DS received an email from Alabama today (he was accepted but chose not to attend) about an expanded package for NMFs:
…please note our scholarship package now includes an expanded housing award.
National Merit Finalist Package
• Value of tuition for up to five years or 10 semesters for degree-seeking undergraduate and graduate (or law) studies
• Four years of on-campus housing at regular room rate* (based on assignment by Housing and Residential Communities)
• $3,500 per year Merit Scholarship stipend for four years
• One-time allowance of $2,000 for use in summer research or international study (after completing one year of study at UA)
• $2,000 book scholarship ($500 per year for four years)
The competition for top students is getting fierce and Bama has built new freshman dorms, so there isn’t as big a housing crunch, which I would imagine is a factor too.
@LOUKYDAD, would that change have made a difference for your son if it had been on the table at the start?
Perhaps in the sense that it might have got him down there to visit and closed his mind to other options. I think he really wants to be closer to home though so probably not.
Alabama was the only out of state school he applied to. The guaranteed NMF package was a big factor. At the time he applied UK was being very vague about changes to the Patterson scholarship and he wanted to have an alternative if it was cut drastically or completely. Once clarified he moved Alabama down the list and never completed the honors application.
But that was just about fit for DS personally. Great school and NMF scholarship is an amazing package, even more so now.
@ski_racer, I totally get it. My son had no desire either, but Bama was a “mom’s choice” (for financial reasons), and the rest, as they say, is history.
If this had happened earlier, we’d have hustled more to make a visit. I don’t know if it would have changed our final outcome, but it puts Bama back in the top three or four for NMF awards. The 5-year thing is its own ball of awesome on top of all the rest.
By my reckoning the current value of the scholarship is just shy of $215K. That could be life-changing for some people. The five years of tuition is interesting, too, as it permits those on the STEM path to MBA to finish without incurring tuition costs (though housing would still be there for the final year). It truly is an eye-popping amount.
Wow!!! The 2012 NMF package my UA grad accepted included 4 years of housing, but did not include the extra $2500 a year stipend, the book allowance, or the extra 2 semesters. Even without that, UA was giving him back money each year (although he did get the $2500 engineering scholarship.) Adding the 4 years of housing is fantastic. (My son lived all 4 years on campus. He balked at it for his sophomore year since all his friends were moving in apartments, but never really had a problem with being on campus. It definitely made life easier for him as he did not have a car.)
It seems strange that they are expanding the scholarship at this time. I wonder if they have more money because fewer are taking advantage of the devalued Presidential scholarships. My son wants to attend Vanderbilt, but essentially having tuition, room and board covered for 4 years is very difficult to pass up. There will be a huge cost difference for us between the two schools.
I am wondering if anyone can give me some insight into something I have been wondering about related to the the NMF scholarship package at UA versus the Presidential Scholarship. Both are wonderful scholarships, but with the new program for NMF it can be worth almost double the Presidential.
This is not a complaint at all, because UA is an awesome school and very generous with OOS merit aid, but I have always wondered about this. We have a local friend, whose child is NMF and will be attending UA. The kid crushed the PSAT exam, but has their highest ACT composite was 31. My D was the opposite, she missed the NMF PSAT cutoff by a few points, but crushed the ACT - 35. Both kids have similar curriculum, EC’s, grades, and AP credits, etc…
I am very grateful for the Presidential scholarship, but it is noteworthy that UA is enhancing the scholarship to NMF students, to almost double that of the Presidential scholarship value, when in some cases the difference between two students can come down simply performance on one test.
I am super happy for all the NMF kids out there who are attending UA, congrats on earning such an amazing scholarship! Ideally, the Presidential Scholarship would be enhanced as well (to include full tuition possibly for 10 semesters, and maybe a year of housing and books, etc…) as well! Fingers crossed for this
Would love to hear any insight or perspectives. Thanks!
@TheGratefulDad I honestly think it just has to do with the prestige, as a marketing tool, of being able to say you have a national merit finalist in your incoming class. That being said, I thought I read that UA is offering a $2000 housing allowance for the first year of attendance for presidential scholars this year. You might want to check on that. And, believe me, I empathize, because my son was in that exact situation four years ago, when there was no housing allowance for presidential scholars.
Pretty sure that I recall reading that the $2000 housing credit went to those that scored exactly a 32 on ACT. This was done this year after the Presidential cut-off went from 32 to 33.
