The cost of tuition for them is really just an ‘opportunity cost’, it doesn’t cost the school more to have one more student sitting in a classroom - they still have to supply the facilities, instructors, and electricity for the paying students and the scholarship students are still paying course fees which cover the cost of materials. Sure they could offer that seat to a paying student and make more, but it’s not really a financial loss for them to offer it for free no matter how it looks on paper.
Why the interest in Alabama?
Alabama is one of a handful of state flagships that draw a majority of students from out-of-state (most that do are smaller states like Vermont or Delaware). Many state flagships (e.g., Texas, UNC) limit the spots available to out-of-state students since the state’s taxpayers are providing (ever-decreasing) funding to the school.
Alabama provides substantial merit aid to out-of-state students and recruits top students nationally (particularly National Merit Scholars).
They have been spending a lot of money on academic facilities and it shows if you visit.
Football and rah rah experiences if you want it. http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomvanriper/2013/05/13/the-magic-of-nick-saban-everyone-wants-to-go-to-alabama/
So far Alabamians are ok with attracting out of state students and perhaps raising the stature of the school. (Supporting their team?) That might change when Alabamians can’t get their kids in.
What I said:
What Daddio3 said:
Like I said, @Daddio3, not everyone does things perfectly. You explained it very well from your armchair. 
No disrespect, but of course you do. You are young and do not have the wisdom of experience to see through the hype. Think about it this way: what could make an Ivy school that much better than another school. The obvious answers are the students and the faculty. Since we know that the students are nearly identical in some Honors programs to the Ivy students, then we know that that answer is not true. That leaves the professors. My experience from talking to both profs and students from both Ivys and non-Ivys is that there is not a difference in profs, on average.
I’m sure admitting Ronald Nelson will yield a greater stream of future donations than admitting some hard-luck kid from Tuscaloosa. Then again, the kid’s only going to be a doctor. He’s going to top out in the mid-to-low six figures, so I doubt Bama will be making their money back. Arguably the presence of a Ronald Nelson makes the school more attractive to full-pay out-of-staters, but that hypothesis is hard to test. To really make it profitable you’d have to be placing graduates in the financial industry or high-tech startups, and I’m not sure Bama has that reach.
How can we be so certain about his future success?
This sounds like the hype associated with that “Blue Chip” prospect, identified at 14 (or younger), who is going to tear up the professional leagues. For every Lebron James there are many like Freddy Adu (or worse). Lookup Freddy Adu if you don’t already know his story.
Please let’s not get this into another argument over whether an elite college is truly “better” than Big State U + Honors. Please…
@rhandco, thanks. I did not think of that as complaining. Different threshold I guess. What I have always loved about CC.
“I am not sure why so many cling to the bigoted, anachronistic assumption that women at lesser schools are more attractive than women at Ivies and other top schools”
@Much2learn; I’ll be frank; I meant black women. Is that racist?
FWIW, my son does not appear to be racist. Yay. Wonder what my daughter would say. Both think perhaps there is something “wrong with them”. Maybe. Not to worry. We don’t disagree. We try not to share any views that might be racist.
Some people aspire to go to Harvard when they grow up, others aspire to be doctors, engineers, actors… To some, college is a destination in and of itself. To others, it is just a step to get them to their final destination, a dream career. Clearly this kid’s dream is to be a doctor, not to go to Harvard.
As others have pointed out, med school is very expensive. If medicine is your intended career then you should try to get through the UG as inexpensively as possible. If he had gone to one of these other schools he’d already be $200k in debt before he even starts medical school. Add another $200k for medical school. That’s $400k of debt – that is an obscene amount of money to owe! If he goes into Internal Medicine, Pediatrics or Primary Care, he’ll probably make $180k a year tops. That’s way too high of a debt load for that level of expected income.
Med schools also don’t care where you did your undergrad, they mostly only care about your sGPA, MCAT scores and LORs. As an honor student he’ll get plenty of opportunity to work on research with his profs, and there’s much less competition for med school. According to aamc.org only 150 students applied to medical school from Univ. of AL last year, out of nearly 29,500 undergrads, that’s 0.5%. Most Ivy League schools have 4-5% of students, 10x that, applying for medical school. That’s 10x less competition. If his intended career were law, investment banking or academics, then I wouldn’t be so sure, but for a STEM career, I think this kid made a wise choice.
I do agree with those who were puzzled by the number of schools he applied to. Maybe he’s hoping he could get some financial aid, or just for bragging rights, who knows. Good luck to him at Bama. I think he’ll do great.
The problem with your argument is that there is a big difference between sports potential and intellectual potential. I don’t have any proof, but I bet if you identified the top kids who had stories done about their intellect while young that you would find a better correlation with future success than you would with similar stories of athletic prodigies.
I daresay every child’s dream should be a perfectly balanced college list, formed 90% by considering the holy NPC. 8-> ^:)^ :-@
@TV4caster Do not patronize me. I almost picked the University of Florida over an elite school and was considering Alabama for quite some time. If I had chosen Bama over the school I chose, you wouldn’t say that I’m “young or lack experience”. So don’t give me that. It’s not like if you go to Bama, you are only surrounded by honors student either. I doubt honors students live in their own bubble. They participate in clubs and go to games and participate in Greek life and interact with students of a lower caliber by default. Surely a great intellect like yourself would know that.
@TV4caster
I’m saying Bama has made a decision to fund merit-based aid at the possible expense of need-based aid.
@CaliCash Thank heavens that the financial aid came through for you and that you can go to Northwestern, so you don’t have to associate yourself with “students of a lower caliber.”
@albert69 You’re right. Thank heavens! I actually chose NU for that exact reason. I didn’t want to shy away from the academic challenge and go to an easier school. And I have absolutely no shame. Let’s not pretend this student would’ve chosen Bama if Harvard, Yale, or Princeton were free. This was a monetary decision. I respect it. I do. So I don’t get why people are pretending Bama is Harvard and a pretending this was more than a monetary decision. News flash! Bama isn’t Harvard. It never has been, and it never will be.
I say this as a student who actually applied and met with a representative. So I’m not some Bama hater.
@CaliCash, yes, we know. You’re not a Bama hater, just a sentiment-for-Bama hater. 
I guess you wouldn’t find such sentiment and admiration of Harvard repulsive because the school has US News and World rankings to back up fond sentiments towards it.
It’s a good thing you’re anonymous on this forum - I betcha that you’ve talked to people who never could have gotten into NU. This way at least your reputation for challenging environments won’t be compromised by speaking to us low caliber students.
You’re correct in the monetary sense - had the student in question gotten a full ride at one of the more elite universities, he probably would have taken it.
Funny. I turned down an “elite” school so I WOULDN’T be around people with Cali’s mindset.
I still thank my lucky stars for making the right choice for me.
In re: Post #148.
From the Harvard Crimson: http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2013/9/26/the-real-premed-requirements/?page=1
“OCS estimates that, ultimately, 17 percent of a given class will apply to medical school.”
“They participate in clubs and go to games and participate in Greek life and interact with students of a lower caliber by default. Surely a great intellect like yourself would know that.”
Oh the horror! They actually have to interact with the great unwashed, unlike the mandarins of Cambridge whose only contact with the lower strata are contact with the ‘help.’ 
The majority of the Cc community doesn’t beleieve in prestige I guess… I definitely agree with @CaliCash .