Help me think this through -- guaranteed merit aid

Parents Forum
1

We are still in the very early stages of figuring out this college thing, and I’m trying to figure out how to make sense of all the information. I have a question about GPA’s. I’d rather not name specific schools, because of confidentiality concerns, as I’ve shared quite about about my son’s mental health on a different thread.

My son has had an upward trend to his GPA, in part because of a pretty rocky freshman year. If I had to guess, I would say that he’ll probably end the year a little under 3.0 for his unweighted G.P.A., and over 3.0 for his weighted G.P.A. I think there’s a good chance that he’ll bump over that 3.0 mark at the end of first semester senior year, and if not he probably will make it to that goal by the end of the year. These are guesses, of course.

There is a school we’re looking at, that will probably be a safety for him, that offers a $14,000 yearly guaranteed merit award for a 3.0. Several other school we’re looking at, most of them matches, have similar offers. That’s a lot of money! So, this makes me ask the following questions:

When schools list this are they talking unweighted or weighted? Are they including everything or will the recalculate and leave out things like P.E. (my kid does better with a lot of exercise, so he’ll have several extra P.E. credits)?

If he does something like taking a super easy summer school course to get an A and bring his GPA up, would that work? Are there downsides of doing that? Could it hurt his admissions at the “match” schools? Similarly, if he takes easier classes just to get his GPA up, would that work? What are the downsides?

Also, this particular school is rolling admissions, and accepts applications until April 1. I think it would be really helpful for him to have a safety admission early, but not $56,000 helpful. If he applies in November, with a 2.96 GPA, and is accepted, could we send them his updated transcripts for more money, or would he be out of luck?

Finally, we’re considering a gap year as one option. My preference would be for him to apply and defer, so he can spend that gap year without admissions hanging over his head. However, I wonder if he’d get more aid if he applied after he has his senior year transcripts.

Finally, finally, if I write and ask the admissions office these questions, should I do it anonymously (e.g. maybe make a nonidentifying email?) or should I ask them outright to demonstrate interest, or should I make my son do the asking?

2

Many of these questions are specific to the school (unweighted versus weighted, all classes or a recalculated, etc.) if it is a school that looks at all classes then yes, taking an easy A class will help. Would it hurt his admission elsewhere? Depends on the rest of his classes and what his matches are. If all his As are in easy classes and all his bad grades are in core classes then some schools will care. Don’t ask the schools about manipulating the GPA in this way.

Regarding the gap year, each school will have its own policy on allowing deferred enrollment and whether the scholarship is still good after the gap year.

Find out what you can on the website and through CC regarding how schools calculate GPA and whether they allow gap years. I think when it comes to money, the school expects you to pay so they expect money questions from you. Other questions should come from him although it may take some coaching from you.

3

Yes, depends on the school. U Alabama uses the GPA provided from the school and will use the higher of W or UW> You have to ask. Many schools recommend a gap year so it shouldn’t be a surprise request.

4

My gap year question is really this. Imagine these 2 scenarios:

  1. DS applies in Feb. of senior year. At that point he has a GPA of 2.96, so he gets no merit aid. In June of senior year, he gets another report card, now he’s at 3.04. He defers. Will they offer him merit aid after getting his last report card? Or will he not get any merit aid because of his GPA at the time of application?

  2. DS graduates with a 3.04. He takes a gap year. That fall he applies, and is accepted.

I would prefer that DS apply and then defer, rather than applying during a gap year, but not if there’s a significant cost difference.

5

Depends on the scholarship, but most that I have seen use grades at the time of application so no scholarship in situation 1 but a scholarship in situation 2.