If you can raise the ACT or try the SAT, you can get scholarships. Getting down to $20k/year will be difficult though. Tuition is listed at $33,372/year. Housing can be as low as $6,400 and the meal plan can be $3,726. That adds up to $43,498. You will also have class fees on top of that and some books. Add in another $1500 to $2000 for those. If you get to a 30 ACT, you would receive $24,000 in scholarships, which still puts the total over $20,000/year. And of course, tuition will increase over the years.
Does your budget include a contribution from you? If not, do you have a job? Can you work and earn enough to contribute $5,000 from yourself? You have 1.5 school years and 2 summers to work and save.
Did you prep a lot for the ACT? Doing practice tests, learning from mistakes, taking a class? If not, you likely can increase your score by doing those. I don’t know how likely it is to go from a 23 to a 30, but with prep it’s certainly worth a try. Also do give the SAT a try. There are 6 practice tests on College Board. Take one and see how you do. It may be a better test for you and with prep for that, you may find you get a score that gives you a good scholarship.
And if you can’t make Alabama work, that’s okay! There are so many great colleges, including UT.
Then I would focus, at this point, on the Tennessee schools. If you don’t like UTK, UTC has become very popular. I think MTSU is the biggest school in the state today undergrad (I’ll have to check that). Memphis, ETSU, Martin, etc. W Carolina is $20K all in - a few hours from Knoxville.
You can still be a Bama fan…not on game day in Knoxville is all. But you have to be realistic.
Go visit some in-state schools- but practice and prep for the test.
Even $15-20K - at UTK will be tough - because even with Hope it will be a tad over - but you could work in summer or part time to help.
Ask your parents if you qualify for UT Promise.
UT Promise
UT Promise is an undergraduate scholarship program guaranteeing free tuition and mandatory fees for qualifying Tennessee residents attending UT’s campuses in Knoxville, Chattanooga, Pulaski, Martin and Memphis.
This innovative scholarship will cover a student’s last-dollar amount of tuition and mandatory fees after other financial aid is applied (such as Pell grants, HOPE Scholarship or other institutional scholarships) to students who qualify for HOPE and whose adjusted gross income is under $75,000 a year and a total maximum asset amount less than $75,000. UT Promise also guarantees a minimum $500 award per semester for qualifying students.
No, we didn’t. She was accepted back in early November without any mention of scholarship. This is not the automatic merit scholarship based on GPA / test scores but a separate one that you are automatically considered for out of state.
Per the web site:
2025 Out-of-State UA Competitive Admissions Scholarship
All students who have submitted an application and all supporting documents by the listed deadline are evaluated holistically, based upon academic and non-academic information provided on their admission application. Academic components considered include high school GPA and academic honors. Non-academic items include leadership experience, volunteer experience, extracurricular activities, employment and non-academic honors.
This scholarship has a value of $6,000 up to tuition.