May 1st is right around the corner and the stress is mounting. My D has whittled her list down to Alabama and Tulane (LSU is a very distant third option). She plans to major in Chemistry/Biology with plans to go to medical or dental school. She has been accepted to Honors Colleges at both. Alabama is awarding her the Presidential Scholarship ($26,950/yr.) and Tulane is also awarding her the Presidential Scholarship ($32,000/yr.). She does plan to go through sorority rush. We have visited both and she is still uncertain. I’m hoping some of you very knowledgeable CC participants will weigh in. Please share your opinions!
If she’s planning on med or dental school, then it’s wise to go to the school with the lowest overall cost, which will be UA. Don’t get me wrong, I love Tulane. My son has committed there. Unless you have lots of money for her college, keeping the cost down is the best course of action, and UA will give you that.
The amount of the scholarship isn’t as helpful as the remaining net price. They’re both great universities but no doubt that Tulane has the prestige edge. If UA is cheaper, how much cheaper and how much does the price difference matter to you?
Thank you for weighing in @NoVADad99 and @chzbrgr ! Price is definitely something to consider. Alabama’s remaining net price after the Presidential Scholarship is $17,430. This is 2016-2017 tuition, room, board, books, and misc. according to their website minus the $26,950/annual Presidential Scholarship. Tulane’s remaining net price is not as simple. Tulane’s 2017-2018 tuition, room, board, books, misc. totals $69,764. Tulane’s aid could go 1 of 2 ways. 1–She has officially been awarded the Presidential Award (guaranteed for 8 semesters) worth $32,000/year. She has unofficially been awarded the Valedictorian Scholarship ($5,000) that will be split equally with another valedictorian from her high school worth $2,500/year. With this option, the remaining net price is $35,264. 2–She is actively trying to receive a Legislative Scholarship worth only 1 year’s tuition or $48,920 (2017-2018) that must be renewed every year. Receipt of the Legislative Scholarship will cancel her offer of the Presidential Scholarship. The Valedictorian Scholarship again applies for $2,500. This optimistic option leaves a remaining net balance of $18,344. She will not get confirmation of this award until later this week hopefully. What I have not included in both of the Tulane scenarios is the TOPS Honors Award. This award is dependent on approved state funds that will not be announced until this summer.
In summary:
Alabama is $17,430
Tulane is $35,264 confirmed with Presidential Scholarship or
Tulane is $18,344 with the Legislative Scholarship
Sorry for the long explanation. I hope I made this information clear and did my math correctly.
Assuming she gets the Legislative Scholarship, where will she go?
Legislative plus TOPS makes Tulane a great deal but legislatives are one year. Band? that can garner another couple thousand. An RA job could pay for room and board after freshman year too.
If it’s just the $32k plus valedictorian, I vote LSU. 
well, I wish I could vote LSU but the destruction of TOPS has ruined the value since current scholarship levels are meant to pair with TOPS to equal full tuition and fees at the scores your D has if she got Tulane Presidential.
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Alabama’s remaining net price after the Presidential Scholarship is $17,430.
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Really only for the first year. Frosh have to buy a crazy expensive meal plan. No one, particularly no girls, buy it after the first year. Of course, if she rushes as a frosh, her meal plan costs will get severely reduced.
The UA cost estimate includes the priciest private room dorms. What would she have at Tulane? A private room? A standard double? If standard double, then compare that with UA and the cost drops by about $3k-4K per year.
Cost of membership to a sorority at Tulane is $600 to $800 per semester. At Alabama the average is $3100 per semester. Somebody has to pay for those houses! First semester costs are higher. Alabama has recruitment prior to the first semester. Tulane has deferred recruitment in the second semester.
I would choose Alabama. It is an incredible school and has come way, way up in the last 8 years or so. Many of the top students from our area (Tennessee) are choosing it over other seemingly more prestigious schools.
In my opinion, it comes down to which school she likes the best and how easily you can afford the potential $18k difference.
If money really matters, pick Alabama. If you can afford the price difference without borrowing and don’t mind paying it, then it then comes down personal preference and she needs to consider the differences between the two schools. One is very large, has a great sports atmosphere and very big greek scene. The other is mid size, sports aren’t a big deal and greek life exists but on a different level. At Tulane everyone will be smart. At Alabama, people in Honors college will be smart, but there are a large number of people who are admitted with lower stats because of the school’s public mission. It really is a personal choice. Full disclosure - my D was admitted to both Tulane and Alabama and we considered all these factors. She choose a different school based on her personal preferences, not because there was anything wrong with these two options.
@annamom IF she gets the Legislative Scholarship is still a very big IF. I’m worried at this point that if the Legislative comes through, we will not know until after May 1. Assuming she gets it, I still don’t know where she would pick.
@Sportsman88 You hit the nail on the head with LSU. It’s a shame they don’t work a bit harder to keep strong students in Louisiana. TOPS is no guarantee. With cuts to higher education and TOPS, LSU is not appealing at this point.
@mom2collegekids Thank you for joining this thread! You make some very valid points that I will add to our list. I’m not sure which type of room is quoted on the Tulane website. I need to investigate. I will say when we toured Alabama, we saw the oldest dorm on campus. It was built in 2004 and very nice! She plans to rush as a freshman. Are the meals at the sorority houses included in a meal plan at Alabama?
@MaterS D is in luck if she attends Alabama because her grandfather has generously offered to pay for her sorority membership. That same offer has not been made for Tulane.
@MomofWildChild I agree. Alabama seems to be doing many things right to attract high caliber students.
@me29034 You also make some very valid points. Ultimately, D has to make the choice for herself. Her vision of the right size college has evolved in the past few months. She initially said she wanted a smaller, private college experience. Then she wanted a larger, public school. Now after visiting Alabama, she likes all of its offerings but is worried it’s too big. We plan to hit the road in the next couple of days to make 1 more visit to Tulane.
I may have a nervous breakdown before May 1. Are we the only ones that have such a big, seemingly last minute decision to make?
@1dwn42go No you are not the only one, there are thousands of families making similar decisions. My advise is not to get the nervous breakdown… It all tends to work out in the end. It’s very stressful going through it for the very first time, but by the fall all will be forgotten and she will text/call you about how happy she is there.
So don’t stress it too much. I would pay close attention to costs, as well as terms of the scholarships. I realize a lot of people place high value on prestige, but money matters, and your D will get good education at either place.
" sports aren’t a big deal "
OK, I had to laugh at this. My kid goes to Loyola right next to Tulane. She has been on the LSU campus on game days. One of the funniest texts we got from her was when she was cracking up that her friends talked about how “crazy” Tulane’s campus was on a game day. She said “They obviously aren’t from Baton Rouge.” She was like, there are a few tents around, what’s up with that?
Yes, sports are very low-key at Tulane compared to Alabama. SEC game days are a thing to behold.
It is a shame what the state budget/political situation has done to LSU. And of course TOPS funding in general–we are still waiting to see what’s up next year because my kid gets TOPS. Last year, as you probably know, it wasn’t fully funded but Loyola made up the difference. Let’s see what happens next year… It’s frustrating for sure.
@1dwn42go I love your tagname… My D starts college this fall (first of 5 children) and had Tulane and Alabama on her final list of 4 schools. I am not a doctor or dentist, but I believe that if your D does well at either school (GPA/MCAT scores) she has a good chance to go to a medical school. Attending Tulane probably helps her chances of getting into Tulane’s medical school, but you need to look at the costs of private vs. public medical schools before you consider that a positive.
If your D truly has a hard time choosing between these last 2 schools, why not make finances the key criteria? If you are shopping for a car and love 2 different models equally and you can afford either, why shouldn’t you pick the one that costs thousands of dollars less? I think college should be the same. Do not get caught up in a criteria for “name recognition” or “prestige”. Your D can accomplish her college & career goals at either school. Good luck!
If she is sure about dental school, she might be able to graduate with Bachelor’s degree in 3 years at UA due to their generous AP and CLEP credit policy.
At UA there is affordable off campus housing nearby for sophomores and up from what I hear.
If the dorm you saw was built in 2004, it was not the oldest dorm on campus by a long shot.
If your daughter joins a sorority, the sorority meal plan will be included in her sorority fees, and she will be able to drop from the expensive All Access meal plan required of freshman to the Greek 50 meal plan. So she’d end up with two meal plans - one for the sorority and a small University meal plan. The sorority houses do not serve meals 7 days a week, so the University meal plan could bridge that gap. (In reality, kids prefer to go elsewhere on the weekends).
FWIW, you should take a good look at the COAs. Some schools include the cheapest dorm and meal plan and low estimates for travel and personal expenses. Others include the most expensive dorm and meal plan and estimate high on expenses. Alabama leans toward the latter; I’m not sure about Tulane. Many girls who are going through recruitment at Alabama choose to live in Tutwiler, which is a traditional dorm and will cost a few thousand less than the room cost included in COA. It’s an older dorm and I believe will be torn down and replaced soon, but will still be available next year. Burke and Parham, also traditional, less expensive dorms, are very conveniently located to the sorority houses and some sorority girls choose to live there for the location. The newer suite style dorms are on the other side of campus.
Isn’t it about time to be lining up rec letters and such for UA’s rush? It starts in like 2 months, right?
I’d add to the advice above about meal plans and room, to consider things like “In reality, kids prefer to go elsewhere on the weekends” - that has a cost that can be more significant than the meal plan if it’s a regular thing.
Many Tulane kids also go out into NOLA a lot to eat, drink, whatever…and that can have a significant cost too.
^^ Good point re meals, entertainment, etc., but I think that really depends on the kid. Mine never spent money on food if he could get it for free or it was already paid for. Parents should probably be prepared to set a limit on how much of that kind of spending is going to take place on Mom & Dad’s dime, regardless of the school chosen.
Or just set a budget and that’s it. Our daughter gets X dollars for food and incidentals. The extra is hers and extra expenses are hers. The amount we give is based on a precise budget, not an arbitrary number.
And college kids eat out regardless of where they go to school. NOLA is actually a cheap place for great food at mom and pops compared to other cities.