Please Chance My Son

mom2collegekids
Mon, 24 Nov 2014 06:09:13 +0000

I am sorry to say but he won’t qualify for any scholarships. The smallest award (which isn’t much) is given to those with an ACT 27.

Scholarships (at nearly every school) are based largely on test scores. That is because many students have high GPAs these days. A school’s ranking is largely influenced by the test scores of its students. Typically, merit awards are given to the students whose test scores are within the top 25% of the school. Obviously, a school can’t give merit scholarships to most of its students, so test scores weigh heavily in determining who will get them.

At Bama, there are some smaller awards that are given to those whose test scores are between the top 25-40% of the school, which is why there is a small award for those with an ACT 27

This is how the merit scholarship award process usually works:

There is a large pool of kids with high GPAs.

There is a smaller pool of kids with high test scores.

There is an even smaller pool of kids with both high test scores and high GPAs. These are the students that typically get the merit scholarships.





He will definitely need financial help with the tuition,
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Do you know how much you can pay? Have you run the net price calculator on Bama’s website? If so, you’ve likely seen that he will get offered a $5500 student loan, but not likely much else.

Getting financial aid from any OOS public is going to be extremely difficult because only a tiny number give need-based aid to cover the high OOS rates. Publics charge high OOS rates because those families don’t pay taxes here. Because of that, schools can’t justify giving need-based aid to cover the high OOS costs. Otherwise, they wouldn’t bother to charge the high OOS costs. Does that make sense?

Have you run the net price calculators for North Carolina schools that he can get accepted to? If so, what were the results?

If the NC publics that will accept him will be affordable, then those will likely be where he’ll need to go if Bama isn’t affordable.

I know this is frustrating for a student who has good grades, but modest scores. Is he applying to any UNC publics? Where else is he applying? What attracted him to Bama? Maybe we can suggest an affordable alternative.

Is he wanting to go to a school with big Div I football?

Another option is to apply to a couple of Test Optional schools that give very good need-based aid…But only do this if the NPC indicate that he would get enough need based aid. At Test Optional schools, he’d only get need based aid, because they also use test scores to award merit.

If you tell us how much you can pay, we can better direct you with ideas as to where he should apply.

(I see that your son has applied to U South Carolina. He’s going to have the same issue there. USCarolina will likely expect you to pay nearly all OOS costs. Have you run their NPC?)