The student that I know that rec’’d it has an ACT 32.
@Windows16 The award is UA Scholar…which ties to the regular UA scholar award. Don’t know if Bama is only awarding to those with an ACT 32 or if UA is also awarding to 30 and 31. I suspect that this is an award for those with a 32…but i could be totally wrong.
@mom2collegekids thanks!
I assume you mean 32 and above and not just 32 exactly?
The fact that it’s not advertised suggests that it’s not an automatic scholarship, though. If they were giving housing scholarships based purely on test scores, you’d think they’d say that. They specifically say that 36 gets a housing scholarship, so I’ve always thought that 33-35 doesn’t get one.
It would be odd if 32 gets a housing scholarship but 33 doesn’t. That means 32 gets a larger freshman reward than 33-35.The 33-35 makes up for it by junior year, though.
I’m confused. I thought the ONLY students eligible for a housing scholarship were recipients of the Academic Elite and NMF packages. Both come with an automatic one year of housing.
https://scholarships.ua.edu/types/elite.php
https://scholarships.ua.edu/nationalscholars/
Is there some other scholarship folks are referring to?
@ddmull1, was your daughter awarded the UA Scholar award? I wonder if UA is trying to make up the difference for those who would have qualified for the Presidential in the past with a 32 ACT?
That is what I was thinking. My daughter just missed the Presidential by 20 points on the SAT…so really happy with a little extra help!
I had a 30 ACT and a 1440 SAT and I’m a UA scholar, should I be expecting this scholarship, or are my scores too low? I can’t find anything online
She had a 32 ACT and was awarded the UA Scholar
@michigander1234, I think it’s unlikely.
A 30 has been a UA Scholar for many years now. It was just this past year where they upped the cutoff for the Presidential from 32 to 33 (and adjusted the SAT similarly), so I’m suspecting they only offered it to those who just missed the cutoff for the Presidential.
@LucieTheLakie but my 1440 SAT translates to a 32 ACT
Sorry, the SAT lost me when they changed it a few years ago! I’m not sure then, @michigander1234, what all came into consideration. Maybe they picked off those with really high GPAs AND a 32 (or equivalent) or higher? It hasn’t been advertised, so everything here is conjecture on our parts. What was your GPA?
It looks as though UA considers an SAT 1480 to be equivalent to ACT 32. I know when the new SAT came in the scores to qualify for scholarships increased as the new test was thought to be easier.
So basically no one here knows what’s going on?
The website says:
30 to 32 equals $19,000 per year
33 to 35 equals $25,000 per year
36 or NMF equals full tuition (about $29 k) plus freshman housing (approximately $6k to 10k per year, depending on residence hall)
It really makes no sense for a 32 to get $25k to $29k for freshman year if 33 to 35 gets $25k.
I’m curious because D19 got a 32 and is taking the ACT in two days to try to get the 33 to 35 (36 is out of reach, unfortunately)
@AlbionGirl @michigander1234 Looks like UA is simply using the official CollegeBoard concordance tables https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/pdf/higher-ed-brief-sat-concordance.pdf
A 1440 is equivalent to 31. A 32 is equivalent to 1450 to 1480.
@gusmahler you’re right, I must have been looking at the wrong thing
No one knows what is going on because this is new and out of left-field. Don’t know if admissions office saw an issue with the lowered award for those with ACT 32 and SAT equivalent, so they decided to sweeten the pot and offer more to those students?
Also don’t know if…i know Bama doesn’t superscore, but likely reports superscores, so maybe these awards are going to ACT 32 students whose superscores are higher, hoping to capture these students in order to report their superscores? The devil is in the details…it’s all part of enrollment management to get the best freshman class.
@gusmahler <<< It really makes no sense for a 32 to get $25k to $29k for freshman year if 33 to 35 gets $25k.>>>
Where are you seeing that?
A 32 getting this one time housing award is getting $19k per year plus one time $4k per year. Or are you seeing something else?
I was basing it on the cost of housing, which is $6k to $10k.
My daughter received the housing award. It is $2000 per semester for freshman year (total of $4000). She had a 1470 SAT score, no superscoring involved. She is a UA Scholar receiving the $19K per year.
It is not full cost of housing, it’s partial. So first year the total scholarship is $19 + $4 = $23k, where the 33-35 ACTs are getting $25k
And, being designated “housing” specifically, would it be taxable? Or would it still be able to be applied to tuition?
Obviously check with the accounting experts but I believe since it is a scholarship it is not taxable. My son is an RA and they list him as getting a housing scholarship and it is non-taxable.