<p>Missing the irony here. Does the incoming 2013 class of NMF scholars have more women than is anticipated for the 2014 class of NMF scholars? </p>
<p>Like all analogies, the “job” one used here has limits to its value. These are students, not employees. They are receiving an education, not working a job. UA is a offering an education, not employment. These are scholarships, not salaries. (I feel like Mr. Obviousman on this whole jobs thing, but it seems such is needed here)</p>
<p>Stop.Just stop. For the love of G*D STOP</p>
<p>@randomp … fair enough … I liked my gas prices analogy more anyway, since it was more absurd. Yes, absurd, like any expectation for UA to do or explain anything relating to the decisions it has made regarding an entire pallet of WONDERFUL offers to students over time. Now I am truly done …</p>
<p>Thank Goodness! You can be the example for the rest…</p>
<p>Just a quick question, can you use the stipend for anything? Like lets just say sorority dues. Would that be allowed?</p>
<p>Please use another thread to ask your question. Let this one die. PLEASE.</p>
<p>kjloga, The $1000 stipend (or $3500 for 2014) is deposited directly in the student account and is used first to offset any costs there and, in our case, the remainder has been credited back to our credit card (since we payed the balance due using the credit card) to do with as we please.</p>
<p>@Meremom - I have no dog in this hunt, haven’t posted in this thread before and I’m not poking a sharp stick but the attitude and whining of people who were given a gift irks me to no end.</p>
<p>I learned many years ago something that sticks with me to this day. Life is not fair. The ones that can understand that will be more content than the ones that can’t.</p>
<p>And thanks for keeping this thread alive.</p>
<p>kldat1 - if you have no dog in the hunt, stay off of the field.</p>
<p>The OP has sent me a nice PM apologizing for starting the thread. Let’s all use that as our cue to move on to something else.</p>
<p>“Stop.Just stop. For the love of G*D STOP” ;-)</p>
<p>Biting my tongue…</p>
<p>It is a public forum. Therefore, it is open to public scrutiny. If one is not willing to be receptive to even negative commentary then I would suggest one avoid posting/starting posts that are somewhat tacky and ungrateful. Even those with the best of intentions are going to run up against those with differing opinions.</p>
<p>My own D missed the next level of scholarships by a hair. Wishing I had video of my reaction as it was rather humorous from the tone and facial expressions. My first words were, “you could have twitched your hand and marked one bubble correctly and it would have been worth thousands of dollars.” Still, I’m not going to complain. I’m happy she received what she did. Even worse, I feel pangs of discomfort when I read that another student can not attend due to financial hardship. We have been blessed beyond measure. We can easily afford the full tuition. I really wish there was a way to gift scholarship monies to those in need. One reason why DH and I do have a scholarship set up at a local high school for deserving students. I recognize the importance of education in today’s society and wish them all well.</p>
<p>Dead horse. beat away.</p>
<p>Just my 2 cents, then I will leave well enough alone and let the thread die.</p>
<p>Just over a year ago my S, not a NMF, was applying to schools. Bama was his safety. We knew he’d get full tutition + $2500 from the engineering department.</p>
<p>We also applied to our IS flagship, Purdue. 2 years before, Purdue offered automatic scholarships like Bamas. My S’s stats would have made him eligible for their top award at the time of $10K/year. The resulting costs would have been VERY competitive with Bama and we would have had a DIFFICULT decison. More than likely, my S would now be at Purdue. I knew since they eliminated their automatic scholarships that it was no longer guaranteed, but I kept my fingers crossed. Although I was hopeful that we’d receive their ‘top’ award (they do have a few very competitve full rides, but never thought those would be options), I assumed that he’d be given the next award of $8K. We sent our application in and waited, and waited, and waited. I saw on the Purdue board some students announcing their awards, but others still encouraged patience saying some letters were still being sent out. So we waited and waited and waited… I hoped that our letter had been lost in the mail and tried to stay in denial about the fact that nothing appeared on his online account. But my disappointment really didn’t turn to bitterness and strong annoyance until I found out from one of my S’s classmates that she, with lower test scores, lower grades, and a lower class rank received their smallest award of $4K/year, while my S received…NOTHING. It seemed so arbitrary…what were they basing their MERIT awards on??? It seemed personal…what was it about <em>my</em> son that made him undeserving? Logically I know it wasn’t personal, but without some type of explanation, without any type of justification, it did feel like a personal attack. It’s easy for me to remain bitter because my S’s now at Bama. A year later I can still make snide remarks about how Purdue contributes to Indiana’s ‘brain drain’ and apparently don’t make any efforts to keep the state’s top students in the state. As I vented a year ago, I heard some of those same comments about graditute…“Purdue’s such a good school, you should just be thankful he got admitted.” or about business “There’s a reason that he wasn’t given a scholarship, there were other students that they wanted more.” It didn’t help. </p>
<p>The anologies on this board really don’t fit. Sure if I stop and get gas today and the prices go down tomorrow, I can’t go and ask for my money back. But when I see the gas prices fluctuating I have a choice. I can stop today or I can wait and see what the price is tomorrow. These students had no choice in the matter.</p>
<p>The anologies about work. I make $X/year. If I find out my employer hires a new employee with EXACTLY the same credentials that I have for $X+$30,000/year, I’m not going to be a very content employee. Sure I can go ask my employer to reevaluate my wages and if they choose not to, yes, I’m going to take that VERY personally, I’m going to feel like they don’t value me, and I’m going to be looking for a new job ASAP. If my employer values me, they will choose to compensate me ‘fairly’. It doesn’t matter to me if I got my offer a decade ago, evaluated it, decided it was fair, and chose to accept it. If they are offering new employees with the same credentials more and are not willing to consider reevaluting my salary, I know I, for one, wouldn’t be working for them much longer.</p>
<p>As noted, I make $X/year. If someone were to come to me and offer me a job for minimum wage, I’m goign to politely decline. I’m not going to be grateful and say, ‘Thank you for offering me a job’. A sense of entitlement? Perhaps. I’ve worked hard in my life. I’ve earned a BS and an MS and an MBA, I’ve completed trainings and earned professional certifications, I have substantial experience in my field…that ENTITLES me to put a value on my worth. These students haven’t just randomly be given these scholarships that they need to be grateful for them…they have EARNED them. Not debating the value of the NMF scholarships and the PSAT, but in general for the merit awards these students have worked hard in school since their early teens, they have focused on extracurriculars and volunteer work while sometimes holding jobs while watching their peers be irresponsible and have more fun. These awards didn’t come easy to them…they WORKED for what they have been given. And yes, perhaps that comes with a sense of entitlement. Just as I wouldn’t be thankful if someone offered me a job paying minimum wage. In fact, I’d be offended…it’d feel like they didn’t value me or my experience or my credentials or what I’m bringing to the table.</p>
<p>My guess is these changes didn’t happen because of yield. They may have, I’m going to be interested to see the numbers when they’re released, but my guess is that it was more related to lack of planning. There are people at UA that compute the value of a NMF student to the school - what is it worth to them in increased prestige? or the ability to attrack other high quality students? Just like actuaries at insurance companies can assign dollar figures to compute premiums, someone at UA is translating the value of a NMF student into a dollar figure. My guess is that didn’t change dramatically for a single year. Instead (I believe) what happened was the housing crunch. UA determined that a NMF student was worth $X to the school, but then with the housing crunch they needed to quickly determine how to free up rooms so opted to remove the 4-year housing scholarship not because they valued those students less, but because they had no choice anticipating growing enrollment and knowing that housing was going to continue to be an issue. It has been much discussed that honor’s students were told they’d be allowed to stay on campus for 4 years, but this year it was changed with little notice because the housing just wasn’t there. I suspect that this change was made quickly and that UA still valued the NMF students a $X, but that they didn’t have the opportunity to come up with a comparable offer without the housing. A year later…they’ve had time to crunch the numbers, to debate alternatives, to consider the long term impact of changes and they were able to create an offer of relatively equivalent value. </p>
<p>Those students coming in for this year? Through no fault of their own, they got a bit ‘short changed’. Sure offers can change every year and those students/parents got to evaluate their offer before they chose to accept it, but now, seeing the new change, they have few choices. Sure if my employer hires someone else for $30,000 more than they are choosing to pay me, I can look for a new job…with only a few weeks before the school year begins these students don’t really have the choice to reconsider their choice of school and once they begin classes they won’t qualify for incoming freshman awards in the future. Is what they were given still a good offer? Yes, of course it is, my S’s at Bama without the NMF award and it’s still a really good offer. But do they have the right to be upset, annoyed, and bitter? IMO, yes. </p>
<p>If the merit awards changed next year and the presidential required a 35 ACT, everyone would proclaim “We knew it wouldn’t last forever” and “Gee, that’s too bad, but they must have achieved their goals…they’re going to put that money into other things now”. If a year later, they reverted back to 32…I’m betting A LOT of people would be more than a little upset and confused. The school could go A LONG way, by simpy explaining the situation to parents, by offering some type of justification. The seemingly arbitrary nature of these decisions make them feel very personal. These students have my empathy.</p>
<p>For the record, I am not sorry for starting the thread, just for the title which can be construed as rubbing salt in the wound. I actually continue to appreciate the positives of shedding light on this inequity and the thoughtful responses from folks who can put themselves in our shoes. Regarding those parents who are piling on in their judgemental attacks, to be expected on cc.</p>
<p>“judgemental attacks”??? You mean like saying that the empathy expressed by the administration was “pithy”, or that the response from the administration had “no meaningful information” or that the response “skirted the issue”, or that some here are “are not alone in being less holier than thou”, or that there are “those who miscalculated something so predictable”, or that those same people “created so much bad will”, or that the UA administration (by analogy) "seems to lack the strategic planning and growth management to avoid such predictable recent problems in coordinating admissions, housing, public relations, etc. ", or that there was “poor anticipation of what the market would yield”, or that the 2013 NMF scholarship offer was “a blunder, either in unintended consequences or short-sighted planning or both”, or that the NMF benefits are "wildly swinging ", or that UA and its supporters here are “far from achieving desired outcomes”, or that UA NMF scholarships represent a “whiplash policy” or that “judgemental attacks” are “to be expected on cc” (of course with such attacks being by someone other than you)??? LOL. Another very basic human behavior is a lack of self awareness. </p>
<p>And for the sake of MereMom, who for some reason hasn’t posted the following in response to your post, I will again provide her (hopefully not selective) cautions: </p>
<p>“Stop.Just stop. For the love of G*D STOP”
“Let this one die. PLEASE.”
“Dead horse. beat away.”</p>
<p>Judgmental was the original post.</p>
<p>It isn’t a judgmental attack to point out whining. Bama owes you no explanation, apology, or anything else. As for letting this thread that would be great if it will stop the entitled whining.</p>
<p>@random … a big Roll Tide! RIGHT on the money.</p>
<p>Dictionary:</p>
<p>Analogy: resemblance in <em>SOME</em> particulars between things otherwise NOT ALIKE. </p>
<p>(Read: Gas Prices or Salary Inequities)</p>
<p>Parody:
a) a literary or musical work in which the style of an author or work is closely imitated for comic effect or in ridicule
b) a feeble or ridiculous imitation</p>
<p>(Read: Gas Prices)</p>
<p>:) ^^^^</p>
<p>Notice: due to unforeseen inequities all employees salaries are hereby rolled back to original start pay for each position upon start of company. No increases will be given for cost of living, experience, etc. Yes, that means that some may see their salary drop to the $2-3 per hour range.<br>
SMH! Starting salaries increase. Duh! That is not to say that existing employees have not received pay raises that would make their salary higher than new hires. Again, smh!<br>
Hate to be Captain Obvious. But geez</p>
<p>Mom2twins: I agree with you. This is unfair. I would be upset too! I’m not sure what you can do about it, but people who find you entitled have failed to put themselves in your shoes.</p>