@annamom If a student is accepted to UCLA OOS, that student will be paying OOS tuition bc CA public do not offer much, if anything, to OOS students. UNC, by law, can only accept 18% OOS students.
UM states,"Non-resident students have higher tuition charges because the University of Michigan is a publicly supported state institution and a portion of the cost to Michigan residents is subsidized by the state.
While we do not have sufficient funds to meet the full demonstrated financial need of all nonresident students, need is covered for students with families that have incomes of up to about $90,000 per year and assets below $50,000. Scholarships from U-M schools and colleges or private sources may be able to cover costs for others through these combined resources."
Clearly, UA’s scholarships are one of the main attractions for OOS applicants. Students get a solid education for a low cost compared to many other options. UA, by far, was the most generous school in terms of merit $$ for our ds. All of his friends have been OOS students. I can’t think of him mentioning any instate kids, not that would matter to him one way or the other. We moved so often during his childhood, he doesn’t consider himself “from” any where in particular.
It is no secret around here that Bama is one of the easiest school to get in. For many it is their safety school and for others, they don’t want to go because they feel that if so and so go in, it is probably not a good school… This is the kind of buzz that I hear from my kids Based on the stats, I would probably agree with selectivity and ease of application. But with the excellent scholarships many of you have received, it is impossible to ignore. Just don;t see how being a full paid OOS would be at their top of their list.
@mrminsky, I suspect your kids go to very good schools, especially the one who attends the private.
My son also attended a private high school, where most students applied EA or ED to elite private colleges and universities, so choosing to go to UA probably seemed pretty out of left field to most of his classmates, but finances were an issue for us (unlike most of his school friends). The father of one classmate (who was headed to Penn, full pay) told me thought my son had made a smart choice in accepting the merit money to study engineering at Alabama. This gentleman was the head of HR for a major cable company, so I’m going to assume he knew what he was talking about.
My son has zero regrets today. He’s getting a rigorous education, had a paid co-op that earned him enough money to cover his room and board for two years, and had the opportunity to try out and be chosen to be one of the most recognizable (and sought after for advertising) school mascots in the country. (That gig comes with an additional, stackable, scholarship and pays really well for private events on top of that.) He just had an interview for a summer internship with a top US aerospace company and is waiting to hear if he got the job. All this and he will graduate with ZERO debt.
Could he have had a better experience at higher-rated, more prestigious school? Possibly. But he most definitely would not have graduated without debt.
Students need to choose the school that’s best for them. In six months, the last thing they’ll care about is where their high school classmates are going to school. Making such an important decision to impress somebody else is extremely shortsighted. Especially when finances are a factor.
I have no doubt UA is a relatively easy admit for full-pay OOS students who meet the minimum qualifications. Those students aren’t much of a risk to admit, and their tuition dollars help subsidize in-state students…
Regardless, the admission rate for UA was 53 percent in 2016. (Don’t think the 2017 stats have been released yet.) Penn State’s admission rate is 51 percent, and nobody where I live here in PA considers it an inferior school or is embarrassed to attend there.
I think the opposite concern was raised - the the OTHER students will all know each other and the rare OOS kid will be faced with established-since-HS friend groups, and people are saying that doesn’t happen at UA because more than half are OOS.
In my experience, most of our HS kids at our flagship do indeed stay friends, room together, hang out together. I see it with both of my kids’ friends. I’m sure there are some, though, who are glad to shed their high school connections and make all new friends, but they seem to me to be the exception.
My daughter also was accepted to Temple Honors with full tuition, extra stipends and four year guaranteed housing. We went to their accepted honors student day but could not get past campus (or lack thereof). I love Philly. Both parents born and raised there. I live an hour from there and visit often. Temple is NOT Philly. I know many students who love it there but as I said in another thread, I can’t imagine a student who loves Temple also saying UA is a perfect match. Totally different campuses and vibes.
I so agree! And to see how parents were picking students up they had never met to house them overnight when the Atlanta airport shut down Saturday…or bring soup to your kid sick in his dorm… or show up at the ER for you to check on your child if you can’t get there quickly. You won’t find this anywhere else!
Ok, just going to chime in one more time…for the B average OOS student, Alabama is not necessarily the golden egg, unless of course it ticks a bunch of other boxes that the student is looking for like weather, size, football, greek life, major, etc. For the B AVERAGE OOS STUDENT there are lots of similar choices that offer equal academics, with good merit. (Gosh it would be swell if not every thred on CC focused on high stat students)
@dmccnj plenty of parents and students will show up to help other students/kids, its not just an Alabama/Bamaly thing, lol. In fact, there is a whole contingent of 2016 CC parents that offer support to students when a distress call is put out. FB parent group is supportive for my DD2016’s college is pretty generous too. But I am glad you pointed it out, it’s those unknowable/unadvertised things that often make so many universities great!
@labegg,where are you seeing all these recommendations for B students to attend Alabama out of state? Because, honestly, I’ve been on CC since my son was starting high school and I’ve never seen that trend. Maybe it’s recent?
@labegg just curious, my daughter probably would fall into the average OOS student and got accepted into UA with a Capstone Scholarship ($5K/yr) I haven’t seen many other similar choices that offer good merit for B average students. What types of schools that you know of provide good merit packages comparable to UA especially since UA makes it very clear as to eligibility?
^^ post #112,
I am not @labegg, I am not seeing @labegg suggesting people not to consider UA, but that there are options out there…
On the other hand, if it were my kid, I would not consider UA with $5k/yr scholarship…My in-state (NJ) option is cheaper than UA with the $5k/yr scholarship. But as @labegg posted, there may be other boxes that a student ticks off and decides UA is a good fit.
For me, I am just trying to see a reason why other kids attend and whether the reasons apply to me and help me to make a decision ($5k/yr will not be one of those reasons for me). I consider my kid is “average student” even she got the presidential scholar. I agree with @labegg that there are other options.
There are many options out there, and people chose them for various reasons.
And, yes, there are OOS full pay students there as well as those on scholarship. ??
The CC site is quite obsessed w/ ranking, so students/parents can also research that.
If @labegg does not like Bama, does not see the point to going to Bama, so be it. I just don’t get the point of continuing to post here. What’s the endgame?
.Arizona State, University of Kansas, University of Missouri offer better scholarships and COA might be lower… University of South Florida and Florida State are already cheaper WITHOUT any Merit…There are many. Keep in mind that Alabama is ranked 110 by US news and it is not a very selective school. It gets a lot of love from CC due to the great scholarships high stat kids have received in the past. I honestly believe you can get incredible scholarships at more prestigious schools with similar stats. It offers similar things that would be expected of large flagships, but for the majority of the OOS applicants it is probably not a good deal if finances are a concern.
We are from the Northeast (NY) and quite frankly the instate options here are just not that attractive. The last thing my kid wants is to go to upstate NY and see 50 other kids from her high school and total school population of 6,000 all from NY as well (there are virtually no OOS students in SUNY system). Our in states in the Northeast are simply safety schools that people choose because they are low cost. Even with a small scholarship like $5K from UA (brings the direct costs to about $37K) , NY in state schools are still around $25K so yeah its $12K difference but taking into consideration campus size, location, weather, more diverse student population, etc. $12K is not a deal breaker to me to just take the local in state option. Curious if other kids are going through similar decision process …
^^funny. I have the exact opposite thinking
For my in-state option (NJ), assuming there is no scholarship, the price difference is around $12K to $13K, and I have been thinking whether we want DD to travel to Alabama, in particular, if we hope she eventually works in the NJ/NY area. Given the many posters suggested that kids may not even see their high school classmates in state flagships, I don’t see that as a concern.
At the risk of being attack myself. LOL
I don’t see @labegg wrote he/she does not like Bama. I thought the OP asked a reasonable question (I believed she mentioned, she initially posted in a different forum). I talk about Bama at home, I suggested my kid to look into Bama, I made her apply Bama (still looking for more reasons to persuade her), I even sometimes suggest other people to look into Bama, but when I begin to look at the financials, it is not as attractive as what I have thought, hence I ask myself the same question.