Is anyone currently attending a University in Oklahoma (OU, OSU, TU, other) and receiving the Oklahoma Academic Scholarship? My daughter is in her 2nd year at TU and was a National Merit Finalist from Texas and is currently receiving the Oklahoma Academic Scholarship. It was supposed to be a 4 year scholarship worth $2750 / semester. She was recently informed that the State of Oklahoma is eliminating the scholarship for current out of state National Merit Finalists beginning 2018-2019. What’s even more frustrating is that OU and OSU still appear to be giving the scholarship to new incoming out of state NMF. She currently has a 4.0 and has been taking 15-16 credit hours per semester, so she more than has the requirements to maintain the scholarship. I was just reaching out to see if there are any others out there that received the same notification.
They are just stopping it for new students?
What does her award say? That she would get a certain amount for 8 semesters? As long as she keeps a certain GPA?
I would hope that existing students would continue to receive that award if they qualify.
No, the notice said they are stopping it for existing out of state NMF recipients and supposedly new out of state students too, but OU and OSU still show it as part of their non-resident NMS package for incoming 2018-2019 freshmen. The scholarship was for 8 semesters if the student maintained a 3.25 GPA and earn at least 24 credit hours per year.
Do you have paperwork that cites it is for 8 semesters and the terms/contract etc? I notice that as I check things online (nothing to do with original post per se) that things change before my bloody eyes LOL.
Is this the program?
This says nothing about grandfathering current recipients. That’s awful if true.
I think I’d start looking into other schools that offer good merit aid for transfer students, like University of Toledo’s
PRESTIGE TRANSFER SCHOLARSHIP
Award: Full-tuition renewable scholarship that includes the out-of-state surcharge for students from outside of Ohio and Monroe County, Mich.
Minimum Requirements: 3.5 cumulative transfer GPA; 30 or more semester hours of transfer credit; transferring from a two year or four year institution.
Required Documentation: Separate Application and a current FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid)
Additional Documentation Preferred: Proof of honor society membership
This selective award will be given to six top students transferring to UT based on cumulative transfer GPA, curriculum and financial need. Preference is given to honor society members.
(they also allow stacking of outside scholarships)
http://www.utoledo.edu/admission/transfer/scholarships/prestige.html
Maybe go through other automatic full tuition schools for NMF and see if they offer any good transfer scholarships, maybe UAH? ASU?
Go through in state options, maybe they have programs to woo high performing students back in state as transfers?
FWIW this is a terrible thing for a university to do - how will they recruit in the future? - I don’t want my kiddo to attend a university that doesn’t fulfill it’s commitments.
Have you double checked with a financial aid officer at the school?
https://admission.princeton.edu/how-apply/transfer-students
"Students may transfer for fall entry if they have the equivalent of one or two years of full-time postsecondary transferrable credit by the spring prior to enrollment. Please note:
Students with one year of eligible transferrable course units may enter as sophomores; students with two years of transferrable course units may enter as juniors.*"
Transfer application is open and due March 1, 2018
@TexasMom16 Our DD is an OOS NMF at OU. While I know there are changes to the NMF scholarship for incoming students, it is my understanding that there will be no changes to the scholarships of current students. @3scoutsmom - have you heard anything differently about this portion of the OU package for current students?
@WImom94 this is the first I’ve heard of this guess I’ll be making some phone calls today!
Just got off the phone with the scholars office at OU and they assured me that they were aware of the situatation and will continue to meet their scholarship oligations.
@3scoutsmom I knew I could count on you! I noticed that the 2018-19 scholarship awards are already posted on OU ONE - the $5500 is included.
I just got another call back this time from Tyler Nunely, explaining that the state only pays for 40 (or maybe he said 40%) for those eligible for that part of the scholarship and OU has been covering the rest. OU will continue to cover funding for both in and out of state for qualified students. Current NM students will not be effected by what ever the state does.
@Sybylia - yes, I still have the award offer specifying it is for 8 semesters. @BelknapPoint - yes that’s the program. I did contact the financial aid office at the school and was told to call the office of Oklahoma State Regents, which I did. He basically said that the state doesn’t have enough money to fund the program but they are working on trying to get funding. He said that the state is currently not planning to fund any out of state students for next year, so OU and OSU are probably funding the scholarships themselves. The University of Tulsa is a great school and my daughter loves it there, but I’m disappointed in them. We did not apply to the state for the scholarship. It was included as part of her scholarship package. Regardless of funding, the university should honor the scholarships they offer their students. I’m glad to hear OU is continuing to meet their scholarship obligations. Hopefully The University of Tulsa will do the same.
@TexasMom16 I hope the the University of Tulsa will honor the commitments it made to its current students. I can understand and appreciate the financial constraints that Oklahoma and other states are in, but would hope that changes would be made to incoming students and not those who may have chosen to attend based on the scholarship offered. Best of luck to you. Please keep us posted.
Unfortunately, another example of a government talking out of both sides of its mouth. From the same document that provides an overview of the Oklahoma Academic Scholars Program:
Academic Scholars will receive a scholarship to help cover the cost of room, board, tuition, books and incidental fees for up to eight semesters.
The award amounts may vary from year to year depending upon the amount of funds available.
So basically, they give you the impression that once you get the scholarship and remain eligible, you “will” get it for up to eight semesters (presumably at the same amount each semester), but then you get the caveat at the end about the possibility that the amount of funds may vary from year to year “depending upon the amount of funds available.” If no funds are available for whatever reason, your award could go to $0, no matter how many semesters have been completed.
@BelknapPoint Ahhh…well that is a bit different. I guess if the scholarship amount ultimately becomes $0, they are still meeting the program as defined.
I’m surprised that U Tulsa would not cover the scholarship as OU and OSU appear to be doing. When we visited the school last year for a tour they made a point to brag about the large endowment and merit aid available…seems like such a wealthy school could easily cover the scholarship for current OOS NMF students even if they do not offer it to incoming freshmen anymore. How disappointing.
A lot of the state scholarships depend on the money being awarded by the state legislature each year. Florida Bright Futures does and the Florida resident grant does too. The year before my daughter started the Florida resident grant was short by about $35 per student in the spring semester. Most schools covered it but some had to charge the students the $35 because they just didn’t have it in their FA funds. Just because a school has a big endowment doesn’t mean they can just give it away in scholarships. Some endowment funds can only be used for specific purposes (building, science, football)
nm
It sounds the only students affected by this are OOS NMF that attend the University of Tulsa. I’d sill like to connect with others affected. My daughter’s friend is planning to start a petition to request the school cover the scholarship until the state acquires funding for the program. The more names we can get on the petition the better. So far I think there is only 2 - my daughter and her friend. Please email me at Texas16Mom@gmail.com if you would like to be included on the petition. Thank you!