How should I compare merit scholarship offers from Virginia Tech and Alabama?

Start with each school’s four-year net cost, not the scholarship headline. For Virginia Tech, subtract the exact annual award from your expected billed costs and confirm whether it is a fixed dollar amount, tuition-specific, renewable, and available for all four years. For Alabama, distinguish carefully between an award that covers tuition and one that is a fixed annual amount, because housing, meals, fees, books, travel, and possible tuition increases can still leave a meaningful balance.

Alabama may fit a student whose offer sharply reduces the out-of-state tuition gap and who is comfortable attending a large, residential campus in Tuscaloosa. Ask whether the scholarship can be combined with departmental, honors, National Merit, or outside awards, and whether any combination is capped at tuition or cost of attendance.

Virginia Tech may fit a student who places a higher value on the Blacksburg setting, a particular engineering or academic program, or an in-state price advantage.

Make a four-column comparison for each year: tuition and mandatory fees, housing and food, other estimated expenses, and grants/scholarships. Use the schools’ current cost-of-attendance budgets, then calculate the amount your family would actually pay or borrow each year. Treat loans, work-study, and parent borrowing as financing, not scholarship aid. Compare the total remaining cost over four years against the conditions you would need to meet to keep each award; a slightly smaller scholarship with easier, clearly documented renewal terms can be more valuable than a larger first-year offer with uncertain continuation.