Visit. Interview other people. Do your research. Then decide.

OP, money is no issue if he gets into any Ivy except Cornell, or Stanford, Chicago, or MIT. All of these schools are 100% need blind and all will cover undergrad tuition, room, board, and fees -- without student loan debt. At all of these schools, not even 1/4 of the students are being billed 100% of the maximum tab. Please call their aid offices and do some homework before sending him to Alabama --

Anonymous wrote:Why did he apply to Alabama in the first place if its a turnoff?

PP poster whose nephew is there: he didn't apply. They contacted him and made the offer. I'm guessing this is what happened to OP.

It depends on your financial circumstances. No way in hell would I want my kid to turn down Columbia or Stanford to go to Alabama. If you are on welfare and really need the aid money, it might be worth considering, but otherwise, no way.

Just make sure that he is going to be reasonably happy there or it could be a disaster. My niece did this kind of trade (got into Uof C and other comparable schools but went to University of South Carolina for a free ride). She is two years in and hates it! She is sticking it out for now but will likely transfer to a school that is less good than where she got in earlier and have to pay for a couple of years of college. But being miserable for all four years of college is a tough thing to impose on a kid. So I would proceed cautiously (and I am from Alabama!). I would look hard at other less selective schools that are more of the same "type" of the schools that my kid loved. So if considering big state schools like Michigan, Wisconsin, etc. an Alabama switch might work well. On the other hand, if my kid loved Williams, I would look to switch to a lower ranked LAC that was offering merit aid.

if he wants to practice medicine or will do ROTC take the offer. Even law school (if he's a very good standardized test taker, a 3.8, 175 from Alabama will get you into a top 6 law school).

if he wants to work in prestige whore industries like strategy consulting (specifically McKinsey, BCG, Bain) or Investment Banking/Trading in NY/SF, then I would not take that offer.

He applied to have the option of a totally free education. The offer is very generous and unusual in the sense that it extends to graduate school and pays the student a stipend.

Why did he apply to Alabama in the first place if its a turnoff?

My nephew took that offer. Got a full ride to Alabama where he is now a freshman. I thought he was going to Univ of Michigan, where he lives. That seemed to be an excellent fit. But the Alabama offer was too good. He's an all-around super star kid and and he's doing fine there.

Southern public universities are pretty provincial. I think that if he doesn't intend to live in Alabama, a university with a more national applicant pool would be better. As a former college professor, I can tell you that the idea that introductory biology and economics are the same everywhere is really inaccurate. Professors teach to the median everywhere, and the depth, number of topics covered, and the rigor of the course vary with caliber of the student body.

My husband had to choose a totally free ride on tuition from a very small northeastern SLAC which accepts about half of its applicants, when he got into Duke and Penn, among others, but didn't get aid.

I think if there was any option whatsoever of going to the better schools, he would have preferred that. As it was there was no money whatsoever and he worked with buildings & grounds all year on campus to pay for room & board.

He has done very well for himself but it sure would have been a hell of a lot easier with a better pedigree.

I would also be concerned about the culture shock at a place like Alabama. It is VERY different from here.

I'm all about free. If he does well there, he'll be able to go to any grad school.

Has not heard back from others yet, but will likely have several options with varying amounts of aid (and private scholarships) but will certainly not be full ride.

Did he get into the other schools listed?

DS has super-high test scores, GPA, etc. Alabama will give free ride for 10 semesters including grad school, pay a stipend of $3,500 a year, etc.

Financially, it is a no-brainer.

But, it is Alabama. DS would be a better fit at Columbia, Rice, Stanford, Berkeley, etc.

Thoughts?