<p>S1 also had to keep a 3.2 for his scholarship. He barely scraped by with a 3.25 his first semester. I thought for certain the scholarship was going to be history by the end of the year. S2 picked it up after that though and kept well above a 3.2 the rest of the way though school. I don’t know he ever made a 3.7 though more than once or twice. That would be very tough to achieve every semester.</p>
<p>SportsMama–DD’s #1 choice has a 2.0 requirement to keep their merit scholarships for the reasons you listed. They want kids to take the classes they want without fear of losing their scholarships. It’s enough that they don’t party through school but not so much that they don’t take that “weeder” course or another challenging course. Sounds like a smart plan to me.</p>
<p>In GA, we have the HOPE scholarship which requires a 3.0 to receive (not quite that straight forward) and a 3.0 to maintain. </p>
<p>Statewide, 2/3rds of students lose HOPE at the 30 hour mark. Grade inflation is rampant at almost all GA high schools, especially when it comes to “Bs” </p>
<p>These kids are enrolled at a range of colleges from the state flagships to community colleges. The level of course difficulty ranges as well and many kids take less than rigorous course load and still can’t get the 3.0.</p>
<p><a href=“http://juro.uga.edu/2005/HOPE%20Scholarship%20Eligibilitiy%20and%20Retention%20Rates%20as%20a%20Function%20of%20High%20School%20Characteristic1.pdf[/url]”>http://juro.uga.edu/2005/HOPE%20Scholarship%20Eligibilitiy%20and%20Retention%20Rates%20as%20a%20Function%20of%20High%20School%20Characteristic1.pdf</a></p>
<p>My son, an engineering freshman, is attending our state flagship university. He was awarded a very nice engineering scholarship, renewable for 4 years provided he maintain at least a 3.0. Didn’t sound too bad to us, until at orientation we were told that the average gpa for engineering freshman after the first year is 2.9! We (his parents and he) have been mindful of this fact… we know nearly all of the engineering students are at least as smart as he is! Thankfully he came out of first semester with a 3.6 and is looking good for 2nd semester. I would suggest asking what the average gpa is for students in her major, that may give you a good idea how feasible it is to maintain the required gpa.</p>
<p>To clarify a tad- The HOPE has been tweaked a bit, and now to qualify for the FULL tuition scholarship for state schools in GA (The Zell Miller) you have had a 3.7 GPA in HS and minimum 1200/1600 on the SAT or 26 ACT and maintain a 3.3 GPA as a fulltime student to maintain it. The HOPE pays 90% of tuition, and requires a 3.0 to get and a 3.0 to maintain. To put this in perspective, a fulltime student attending a private school in GA who is eligible for the HOPE would get $3,600/yr in scholarship money to the private school, and Zell Miller winners would get $4,000/yr. Heres a table of how its awarded, per credit hour, to the instate public schools <a href=“http://www.gsfc.org/main/publishing/pdf/2011/hope_award_amounts.pdf[/url]”>http://www.gsfc.org/main/publishing/pdf/2011/hope_award_amounts.pdf</a></p>
<p>At my s’s private U in another state, his scholrship required a 3.0 gpa. Even as an engineering student that was quite doable. Your DD should be fine, lspf, if she comes from a shold HS ans is well prepared for college.</p>
<p>Thanks again, everyone–<br>
so much good information here! We’re heading up to UMass later this week for a final look, and I will call the fin aid office with some questions and scenarios. D feels fairly confident that she can manage the 3.2 – although as SteveMA touched upon, she may be less willing to take challenging electives.</p>
<p>I don’t know why, but it’s that extra .2 that made me hesitate…</p>
<p>You need to know exactly what is the “fine print” connected to the merit money. </p>
<p>Is it automatically renewable for the next 4 years?</p>
<p>Is it attached to staying with a specific major?</p>
<p>Is it renewable for the same amount of money each year?</p>
<p>Is scholarship adjusted to take into consideration tuition increases (about 5% per year)</p>
<p>Is there a gpa requirement needed to keep getting the money?</p>
<p>When does the gpa requirement start (by the end of fall term or the end of spring term)?</p>
<p>Is there a phase in to the gpa requirement?</p>
<p>What happens if you do not meet gpa requirement, does money leave immediately or is there a grace period?</p>
<p>If you lose scholarship and bring your grades back up is money reinstated?</p>
<p>What percentage of students lose their scholarship?</p>
<p>Ask the financial aid office what percent of students lose their merit money in the first year.</p>
<p>And the most important question… worse case scenario if you were to lose the scholarship would you still be able to swing the cost of attending?</p>
<p>Engineering GPA requirements should be less stringent than those for other majors. IMHO.</p>
<p>I don’t know if this information is published anywhere, but it would be great to have stats from different schools on the number of students who lose academic scholarships due to GPA requirements.
I guess you can ask that - the FA office must keep track of that.</p>
<p>Merit aid is not Financial aid so I doubt that they would keep track of it.</p>
<p>very good questions, sybbie - and many I hadn’t considered. I did find this online:</p>
<p>In the middle of June, after grades are posted, the Financial Aid Office reviews the cumulative GPAs of merit scholarship recipients. Some scholarship recipients will be placed on probation, whose cumulative GPA has fallen below the minimum for the merit scholarship. Probation allows the student one academic year to re-establish an acceptable cumulative GPA, as long as their GPA for the interim semester does not decline (in which case the scholarship will be permanently withdrawn). Failure to re-establish an acceptable cumulative GPA at the end of probationary period will likewise cause the scholarship to be permanently withdrawn. </p>
<p>And as for the last point -yes, we would be able to swing it without the Chancellor’s scholarship, but not easily, and without it would not have considered UMass as a final choice. She’s still a bit intimidated by the 20,000+ student population and ‘ZooMass’ stereotype, but that’s why we’re visiting one last time - once we see it broken down by some of the academic areas she’s interested in, hopefully she’ll have a better idea. New Paltz is a comparatively small school, so there are certainly trade-offs between the two.</p>