When considering which college to attend, how high a college GPA is acceptable to maintain a needed (for affordability) scholarship or enter the desired major?
For example, if two colleges are under consideration, but one needs a 3.5 GPA to maintain affordability with a scholarship and/or enter the desired major, while the other one just requires the student to remain in good academic standing (typically something like 2.0 GPA and C or higher grades in courses for the major) to maintain affordability and enter (or avoid dismissal from) the desired major, how big a factor will that be when choosing between the two colleges? What about other GPA levels that may be required by scholarships or departments to maintain affordability or enter the desired major (e.g. 2.5, 3.0, etc.)?
As with all other things, it depends on the student.
For me, it was not something I even thought about and I have no idea what the requirements were for my major. I do know one of my outside scholarships required a 3.0. It was moot because I don’t think my term or cumulative gpa was ever below a 3.7ish.
Depends on the student and sometimes one’s major/college.
For instance, if the a 3.0 average in a given field/college places one in the top third/quarter of one’s graduating class…a scholarship with a 3.0 as the minimum threshold may be just as/more excessive than a 3.5+ minimum at fields/colleges with less harsh grading policies.
From personal experience, the scholarship portion of my FA/scholarship package had a minimum threshold of a 3.25. Never had an issue maintaining an overall undergrad cumulative GPA well above that.
This was something we should have given more thought to when my older D was making the decision. It turned out fine but we both found out that making that A in college was a whole lot harder than the A in HS. She was a 4.0 student in HS and we just assumed no issue when she got to college. Her first semester, she took numerous honors courses and was hovering right at the A/B level at the end. Her GPA turned out to be above 3.5 and all she needed was 3.25 but her stress level would have been much higher if she needed that 3.5.
As said above, it does depend on the school, your major and I think the number of AP courses you come in with. If you are basically starting as a sophomore going right into upper division classes, it is harder and your first semester can break you. If everything else is equal, go with the school with the lower GPA requirements and save yourself some stress.
We gave this some thought because we were considering several universities with academic scholarships. You should too if you can only afford the college with the scholarship, what will happen then if the student loses it? Consider your student and the college. My daughter ended up in a college with a merit scholarship but we can still afford it if she lost it. The GPA requirement is a 3.0. For my student, this was a very good thing because she cares about the money and the privileges that come with the scholarship. Her first quarter was a shock to her GPA but she turned it around and now that she is in her second year, I am confident she will keep it the next two years too.
It should not be a factor at all. Just aim at A in every class. It is a good idea to have very high college GPA, scholarship or not, just much more opportunities are open for a top caliber college student at college and after graduation. So, why not aim at all As, it is very possible.