My son got accepted into the University of Alabama and we recevied his finicial aid package and noticed there was nothing under scholarships so we called the after hours number and they said it looks like he didn’t submit his scholarship app. He says he did that they sent him an email in November to do it so he did and he didn’t receive anymore emials about it so he assumed he had. Anyway we can not afford to send him there without any finacial assistance. Do you think it is to late to call the school and try and get him some asistance? Tryed to do app on his mybama but it is no longer available. This has our entire family stressed including him because that was his top pick school. Thanks
Were you expecting the automatic scholarships based on test scores + GPA of the individual scholarships?
No, we thought we had sent in the app, but apparently they didn’t get it. Not sure if my son didn’t hit complete or what. Just wanted to ask if I called tomorrow to try and resubmit it they would allow that, if not he can not attend. We are from New Jersey and werre planning on going for one last look next week but now plans may have changed.
“we called the after hours number and they said it looks like he didn’t submit his scholarship app.”
“No, we thought we had sent in the app, but apparently they didn’t get it.”
Could you please clarify so we could answer you more appropriately? after hours number? What sort of scholarships were you anticipating? What major did he declare or what is his intended major? Did he receive email verification after submitting his scholarship application?
We called on Saturday and the financial aid office was already closed. Maybe scholarship wasn’t the right words, I guess I meant to say financial aid from the school. He is going in as an Engineering student. Not sure about the verification email after it was back in November. He said he remembered getting the email about submitting the app in November and he did it.
So did he receive the engineering scholarship? Has he received a scholarship award letter from the UA? When did he apply for admission? That letter would have come right after his acceptance letter. What are his stats? Any emails would be in his crimson mail account.
I’m not familiar with how the financial aid works, but M2CK might be able to answer. Financial aid shouldn’t have anything to do with a scholarship application unless you were expecting scholarship $. Did he complete the FAFSA? What amount were you anticipating receiving or will be needed in order to make it affordable for him to attend?
“we called the after hours number and they said it looks like he didn’t submit his scholarship app.”
So what number did you call and with whom did you speak?
The only thing that shows under anything is 5500 in loans, nothing else at all, not even the final cost of tutition.
If you could provide more information it would be helpful.
Okay, if you were NOT expecting scholarships based on your son’s GPA and ACT/SAT test scores and you were ONLY expecting financial aid then you needed to file a FAFSA by the priority deadline of March 1st.
If you were expecting scholarships then your son would have had to submit the scholarship application by the deadline of December 15. If he was expecting BOTH then you needed to submit both. If you only expected a loan then the priority deadline for the FAFSA does not apply. However the maximum amount for a freshman loan is $5500.
The following links to the Financial Aid FAQ page, there is also more info on the financial aid website:
http://financialaid.ua.edu/faq/index.html
This is the FAQ page for Scholarships:
http://scholarships.ua.edu/faq/
Scholarships do not depend on a FAFSA
Financial Aid does depend on a FAFSA
It would be helpful to answer you more fully if you best describe what it was you were expecting, and what your student’s stats are.
The scholarships with the deadline of December 15 are competitive scholarships. Those awards were given out based on the apps that were submitted by December 15. Submitting an app for those scholarships would not do you any good now because those awards have already been distributed.
We need more info to give you the right answers.
When did he apply to the school?
what was his ACT score? or his M+CR SAT score?
What was his weighted GPA ?
What aid was he expecting? Are you talking about aid from submitting FAFSA? or are you talking about aid from submitting the scholarship app?
What is your FAFSA EFC?
Again, what aid were you expecting to get? Based on what? EFC? Test scores? what?
PLEASE copy paste the above Q’s and answer each one. Otherwise, people will get annoyed at incomplete answers and not be able to provide you the info that you want.
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Tryed to do app on his mybama but it is no longer available.
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If you tried to do the app on mybama and it’s not available, then that sounds like you’re looking for the scholarship app, since the financial aid app (FAFSA) is still being accepted.
How much can you pay each year towards college?
Yes, the competitive scholarship application was due on December 15 as stated in the FAQS page I linked to above and although FAFSA is still being accepted, the Priority Deadline for financial aid was March 1.
since the parent is saying that the attempt to submit thru mybama, and the mention of email in Nov and submission back then, that wouldn’t have anything to do with FAFSA.
It sounds like the issue was with the SCHOLARSHIP app, not financial aid (FAFSA). Since a loan is showing up, then FAFSA was submitted and processed.
It sounds like either the scholarship app was not submitted…or the student’s stats aren’t high enough.
When the parent comes back and gives us the needed info, we can give better answers.
If the scholarship application was not submitted and the student really wants to attend UA, an option might be to take a gap year and reapply for admission in the fall. The student would have to get advice on taking any classes for college credit during this gap year as the most generous scholarships are for entering freshmen only. Also, if student’s stats are borderline take into consideration the possibility that UA will raise the minimum required ACT and/or grade point for the auto scholarships for the 2015-16 admissions cycle.
My total sympathies with the poster. I couldn’t believe the effort my student and I expended to keep track of dates & submit all the pieces required of her eight applications. Unfortunately, for you now, it’s a life lesson for your student to read carefully and follow all the instructions.
The scholarship application isn’t even required for merit aid, so that shouldn’t be an issue if he was eligible to receive it. The OP wasn’t clear about whether she was expecting scholarships or financial aid. She has said both things. It looks like it is required for engineering?? But iif that’s the issue he would have also had the stats for merit aid. Without knowing the stats for the student, it’s a guessing game.
The mom must be talking about scholarship money since they got a loan. They wouldn’t have gotten that loan if he hadn’t submitted FAFSA.
I suspect the problem is this:
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Either his test scores or GPA are not high enough for a merit scholarship.
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His EFC was low enough that the family thought he’d get the rest in aid. However, OOS publics don’t usually work that way. They charge high OOS rates because the parents don’t pay taxes there. There would be no reason to charge those high rates if they were just going to have to pay out need-based aid. If so, why bother charging the high rates. Bama does not have funds to give “free money” for need based aid. It sounds like the family’s income is too high for Pell, since the aid was only a loan.
I wonder if the family ran the Net Price Calculator before applying? If so, what were the results? They could run it now and see the results, too.
I just ran the NPC with the following info:
Family of 4
1 child in college
EFC $10,000
New Jersey home state
And even tho the cost is nearly $40k and the EFC is $10k, the only aid that is offered is two loans totally $5500.