<p>I know a lot of kids and their families (including me!) rely on merit money to help pay or totally pay for college, but I rarely see anything brought up on the topic of kids losing renewable merit money after one or more years. Thankfully, I haven't yet been in danger of losing my merit money (knocks on wood), but I know a few family members and family friends whose kids have been in this situation. In one case, the D was already attending an in-state school and the family could cover the cost without aid. In another case, the S needed the money to attend school (about $8,000 to a $24,000 COA). He was able to be awarded about $4,000 in work study, so he'll be able to attend next year, but the situation was very stressful on the family. These were both very smart, hard-working kids in high school, and as far as I can tell, non-partiers. </p>
<p>How common is it for kids to lose merit aid? Did you take account to possibility of this aid being lost when choosing a college? If your kid lost big merit $, would you let them stay at that college? Could you?</p>
<p>No chance. She'd be packed up and headed to state school. Gig'em Red Horns!!</p>
<p>yes, we took it into account. D needed a 3.25 after year 1 , and a 3.25 cumulative every year thereafter. Tough but not unreasonable at her school. I asked the question at every school.</p>
<p>Yeah, a family member lost a full ride scholarship due to a one semester grade point drop - and the GPA was just under the limit.</p>
<p>DS would have to leave and head to the state school if he lost his scholarship. There is no way on earth we could afford his college without the scholarship. This has been impressed on him :-I</p>
<p>One thing to tell your kid in this situation is to start real fast and get the number as high as you can first semester. Do whatever you have to do (that is ethical and in keeping with the Honor Code) . After that everything works great. Skate by or even worse, be under the number and second semester is no fun at all. Best to just hammer it first semester. If you pull a really high GPA you are golden the rest of the way(barring meltdown). If you don't you struggle the rest of the way JMO.</p>
<p>My sons, twins, loved one University but the full tuition scholarship they were offered required a 3.8 to continue for 4 years. They did have a one semester grace period if you screwed up a semester. Well my sons are engineers so I told them this was a crazy offer and would result in a lot of stress at the school.</p>
<p>They opted for different schools where a 3.0 is required. Not quite full tuition is covered but very close so I am happy and they are well over the 3.0 after 1 year.</p>
<p>I think some schools almost set up students to lose these scholarships. I don't know if it is on purpose or not and this school in question would not tell me how many students lost their scholarships over the first two years. They said they didn't track that data and I though uhhh yea right.</p>
<p>I had a full-tuition scholarship to a state school. Covered out-of-state tuition, about $10,000 per year and was renewable for up to 4 years. After year 1, that scholarship will not be awarded in the fall. It required a 3.5 GPA and my GPA was a 3.14 I believe. There is the possibility that the scholarship could be reinstated in Fall 2009 if I get my GPA back up to the 3.5. Likely? Probably not. But I look at it this way: That was $10,000 I didn't have to come up with :)</p>
<p>drizzit, I believe setting up kids to lose their scholarships is partly by design at many schools. Statistically, schools with the high GPA requirements know a certain percentage will lose those scholarships, and I beleive they even budget accordingly. I would advise most, but perhaps not all, to steer away from such agreements if possible.</p>
<p>I know at my school the big merit $$$ kids (of which I am one :)) rarely seem to lose their scholarships, as we have a fairly lax GPA requirement (3.0) despite the fact that we have to fill out a massive renewal application every year (essay, faculty rec, list of honors courses taken, resume, etc). I know one girl failed chemistry twice in year but was able to take it as NC, so it wouldn't hurt her GPA (to be fair, she did have some intervening medical problems, and this class is notoriously evil on our campus).</p>
<p>I am thinking the same thing, Curmudgeon and FLVADAD. Some of the scholarships my ds was offered had such high GPA requirements that I told him I felt it would be affecting his choice of classes and his stress levels all the way through - no thanks.</p>
<p>Will pass on the advice to work his rear off first semester - great advice!</p>
<p>Yes, this is often discussed on merit aid threads.</p>
<p>It is critical, when evaluating an award, to look at the requirements for keeping it. Some are onerous, as reported above. Some are quite reasonable - eg, only a 2.8 was required for my S in an Engineering field.</p>
<p>I also would not evaluate those GPA requirements in a vacuum - I would want to inquire what % of recipients <em>at that school</em> <em>in that major</em> have maintained/lost the aid in recent years.</p>
<p>Heck, if a 3.8 is easy to earn at a given school and a 3.2 is tough to earn at a different school, the raw numeric requirement could be deceiving.</p>
<p>You should also find out what happens if the threshhold number is missed - is it an automatic loss? Is there a warning or grace period? What does it take to achieve reinstatement etc.?</p>
<p>Context is also important - is the merit $ a wonderful bonus but the family could afford the school without it? Or is it a sine qua non?</p>
<p>My daughter, an engineering major, just finished her freshman year yesterday. She is required to keep a 3.4 GPA, but is allowed to have a 3.3 at the end of freshman year only. (Personally, I think a 3.0 should be enough because it's a tough load, but I am her mother!) I know she was really stressed because she may not make it. It's not a huge scholarship, but it helps with two kids in college.</p>
<p>I guess we'll find out next week when her grades are posted.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I know she was really stressed because she may not make it.
[/quote]
This 'stress factor' is a concern I have with some of these, especially when they use the same GPA cutoff for all majors. A 3.4 in engineering at many schools is very tough to keep even for the very bright kids (and at some schools almost all of the kids are bright) and is considerably more difficult than maintaining the same GPA in, for example, poliSci or history. On top of the stress factor and the likelihood of losing the scholarship, my other concern is that it might discourage the student from stretching themselves - i.e. taking normal chem to get an 'A' rather than honors chem where they're more likely to get a 'C', taking some other more rigorous courses because of GPA worries, staying away from tough major/minor combos, etc.</p>
<p>There are merit scholarships that are "no worry". DS2 received the Rensselaer Medal at his school. This is a Merit Scholarship from RPI for $15,000/year guaranteed for 4 years with no GPA requirements.</p>
<p>University of Rochester's merit scholarships are also "no worry." The GPA requirement is "satisfactory progress" - 2.0. Of course, that's the same GPA as required to keep kids off academic probation.</p>
<p>I called my D's college and they said that, in our financial circumstance, if she lost the merit scholarship it would be made up with need-based aid. They also said that 'not many' kids lose the merit aid, and that if they did, the school would re-evaluate the criteria. This could be a big lie, but I'd like to think they're being straight.</p>
<p>A friends son got a merit scholarship which my friend fully expects him to lose because he doesn't think his son can maintain the GPA. But since he didn't need any aid, it was still a 'bonus' for the first year. </p>
<p>At another college, I was told that the merit award was only dependent on satisfactory progress, that the school awarded it based on performance in high school and wasn't dependent on maintaining a high GPA. </p>
<p>So I guess that, like much of the financial business of college, 'it depends'.</p>
<p>D has a very generous renewable merit scholarship but must maintain a cumulative gpa of at least 3.5 to keep it. Happily, she finished her first year with a gpa well above that number. For those of you who have been offered similar merit scholarships, it may be helpful to compare the gpa required to keep the scholarship with the average freshman gpa at the school. Most schools will give you this information if you ask for it.</p>
<p>S's merit scholarship requires a 3.2 gpa. He has managed to keep it. He is a rsing senior attending an instate public. His advisor warned that the first two years were usually the toughest to keep the required gpa. The scholarship is great but he would not have had to leave the school if he had lost it. If he had attended a private school that would not have been the case.</p>
<p>My neighbor's D attended an oos public on a full tutition scholarship that required a 3.0 gpa. There was often much drama at their house when she was barely squeaking by the benchmark gpa. In her case, they could not afford the oos costs and she would have left the school if she lost the scholarship. She managed to pull through and graduate without losing the money.</p>
<p>Does the school have any grade forgiveness policy? My boys are at two different state U's (same state). One allows up to 2 courses to be retaken over the course of the 4 years for grade replacement/forgiveness. The other just averages in the retake grade like any other course. This can make a huge difference in maintaining that GPA, or getting back up to the requisite GPA after a bad semester. I don't know how common grade forgiveness policies are, but if you are looking at all the factors, this is something to consider, too.</p>