Yes, students can receive enough stacking scholarships to attend UA full-ride. We have a child doing exactly that.
Our ds did not face the decision that this young man did b/c he didn’t apply to that list of schools, but his decision was similar in other respects. He was accepted to great schools, applied for the handful of high dollar scholarships at those schools and didn’t win them, and with the scholarships they did award him, the differential left them outside of our budget. (Our ds was fully aware during the application process that if he didn’t win those scholarships then the likelihood of them offering affordable packages was low.)
Our ds didn’t apply for Fellows, but CBH. I can’t speak about Fellows, but CBH is an amazing opportunity and my ds has absolutely zero regrets about walking away from higher ranked schools for UA. He loves UA and CBH is what pulled him toward UA. I would assume that the Fellows experience is similar and getting into Fellows is what made this young man make the decision he did, just like CBH made our ds make the decision he did.
I’m sure this young man’s experience at UA will be as fabulous as our son’s. Roll Tide!! 