Op had a 3.6 before the current semester, and that will likely drop to perhaps 3.4, along with a score of 33. That is not competitive for top 20 schools, regardless of a gap year. I believe the majority of students at U Alabama are not residents; at least around half are not. The branch in Huntsville was surprisingly liberal when I visited. The counselor should help you pursue affordable in state options, or places like NM or AZ
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I am sorry you are in this situation. I echo the others who suggested taking another look at Alabama, UAH, or UAB. Agree with looking at ASU, U Arizona, U New Mexico, but not sure those will be affordable (you will need minimum full tuition award). You might look at Truman State, Mississippi State, Nicholls State, Southeastern Oklahoma State too. The thing is some of those schools aren’t quite as good as the Alabama schools.
What can your family contribute each year to college costs? You will receive nearly a full Pell grant (say $6K) so that plus the $5,500 federal student loan gives you a budget of $11k-$12K, before parent contribution.
Can you attend a local community college and live at home? Your Pell grant would cover a significant proportion of that tuition. Then you can transfer to a 4 year school after CC.
I am not convinced a gap year makes sense…as I am not sure it is going to result in a different choice of schools that might be affordable (maybe UNM if you have missed this year’s scholarship deadline).
Thoughts @MYOS1634?
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Do you have access to your high school counselor in person or remotely? If so get with him/her TODAY. If you do not have access to a counselor, come back to this board and there are some experts on here that can walk you through the process. As others have said there are some state schools still accepting applications but the deadlines are coming up very soon. Also contact Questbridge and see if they can be of help.
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There are a few things that I am taking off your post-
- Your a QB finalist with a low EFC, so I am assuming parents can’t contribute.
- Your upset with the intolerance where you currently are so you unfortunately did not apply to any safety schools.
- You have senior year grade slippage.
- It also looks like you didn’t take advantage of the Match?
Try your best to finish the remainder of senior year strong.
See if you have any HBCU’s near you and see if the deadlines are still open and apply.
The previous posters are saying University of Alabama is geographically diverse, hopefully this also means more tolerance than what you are used to. If you are still able to, apply.
I don’t suggest a gap year, unless you contact Questbridge and ask if you can do the process again, and actually use the match process and pick different schools than the ones you applied to this year. While doing that apply to safety schools and rolling admission schools.
Good Luck!
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A full pell eligible student might be able to pull together what is needed to attend Minot State.
$15,100 Direct Costs (tuition fees room & board)
- 6,000 Pell
- 5,500 Student Loan
- 2,000 (Auto merit ranges from 500-3000)
=$1,600 plus indirect costs
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Wilberforce is a private HBCU in Ohio still taking applications I think.
The College of Wooster
you should consider this one, great financial aid packages and they are already on the list
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If Rutgers is still taking applications, this may be your answer. Rutgers is the flagship state U for NJ, is located in central NJ which is, effectively, a suburb of NYC and Philadelphia. It is integrated, pretty liberal, a good school. From what you say about your home state, you’ll probably like NJ a lot. And according to the fin aid report on PrepScholar, a family with income<30K/yr (which I bet yours is, if you have an EFC of just over 2K), would be expected to pay <12K/yr. You can manage that on your Pell grant plus the federal loan plus summer earnings or part time job. If you do very well in school, you can probably get more scholarship money - and don’t forget about applying for private scholarships, too. In my opinion, if this option is still open to you, it’s your best choice. This would have been a perfectly good choice last October, when you were making your list. I’m shocked it’s still available. https://admissions.rutgers.edu/#:~:text=Although%20our%20application%20due%20dates,consider%20them%20for%20fall%202021. But I suggest you call them and see if it’s still possible to get the main campus.
Pitt is going to be a relatively educated, liberal environment, also. But I don’t think that they could offer you enough financial aid. It is certainly worth contacting the admissions office there.
U of Arizona in Tucson reportedly would have a net price of <11K for a family with <30K/yr income. They do have a school of social work.
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Less than 40% of U Alabama students are Alabama residents. There is plenty of diversity there.
hello again!
i first want to further explain my view on alabama since it seems people don’t really get what i’m saying.
i made a generalization for the sake of convenience in the post & i’m sorry for that, yeah. i recognize the south is inherently diverse due to historical background, and that it’s “not healthy to label people” (via @coolguy40 ) and that i shouldn’t “dismiss a whole state based upon something that many of them have no control over” (via @Eeyore123 ).
but here’s the thing you fail to recognize. i have lived in alabama my entire life. maybe it’s not like this everywhere in alabama, but i am not “labeling” the people here. i am observing a pattern of behavior in the majority. an adult told me when i was younger that people “naturally self segregate” based on race. i’m not a poc and my white family throws out hard-rs consistently when they refer to birmingham, as if it’s disgusting, when really it is gorgeous and colorful and substantially more diverse than my city. my city is known for sundown signs and a place called colony where a lot of poc live because they either can’t afford to live in the white part or don’t feel it’s safe to. my lit teacher this year used the bible to justify the condemnation of women to a role of pure domesticity when talking about paradise lost, like john milton was right to believe or write that women are inferior of reason and exist to be homemakers. person after person after person down here has tried to convert me to christianity. my doctor directly asked me if i believed in god when i replied that i was interested in philosophy at her question of what i was going to go to school for: she implied it was stupid to not believe in god. my state government has made it their goal to terrorize queer youth here instead of improving their education system (hello 49/50) or doing literally anything to help anyone.
these people did not choose where they were born or how they were raised: you are right about that & i know that very, very well. but they choose what they do and say everyday. they choose to hurt the people that are innocent, that are shimmering diamonds in a pile of dusty rocks. those people don’t deserve this place & i can’t help them if i stay here and hear the same things i’ve been hearing since before i had the ability to think for myself.
i love alabama sometimes but i have received the message: my head, my heart, & my gut all tell me i should not be here right now. so i will not stay. maybe some other time for some other reason, but not now.
and secondly, i really appreciate all the suggestions and the support/insight! i made myself a document with all of them and i’ll be rooting through them to find what shows promise and what might work. i’ll try to come back and update with what i decide/get done/new information.
so far, the most attractive suggestions to me aret uition appeal for liu/u of memphis, rutgers u in nj, gap year, u of arizona (online?), and nacac list…
thank you for all your help.
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Sounds like you need to get out of your city and social group, not necessarily out of the state. In any event, be aware that college debt is likely to hinder you in a low paying field like social work for decades.
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Many of the schools already on the NACAC list are far better schools than LIU and University of Memphis. See the link and @Mwfan1921 's original post for examples. I think you’re likely to get better overall financial aid from good midwest liberal arts colleges (such as Wooster, as listed above by @BuckeyeMWDSG) than from out of state flagships, but you can run the net price calculators on them. I’d be very surprised if Rutgers is affordable for an out of state lower income student.
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Try Berea College.
Or Benedict College if you would consider an hbcu.
Maybe look at schools that meet full need for next year?
Maybe the Jesuit schools with an essay for public service? Call and see if they offer any large scholarships or aid for service but I would be on the phone today. Jesuits are the liberal Catholics.
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Rather than rushing into finding a place for the fall that isn’t what you want academically, if you are able to be financially supported by your parents for an extra year, take a gap year and reapply ED to a LAC that has a high ED acceptance rate. In NE, pretty much all the selective LACs have much higher ED acceptance rates than RD, and applying ED to one of them is probably the best-kept secret in admissions, as it’s an accessible way to get an excellent education that would rival most T20 National Universities. For the fall of 2020, Middlebury, Colby, and Hamilton had ED acceptance rates of 45%. Look at the CDS of LACs to find ED acceptance rates. With your stats, I think that would be a very reasonable set of schools to look at to do an ED application, and I’d be willing to bet more likely than not you’d get in if you played your cards correctly. Plus, many have ED2, so if you get rejected/deferred from one, you’ll have another decent shot at another school.
I truly think that this path will serve you much better in the long run than going to LIU or Memphis. Plus, the LACs would probably be a fantastic fit for you in terms of the political atmosphere (they really do hold up to their moniker as a “liberal” arts college). I’m also saying this from a current student at a T15 national uni, so I’m not trying to shill you on the LAC experience (some of my choice to not go to a LAC was because I didn’t want a political echo chamber, but since you seem pretty adamant on you views and want to be more around like-minded individuals, I think the political climate of those places would really serve you well). My older sibling went to Middlebury, and it seemed like a fantastic experience.
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Seems doubtful that Rutgers would give that good need-based financial aid to a non-NJ resident student. Also, the OP comes from a family of 6, so a $2k FAFSA EFC could be from an income considerably higher than $30k.
Giving some rough estimate numbers to Net Price Calculator - Scarlet Hub shows a net price of about $35k after federal grants and merit scholarships (estimated based on the student’s stats), but no need-based aid.
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This student needs significant FA. To go into ED knowing she may not be able to afford it isn’t the best strategy.
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I’m aware of that. However, if the student has significant FA needs and can’t afford it after being admitted ED, the school should be willing to release you from the commitment.
Regarding University of Arizona, here is the scholarship page: Types of Aid: Incoming First-Year and Transfer Tuition Scholarship Awards | Office of Scholarships & Financial Aid
A 3.6 unweighted GPA would give a $12,500 scholarship for non-residents. Non-resident list price is $54,650 according to Cost: Incoming First-Year and Transfer | Office of Scholarships & Financial Aid , so the net price for the OP would be about $28k after subtracting the scholarship and approximately $4k Pell grant. This does not look affordable.
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Yes that’s an out but you sign a statement saying you’ll commit if accepted and signing that knowing you can’t unless X happens isn’t signing or applying in good faith.
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