• Students do not have to complete a FAFSA (at this time)
• The scholarship covers the estimated cost of attendance for an undergraduate student –this year the value is estimated to be around $24,990. Half of the scholarship pays in the fall, and the remainder in the spring.
• The awards package is comprised of gift aid (grants and scholarships)
• Students are not required to live on campus for this scholarship
• The renewal requirement is a 3.5 TTU GPA
• If the student receives outside scholarships, then the National Merit Scholarship will be adjusted so that the student does not exceed the estimated cost of attendance.
^^
so is that only for instate students?
That is a TOUGH GPA to maintain, particularly if a STEM student.
^^
Curios what the average GPA for Tech eng/cs students might be. Most likely under 3.5
The amount stated above would be for instate but I looked at their news release and it stated a full ride for all national merit scholars not just instate. I would assume out of state scholars would receive more but cannot confirm thru their website. So far I cannot find any information about this new scholarship.
As far as grade point - 3.5 is tough but doable. It is the same number as Texas A&M.
Agreed that their web page doesn’t have much info! The info I posted came from an email I sent to the scholarship department (which is different from the financial aid department). Also agreed that the value for OOS will be $7K+ higher to cover the amount of OOS tuition. The web page lists the same figure for transportation ($2300 which I think is very generous!) for both instate and OOS.
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As far as grade point - 3.5 is tough but doable. It is the same number as Texas A&M.
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That is really risky for an eng’g student. I know many who’ve had a frosh year that ended below a 3.5. Often it’s classes like Gen Chem (5 credits per semester) that puts them below the 3.5 mark.
I wonder how many lose their awards.
It is an easily made assumption that a student who has been a A student in high school will be an A student in Eng’g. Not so. Engineering is very demanding and students easily find themselves with more modest GPAs.
I’m not saying that a 3.5 isn’t doable. Of course it’s doable. My own son graduated with a 3.99 GPA in chemical engineering…one A-. But his GPA was not the norm at all. He was premed so he was unbelievably diligent about his GPA because his med school admission required a very high GPA. Many of his eng’g classmates, who were also strong students, ended up with sub 3.5 GPAs during certain years.
You are right mom2collegekids! I have a DD at Pitt majoring in computer engineering and she had never gotten a B before chemistry. When evaluating scholarship offers we did not really take into consideration the GPA requirements because it had never been an issue. Her scholarship is 3.25 and (not national merit based) so it has not been an issue and her actual GPA is above 3.5 but I am glad she did not have that added stress and pressure of a high GPA requirement in order to keep her scholarship and being able to continue at Pitt.
I think it is interesting that so little is online about this scholarship. I wonder because it is relatively new if they are still trying to figure out how to tweak it. I think the 3.5 requirement at A&M is a big turnoff for a lot of kids. I think they can set it high because they are turning away a lot of really good applicants (non-NMF).
Do you think OU and Alabama have lower requirements because they are not in a position where they have to turn away a lot of applicants yet? I would think Tech would try to emulate those schools to attract kids to Lubbock unless their admission rate is lower than I think it is.
You could look at the 3.5 requirement another way. The highest GPA required for an internship/job that I’ve seen is 3.5. Texas Tech and Wichita State U (where I’m going) might be trying to ensure that their graduates from the school on that scholarship are as highly qualified as they can be when it comes to the job market. That’s not to say that people with 3.3 GPAs can’t find jobs, it’s just that they want the scholarship recipients to be as well qualified as possible when they graduate to maximize job opportunities (thus able to represent the school as best they can.)
It can’t be impossible for engineering majors to keep a 3.5. Very hard yes, but surely not impossible.
I doubt that the average engineering student has a full COA scholarship that they have to maintain a 3.5 GPA for. But that may be just me thinking that.