Alabama is BY FAR the most generous school in the country in terms of non need-based merit for VERY high achieving kids (think perfect SAT, NMF types). |
Average kids do not qualify for big merit at Alabama. Look at the chart on their website. |
| only strange dcum parents care about rankings. kids want to have a good time and great weather. |
| Hard to believe…. |
PP said their kid received aid to bring the COA down to $30k/year. By default, he was not NMF or a 1600 SAT. My kid with a 1400 SAT was provided aid at UGA to bring COA down to $30k/year. His buddy attending South Carolina with similar stats was provided in-state tuition, so assume that would bring COA down fairly low. Another kid attending Oregon with like 1300 SATs received a merit scholarship bringing the cost down to only like $20k/year. I would be curious what those schools would offer for 1600 SAT kids. |
| Pretty much all big state schools are the same in terms of quality (with like 3 or 4 exceptions). If the price is good and your kid wants to party, why not? |
My kid (NMF, 1550 SAT) was offered about 10k at UGA. Offered full tuition at a few big flagship southern schools. Offered zero at our state flagship (although did get admitted/its a tough admit). Offered $1,500 year at T10 (we don't qualify for any need based aid). Offered full ride at Alabama. We'll be out travel costs and that's about it at the end of 4 years. They also let you use the full amount of your tuition scholarship towards any study abroad. It is extremely generous and they are very flexible/accommodating. |
The big money at Bama ($24k off a nominal tuition of $34k) starts with an SAT score of 1360. That’s 91st percentile for all SAT takers, but the distribution of SAT scores in the DMV is much higher. For example 26% of white kids and 40% of Asian kids attending school in DC proper scored 1400+. So yeah, Alabama gives big merit to kids who, here in DCUM-land, are very much in the thick part of the bell curve. |
Alabama $60k-ish / year COA. So $24k off gets you to mid-$30k which is the similar to state flagships if you're in state. |
Yes, you have to look at total cost of attendance, not the amount of the scholarship. |
Mid-30k is a lot cheaper than going in-state to UVA. |
UVA in state is $40k/year COA. in the same ballpark |
Know a lot of kids with 1360s getting into UVA from NoVa, do you? The fact is UVA doesn’t want those kids and Bama welcomes them, and at a lower cost to boot. |
And is someone with a 1360 going to get into UVA? VT? UMD? I don't think it's a slam dunk... |
Clearly they are trying very hard to get the average IQ up in the school. |