always been more generous than Alabama, in that the ACT scholarship required only a 3.0 whereas Alabama required a 3.5 (weighted, though). At Ole Miss a 32 ACT is $700 short of full tuition, but with a 3.5 g.p.a. Ole Miss throws in another $3,000 annually. And there is a really good chance of getting additional scholarships at Ole Miss for a near-full-ride; at Alabama it’s almost impossible.
I could get into comparisons of the schools; both have their good points. My son chose not to accept a near-full-ride at Ole Miss to take the tuition-only Alabama Presidential. A big factor was that the Alabama scholarship is unique in that it covers eight semesters of either undergraduate or graduate school. Most students who have a 33 or higher on the ACT are going to have at least 40 hours of AP and dual enrollment credit when they start college; my son had almost 70. So the free graduate-school tuition was a big factor. However, the reduced scholarship almost turns the Presidential Scholarship into an OOS waiver, so it will change things.
Twenty-five percent of the students attending Alabama have an ACT score of 32 or higher. A big part of that is because of the Presidential Scholarship. I’m not sure Ole Miss can afford to give 25 percent of freshmen free tuition.
Be careful of what “full tuition” means. Ole Miss has a lot of programs such as the Manufacturing Excellence and Chinese Flagship that require classes outside of the traditional Fall and Spring semesters. “Full tuition” only covers tuition expenses occurring during traditional semesters and not for the required courses outside of that.
@frugaldoctor Alabama has been very generous to their Presidential Scholars. In the past they have allowed the entire OOS award to be applied to study abroad – that’s almost $15,000 for a semester or $30,000 for a year. I think they will continue this. They have also allowed unlimited hours; and winter session courses are free if attending in the spring for current scholars. Under the new Alabama Presidential, students are going to be limited to 16 hours a semester; so it’s a real cutback.
As for Ole Miss, the scholarships may not cover tuition for all courses, but the extra money that Ole Miss gives sure makes a difference. A student who gets full tuition plus three, six, or 11 thousand a year is going to be in good enough shape to pay a little tuition. I should note that even with full tuition paid Alabama doesn’t cover everything. I just paid the first installment of my son’s spring charges, and there were about $600 worth of “fees” on top of his meal plan and $4,200 dorm room.
At any rate, Ole Miss now has far the more generous scholarship of the two schools, except for not covering grad school and except for students scoring a 36 on the ACT. I think Alabama is perceived as the “better” school, but a lot of people are going to choose to accept Ole Miss’ full tuition plus at least $3,000 over Alabama’s full tuition minus $3,000, which is essentially where the schools stand right now.
@EarlVanDorn “Most students who have a 33 or higher on the ACT are going to have at least 40 hours of AP and dual enrollment credit when they start college; my son had almost 70.”
I would not completely agree with that statement. 1) Many HS’s limit the amount of APs that kids can take before senior year. At many universities, 40 credits is 13+ classes!; 2) Some kids do better in grades than standardised tests and vice versa and 3) Many top schools give little or no credits for AP courses. My kids had 4 A-levels (which is more rigorous than 13 AP courses) and only received 24 credits.
The programs at Ole Miss that require extra courses also offer very generous scholarships. Ole Miss also offers unlimited credits, which may be an important consideration for a high stats student. Any school that limited credits was a huge drawback for my D and she ultimately selected a school that allowed her to take as many credits as she could handle. I think Ole Miss will likely draw more OOS high stats students going forward. They are similar schools with a similar college experience. Personally, for certain programs such as honors program, MCE, and critical languages, Ole Miss has the clear edge. Plus Ole Miss has a nicer college town, imo.
Think merit generosity all depends on where the stats fall - as far as I can see an OOS applicant with a 30 ACT and qualifying GPA would fair better at Bama. With a 31+ the pendulum starts to shift to Ole Miss.
My daughter chose Ole Miss for many academic reasons and for me, the National Merit Scholarship made me very happy. However, I don’t agree that Ole Miss offers unlimited credits. She has to receive permission to enroll in more than 20 credits (if I remember correctly) per semester. She wanted to take 24 credits this coming Spring but told me they “were not going to approve” that many credits. I’m not sure if she tried but that was her statement. So far, she enrolled in 20-22 credits per semester, another 3 or so during the winter intersessions, and 10 credits over the summer. During the first year, additional scholarships were plentiful and merit based. But last year, the summer study abroad scholarships were need based. Granted, we saved plenty to cover extra expenses. However, I was under the impression that full-ride meant no cost to me. I am advising all prospective applicants to be aware that extra fees may be applicable and well beyond the “full-ride” numbers. Don’t get me wrong, Ole Miss has been inexpensive and the educational experience could not be matched by any other university for her specific goals.
@frugaldoctor Thanks for clarifying that there seems to be pushback above 20-22 credits. That’s the case anywhere and 20-22 is really generous. Too bad about the summer study abroad changes. Still a fantastic deal.
a 34 ACT / 4.0 W/UW gets you full tuition + housing at UAH. great option for engineering and nursing.
@frugaldoctor Back when I was in school they would not approve a schedule with more than 21 hours, and taking nine in a one-month summer session required special permission. This had nothing to do with scholarships; it was an academic rule.
It will be interesting to see if Roy Moore wins the Senate and whether that will cause students to think twice about attending school in Alabama!
^^^
Who considers who the state’s federal senators are when selecting a college??
^ As you will have seen on other posts here on CC, many parents in the Northeast and Midwest still have reservations about sending their kids to college in Alabama.
I realise that Alabama has changed a lot over the past 50 years but some of the negative publicity that the Moore candidacy has brought up has resurrected some of the old stereotypes of Alabama.
I most definitely think it would affect some people’s decision to send their kid to school in Alabama. My D18 in Texas has been following the Roy Moore story. It’s all over the national news.
^ Agreed. I think the Regents at U Alabama, UAH, UAB, Auburn, etc. all breathed a huge sigh of relief when Jones won!
I suspect somebody wary of Alabama would be equally wary of Mississippi!
My observational study is anecdotal, but I feel that schools in Mississippi and Alabama might try harder to make minority students feel welcomed due to the reputation of their states. I can’t thank the Ole Miss administration enough for how well they’ve handled racial controversies during my daughter’s attendance.
We had no reservations sending our son to UA and we are from Kansas. His .top 3 were UA, Ole MIss, and Miss St. Close to a full ride at Ole Miss but decided on UA for fit and facilities. He’s doing well and a soph in mechanical engineering.