@MichiganGeorgia, I think it’s as simple as a lot of the “moms of kids” at UA originally LEARNED ABOUT the scholarship opportunities here on CC and are simply passing along the info to other CC families.
Why don’t YOU tell us, @ClarinetDad16?
Look, to each his own, okay? There’s really no reason to generalize or stereotype the UA families who contribute to CC. Nobody here is being financially compensated. In fact, UA is pretty much in the dark as to how much “boostering” UA parents do here. (I actually met a Big Cheese in the admissions office two years ago, and he didn’t have a CLUE who @mom2collegekids was or that she personally is probably responsible for hundreds of happy UA students via CC.)
Most of us are simply trying to share the same kindnesses that were shown to us, whether we learned about UA through a happy Bama parent or an unaffiliated parent who directed us to the Bama forums. UA is not going to be every scholarship-eligible student’s first choice. So what? Does that mean they shouldn’t apply? What do they have to lose besides the $75 application fee to have at least one affordable, automatic-admission school in the bag? Honestly, that’s all I thought the OP was trying to share. Now that his post has been relocated here to the UA forum, we’re pretty much preaching to the choir.
Personally, I think SUNY Geneseo would have been a fine fit for my son, IF I could have gotten him to apply. But I couldn’t. He applied to UA because I told him he had to apply to one other school that would be an affordable alternative to our flagship, Penn State (another school that would have been a fine fit), because I wanted him to have CHOICES. In the end, he’s been happy with engineering, but he easily could have majored in math at Geneseo or one of elite LACs he applied to, or Penn State. He chose UA specifically because it had more of that “liberal arts” feel than PSU at half the price for our in-state PA family. He has no regrets. Is it a perfect school or the right place for everyone? Of course not. But its value for many families is undeniable.
For those who accepted the UA offer, to my knowledge, most have been more than glad that they did. We may disagree about all kinds of things (religion, politics, etc.), but the one thing that unites many of us is our gratitude and love for the school. Most of us also now have parent friends who are paying $40k a year (without loans) to send their kids out of state to Bama. You’ll rarely see those folks on CC because their kids were never pursuing an “elite” school and they weren’t concerned with the price tag. I wouldn’t dare suggest to them that they’re silly for spending all that money.
One other thing: Unlike Temple (a school I recommend to folks with high-stats students all the time), UA can actually AFFORD all those big scholarships. Temple has gotten themselves into financial trouble because of the huge influx of high-stats applicants (many of whom I suspect learned about the school here on CC), and the automatic scholarships have been discontinued. It’s still a great option if you want to go into a competitive process to get one, but it’s not the same offer as Bama’s anymore.