For those parents who need to compare costs of other schools to UA, keep in mind that Alabama is very generous with accepting AP and Clep credits, which helps your student graduate on time (or even earlier) or enable them to take graduate classes. My middle son was able to graduate in 3-1/2 years with both his undergrad and masters in CS. My younger son (who didn’t come in with many credits) will graduate in the 4 years with his EE degree, and in his senior year will be able to take 4 or 5 courses outside his major that interests him.
I’ve been avoiding the Alabama forum for a while, afraid of what they may change, and came back to find this thread.
I will go look at the UA website directly, but it sounds like minimal to no changes for NMF students, but some changes for score based Merit applicants, as well as reductions in those awards.
MY S18 is sitting on an ACT36, so we know what that would be assuming his grades are in line.
The tough part is his current borderline status as NMF. That fifth year is very valuable, not to mention a year of housing and the stipends. I wish we new more about those darn NMF statuses earlier! His SI is 2 points above last years state NMF … toss up in my book
Interesting input, @kjcphmom , to look at AP allowances. I just added that column to our decision matrix spreadsheet. One more piece of data to go through.
@DavidPuddy What is his weighted GPA? If it’s a 4.0, then he gets that award. Senior grades don’t count.
Looks like his cumulative weighted GPA through end of Junior year is 4.075
He’ll get the Presidential Elite. I think the difference is the fifth year of tuition and $2500 a year. I wonder how many kids will actually use that 5th year. None of the NMF classes that have graduated so far got the 5th year as part of their package, so I don’t think anyone knows yet.
Thanks for the input @“beth’s mom”
We will still hope for that NMF status though!
Can the stipend for NMF of $3,500 be used for any type of college expenses the student has? Are their stipulations with how it needs to be spent?
@Winky1, it looks like that $3,500 has no restrictions placed on how it can be spent.
http://scholarships.ua.edu/nationalscholars/
Do corporate NM scholarships typically have restrictions on how they can be spent?
@mom2collegekids, any insights?
IME, the $3500 limit per year on NM official “NM scholarships” has been in place at least since my daughter entered UA in 2015. She won the $2000 NMSC official National Merit Scholarship, so her first year’s $3500 was just reduced by that amount. (The honor was still nice, lol.) The NMSC money went directly to UA, then eventually UA squared it all up. Other outside scholarships, such as my daughter’s Peace Essay Winner scholarship did/does “stack” on top of the NM and other UA scholarships, IME. Hope that is helpful.
IME, all of UA’s scholarships can be used for other non-tuition/non-fee expenses. My understanding is that they will apply “outside” scholarships first – i.e., Peace Essay, etc … . and then UA applies their own UA scholarship money . . . this allows the student to make maximum use of their outside scholarships (since many might have restrictions on being used towards tuition/fees) . . . and then the student can use the UA money (even the ones that are in the exact $ amount of the semester’s tuition, as is the case for my kids’ NM scholarships and the “old” Presidential scholarships) towards whatever other expenses they have.
Each semester, once all the bills have posted (a couple weeks after classes start) any “extra” money is refunded to the student’s linked bank account. My kids use that “extra” towards meals/books/whatever.
Hope that is helpful.
(And, if I haven’t said it lately, we’re so appreciative of UA’s generous merit aid!!!)
To maintain the Presidential Scholarship for OOS it states you must maintain a GPA of 3.0. Is this per semester or school year and does that include any transfer credits? Is there a minimum amount of credits/courses that must be taken? Also, does everyone begin with their GPA at 0?
Curious what about the University Fellows scholarship? That includes board also. Discussed this opportunity with a family member who is a freshman. GPA 4.0 with ACT 35, rigorous course load.
OK, so the ACT cutoff changed from 32 to 33. Did the award amount change?
Could they change it even again for incoming 2019-20 students?
Just a little worried. Apparently, Oklahoma had a very similar program for a long time, but they’ve slashed the amount of scholarships and I’m worried that UA could do the same.
Presidential Scholarship use to cover full tuition for all 4 years, which included any tuition increases. It is now $100,000 over 4 years, or $25k per year.
Could they change it again for 2019-2020? Anything is possible, but I wouldn’t think they would as it was just changed for this year.
My son initially received a UA Presidential Scholarship, but when he was named a NMF, the UA package increased to $167500. For what it is worth, Mississippi State’s merit aid packages have been increased and now surpass Alabama’s packages in value. Several schools have cut their very generous merit packages in the past couple of years including Oklahoma, Baylor, and Kentucky.
UA just notified us that they have increased the NMF package to include four years of on-campus housing. This increases their offer to $194,100! Roll Tide!
Wow!
Whaaat? We want that 
@GaelRacer had you accepted yet?
@ChattaChia Yes, my son had previously accepted the NMF offer then he received an email which increased the offer to include four years of on-campus housing. He has since accepted that offer increase.
with the new concordance tables, will they be changing the requirements for 2018/2019? The SAT equiv to 33 ACT is now 1460, but the web site states 1490 still.