<p>Hi,</p>
<p>Does anyone know whether merit grants are reviewed annually or not, like the need-base FA?</p>
<p>thanks in advance!</p>
<p>It depends on the school. For some who have require you to maintain a certain GPA, they might review this annually or at the end of your sophomore year. It’s impossible to generalize - you’d need to ask the financial aid office of the college you’re interested in to be sure you understand their requirements.</p>
<p>Most merit awards I have seen do have some sort of minimum requirement - often a certain number of credit hours a year and a certain GPA. The most common retention rule I hear is checking you meet the requirements at the end of the spring term each year, but it may be at the end of summer or even at the end of each semester. Some scholarships may give a grace period where you can earn the scholarship back if you meet the requirements after another semester, others once you lose it it is gone forever. The requirements vary not only from school to school but between different scholarships within a school. In fact my daughter has a scholarship that is a single scholarship but that is financed from 2 different sources and each part has different retention requirements. The cash part of the scholarship is financed by the State and has different retention requirements (slightly higher GPA) than the full tuition waiver part that is provided by the school. So she could lose one part of the scholarship and keep the other. (touch wood she has not yet).</p>
<p>You definitely need to ask the school and read the rules for any merit award you are offered.</p>