<p>I have no idea how tied in the tippy-top management would be to these decisions, but there have been two changes there in the last year. Perhaps that has something to do with the changes.</p>
<p>I really think that the administration is going to have more parents upset if they change the NMF’s 2013 Scolarship. How will they address how it affects other years? You are basically saying that YOU want changes, you feel slighted, your perception about UA has changed. It was a Buisness decision. Do you think that any other university is different?</p>
<p>There are certainly going to be things that you absolutely love about UA and some things you won’t like. Was that going to be any different at any other university?</p>
<p>I feel that you are missing the big picture. Think of all the reasons that your student picked UA over other universities…aren’t those reasons still there?</p>
<p>Many parents here are giving excellent advice and insight based on what we have already experienced and learned. If you can vent about your “problem”, we can counter with our opinions. This discussion is helpful to prospective parents and to CC’er in general.</p>
<p>Oh, I should mention. My daughter has NO idea of any of this. She’s off having what can only be described as the greatest summer ever, courtesy of knowing she has a fully paid-for great freshman year at a great institution ahead of her.</p>
<p>@robtbldmom: I think you are missing my point.</p>
<p>It is the FEAR that those things aren’t really there and the school really is just like every other school. Is UA like every consulting company I have ever worked with? Their sales pitch is great. When they show up to do the work - not so much.</p>
<p>My FEAR is that it is just like every other school as everyone is now so quick to point out.</p>
<p>Students are justified in feeling cheated.
Likewise, the school was justified in making its choice. </p>
<p>Can we move on? The situation isn’t going to change.</p>
<p>UA has been everything we hoped it would be…and more. Of course, we really have nothing to compare it to except our college experience 30 years ago.</p>
<p>This is reminding me of what we experienced down here with UT-Austin. Our high school produces a lot of NMFs, and a lot of those kids used to go en masse over to UT-Austin. My twin brothers were both NMFs and went to UT under the NMF scholarship, and for them, they got instate tuition. Back then, there was no TOPS program in Louisiana, which basically gives free instate tuition to good students, with some extra cash for great students. After my brothers graduated UT, they started offering full rides for NMFs. As many as 30 students a year would head over there. By the time my son graduated HS, there not only was no more NMF incentive, but UT was now a very difficult school to get into, even for bright instate students. </p>
<p>Perhaps, the marketing tool of the NMF package got Bama the population size they wanted, and they no longer needed that carrot to attract students. I don’t know why they made the changes they did for this year. Maybe they want kids to stay at Bama an extra year, rather than spend money at local CCs during the summer to get in classes needed to graduate in four years.</p>
<p>To me, it is yet another brilliant marketing strategy on Bama’s part. How many times do I see posts here asking, Okay, I can graduate in three years with all the APs I’m coming in with, only to be encouraged to stay the fourth year because, after all, it’s free.</p>
<p>Guess what, it’s not free. You still have to pay travel costs, hotel rooms, living expenses, all money that is going into not only Bama, the schools’, economy, but also into Tuscaloosa and the surrounding areas. </p>
<p>Many of my son’s friends who got generous scholarships all over the country, for four full years, got their degrees this spring in three years. Yes, they had another free fourth year of tuition, but they did not have the extra cash to give up a year of working, or a year to start grad or medical school or law school, nor did they necessarily want one more year away from their family or significant other. </p>
<p>In the South, there are many colleges that offer free rides to high stats kids, or just plain old NMFs, regardless of the cutoff score, and Bama’s offer of the four years housing, all on campus, was the biggest attraction for kids of my son’s peer group. Once that was taken off the table, and still is, it’s still got to compete with the other Southern schools, so this year, they added the fifth year and the additional NMF stipend to the pot.</p>
<p>For those of you who do not have programs such as TOPS or prepaid tuition, and whose instate schools have high tuition, Bama may still yet be the most affordable option.</p>
<p>“Students are justified in feeling cheated.”</p>
<p>Seriously, that is ridiculous. No student is being cheated of anything. The UA extended a very generous offer which was accepted by students and will be honored by the UA. This is purely jealousy and nothing more.</p>
<p>^I’m not saying they were cheated, I’m saying they are justified for feeling that way. I think it is important to recognize the legitimacy of their feelings. </p>
<p>That being said, I do feel it’s time to move on.</p>
<p>There is a huge difference in feeling disappointed and feeling cheated. Disappointment would be understandable, but feeling cheated implies deception or entitlement to something.</p>
<p>I hate to say it gstudent, but yes, in my opinion UA is “just like every other school.” It is definitely prettier, better football etc., but that may or may not be a factor. That is not to say every other school is a bad school, but better than the majority of schools? I don’t know.</p>
<p>Ask yourself honestly, if not for the money, would you have considered UA? In retrospect it has been a good choice for so many, but you can’t possibly know for a fact going in.</p>
<p>You’ll never know how the other schools would have been, you make a choice with the facts you have. Again, it has been a good choice for so many, but if you are expecting something special and better? IMHO Nope.</p>
<p>First, people can empathize with feelings of disappointment that someone received more bounty than the bounty the disappointed were originally happy to receive, but still express strong disagreement with how some respond to their disappointment. The disappointment that some have expressed here is easy to empathize with because, as I attempted to point out, such disappointment is basic human nature. </p>
<p>Second, I want to thank riprorin and telekinesis for the grace they have shown in their posts, which illustrate a response to the 2014 NMF scholarship that I see as healthy.</p>
<p>Third, returning to human nature, another aspect of human nature is to become bitter when one focuses more on what others have received that what you have received. Sadly, this thread illustrates that aspect of human nature, and even more sadly, that bitterness is coming from parents (adults) rather than teenage students. How incredibly sad that some are letting their focus on what others receive cloud what should be seen as a wonderful beginning of the next phase of their child’s life.</p>
<p>Fourth, another aspect of human nature is that some of us can only bite our tongue for so long, as illustrated by my responses below to several of the specific comments that have been made in this thread. ;-)</p>
<p>“Complaints to the administration have elicited pithy statements of empathy but no remedy is expected.” I guess this is the thanks the administration has for showing the grace to express empathy in response to an expression of entitlement.</p>
<p>“Sad to have such a bad taste in one’s mouth just as we are starting off for Tuscaloosa.” I agree, it is very sad.</p>
<p>“But after one year of austerity to discover a new pot of money with which to fund 2 more semesters and $10,000 cash? That’s a slap in the face.” Austerity??? Four years of tuition, a year of housing, $1000/year stipend for four years, an iPad, and a one time $2000 stipend is “austerity”. Wow, talk about “a slap in the face.”</p>
<p>“PR nightmare this could become.” Offering a scholarship that pays 5 years tuition, a year of housing, $3500/year stipend for four years, an iPad, and a one-time $200 stipend is a “PR nightmare”??? Only in the bitterest of dreams.</p>
<p>“an aberration in policy that adversely impacts your child” Adversely impacts??? Providing four years of tuition, a year of housing, $1000/year stipend for four years, an iPad, and a one time $2000 stipend somehow “adversely impacts your child”??? Only if one focuses more on what others have than what one has received.</p>
<p>“it feels like my kid got gypped - he is essentially being penalized for being born in the wrong year.” Penalized??? See above comments. </p>
<p>“I wonder what consequences have fallen to those who miscalculated something so predictable. And created so much bad will.” The people who are creating “bad will” are the ones who lack the grace to appreciate the bounty they have received and insist instead on focusing more on the bounty others will receive. I fear the consequences that may fall on the health of those people, especially since they have miscalculated their own entitlement.</p>
<p>“The new package merely illustrates that last year’s scholarship reduction was not an intentional change in policy regarding NMFs but a blunder,” A blunder??? I think UA will have a wonderful group of new students in 2013, and in 2014, which can only be a “blunder” in the bitterest of view.</p>
<p>“I haven’t heard any of the affected parents or students suggest that this will seriously cloud their Alabama experience, but it is valid to shake your head and laugh and say, “What the #%?” And ask the administration for an explanation” We must be reading a different thread. The comments posted here indicate that some have already allowed “this” to seriously cloud their Alabama experience, and the following sounds like far more than simply asking “the administration for an explanation: “Complaints to the administration have elicited pithy statements of empathy but no remedy is expected.”</p>
<p>“I agree that our 2013 NMF kids are not entitled to the improved benefits that the next crop of students are offered. However, this does irritate me to no end.” I also agree that 2013 kids are not entitled and I empathize with your irritation.</p>
<p>“How they proceed? My continued opinion of the administration will depend on the nature of their responses. So far their responses have had a dismissive air to them?” What do you expect? An apology? A “remedy”? Empathy? The first post in this thread already stated that the administration attempted to express empathy, but it was a little to “pithy” to satisfy someone who felt entitled to a “remedy”.</p>
<p>“She off having what can only be described as the greatest summer ever, courtesy of knowing she has a fully paid-for great freshman year at a great institution ahead of her.” Wonderful!!! I truly wish every 2013 NMF scholarship student and parent felt the same way!!!</p>
<p>Randomparent: Wow, well said!</p>
<p>Let me add, that I truly hope that ALL incoming freshmen have a wonderful first year and I am wishing them a successful college career.
Roll Tide!!!</p>
<p>Gsstudent99: I didn’t feel like I was missing the point. However I will say that the “Fear” you are afraid of is probably unfounded based on many of our collective experiences here at UA. I believe that the phrase " just like every other school" is being misconstrued by you. Neither I nor anyone else is saying that UA is all hype and your student will find that out when they arrive. What I believe is that there are some things your student will absolutely love about UA and some things they won’t like. I think that could be said of many universities.
I certainly don’t feel that The University of Alabama is " like any other school" in regards to its beautiful campus, unparalleled infrastructure, friendly staff, terific professors, real opportunities, solid programs, Southern hospitality, and generous scholarships. I feel is unique in those regards. Is it perfect, very few things rarely are.</p>
<p>I truly hope that your student has a great first year!
Roll Tide!</p>
<p>I don’t feel disillusioned because I never developed illusions about Alabama. My daughter weighed pros AND cons for every school, and clearly Alabama was her choice, but not because we idealized it. This disappointment unfortunately reinforces a fear that was clearly in the con category: that the generous merit scholarships are JUST a marketing tool to get us all in the door. We hope that the success in bringing in top students translates to challenge and opportunities and increasing value of the degree over time. I think we all look forward to a time when UA has the prestige of a UT-Austin and no longer has to lure top students with automatic scholarships. One presumes there is strategic planning to achieve meaningful goals in admissions and not just blind grasping for growth year to year. Adding new categories of partial scholarships and wildly swinging benefits in NMF tells me we are far from achieving desired outcomes. Maybe far from even having a long-term plan to do so.</p>
<p>My son entered UA in the Fall of 2010 with the primo NMF package that included 4 years of housing and a pricey laptop computer. I was thrilled. He was salty, with an attitude a mile wide because he wasn’t going to get to go to his #1 choice, USC (left coast version).</p>
<p>A year later he told me if he’d gotten into every school in the country, 'Bama is where he’d want to be. It had nothing to do with his financial package, but everything to do with the wealth of experience he was (and still is) enjoying at UA.</p>
<p>So fear not. The money is what lures you to 'Bama. The stuff money can’t buy is what makes you glad you took the bite.</p>
<p>Sorry, cheated may have been the wrong word. Disappointed is a far better adjective. </p>
<p>I’m just happy that so many students are getting the chance to go to an amazing school without being put into a situation where they have to take on debt.</p>
<p>D1 is a UA senior with an NMF scholarship who entered in 2010 (with Malanai’s, AL 34’s, Montegut’s, & Robotbldmom’s S’s among many other talented UA students.) While the scholarship put UA on MY radar, the first visit made UA shoot to #1 on D1’s list. At the end of every semester I ask her if she still thinks she made the right decision & she always answers yes. There’s good & bad at every institution, and I’m pretty jaded. </p>
<p>D2 just graduated HS and is also an NMF. She applied to UA and Blount. The reality with scholarships is that this past year not only did UA cut their NMF scholarship, but other schools upped theirs (not only NMF, but also general scholarships based on merit.) When we sat down with the spreadsheet at the end of March and looked at total cost over 4 years, 2 other schools came in as less expensive than UA. The reality is that UA was not the right fit for D2, and the lesser scholarship made it easier to say no. But I don’t think the old or the new scholarship would have made her say yes. </p>
<p>If D2 had decided on UA, I would have had a pang when I heard about the 2014 scholarships. But I’d understand. Enrollment management is complicated and relies on the whims on 18 year olds and their parents making decisions. Recently, some of UA’s institutional focus has been on recruiting NMF’s in part because of the PR it generates by being one of the top public school’s in terms of NMF enrollment. After reaching 240 freshman NMFs last year & being the #1 public schools for NMFs for the first time, they backed off. Apparently, they don’t like the results and have enhanced the package. I am very interested in seeing what the NMF #'s will be when announced in September.</p>
<p>I’m sure my opinions are coming across as much more intense in writing than they would in conversation.</p>
<p>Lets just say we all hope there is no similar disappointment on Sept 14. and all will be good.</p>
<p>Howdy Neighbor^^^. The Prez Scholarship IS the reason we decided to take a look at UA. It wasn’t even on our radar until the local rep visited D’s school and discussed the automatic awards. At that point, I was not even aware that automatic scholarships existed. My W and D took the HC tour and really liked what they saw and heard. These feelings were affirmed by folks like RobD. I truly believe UA is on to something with these automatic award programs and I hope they continue to attract high stat kids who wouldn’t otherwise apply.</p>