<p>I am a high school senior from a low income family. Money is the most important factor for me in choosing a college, and being an NMF, Alabama looks really good. I have been looking at the potential scholarships Bama offers, and have some questions on how they work and how they would fit together.</p>
<p>So as it breaks down, I am looking at tuition covered for five years. And I could potentially receive</p>
<p>-Right around $4000 from the FAFSA
-$2500 from the eng’g department
-$3500 from a National Merit stipend</p>
<p>However, I don’t know if I am eligible to get all this money.</p>
<p>If I can earn these awards separately, would all this money stack? I would look to be using it to cover housing, would I be able to put it all towards that, or are there stipulations on what it could be used on? Is this money cash, or is it “use it or lose it” if it isn’t spent on certain expenses? A related question: housing would be covered my first year at Bama. Would I lose that money for my freshman year because everything is basically covered?</p>
<p>You can use it for housing your soph, jr and sr years (you don’t need it for frosh year)</p>
<p>there is not a “use it or lose it”.</p>
<p>You do NOT lose that money. If any isn’t used, it is given to you in a check or deposited into your bank acct.</p>
<p>You can “save the money” for later years if you want. when you fill out FAFSA for a future year, if you have that money in savings, you list it…BUT…then you indicate in the appropriate place that the money was from aid and then it’s subtracted back out. </p>
<p>Federal student loans are not dependent on your parents credit, the student is solely responsible, they are based on dependency status and yr in college. Plus loans are parental loans based on their credit, if your parents don’t qualify for plus loans you can get an additional amount in Federal loans.</p>
<p>basically everything isn’t covered. COA includes food, travel costs, personal expenses, books, etc. Those aren’t in the NMF scholarship.</p>
<p>So, Pell, the eng’g scholarship, and the NMF stipend will go towards those expenses. </p>
<p>You may want to take the subsidized loan that is offered in your FA pkg and set the money aside for emergencies or future years. That saved money will NOT hurt you when you apply for FAFSA the next year because you will list it as FA money.</p>
<p>If you’re concerned about money for later years, as an engineering student, consider doing a co-op. At Bama you could start as early as the summer after your freshman year (it may vary at other schools you are looking at). In a co-op, you’d alternate semesters of full time work with semesters of classes, they tend to pay well, so you can use the earnings from the semesters you work to pay for the expenses during the semesters you are in classes. It can delay graduation slightly, but you graduate with 3 semesters of work on your resume, which can also make it easier to find jobs after graduation.</p>
<p>Can someone shed a light on estimated expenses beyond the NMF scholarship? My S is a likely NMF and we are in the process of trying to calculate real total expenses over 4 years for UA compared to other schools/scholarships. For UA it looks like he would have to pick up the costs for 4 years of books, 3 years of housing, and 4 years of food. Of course, there are other incidental costs but those are the biggies. Countering the total cost would be the $3,500 X 4 years = $14,000 NMF scholarship stipend. Can someone who has “been there, done that” confirm and provide realistic cost estimates for these items? Thanks</p>
<p>Costs for books and housing depends on the selected major and housing selected. DS is a double major in ChemE and Biology, books have been as low as $500 a semester and as high as almost $1000. My guess is that DS’s majors are on the high side. I would go with $500 a semester and you should be fairly safe.</p>
<p>Housing is another question. DS is in the honors suites as his NMF covered 4 years of housing (2 years ago). Suites are $4,400 a semester, but you can get cheaper with traditional housing or by sharing an apartment.</p>
<p>As for other fees, his fall semester was a total of $1,918 (included $300 for parking permit) Spring semester was $1,469. Again his are a bit high as he has to pay fees for Engineering college and Arts & Sciences due to double major. And with sciences, there are always lab fees. The variable here will be the meal plan, DS currently has the 90 meal plan. Freshman are required to get the freshman plan which runs more. They can then reduce the number of meals if they want starting Sophmore year.</p>
<p>Either way you will find out that you are getting a great deal. Also remember as you are figuring costs that the new NMF scholarship covers 10 semesters, that is a huge advantage to the new package</p>
<p>What is your child’s major? If he’s eng’g or comp sci, then he gets an add’l 2500 per year on top of the 3500 per year from NMF.</p>
<p>What kind of housing will he want for years 2-4?</p>
<p>Nearly all schools charge “course fees”. These are like “lab fees,” “tech fees,” or “art fees” to give you an idea of what they are. Bama’s course fees are rather reasonable. Some other schools charge crazy-high “course fees” which shock people once enrolled (some schools’ course fees will add $1000+ per semester). You have to figure about $300 a semester in course fees. STEM majors are on the higher end for course fees.</p>
<p>The contact that I know of is Naomi Powell who according to her emails is Associate Director Cooperative Education and Professional Practice Program. Her email is <a href=“mailto:npowell@eng.ua.edu”>npowell@eng.ua.edu</a>. </p>
<p>Thanks for the rapid responses guys. My S applied as a biology major, although he maybe should have gone engineering. We didn’t realize that more money may have been available. He is accepted into engineering at other schools - U of A didn’t appear to have an engineering major/focus geared toward what he wants to do, which is genetic engineering in the agriculture/horticulture industry. Wonder if we could/should call Bama about switching (or going double major)? Anyway, thanks MemphisGuy and M2CK. Sounds like the NMF package was a little richer in the past. </p>
<p>^^^
You do NOT need to call. Just go to MyBama, Academics tab, scroll down left column, go to the Change Major link, and choose any Eng’g discipline. Maybe Eng’g undeclared at this point (or it’s called something like that).</p>
<p>The extra 2500 per year stacks on top of the 3500 for a cool $6k per year stipend!</p>
<p>The second major isn’t declared until matriculation. So, have him go to MyBama now and change to eng’g. Then have him declare that second major once he gets to Bama. It really sounds like he needs to be ChemE or maybe do the EnviroE tract. </p>
<p>The NMF scholarship has changed a bit…at one time if offered 4 years of housing, small stipend. This current frosh class has a lesser pkg. However, YOUR son’s class will have an improved pkg with the 5th year of tuition plus the larger stipend.</p>
<p>Thanks again M2CK. He’s going to try to switch today. He still will have a tough and important decision to make, but Bama is looking better and better. </p>
<p>@mom2collegekids just wanted to say thanks again for the insight. Received the letter from au engineering yesterday confirming scholarship offer.</p>