Second (or subsequent) college year merit aid or financial aid news

[Granny_Weatherwax]

It seems that everyone is focused on getting the acceptance letters and first year merit aid or financial aid awards. What about those who are waiting for the second, third or last year awards? This can be just as nerve wracking.

 

I know for DD it has been excruciating. Her college put a 3.5 min GPA stipulation on her merit aid. While it offered strong extrinsic motivation for her to study, it has also put a lot of pressure on her that many other students do not have.

 

The school waited until today, the day after spring term grades were released, before they contacted her about her financial aid package for next year. Many of her friends received their packages weeks ago.

 

I am happy to say that DD met the minimum and her merit aid was renewed, once again with the 3.5 GPA min. It's crazy.

 

I don't remember these types of stipulations on the merit aid I received from the schools I attended.

 

--

Anyone else have news to share?

[AngieW in Texas]

I'm waiting to see my dd's grades. Her scholarship requires a GPA of just 3.0, but they do offer one semester of grace. If you score below 3.0 any semester, you are put on probation. The next time your semester GPA is less than 3.0 or your cumulative GPA is less than 3.0, the scholarship evaporates. Otherwise it is automatically renewed every year.

 

Well, my dd made just 2.8 last semester. Her cumulative was still 3.1, so she just has to make sure that she makes at least 3.0 every semester from now on. I don't know what her grades are for this semester though. I only know that she made a B- in her exploration of humanities class. That gives a GPA of 2.67, so she needs to have at least one B+ or higher and the rest of her grades need to be B or higher.

 

ETA:

The scholarship also requires students to take at least 15 credits per semester and 30 credits per schoolyear. If they want to use it during the summer, they have to take 9 credits. This is so they will be able to finish the typical 120 credit hours in 4 years.

[regentrude]

I don't remember these types of stipulations on the merit aid I received from the schools I attended.

 

 

Maybe this is a stupid question - but how else would colleges determine who deserves merit aid, if not by looking at the student's performance, i.e. GPA?

[Granny_Weatherwax]

Maybe this is a stupid question - but how else would colleges determine who deserves merit aid, if not by looking at the student's performance, i.e. GPA?

 

It makes sense and I know there must be guidelines in place or academic and financial chaos would ensue. I guess I was just surprised by the minimum of 3.5. Most of DD's friends don't have requirements set that high; 3.0 appears to be the average.

 

I don't know if students and families really think about these stipulations when they are looking at the initial aid packages that are coming in senior year.

 

Then again, maybe I was just clueless about my aid package and the minimum requirements. (Interestingly enough, I have them stored in my files. I guess I could just go look.)

[Brenda in MA]

Maybe this is a stupid question - but how else would colleges determine who deserves merit aid, if not by looking at the student's performance, i.e. GPA?

 

 

The determination of who got a merit scholarship at my son's college was based on his high school grades, not his college grades. At the college he went to, he only needed "satisfactory progress" (e.g. 2.0 gpa) to maintain the scholarship.

 

Some of this other offers had higher GPA requrements -- 3.0 was common, and one was 3.5. Part of the reason he picked the school he did was because of the low GPA requirement to keep the scholarship. He is a dilligent student and worked hard, but we didn't want him to be in the position of loosing his scholarship if he had a tough semester because we couldn't afford the school without it.

 

Brenda

[Barbara H]

Good issue to raise. In my state we have a scholarship from the state based on high school GPA and ACT scores and most college students receive least some money through this program.... and then about 40% end up losing the scholarship by the end of freshman year.

 

3.5 is not unheard of but it is on the high end. 3.0 is the most common requirement and as was mentioned earlier in the thread a probationary semester is common too. It does get easier as time goes on because each grade will have less of a impact on the GPA. I really think 3.5 is just too high for freshman especially because college can be an adjustment and it is so common to have problems with a single course such as calculus. I hate to see students discouraged from taking challenging courses too.

[Granny_Weatherwax]

 

The determination of who got a merit scholarship at my son's college was based on his high school grades, not his college grades. At the college he went to, he only needed "satisfactory progress" (e.g. 2.0 gpa) to maintain the scholarship.

 

Brenda

 

 

This is what I thought was common. I guess that is why I am surprised at the required minimum GPAs. I wonder if this has changed over the years. Is maintaining merit aid becoming as difficult as earning it in the first place?

[creekland]

My older two both have merit scholarships and in both cases they need to maintain a 3.0 to have it auto-renewed. Oldest came close to having it drop a time or two, but squeaked by. Middle won't have a problem. He was bummed at getting an A- in his writing class this past semester - his first ever. I reminded him that I got a B in college English and hubby got a C... he just might have genetically topped out. I also reminded him that if he applies to med school later on an A- in writing could be a plus. ;)

 

We don't get sophomore financial packages until June...

[Jane in NC]

As acceptances arrived, a fellow boardie cautioned me about the GPA that can be connected to merit aid. This helpful tip led us to discuss any strings attached to these scholarships.

 

The college my son attends states explicitly that they do not want students receiving scholarships to feel that they cannot try new things because of the constraints of their scholarship. Thus they must maintain a 2.0 and a certain number of credit hours.

 

Another college that had a more restrictive merit aid policy sent him a letter while he was considering offers stating that they were revising the policy for the reason given above. They were lowering the GPA tied to merit to allow students to spread their wings.

 

The most extreme case we saw was a 3.5 at one college.

 

I think the key thing that colleges want to see is progress being made. Several of my son's friends have had to face some health and family challenges while in school. I don't know if their grades suffered but I suspect that a college would be willing to work with a student who faced some difficult circumstances if the student was doing his best to manage life and studies.

[Nan in Mass]

Something to consider... I have watched my older children in college. One's grade is dependent on MUCH more than whether one is a good student. Girlfriends, uncongenial professors in the more subjective classes (in other words, writing based instead of problem set based), bad advising, classes or professors that are easy during the add/drop period and then get harder later, a bad chapter (lol entropy anyone?), AND ONE'S HEALTH. Obviously, one's study skills help in all those situations, but it is easy for students to get run down, even good students, and then their gpa is going to depend on whether their roommate washes his hands. They are likely to be able to survive one of these things a semester, but when combined, they tend to form a perfect storm. My sons are/were very happy that their scholarships depend/depended on satisfactory academic progress.

 

Hugs, ScoutermominIL. 3.5 ... Yikes!

 

Nan

[Granny_Weatherwax]

We don't get sophomore financial packages until June...

I would be a basket case if we had to wait a few more weeks. When does his semester end?

[Caroline]

My son has to have a cumulative 3.3 to keep his scholarship. If not, he bumps down to the next level and has to keep a 2.8. That scholarship is less money. If he drops below a 3.3, he may reapply for the scholarship after he gets back the 3.3.

[regentrude]

Something to consider... I have watched my older children in college. One's grade is dependent on MUCH more than whether one is a good student. Girlfriends, uncongenial professors in the more subjective classes (in other words, writing based instead of problem set based), bad advising, classes or professors that are easy during the add/drop period and then get harder later, a bad chapter (lol entropy anyone?), AND ONE'S HEALTH. Obviously, one's study skills help in all those situations, but it is easy for students to get run down, even good students, and then their gpa is going to depend on whether their roommate washes his hands. They are likely to be able to survive one of these things a semester, but when combined, they tend to form a perfect storm. My sons are/were very happy that their scholarships depend/depended on satisfactory academic progress.

 

Good points, Nan.

Let me preface what I am writing by that I am very happy for all your kids who have scholarships. But:

I have gotten quite a bit discouraged by the scholarship system from what I am observing as an instructor. Every semester, there will be students who are dropping my class at the latest possible moment, 3 weeks before the end of the semester, because they are failing. They are failing because of work ethic issues that persisted throughout the semester, NOT because of extenuating circumstances with family problems and illness. They tell me they are dropping because a dropped class does not affect their GPA and thus they can keep their scholarship. Some students switch to hearer status five weeks into the semester so they can continue to count as "full time" student even though a student who is auditing a third of his class load is not really doing a full time student's work.

I do not think this is right. Especially when I see excellent, motivated students who have to leave the university because the scholarship they receive is not enough for them to be able to afford the out of state tuition. It was a very sad situation to see a brilliant, hardworking young man leave the school a few semesters ago for this reason - while scholarships are given to underperforming students who game the system and don't apply themselves.

I sympathize with any student who gets ill or has family issues. But personally, I do not consider a 2.0 GPA "satisfactory progress".

[AngieW in Texas]

At the state schools in Texas, you are limited to 6 dropped classes over your whole time in college. Classes dropped during the survey period (first two weeks) don't count, but classes dropped after the survey date do. I have encouraged my girls to sign up for 1 more class each semester than they intend to take, so they have the option of dropping one during the survey period.

 

My oldest has dropped one course before the survey period each semester and has always ended up with 15-16 hours (15 is the minimum for her scholarship).

 

My middle is actually going for her freshman orientation in two weeks and will register for the first time then. She has 24 hours of classes that she has made a nice schedule for and she intends to actually register for 21 and then drop 3-6 credit hours (two of the classes are 4 credit hours) during the survey period. One of the classes that she really wants to take has just 1 seat left, so it's uncertain whether or not she'll be able to get into it. Another class was full up until the first payment deadline and then 18 students were dropped from it (lecture hall class), so it has space now, but it might not in two weeks when she can register. Actually, I just checked and although there were 18 seats available on Wednesday, there are only 14 now.

 

Dropping late in the semester might save your gpa, but it isn't going to help you get through to your degree. I figured that most scholarships would have a minimum gpa (although 2.0 seems really low) and a minimum courseload (at least minimum/year, if not minimum/semester).

[Jane in NC]

Good points, Nan.

Let me preface what I am writing by that I am very happy for all your kids who have scholarships. But:

I have gotten quite a bit discouraged by the scholarship system from what I am observing as an instructor. Every semester, there will be students who are dropping my class at the latest possible moment, 3 weeks before the end of the semester, because they are failing. They are failing because of work ethic issues that persisted throughout the semester, NOT because of extenuating circumstances with family problems and illness. They tell me they are dropping because a dropped class does not affect their GPA and thus they can keep their scholarship. Some students switch to hearer status five weeks into the semester so they can continue to count as "full time" student even though a student who is auditing a third of his class load is not really doing a full time student's work.

I do not think this is right. Especially when I see excellent, motivated students who have to leave the university because the scholarship they receive is not enough for them to be able to afford the out of state tuition. It was a very sad situation to see a brilliant, hardworking young man leave the school a few semesters ago for this reason - while scholarships are given to underperforming students who game the system and don't apply themselves.

I sympathize with any student who gets ill or has family issues. But personally, I do not consider a 2.0 GPA "satisfactory progress".

 

Late drops are problematic. I once taught a math class that had a number of athletes enrolled. Most were hard working but several fit the stereotype of athletes who exploit the system. I had a couple withdraw after their sport season was finished. They had to be in the course in order to play their sport, then they went under the minimum number of required credits by withdrawing! I couldn't figure out why they were being allowed to participate in their sports the following year. Maybe the NCAA has cracked down by now...

 

I think there is less emphasis on the GPA than the "satisfactory progress" status at my son's school. Maybe I am wrong or maybe my son just hangs out with the nerds.

[Vida Winter]

One of dd's renewing scholarships requires 3.25 gpa and the other requires 3.0. I think that is a lot more reasonable than 3.5 which can be tough for an incoming freshman. While they all strive for straight A's, making an occasional B in a course shouldn't be a disaster, especially since there is such a difference in difficulty of coursework depending on major. I remember being overjoyed at receiving a B in few of my engineering courses. To the OP, I'm sorry that your child is under such pressure. College can be hard enough without that hanging over one's head.

[Jane in NC]

One of dd's renewing scholarships requires 3.25 gpa and the other requires 3.0. I think that is a lot more reasonable than 3.5 which can be tough for an incoming freshman. While they all strive for straight A's, making an occasional B in a course shouldn't be a disaster, especially since there is such a difference in difficulty of coursework depending on major. I remember being overjoyed at receiving a B in few of my engineering courses. To the OP, I'm sorry that your child is under such pressure. College can be hard enough without that hanging over one's head.

 

 

I agree. If pluses and minuses enter the computation of GPA, a student can have a couple of B's and a couple of A-'s but still not achieve a 3.5. This can be tough for a student with a heavy science lab or foreign language load.

[regentrude]

I agree. If pluses and minuses enter the computation of GPA, a student can have a couple of B's and a couple of A-'s but still not achieve a 3.5. This can be tough for a student with a heavy science lab or foreign language load.

 

 

I completely agree. I did not mean to imply that only straight A students are deserving scholarships.

[Jane in NC]

 

I completely agree. I did not mean to imply that only straight A students are deserving scholarships.

You didn't. I think we agree that there are students who game the system to the detriment of the deserving. A shame.

[Nan in Mass]

You didn't. I think we agree that there are students who game the system to the detriment of the deserving. A shame.

 

 

Yes. Not good. By add-drop, I was thinking that first few days of try-out period when one can bail if something looks like it wasn't what you thought.

[creekland]

I would be a basket case if we had to wait a few more weeks. When does his semester end?

 

Oldest's ended the first week of May. Middle's ended the second week of May.

 

Oldest is a rising senior, but he's become quite independent and has paid his own way now for one and a half years (after merit + need based aid - we still pay books, car insurance, and cell phone, etc). I don't know if he has next year's cost yet or not. Middle is just starting to get involved with summer work, etc, so we will still be paying more for him - we just don't know how much yet.

[AngieW in Texas]

Great news from my dd. Her lowest grade was a B- (2.67) and all her other grades were As and Bs so she had a GPA of 3.1 for this semester. I really wish she hadn't had a 2.8 already. Now the very next time she has a bad semester, she will lose the scholarship. The class that really killed things for her was the lecture hall Government class (D+). She really doesn't do well with that format. Fortunately, it's the only class she has to take in that format. I told her to not take part 2 until her last semester or to take that one at the local cc over the summer, probably along with the last science class that she needs to take.

 

I need to go through her degree plan again to make sure, but I think she could possibly finish in 3 semesters, but will probably need 4 semesters because of scheduling issues that are likely to come up. She has 5 more semesters of scholarship eligibility.