<p>It’s worth mentioning that there are dozens of Southern colleges that offer full rides for good (not only great) students. Could be a terrific option for parents of bright kids in other parts of the country who don’t want cut-throat competition for merit aid.</p>
<p>Here is a list I compiled of Southern (and “almost Southern”) schools that offer full tuition or more for National Merit Finalists. Most of these schools also have generous scholarships based on GPA, ACT/SAT, etc. THIS LIST IS NOT ALL-INCLUSIVE, just the result of some research I did over the last couple of months.</p>
<p>TUITION + ROOM & BOARD (+$$ IN SOME CASES)
Arkansas State
Arkansas Tech
Henderson State
Mississippi State
Oklahoma State
Southern Arkansas
Troy
Alabama
Alabama-Huntsville
Central Arkansas
Houston
Southern Mississippi
Tulsa
Wichita State</p>
<p>TUITION (+$$ IN SOME CASES)
Auburn
Baylor
Eastern Kentucky
Hendrix
Texas A&M (several stackable scholarships approaching full cost)
U of Dallas
U of Evansville
Memphis
Mississippi
Oklahoma
Texas at Dallas
U of the Ozarks
Western Kentucky
West Virginia</p>
<p>These are not podunk schools like University of Mississippi Remedial Technical College at Coonskin Junction, but recognized names that a student should not be ashamed to have on their diploma. In my research, it appears much, much easier to get full tuition or more in merit aid in the South than in any other part of the country.</p>
<p>^^
wow, that looks great.
Living near a Trader Joe’s is a requirement. I told my H that if we retire and move somewhere, it will HAVE to be within a short drive of my favorite place to shop. Thankfully, they have quite a few stores… (in the south too).</p>
<p>Thank you so much for that list, Mantori. Son may or may not be a NMF, so it’s good to see a list of schools that may offer good aid to a good student. UAlabama Birmingham also seems to have a lot of scholarships for good students, and is very strong in medical type majors, located right in the hospital district, so good opportunity for internships.</p>
<p>Auburn and Texas A&M have huge alumni networks that could probably help you with job placement after graduation no matter where you end up.</p>
<p>Clemson has a program called National Scholars which is full tuition and room and board to 8-12 people, honors program, research opportunities and a free study abroad trip to Great Britain</p>
<p>My sister went to Elon and hated it because she said everyone there was just a bunch of snotty white rich people and the lifestyle there was completely different from the North.</p>
<p>“Snotty white rich people” may describe a few schools in the South, just as anywhere else, but it’s not the majority in any part of the country that I’m aware of, least of all the South. And there are a few schools where the snotty white rich people come from elsewhere. On the websites of Tulane and Vanderbilt, among others, you can see the geographic distribution of the student body, and a disproportionate number come from the Northeast, the snottiest part of the country if you ask me. I’ve lived in the South, and the snotty people were the transplants, not the locals.</p>
<p>manotri - as a southerner - I tend to agree with you as to the “snotiness” of people. (not sure how you spell that!). There is an weird difference between kids from “wealth” in the north and kid from “wealth” in the south. It’s is hard to pin point - but it’s there. </p>
<p>As a former faculty member at Tulane (granted in the Med School, not undergrad area) - I will agree that Tulane has ALWAYS had a HUGE number of students from the Northeast. But, there are also a number of locals there. And that mix is what makes Tulane a fun and interesting place to be.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if this has already been discussed…but another difference I see is an emphasis on dressing nicely. I spent my college years up north in jeans, sweatshirts and t-shirts. Going out, I might put on a black tshirt and wear black flats - my idea of “dressy.”
Well, from the kids I know who attend southern universities, the standards are MUCH different, especially for those who join sororities or fraternities. For the girls, breaks from school are spent shopping for clothes - NICE clothes. EXPENSIVE clothes. One girl I know is spending all of her summer job money on clothes.
So if you like to dress up and have lots of cash…that’s cool. Personally, I would have faced some trouble on this front!</p>
<p>I remember when my son first went to Roanoke, one of the things he asked for were for some of his polo shirts. He mostly wore them to church up here because his HS uniform was t-shirts and jeans/shorts with the addition of a sweatshirt if it got below 50 degrees. I dutifully sent some polo shirts down. When we went to visit for family weekend at the end of September, he asked that I take them back. Turns out the people that he befriended pretty much just wore t-shirts, etc. While I do see kids dressed more preppy at his college, it’s not the majority. Might be different for girls.</p>
<p>That just seems like a cultural difference – not “snobby” or “snotty.” I know students at Southern u’s who dress up for football games, whereas we in the North just wore jeans and sweatshirts. There’s nothing “snobby” or “snotty” about doing so, though. Just a different tradition.</p>
<p>The people who dress up for football games are almost always Greeks. Neither of my S’s would consider dressing up for their big southern state u. ballgames. T-shirts and shorts/jeans are the uniform. Every southern big state u. is not dominated by Greeks.
My kids’ schools are not.</p>