<p>I dont’ care how other schools pad their commuting budgets. Schools do this so that people can borrow more for various reasons.</p>
<p>I don’t even care what Bama puts as COA, since it pads its COA so people can borrow to pay for pricey private room dorms…a luxury…and buy brand new books in the school’s pricier book store. lol</p>
<p>When people commute from home, they usually deal with basic costs…tuition, fees, books, personal expenses, gasoline (which is much cheaper in Alabama than Calif…I paid 3.15 today), and some misc costs. </p>
<p>There’s little reason to add an add’l $4500 - 7500 as you did …which you suggest would need to be covered with private loans, etc. </p>
<p>If someone wants to go to college, and money is tight, then they’re thrifty and they don’t waste money on Friday night pizza out with pals…or at least they don’t expect taxpayers to help fund those adventures.</p>
<p>Alabama taxpayers are funding my daughter’s adventures, and she isn’t even getting the engineering bump. Not to mention what next year’s NMF will get to fund more “pizza out with the gals.” The question is whether that model can be sustained to the apparent detriment of needy Alabama residents.</p>
<p>Commuting expenses include far more than gasoline for a car commuter. You have car maintenance, car insurance, and perhaps the car itself.</p>
<p>Students living at home also consume food and utilities; while the parents may not have these as separate budget line items, they do cost money. Students living away from home would not cost the parents these costs, so using them to compare the cost of a commuter student to one living away from home is an apples-to-apples comparison. This is what room and board expense estimates for commuter students cover.</p>
<p>if the median income is 34K, i think they may have missed a few friday night pizzas already! dont think missing a few more is what they are worried about</p>
<p>The $5k that I’ve listed for transportation, misc and personal expenses is to cover those things. If you think it should be a bit more, then fine…but to say that it should be $4500-7500 more is too much.</p>
<p>Part of UA’s mission is to serve the people of Alabama. Rather than giving more need based aid to students who more easily be admitted to local colleges, UA has decided to enhance its quality by attracting some of the nation’s top high school students. If UA is to truly serve the people of this state, it must continue to enhance its reputation. The focus on merit based scholarships does that IMO. </p>
<p>The state of Alabama will benefit from UA’s climb in prestige, much more than if it simply provided more aid to needy students. And many of those students can transfer to UA after saving money and proving themselves by going to a local school first. People need to remember that UA has been receiving fewer and fewer state funds over the last decade. UA made the right decision, for by attracting wealthier OOS students, it is now on a much stronger financial footing.</p>
<p>“How are they doing that? Merit scholarships aren’t funded by tax dollars.”</p>
<p>I still don’t understand this math. A few posts ago you said athletics paid for merit scholarships. That appears to have been wrong. Which accounting column do the merit scholarships actually come from? And do the taxpayers buy the distinction?</p>
<p>The stronger financial footing is exactly the question: at what point does the merit vs need model shift?</p>
<p>*still don’t understand this math. A few posts ago you said athletics paid for merit scholarships. That appears to have been wrong. *</p>
<p>I think you need to go back and reread what I wrote. </p>
<p>The money comes from donors and Crimson Tide Athletics</p>
<p>I said that DONORs and athletics paid for merit scholarships. Tax-payers don’t fund them. And, yes, Athletics does contribute to the merit scholarship fund. That wasn’t disproved.</p>
<p>but, again, since you’re bothered, relieve your guilt and pay for your D’s costs yourself and tell the school to put that money towards instate students that you think deserve the money more than your D does.</p>
<p>food (someone of that age might still be voracious)
utilities
car insurance (a big item for someone of college student age)
car maintenance (if the car is old and needs more maintenance and repair)
car (if the family has to buy another car)
car fuel
typical misc personal stuff like clothing</p>
<p>Just because the expenses associated with the student are not separate line items from the grocery bill, utility bill, car expenses, etc. does not mean that they are zero.</p>
<p>In any case, all of this arguing about how much commuting costs does not change the fact that UA give zero need-based financial aid grants to even the lowest income Alabama residents (the grants shown are all federal Pell grants and SEOG).</p>
<p>Feeling no guilt, since I neither made these policy decisions nor defend them for a living. Simply empathizing with Alabama taxpayers. And with needy students who want opportunity.</p>
<p>atlanta… all alabama schools, including the smaller colleges have received less state money over the years. no different for them. i have read and understand the mission dr witt had and how they set about to put that in action. i have always wished though that there were stats that showed how many of those students actually stay in alabama when they are finished and contribute to the state. if that number is high then i think the mission was a success. if the only result is that ua ranks higher in the usnwr etc…then i think it may be time to consider other options as well… as i’m not sure that really “serves the people of alabama”</p>
<p>In reference for how they pay for the merit scholarships; 40% of endowment earnings (at least it was in 2011) is targeted for scholarships. The endowment has doubled from 300,000,000 to more than 600,000,000 over the last 10 or so years, due to donors. </p>
<p>and of course, you have donors that directly fund scholarships.</p>
<p>But all money is fungible, if the endowment funds scholarships, then general revenue (like Tuition or state appropriations) can be used to fund other items.</p>
<p>@parent56; even if many of the OOS students leave the state, the quality(and reputation) of UA’s education has been improved for those students that stay. And those that leave the state and succeed, also reinforce UA’s rep. </p>
<p>UA is attempting to create a virtuous circle/cycle. At some future point, they will be able to offer less merit to OOS students, but still be able to recruit the same level of student, due to UA’s increase reputation/academics. At least that’s the plan…</p>
<p>At some point, if UA want’s to break into the top 25 or 20 public universities, it will need to start moving resources from student recruitment to facilities (which has already started) and faculty. Of course, world class facilities and faculty, will also help bring in world class students, and the virtuous circle continues(fueled by donors).</p>
<p>Of course, every other school also has a plan…</p>
<p>Specific to the NMF scholarships: the money made by revenue from NCAA licensing fees goes directly to fund the NMF scholarships. I can’t say specifics about Presidential & I am going to find the report that mentioned that. BRB :)</p>
<p>“UA moved to #2 nationally in Collegiate Licensing Collegiate (CLC) Merchandising sales in 2009-2010…CLC projected that UA would finish the year with more than $8 million in royalty income; 1/2 of that money will be used to fund National Merit Scholarships for UA students.”</p>
<p>gator thank you for the explanation and i agree with most of it (“know” some oos students that attend on merit and they do credit to the school and their families/self by what they have accomplished while attending)…i dont dispute the rationale…what i questioned was related to ucbalumnus post that there were no institutional grants for lower ses in state students, but an awful lot of money going to merit. if the endowment is 600,000,000 could some not be shifted? then we dont run afoul of m2ck contention of taxpapers paying for room and board. other schools in the state (as i mentioned in my first post ) also have this problem, however the difference to me is threefold here 1. higher cost at ua, 2. a well publicized campaign and 3. the 55% oos student number… my question was is that a service to alabama? dont know the answer, dont know the solution</p>
<p>Seems so simple. For UA to even think about being a top 20 public they MUST recruit high stat OOS kids. It’s a numbers game…there just aren’t enough elite high school students in the state of AL to support this effort. </p>
<p>I’m not sure there is another flagship in the country right now doing a better job of attracting the high stat OOS kids AND upgrading facilities at the same time. This should make Alabamians proud.</p>
<p>Gator explained pretty well Parent. But again, filling UA up with top notch students from in and out of state brings in more prestige and more money to pay for better faculty, better facilities, and the kind of research that can make a difference in the lives of Alabamians. But you should know its not just the OOS thing that has attracted criticism. I remember reading an article about six years ago, in which the president of Birmingham Southern was complaining that UA was taking the top students now. He actually argued that UA had an obligation to take in the lower scoring students and that elite private schools like his, should be the destination for those top high school students.</p>
<p>“At some point, if UA want’s to break into the top 25 or 20 public universities, it will need to start moving resources from student recruitment to facilities (which has already started) and faculty.”</p>
<p>… and need-based aid. If rankings are a goal, then improving the graduation rate will also be necessary, which comes back in large part to need-based aid. A student who has to work full time to be able to attend will inevitably need more semesters to complete a degree, or fail to finish.</p>
<p>USNWR increased the weight of grad rates to 7.5% this year: “This important outcome measure focuses on the difference between each school’s predicted graduation rate (as calculated by U.S. News based on several characteristics of the incoming class closely linked to college completion, such as test scores and Pell Grants) and its actual graduation rate.*”</p>