Easier said than done. Those fancy Towers rooms are already busting the budget, because they require a 12 month lease while the budget only allows for a 9 month average dorm room. it used to be that you could pocket a few bucks if you spent wisely. Now, you have to find $3,622 to cut just to not have to go out of pocket. Not so easy, especially as a freshman coming in from out of state.
This deal is better than nothing, but sucks compared to the best that is out there, or compared to what in state students will receive. The real gotcha is that you will be on the hook for 100% of the future increases in every line item, since they are locking you in at $20K/yr, not COA-$3622!
Also, what happens if your kid ends up being out of state Scholar #41? Unless you are totally in love with Orlando or UCF, there are far better options for out of state Merit Scholars.
UCF is going to follow the same path OU did a few years ago when it devalued its National Merit Scholarship, and be far less popular going forward than it was in the past. Florida students will continue to gravitate to UF, and out of state will end up at places like Alabama or UTD.
The fact that they are nickel and diming the last $3,622 from the budget, placing the burden of future increases in everything on the student, and are unwilling to fund more than 40 out of state students shows their waning commitment to the program.
Rather than just killing it for out of state students, it looks like they are sending it on a death spiral. Savvy students and their parents will pick up on this and act accordingly. If itâs first come first served, how many are going to be willing to commit early before they hear back from all schools in the spring? If not, who is going to make UCF their #1 choice without a guarantee that they will be funded, even at the reduced rate/
My experience with two Florida high school grads was that UF, FSU, and UCF were equally popular (much to my surprise)with their friends. Some chose UCF and FSU because the scholarships were better, but most because they really liked those schools
I think that UCF is funding the OOS NMF the best they can. Before Benacquisto, they did give very good NMF scholarships but things changed and they just donât have the money to fund scholarships at the level they did. How many more than 40 OOS students did they have every year?
It is a state school and its first priority is in-state students. The California schools donât seem to be hurting for students because they give no money to OOS students, nor UT-Austin because it only accepts 10% OOS, UNC accepting only 18% OOS, etc etc.
UCF has a tiny endowment for a school itâs size. USF is notably healthier from financial standpoint, so they have most flexibility among the Florida schools that are ânot UF or FSUâ level of establishedâŠ
Iâm not sure what changed, other than the former UCF president, who was on the National Merit Board, retiring. All schools have money; the question is how they prioritize spending it. UCF has millions to build facilities for athletes, and to pay for coaches.
OU wanted to attract National Merit Scholars, then not so much. Thatâs whatâs happening now with UCF. They didnât kill it, but they created a level of uncertainty that is going to make it hard for kids coming in from out of state to justify making the choice. The school is #148, not #25. There are now better choices, with more cost certainty. If I was sending my kid today, I certainly would not be happy receiving a significantly less attractive deal than in state students. There are better options.
The change was to the Benacquisto program. Thatâs only been in effect since 2016, and it was the state, using state money, paying for the NMF COA+. The colleges were all thrilled to have that state money paying for the NMF to stay in or come to Florida. Didnât cost the schools anything to have the NMF enroll.
When Benacquisto started, colleges could realign their scholarship money and give more to other programs, and they did. Now that they have to pay for NMF for OOS students again, theyâd have to pull the money back from other scholarships, departments, etc., and most likely away from instate students.
UF never gave its own money specifically to NMF students, although they could be awarded general scholarship money and most, if not all, had Bright Futures money pre-Benacquisto.
Athletic money pays for athletic facilities and coaches. FSU and UCF athletics are self supporting. Football and basketball cover the costs of other sports too.
If NMF have other full COA options, and they should take them (UT dallas, Alabama). Two Florida schools, USF and FSU are still coming close to covering COA, and UCF will do it for 40 OOS students. Still a good deal, if you ask me. Most other states arenât offering more to Florida residents.
Neither UT-Dallas nor Alabama give full COA for National Merit Finalists. By my calculations, both scholarships are between $6-$8k short of the schoolâs published COA.
UCF doesnât have the 200+/year NMFs that Alabama and UT-Dallas does. Recent years, itâs been more like 85. Thereâs no in-state/OOS breakdown of the NMFs from UCF, but I would assume 40 from other states is probably close to the status quo.
I was expecting the worst from this UCF news, and at least to me, this seems close to a best-possible scenario after the death of OOS Benacquisto.
I recruited NMFs at Univ of Houston when we covered full COA. I believe they stopped covering full COA about ten years ago. We had funding for 70 full rides but we never told anyone that. About 70% of the incoming students were from OOS and then evenly split between Houston area and outside Houston but in Texas. With the drop in funding to all tuition and fees plus stipends for study abroad and research, UH only attracts about 10-20 NMFs.
Back in 2016-17, UCF heavily relied on student service fees to fund athletics. UCF charged $14.32 per credit hour while FSU charged $7.90 and UF had the luxury of only charging $1.90. UCF, like U of Houston which is also going to the Big 12, gives students free tickets to games. UF and FSU probably charge a fee for football and menâs basketball tickets.
UCF is doing a great job of continuing to fund its NMF program at such a high level. They also have to weigh the benefits of NM enrollment vs. spreading those funds over a larger group. UT-Dallas has been cutting back on its AES awards but maybe holding onto full COA for NMFs.
According to Alabamaâs own site, the NMF scholarship covers all tuition and housing for four (4) years and tuition for a fifth year. There are also additional stipends. When you review all costs at Alabama and offset the the stipends, the difference is substantially less than $6-8K per year and functionally depends on the meal plan you choose and books you buy.
$4000 in supplemental scholarships beyond tuition etc. leaves ~$6700 remaining from the COA. Out of state, add another $800 (transportation is higher). Iâm not saying you there arenât ways to get out cheaper than that â certainly there are â but if weâre comparing apples with apples UCF for now covers more of the COA than Alabama or UT-Dallas.
That all said, I think the individual differences of fit, feel, etc. between these three are much more important than the marginal differences in cost.
There would be no loan fees. Miscellaneous is undefined. Transportation depends on the family, student, and location. So, set all those aside. The meal plan used is the most expensive, but use it. Books is still a moving target and depends on the major, but use it. The two real numbers together are $5734. The annual stipend is $4000. So, the difference is $1734. The other numbers are too variable. The miscellaneous number obviously does not cover chapter fees if your son or daughter pledges and may not cover costs if your son or daughter is quite spendy. So, it means nothing. If you live close to Tuscaloosa, you are not spending $2206 (an oddly specific number) in transportation, but you might if you live in Washington State. Why would you have a loan if you are paying no tuition and no room and board (the mind boggles).
Okay, thatâs a fine way to look at it, but use the same financial logic on UCF and you actually make a surplus every year. My only limited point is that UCF is cheaper for NMFs than Alabama/UT-Dallas, which is true no matter how you slice it (excepting cases like e.g. a UT-Dallas student living in Arlington and having virtually no transportation costs).
There are definitely students at Alabama and UT-Dallas who are NMFs with loans. Even a few thousand a year is going to be too much for some families to pay, particularly if they have multiple students in college.
I reached out to the NMF representative at UCF. She estimated that the scholarship package would cover full COA minus about $3K per academic year. That does not account for any increases in price.
I have a good friend with a student at UA with the NMF package. She said they spend about $3K per year out-of-pocket.
