<p>I somewhat agree with maizeandblue21. It would be a shame to sell oneself short in order to save money when there might be other options where overall costs would be reasonable. Your child is obviously a very good student and should be rewarded for his efforts. You really should check out other top schools to see where they would come in financially. Top schools are definitely worth some premium.</p>
<p>rjlofnovi you make a good point about it only being for tuition and depending on our finances which do fluctuate, Michigan may actually still be the better deal. We really are very fortunate to have University of Michigan as an instate school to choose from.</p>
<p>I would have him apply to Michigan, to State only if he loves it since State does not meet need and then a 3-5 schools at aminimum that appeal to him and have great merit aid. There are tons of posts in the financial aid forum to give you ideas so I won’t lob anything out. You would want to keep an eye on Alabama since they might tweak their position for financial aid.</p>
<p>“You would want to keep an eye on Alabama since they might tweak their position for financial aid.”</p>
<p>Good point mom. As Alabama becomes more popular, it would be evident that the freebies eventually are going to be scaled back. Who could say for sure that the full tuition scholarship program will continue into the future or be discontinued at any time.</p>
<p>^^^exactly what we have been concerned about, and won’t know until next year so this may all be a mute point. Well watermelon margaritas are calling me on my deck-got to enjoy our Michigan summers before the snow flies:)</p>
<p>I definitely agree with maizeandblue21’s point - if your son is planning on being mobile around the US I would have some concerns about Alabama. I’m sure it’s respected in the South but I can tell you from experience that it’s not very highly thought of in either East or West Coast - there’s only a handful of schools respected from that region and Alabama’s not on it. </p>
<p>I would at least look into other schools that your son might be able to get full rides from before honing it down to 2 schools - there should be other acceptable schools even if he doesn’t choose Michigan in the end.</p>
<p>I would direct the OP to The University of Alabama forum to post additional questions/concerns about UA. It is a very friendly forum and we can answer many questions. You can also read some of the interesting threads to get a better idea of the caliber of students attending The University of Alabama. You will be surprised at how many students have turned down more “prestigious” schools to attend Bama. There will be close to 56% OOS students this coming fall, many from the Northeastern states.
I would politely disagree with and even disregard some of the above posts, especially the ones from newbie posters spouting nonsense instead of common sense.
Monetary issues are always a concern, as well as educational prospects and college “fit”.</p>
<p>“You will be surprised at how many students have turned down more “prestigious” schools to attend Bama. There will be close to 56% OOS students this coming fall, many from the Northeastern states.”</p>
<p>No surprise at all. Free tuition is a great incentive, coupled with the fact that the public universites in the northeast are not very strong.</p>
<p>If OP’s child doesn’t like MSU then fine, but don’t discount it because you think they don’t offer as much aid as UofM. If your child has the qualifications for full tuition at Alabama, there is a good chance MSU will too. UofM offers better need based aid, but MSU will offer better merit aid. I personally know a couple of students offered a full ride (not just full tuition) at MSU and hardly anything at UofM.</p>
<p>" If your child has the qualifications for full tuition at Alabama, there is a good chance MSU will too."</p>
<p>Academically those schools are more similar.</p>
<p>Good point mom. As Alabama becomes more popular, it would be evident that the freebies eventually are going to be scaled back. Who could say for sure that the full tuition scholarship program will continue into the future or be discontinued at any time.</p>
<p>These School A vs School B threads can get silly, especially when posted in one schools’ forum.</p>
<p>If a student wants to be a history prof, then attending Bama would be more than sufficient. IMO, virtually any school that has a good law school (Bama has a Tier 1 law school) will likely have a strong history dept. The two things seem to go hand and hand. </p>
<p>Both of my kids graduated from Bama…one was accepted to EVERY PhD Math program he applied to and enrolled at his top choice ~ an elite private. My other son graduated in May and is starting medical school in 2 weeks (he completed 6 med school apps and was accepted to 3 US MD schools ~ a remarkable result.) These facts hardly suggest that Bama is a “terrible school” or anything of the sort. </p>
<p>Alabama is a rare school at its ranking to offer the money that it does for stats. I don’t know MSU’s policies but never assume that a “peer school” will offer similar money. Bama is unique in its offerings amongst peer schools.</p>
<p>MSU offers very little merit aid to in-state students. What they do offer is highly competitive (to my knowledge.)</p>
<p>Good point mom. As Alabama becomes more popular, it would be evident that the freebies eventually are going to be scaled back. Who could say for sure that the full tuition scholarship program will continue into the future or be discontinued at any time.</p>
<p>I forgot to include in my above post.</p>
<p>NO ONE has to fear that an offered Bama scholarship would be discontinued “at any time”. If your child applies this season, gets offered a scholarship, he’ll have that for all four years. A student who applies in a later year may not get the same offer, but Bama isn’t going to reduce/eliminate a scholarship that was offered to a particular student. Bama will ONLY INCREASE an offer, never reduce an offer. My own children’s scholarships were INCREASED by Bama when they upgraded their scholarship to cover up to 20 credits per semester, rather than only 17 per semester. When Bama made that announcement, they immediately upgraded the existing scholarship holders.</p>
<p>P.S. Pay close attention to how many credits a scholarship will cover…many schools limit to 15 credits per semester, which can add a few thousand a year to your bill during the semesters your child exceeds the max.</p>
<p>It is a fallacy to say that only a handful of schools are considered good in the west coast. THat maybe true of some companies (google for eg) but certainly not across the board. What is true is that they not be recruited from campus interviews. We hire from different schools and we are a fortune 50 company. Also, why is going to an oos school “not respected”? That statement just does not add up. Mom2collegekids - congratulations to your children</p>
<p>momof2- You’re making the very strong assumption that Bama is a “peer school” to MSU. It’s not. The Academic Ranking of World Universities has MSU at 96 in the world and doesn’t put UA in the top 500, and the QS World University rankings put MSU at 174 in the world and Alabama in the 451-500 range. Those are the two academically respected global university rankings, and Bama clearly falls well short academically of both UM and MSU. There’s a reason Bama is giving out these full ride scholarships, and it’s not out of the goodness of their hearts. They need to give all this money just to get people to come to school there. It’s not a good sign for your school if it’s giving out full ride scholarships for simply meeting minimum test requirements.</p>
<p>“The Academic Ranking of World Universities has MSU at 96 in the world and doesn’t put UA in the top 500, and the QS World University rankings put MSU at 174 in the world and Alabama in the 451-500 range.”</p>
<p>Wow! I had no idea that these two schools were that far apart.</p>
<p>ok - tell me which one is the 98th ranked school? My point is that after the top 20-30 schools, there is very little difference in the respective ranking of the schools. Alabama maybe ranked 451 but am fairly certainly better recognized in the south than say a west coast school that is ranked in the 120 something. Santa Clara may not rank as highly as say Syracuse but kids from there get more offers by virtue of the fact that they are in Silicon Valley.</p>
<p>“ok - tell me which one is the 98th ranked school? My point is that after the top 20-30 schools, there is very little difference in the respective ranking of the schools.”</p>
<p>I don’t necessarily disagree CUPKSDAD. Of course, Michigan is a top 30 school, nationally and worldwide.</p>
<p>I get a kick out of these people that are SO threatened by UA. What…all that debt got you down?</p>
<p>Sorry RTR you feel that way. If a good student wishes to attend a good university in the south with free tuition, then Alabama would be an excellent choice. :-)</p>