<p>We have a young lady here in our Alabama city who has won a full tuition scholarship to UA. She still needs help with room and board. Any suggestions, please? She is valedictorian of a 300-member senior class with an ACT of 31.
Thanks!</p>
<p>Not M2CK, but,…</p>
<p>"COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING SCHOLARSHIPS 2014-2015
The following scholarships are in addition to the University-level scholarships offered.</p>
<p>In-State
Students who have a 27-29 ACT or 1210-1320 SAT (math and verbal scores only) and at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA will receive $1,500 per year for four years.
Students who have a 30-36 ACT or 1330-1600 SAT (math and verbal scores only) and at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA will receive $2,500 per year for four years."</p>
<p>May I suggest a future in Engineering?</p>
<p>What is her major (if she knows)? She is way behind in the scholarship app process coming out of high school - those deadlines are usually April/May. PM me if you want me to get in contact w/ her and I’ll exchange details.</p>
<p>Probably a shot in the dark here, but if she’s good at public speaking she can work to get a forensics scholarship for the value of in-state tuition (stackable with presidential). That’s how I’m covering room and board. </p>
<p>Gah, I thought she was a junior. Scratch my previous comment. </p>
<p>gosh…how much can her parents help?</p>
<p>is she low income? did she qualify for Pell? what is her EFC?</p>
<p>aside from the 5500 student loan and some summer earnings, I dont know what to suggest. I wouldnt suggest engineering or computer science unless she is interested.</p>
<p>we need more info…</p>
<p>If her EFC is beyond a large Pell Grant, and she has an EFC that her family cant pay, then making ends meet at this point is nearly impossible. How did her family expect her to pay for college? (any college?)</p>
<p>beyond tuition, there are still the following costs:</p>
<p>course fees
books/supplies
room
board
Misc</p>
<p>even being thrifty, those costs wont be under $11k. and she’d need to work during the school year to cover day to day expenses.</p>
<p>Is she going to work over the summer? Even an$8/hour job can give her more than $2000 before school starts. As M2K noted, the totals add up to around $11K/year based on a double occupancy dorms and not a suite. Minus the $5500 in federal loans, leaves about $5500 to pay, but those fees are per semester, so only roughly $2750 due in the fall and a full time summer job can cover most of those expenses. There are also some payment plans available, so that would not need to be paid all at once, there may be some small fees, I didn’t take advantage of them so I don’t know the details. A part time job during the school year can cover a portion of the fees that would be due in January. That would leave just a couple thousand to cover. As a class valedictorian, did she not receive any local awards? My son’s graduating class had less than 80 graduates, but I’m pretty certain all the top 10 students received some local awards from local organizations or businesses. </p>
<p>I will ask these questions, because I really don’t know much more. I think she WANTS to go to Alabama, but may have to go elsewhere for a couple of years. She does have that full tuition scholarship, but wanted help for room and board. She did apply for a number of local and other scholarships with no luck…I think her family makes too much money for need schollys…of course that doesn’t mean they can easily write a check for the balance.</p>
<p>BTW, thanks very much for your help!</p>
<p>Keep in mind that not all scholarships are available for transfer students. The current Presidential, Collegiate, etc. scholarships, for example, are only for incoming, first-time Freshman. <a href=“http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/”>http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/</a></p>
<p>In her situation, attending a community college for two years and transferring to UA might not save much money. It might even cost more.</p>
<p>My advice would be for her to find ways to reduce her costs. Freshman year will be the most expensive due to the meal plan and on-campus housing requirements. </p>
<p>Modifying UA’s estimated costs to reflect her scholarships and living in a triple room in Somerville Hall*, she’s looking at $8410 for her first year, personal expenses and parking decal included. After $5500 in loans, she’ll need just under $3,000 for the year. That’s roughly the cost of two Starbucks drinks per day. Reduce the cost of books or personal expenses and she’ll owe even less.</p>
<p>*A double room in a traditional residence hall is estimated to cost an additional $1810 per year.</p>
<p>"“think she WANTS to go to Alabama, but may have to go elsewhere for a couple of years. She does have that full tuition scholarship, but wanted help for room and board. She did apply for a number of local and other scholarships with no luck…I think her family makes too much money for need schollys…of course that doesn’t mean they can easily write a check for the balance.”"</p>
<p>Be SURE to explain to her (and her parents) that if she gives up the Bama scholarship she will NOT get anything like that as a later transfer. The CC transfer awards are very small. If her parents cant help pay now, then they wont likely be able to later unless some windfall of money happens.</p>
<p>Many people wrongly think that a big merit offer as a frosh, mean that they want HER and will give it to her as a transfer. The school wants her stats as an incoming frosh.</p>
<p>Her parents dont need to write a check for the balance. If the girl takes out a $5500 loan, and contributes a couple thousand from work over the summer, the parents may only have to contribute about $4-5k…which they could pay monthly using the Bama Plan (tell them about that, but I think it starts in July, so sign up is soon). </p>
<p>I dont know what the parents are paying for now, but many families see some home savings when a child goes off to college…less food, less water, no music/dance lessons, etc.</p>
<p>The parents may also qualify for the tuition tax credit, so that money can be dedicated to the child.</p>
<p>They can also take out a Plus Loan for a small amount if necessary. If they wont qualify for a Plus Loan then the D can borrow another $4k on top of the 5500. If one parent has bad credit, then an option would be to have THAT parent apply, so she can get that extra 4k.</p>
<p>She can also get a part-time job during the school year to cover her day to day expenses. </p>
<p>I checked into the BAMA plan as I will be using to help on our out of state son’s tuition. It is 10 payments that start June 5 so she will have to sign up before then. You can actually sign up later and start 7/5 but then you will be paying over 9 payments instead of 10 so the monthly payment will be higher.</p>
<p>Another idea, if the parents are game…</p>
<p>there are some small condos near the campus (less than a mile away) that can be purchased for about $60k. The parents could rent out one bedroom and practically have their payment covered.</p>
<p>Here’s some information about the American Opportunity Tax Credit (I think this is the tax credit that mom2collegekids is referring to).</p>
<p><a href=“What To Know About the American Opportunity Tax Credit”>http://taxes.about.com/od/deductionscredits/qt/American-Opportunity-Tax-Credit.htm</a></p>
<p>She could also investigate other scholarships and make phone calls about availability and how to apply for them.
<a href=“http://www.as.ua.edu/home/advising/college-wide-and-departmental-scholarships/”>http://www.as.ua.edu/home/advising/college-wide-and-departmental-scholarships/</a>
<a href=“Page Not Found | The University of Alabama”>Page Not Found | The University of Alabama;
<p>UA is incredibly generous in allowing stacking of scholarships.</p>
<p>what is the student’s major? is it something that would have co-ops or internships?</p>
<p>A little more info…her full tuition scholarship is via Dr. Snead in the music department. She wants to major in music performance (French horn) AND in biomedical engineering (I know - well nigh impossible). She needs help with room, board, books…mom is a schoolteacher and family is on a single income since her stepdad is disabled and real dad out of the picture. Stepdad does not receive disability payments of any kind…don’t know the situation, though.</p>
<p>I’m very sorry to hear this. Normally, families would not choose options that they cannot afford in the first place. She could ask UA if she can qualify for both the full-tuition music scholarship and the engineering stipend ($2500), because these majors span two different schools at UA, someone would need to ok it. That would be huge if she could get that. </p>
<p>It is very difficult to scramble at this very late date to get additional outside scholarships. Most deadlines for outgoing HS seniors is right now, as we type. Most require official transcripts to be sent, letters of recommendation to be sent, and essays to be written. Warn her to start researching scholarships now for her Sophomore year - some of those deadlines crop up as early as December of your Freshman year in college. Have her make a list of references she can target for letters of req, and so forth. </p>
<p>Being female, there are many great scholarship avenues to tap: Women in Engineering; several of the engineering industry-specific associations, to name just two. That bio field has a lot of $$$ to give out! Have her look through a good scholarship clearinghouse such as Cappex - set up a specific profile that fits her situation, and she will get lots of things to try. Avoid the ‘lottery-type’ scholarships with 1000s+ of applications which require no effort…try instead for the ones which have select few applicants. The more specific she can make her profile, narrows the search down. I can give specific scholarship app advice via PM, but I have also posted info on this in other threads. Basically, mine your heritage + mine your industry/major is the best way to find targeted scholarships. Also, don’t give up after this year - there is a ton of free $$$ out there for Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors in college!</p>