While we welcome requests for information, we hope the following responses to previous questions are helpful:
From Parent:
"I realize your results are posted and can not be changed however, I was very disappointed when my son was not among the winners of the scholarship. As far as qualifications, he should have been a perfect candidate for this scholarship. Can you take a moment to look over his file and tell me why he was not eligible? Several people have commented to us that they could not believe that your foundation could not help him, specially after the newspaper article. The more I think about it the more it interest me to know why. We do not have the money to send him to college because of his medical bills acquired from his hospital stay and continued care. It is a shame to see a kid like him not to be able to further his education, not just because he is my son - you can ask anyone that knows him. In an essay from Rachel Williamson winner in 2006 (on your website), she states: "I then had the opportunity to review a few applications and decide if they were worth further review of (or) not". How are your applicants chosen? Are they chosen by students? I realize you do not owe us any explanation but please let us know what criteria he did not meet. Thank you in advance for your help."
Foundation Response:
Your son had a wonderful application. We received 749 applications. Your son's application was not deficient --there were just others who had greater needs with similar or greater achievements. We have 120 unpaid volunteers who help make the selection with the Board of Trustees making the final selection. The Trustees take this process very seriously and many cried at the meeting because it was so hard to make the selection. We try to help as many students as possible and we wish we had the resources to help everyone who applied. Unfortunately we could only select 16. When the Foundation is fully funded, following Ms Smith's death, we can expand to give more scholarships --but I hope she lives a long happy life as she has been so generous to Alabama students when she has no children of her own.
I hope your son will apply for other programs and aid available to further his education. Many of the smaller schools offer better scholarships than the large universities and the TRIO programs offer help to first generation students. The financial aid counselor at his college can be of great help.
From Parent:
April 18, 2008
Dear Ms. Tyler and Trustees:
You do a tremendous and noble service in helping children to be able to attend college. My heart ached when my son was not among the semi- finalists. You see our family is lower income status and he does not qualify for financial aid and will not be able to attend college unless he gets some kind of help. He will be the first on my side of the family to attend college. My mother only finished the fifth grade. Back then she had to stay home and take care of my grandmother who clung to life many years after experiencing a major stroke. Later when my mother married and had children, her father and my father were killed in a car wreck. None in my family had the opportunity to attend college. My husband received his college degree just 11 years ago, but we have never caught up financially, our bills are so high that everything he makes goes to pay them including my medical bills and eight different medications that I need to take. Also we have an older son who has a learning disability who lives on his own and needs financial assistance from us, such as his car payment, car insurance, occasional help with rent and doctors visits and medicine. He is this years Salutatorian, is a 4.0 student and made 29 on his ACT. The University of Alabama said if he had scored just one more point he would have gotten tuition, instead he was accepted into the Honors College and was awarded $3,500 a year leaving according to the University's last years estimates, he would owe an additional $15,277.00. We can not afford to borrow this money, we couldn't make the monthly payments and at our age we would not live long enough to pay the loans off, (if we were qualified to borrow). He holds so much promise and would make a caring and compassionate doctor who understands the gifts he has been blessed with by God that it will someday be his responsibility to give back financially and humanitarly. I'm not asking you to take anything back from the well deserving semi-finalist. But to consider awarding one more scholarship to him, who we always told " if you do good in school you'll get a scholarship". When he graduates he plans to apply to the Rural Health Program at the University of Alabama and will serve the disadvantage and other patients in rural counties for six years. It is hard asking for this blessing, but for my son who really needs help I am able to ask. Thank you for reading my letter and for any consideration you may give to my request.
Foundation Response:
He was a wonderful applicant and the decision was very hard----out of 749 applications we had at least a 100 that pulled at every reviewers heartstrings. The winners stories will be published next week after the Board makes a final selection.
Under the circumstances why not have your son apply to one of the smaller universities---in all honesty we find that most of our first in family students do better at places like University of Montevallo, Jax State, Troy and West Alabama where they can have additional support and attention that first in family students need--I myself was a first in family and I went to school at University of Montevallo--not because it was where I wanted to go but where I obtained a scholarship. It turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made. With a 29 your son should be able to obtain a scholarship from one of these smaller schools. UM has a 100% medical school acceptance of its premed students. UAB also awards generous scholarships to students with a 29---one of our current scholars moved from UA to UAB because the pre med classes were not as good as UAB.
Please have him apply to another school--he will receive just as good--and maybe even a better education away from UA. Also he needs to meet with the College financial aid counselor --there may be other programs he qualifies under--While I am not a fan of student loans he would probably qualify and then he would pay it off after medical school and if he will serve as a Dr. in a rural area the government will actually forgive all or part of the debt under programs it has established to improve healthcare. Best of Luck--he is a wonderful young man --we wish we could send so many more to school. Ahrian