<p>I'm going to be in my last semester of college this upcoming spring as an electrical engineering major. I only need to take 3 more credits to graduate in the spring. Because I'll be part-time, I'll lose my academic scholarship that specifies I need to be full-time to receive the scholarship. Is there any way I can ask the scholarship committee at my school to give me a portion of the scholarship I would have been receiving? I'm on a tiny scholarship and have a GPA of 3.95 after six semesters. Most of my friends who got full rides are around 3.5 right now. Can't I somehow use this fact to get some aid? Or am I stuck paying the very expensive out-of-state tuition for these credits? Thanks.</p>
<p>Can you enroll in additional classes to be full-time, usually 12 credits, even though you don’t need them to graduate? My son will be taking an extra unneeded class in the spring to stay full time his last semester.</p>
<p>Annoying dad is right. </p>
<p>Just take some fun classes. My son spent his last semester taking two classes he needed and the rest were…jogging, conditioning, and Italian. It was a breeze.</p>
<p>I don’t see that gpa has anything to do with anything. Take a full time schedule.</p>
<p>You report that you have a “tiny scholarship”. You need to sit down and do the math. Will it be cheaper for you to shell out for those three credits, or to come up with a full schedule and pay for the difference betwee that “tiny scholarship” and the full cost for the semester.</p>
<p>My bet is that you would come out ahead paying only for the three credits.</p>
<p>However, if you speak with your department and with the scholarship office, maybe someone cam do something for you. It doesn’t hurt to ask.</p>
<p>Also keep in mind by only taking 3 credits you risk losing more than just the scholarship; you will lose pretty much all of your need based aid (university need based grants, Pell, TAP if you are a NYS resident) including loans because you will be less than half time. </p>
<p>If you attend UofR, they specifically state:</p>
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<p>If you are at RIT, they state:</p>
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<p>If you are carried on your parents insurance plan that has a stipulation that you be a full time student, you can lose your health benefits (yes, your parents probably have the option of keeping you on until you turn 26, but it won’t necessarily be at the same rate they are paying now).</p>
<p>Another one for suck it up and take 12 credits.</p>
<p>Check with your school. Sometimes the scholarships may have an exception to the full time requirement if you are less than full time due to it being your final semester. </p>
<p>As far as health insurance, check into the rules for that as well. Ours does not require our daughter to be full time in school to stay on our insurance. She has been out of school a year and is able to stay on our insurance at the same rate we were paying before.</p>
<p>Swimcat is right. Often that req’t is waived for the last semester if the student can demonstate that he can graduate on time by only going part time.</p>
<p>Happymom makes a good point. How much are you paying each semester that’s not covered by scholarship? How much would a 3 credit class cost? What’s the difference.</p>
<p>The best of all worlds would be if your school would waive the req’t and let you use all of your small merit award towards those 3 credits.</p>
<p>Don’t compare what you got with what your friends got. Their awards may be based on the test scores during their high school years… Merit awards aren’t usually based on GPA while in college.</p>