<p>About a month ago I received an email regarding the Alumni scholarship (a yearly 1k stipend):</p>
<p>"You recently submitted an Alumni Degree Holder Form with your parent’s or grandparent’s University of Alabama educational information. This form is being reviewed for scholarship consideration for our membership-based scholarships. </p>
<p>Alumni records show your parent or grandparent is currently not a member of the National Alumni Association. You will be qualified to receive the Alumni Scholar Award – a $1,000 per year, four-year award for entering freshmen - upon their membership in the National Alumni Association. </p>
<p>They may join one of three ways:
etc etc"</p>
<p>Does anyone know if I automatically receive the scholarship once my parents register for a membership, or if it’s more of a competitive scholarship? And there are different amounts that one may “donate” ot the Association…is preference given to those who donate higher amounts? Reviewing the email, I just now noticed it has Mar. 20 listed as the priority deadline, which I have obviously missed. It’s a good chunk of money to become a member of the national alumni assoc. so I just want to double check before I do so…</p>
<p>Yes, this happened to us. We were lax in joining but I called and paid for my husband’s membership over the phone ($50, I think minimum is $40) through the alumni office just in time for it to be included in my son’s scholarship letter. No minimum, everyone gets the same amount.</p>
<p>Okay, thanks. The scholarship offers have already been posted on mybama (however, I think there’s a problem with mine anyway so I emailed them about it), and we joined the NAA today (40$ membership). I sent an email to the director of the NAA scholarships, so it should all work out correctly?</p>
<p>I also have a cost of attendance question…
On mybama it says that my estimated cost of attendance is $24,669.00
On the UA website, the est. cost of att. is $9,642.00/semester (19,284/year)</p>
<p>What could this 24k possibly encompass? It seems rather high…</p>
<p>If the true COA is 19k then I will barely pay anything per semester to attend UA…however 19k to 24k is a huge jump.</p>
<p>Can anyone who is NM or has a NM child attest to how much they paid per semester? I will have this scholarship as well as the 1k fellows stipend and (hopefully) the 1k NAA scholarship.</p>
<p>rjw0318: My son is NM. He pays for his meal plan (being a sophomore, he has only the 50-meal plan and $300 in Dining Dollars) course/lab fees (usually run about $250-$300) and books (that varies each semester, but he has never paid more than $300). If you have a car, you will need a parking permit.</p>
<p>Somehow in the fall applications hoopla, my DD missed the December 1 Alabama general scholarship deadline. She thought filling out the paperwork for University Fellows was the same thing and put her in consideration for other scholarships. I found out on mid-December what happened, but what could we do, the deadline was passed? Anyway, because of this thread I called the Alumni Office yesterday to see if legacies could be considered for sophomore year if they missed filing for the Alumni Scholarship as freshmen. The director told me it was not too late for this year and she could receive a scholarship! We are beyond thrilled! Her grandmother, Class of '49, is now a proud new member of the Alabama Alumni Association.</p>
<p>rjw – MyBama told us COA was $39K-something. We were like, “WTH?” Must be a boo-boo. The NMF scholarship does not cover meals, fees, or books – but I doubt they will run quite that high, LOL!!</p>
<p>The cost of attendance is set high so that students can be eligible for school loans as well. There are many additional costs that parents do not think about when first considering colleges. There are transportation costs which can be expensive if the student is from out of state and at a considerable distance from the college. Airline tickets and shuttle costs add up quickly. There is the funding of Dining Dollars and Bama Cash. There are course fees, books and supplies. There is the cost of a meal plan. In addition, the cost of initially moving a student to campus can be high when you add in all the items you will need to buy. Sometimes parents/students do not realize how much all this can add up to.</p>
<p>I just logged on and took a look at my D’s account because honestly I haven’t had to pay that much attention due to the generosity of her scholarships:</p>
<p>this doesn’t include books (which have run less than $300/semester for D since she’s not a STEM major,) travel (we live 230 miles from campus so it’s a drive for us,) and expenses (I’ve added $350 to her Bama Cash this semester for Publix runs & additional meals at restaurants that take Bama Cash, plus laundry.)</p>
<p>ETA: after scholarships our out of pocket for Fall was $1816 (fees, books, meals) and for Spring $1888 (fees, books & meals.) D has the NMF scholarship. Also not including the books, travel & expenses here. </p>
<p>Also, there will be some the housing deposit charges, Bama Bound, and Alabama Action/Outdoor Action for freshmen. The nice think last August was that we had sent in a few deposits earlier in the year that I had “forgotten” about, making what we had to pay before we sent her a few hundred less than I expected.</p>
<p>*MyBama told us COA was $39K-something. We were like, “WTH?” Must be a boo-boo. The NMF scholarship does not cover meals, fees, or books – but I doubt they will run quite that high, LOL!! *</p>
<p>Robot is right about a high COA so that kids can take a student loan if needed.</p>
<p>COA is about $36k for OOS</p>
<p>COA includes “personal expenses” and transportation costs…so it’s very inflated. It also includes the higher cost of super suites dorms and such. </p>
<p>Obviously, Misc costs and transportation costs will vary by person and personal spending habits. That’s why many have their kids work part-time to earn their own money for “misc” expenses. If your child arrives on campus with a year’s worth of shampoo, soap, etc, that will minimize “personal expenses”.</p>
<p>And…the meal plan is definitely an area for reduction in future years. Books are also an area where a person can economize.</p>