<p>I am wondering about merit and need based financial aid. Most schools link merit aid to performance freshman year. Many kids have a rough transition to college level work, and struggle to make good grades. How often to kids lose their merit aid? Need based aid may change based on a family's altered circumstances. There are a couple of posts here lately with students encountering these problems:</p>
<p>I don't know about you folks, but when my husband and I attended school, it was not easy to pass hard science classes, and we were grateful for a C. </p>
<p>We took this into consideration when deciding whether to accept merit aide for DS.</p>
<p>Colleges very significantly on the criteria for renewal of merit aid. S' award was very reasonable, imo, with a 2.7GPA required for renewal. He is in Engineering, and it is a demanding major, especially in number of hours in class and labs. He exceeded that requirement by a mile (over 3.6), but I would have been very leery of those awards which require a 3.5GPA to renew.</p>
<p>My S has 3 different scholarships. The largest requires a 2.5 gpa, the next largest requires a 3.2 gpa and the smallest of them requires a 3.0 gpa. Some schools offer a one semester probation if gpa drops below the cut-off. S's school does not do this. He is at an in-state univ. If he lost one of his scholarships, it would not mean he had to leave his school. </p>
<p>I would be leery of going to a school where the merit scholarship is absolutely necessary to make attendance a reality (especially if a high gpa is required). It puts a lot of pressure on the kid and the family. It would be so hard for a kid to have to leave his school and come home to a disappointed family all because he got a C in Chemistry. I know some will say that the gpa requirement should just give the student more incentive to work hard and do well but sometimes it just doesn't work out despite all efforts.</p>
<p>Merit scholarships are great (we love them) but imho the family needs to discuss the ramifications of what happens if the gpa drops too low and the scholarship is lost. Will it mean the student has to take out a loan to stay at his school? Or get a part-time job? Is he willing to do that or would losing the scholarship mean that said school is no longer feasible for student to attend? It would seem best to consider all possibilites before making a decision and not assume that the merit money will always be there</p>
<p>I agree with jmmom. It depends on the program. </p>
<p>The fact of the matter is that if your child qualifies for good merit money, then he or she is probably at the top of the student body in terms of stats and preparation for a rigorous college program. Therefore he or she should not have a problem with maintaining a strong GPA. But, I do think engineering, architecture and probably a couple of other programs might be the exception.</p>
<p>In my son's case, if his GPA were to drop below his scholarship requirements (3.2) I would know he was slacking off. He knows if he loses his scholarship he's coming home.</p>
<p>If the student maintains the efforts that won the merit scholarship in the first place there should be no problems. They already know how to work harder than the average student. AP classes should have given a good idea of what is expected.</p>
<p>The only thing you might have to worry about is if your student is distracted by the "bright shiny things" available at college. There is so much to do, so many first times that if the student doesn't use a little self disipline, it could be tough.</p>
<p>The other thing we learned is when you get to college, stop taking hard everything classes. General studies are not 300-400 level courses, unless that's your major. This was our lesson.. in HS take every hard class you can for college. Once in college, save the hard classes for your major.</p>
<p>I think Opiefrom Mayberry makes an important point. I might make it a little differently. One thing a parent can do (whether or not kid has a merit scholarship to maintain) is be a "consultant" to the student on how to fashion a schedule. It will vary by student, but some things to consider are: balancing courses in fields which are a "natural" for the student with those which are a little more uncomfortable; balancing reading-heavy classes with others that are not so; balancing lab-heavy (high class hour) classes with others not requiring so much class or prep time, etc; taking some classes for the pure joy of it (eg, S took a 2-credit instrumental performance course altho he is obviously not a music major).</p>
<p>Tulane (which my S will now be leaving) had a policy I really approve of for Engineering students. They strongly recommend that classes outside of Engineering and the hard sciences be taken P/F. While at Tulane, S has not had the opportunity to do this. But while he was a Visiting Student at Bates, I strongly encouraged him to take his PoliSci class P/F, which he did. It was reading-heavy and paper-heavy and he did fine in it (would have gotten a B, I'd say), but I'd like to see schools have a moderately liberal P/F policy. It takes the pressure off, allows students to set priorities. Bates would have only allowed 4 in the whole 4 years, I think.</p>
<p>Boy, I'd hate to back my kid into a corner where he's gaming his schedule in order to keep his scholarship. In an ideal world you could balance your course work every semester. In the real world, sometimes you've got to take courses in sequence... a professor whose class you're dying to take is going on sabbatical next year so you take the class even though it will "mess up" your gpa; a kid stretches to take a grad level course in a subject that's fascinating even though it will be a huge effort to get a B. And then there are the weed-out classes... Organic chem, Macro, the killer history seminars with thousands of pages of reading a week.</p>
<p>Don't put your kid in a position of having to sweat every quiz or problem set. College is hard even for the truly diligent.... don't assume your kid is slacking off with a 3.2 gpa-- in some schools and some majors that's fantastic. And don't assume that if your kid is good enough to get a merit scholarship s/he's automatically going to be at the head of the class. You may discover by November that your HS isn't as good as you thought it was.... no knock on your kid, but uneven preparation in a course like Calc or English composition will have your kid scrambling for the tutoring center once midterms are over.</p>
<p>I know of some kids who feared getting a "C" in one or two classes (some were core classes) because it would jeopardize their merit $$$. Some kids are purposely taking those classes (that weren't pre-reqs for other classes) as late in their college careers as possible (like the last semester) so if their GPA dropped it wouldn't affect their $$$. </p>
<p>Some also elect to take that class at another college (that credits will be accepted) during the summer. Even if your college won't accept the credits, taking a "hard" class elsewhere during the summer (without having it transferred) will make it much easier to get a good grade at your own school.</p>
<p>Yep, S knows several who have taken physics or calculus during the summer at our local comm. college becaue it will transfer to our state u. wothout affecting the gpa.</p>
<p>Beginning of college is tough adjustment for everyone even if you only consider time management issues so grades can suffer considerably. I am very happy that Knox college where my D is going has no strict GPA requirements for merit aid, only that student has to be in good standing which does translates in several conditions like not missing school and GPA above 2.0</p>
<p>I agree with lindalana, it can be a very big adjustment. I look at it like adjustment slowly to life as well. My son's grades are his own business and the schools and no longer mine. He did send me an email that his merit scholarship was good to go for next year. Yeah! His schedule, plans, aspirations and all that entails are now his. I am backing off. I am praying as well! I am suffering in silence and keeping my big mouth shut. He seems to be figuring the process out on his own. The biggest step to adulthood that I can remember taking was when I realized I was responsible for my failures and my triumphs. It wasn't anyone else's fault or glory. I was totally responsible. I took over my parents' voice. I guess that is what I am hoping for asap with my son. The jump to college for kids is a big one. A good one. Scholarships tied to very good gpas the first year, may be difficult to handle for some. I would imagine most colleges know this and realize it takes time for some students to gain their "sea legs." If not, I would shy away.</p>
<p>It was and is a concern . Rhodes has a tiered system but the top tier requires a 3.25. My D wants to do many things at Rhodes which require intense schedule planning (med school+bio/neuroscience major+spanish minor+semester abroad), leaving her taking two labs in several (almost all) semesters. Like weenie, if the grades aren't there - neither is she. </p>
<p>When we discussed this (UMiami is much more forgiving) her response was simple, "if I can't pull a 3.25 at any school then I can't go to med school from that school so I'd need to leave anyway. Scholarship or not". </p>
<p>Stress? Yep, for a pre-professional merit scholarship kid I'd say it's there in spades. But she went in with her eyes open. </p>
<p>(The one thing I will say - my D won't go in with an "I'm the smart kid so I don't have to work" attitude. She'll be at the writing center day 1, and if the professor has office hours he/she better expect my kid to be there when the doors open. She is the type that has already selected her preferred schedule, with times and profs, for the first semester and classes for the first two years. She's already checked out the books she needs for each class and started scouting them out online. </p>
<p>She called me at the office two weeks ago. "Dad, come home . I've got my schedule done. !! It's so cool!" What a freak.)</p>
<p>Cur, I don't really know you or your daughter but from what you have written I could not compare my most lovely son with your daughter! He would not be one to use the writing center.....and.....I am sure he had theory assignments due this year when he created a video that gained him kudos but had nothing to do with grades!!!! Interesting character yes, committed student, hmmm, maybe in the making. :)</p>
<p>overseas, I hear you. I often wish she was more like your son. She is a turbo-charged kid. I hope she can find a way to slow it down a bit in college. Or at least chase a few rabbits for fun. She swears she is going to dial up the social life but I'm not so sure.</p>
<p>While our son would have chosen to attend Rensselaer anyway, the fact that his three scholarships totalling $25,000/year did not have any minimun gpa requirement made his decision that much easier. His next choice, Case, required a 3.2(?)gpa to retain his $17,000 scholarship.</p>
<p>While it turned out that the gpa would not have been an issue, he did not know this at the time acceptance decisions had to be made.</p>
<p>And yes, most colleges take the gpa requirements very seriously. A friend's daughter lost her merit scholarship for one semester. Fortunately it was reinstated once her gpa got above 3.25 again.</p>
<p>A big con with minimum gpa requirements is the tendency of students to feel the need to make safe choices in their academic plan in order to maintain their scholarship. While some students do this irregardless of scholarship considerations, other students enjoy challenging themselves academically even if it means the possibility of a lower gpa.</p>
<p>originaloog, Case requires a 3.0 GPA after first year. The first year requirement is a 2.5 or 2.75 (don't remember). So many students have scholarships that the atmosphere is to help each other and go to the night-time help sessions. I believe they have a re-instatement policy. There are some tough-graded classes that do give out C's. The bigger concern is that the scholarship covers 4 years only, but generally speaking the school is very generous in support of additional study, co-ops, TAs, and research opportunities. The result of this system seems to be graduates who know what they are supposed to know and are prepared for the rigors of hard work or graduate study.</p>
<p>Florida is famous for its "Bright Futures" merit scholarships. Basically, you can get 75% off on tuition depending on your high school grades (up to 100% if you pass all your final IB exams and get the diploma) at any Florida public. I'm not sure what the renewal criteria are, but my daughter's English teacher jokingly refers to it as "the one year scholarship" because so many kids lose it after freshman year.</p>
<p>None of the merit scholarships I received required anything over 3.0 and two of those were full tuition scholarships.... the merit aid I accepted isnt full tuition but its worth 12k/yr and the requirements are 2.4 1st year, 2.6 second and 2.75 third... so very very lax. I have seen some very weird scholarships though, One scholarship (I think it may have been at Alabama) required that the student maintain a 3.0 AND be enrolled in the honors program. But the honors program required the student maintain a 3.5 so actually the scholarship required a 3.5</p>