<p>I am working ahead, trying to see which colleges might be financially feasible based on Merit. I am checking colleges that are not top tier, finding ones with the 75% test scores I believe will allow my S to rise to the top of the applicant pool.</p>
<p>I am finding some great scholarships, some that would cover full tuition. But what is a reasonable GPA to have to maintain to keep a huge scholarship? Missing a GPA and losing Full Tuition is not something you can recover from easily.</p>
<p>What are your experiences with your students, and what seems to be reasonable? Our state scholarship program requires a 3.3 to retain their top level scholarship, or a 3.0 to retain their lower level scholarship. The state gives generous scholarships to Public college students, and a smaller stipend to residents who attend private schools in our state. </p>
<p>One of the private school scholarships requires a 3.5 for Full Tuition, and that worries me a bit. Granted, it is probably not as academically difficult of a school, but with the high stakes of a full tuition scholarship, is that worth the stress and pressure on a student?</p>
<p>Thoughts from those who have driven down this road already...</p>
<p>There is no reason to NOT strive for the best college GPA, then you do not need to worry about loosing that Merit award.
The less worry the better.
We were asked for OUR experience. So, I expect that some will say that I brag, but I do not have any other experience. So, aside from not telling the truth, I have to brag that D. got a full tuition Merit at in-state public and a very large ($27k out of $33k ) Merit award at one privates. I do not have any idea about GPA requirements to maintain the Merit award. Her goal was to have an “A” in every class, so she went with this goal, without any kind of consideration for loosing or not the Merit award. It worked, we never had to worry about loosing a Merit award.</p>
<p>My daughter turned down two sizeable merit scholarships (half ride, basically) because she was afraid the pressure to be a “top” student would prevent her from taking academic risks. She’d already had a really bad time with pressure in her first high school (basically, she got a bunch of awards at the end of her freshman year and spent her sophomore year thinking she had to keep doing it), so this was something she wanted to avoid when she went to college. She ended up at Wellesley, which has no merit awards, and is thriving there. Not every kid will be this sensitive to pressure, but if you know your child is, it’s definitely something you should consider. On the positive side, the schools that give merit scholarships to attract high stats kids may have more grade inflation and easier coursework (don’t know this for a fact, but it seems likely), so maintaining a high GPA may be easier for them.</p>
<p>For my S at Fordham he needed to keep a 3.0 cumulative GPA to keep his merit scholarship. That didn’t seem to add to the pressure of being at the school.</p>
<p>A student who gets a top-end merit scholarship probably will not have too much difficulty maintaining a 3.0 college GPA from an academic rigor standpoint, although that is independent of the risk of time management, motivation, and adjustment-to-college issues dragging down one’s college GPA.</p>
<p>A 3.5 college GPA to renew the scholarship is a different story, in that it can require managing one’s GPA like pre-med and pre-law students (grade grubbing, looking for “easy A” courses, avoiding “difficult” courses even if they are interesting or useful).</p>
<p>Frosh year is probably the highest risk year in terms of not meeting the GPA requirement to renew a scholarship, since the adjustment to college can sometimes be difficult (in terms of time management, motivation, moving away from home, etc.). Also, students who have completed frosh year with a GPA significantly higher than the needed GPA, they have a “buffer” against one somewhat worse semester. GPAs also tend to rise for upperclass students, since they are mostly taking their major courses that they are more interested in.</p>
<p>Alabama has one of the easier req’ts. Although a 3.0 GPA is needed, it isn’t looked at until the end of the year. So, the second semester can be used for GPA repair.</p>
<p>And, if at the end of the year, the student doesn’t have a 3.0, then the next fall semester, if he gets a 3.0, but still below 3.0 cum, then he remains on probation til cum is 3.0…but scholarship stays.</p>
<p>So, rather easy to keep the merit.</p>
<p>Also…advise your child to balance his schedule (don’t take too many hard classes or labs in a semester)…don’t take 8am classes unless a naturally early riser. Fall frosh semester is an adjustment, so if possible, start light.</p>
<p>edit…found a better explanation</p>
<p>"UA does NOT look at grades after 1 semester of classes to determine if students will be placed on honors college, scholarship, or academic probabtion. The first time the grades are evaluated is after the first full year. Therefore if you raise your GPA above the required minimum during the second semester, you will not be placed on probation.</p>
<p>If at that time the cumulative GPA is below 3.0 for scholarship or 3.3 for honors college the student will be sent an email stating they are on probation.</p>
<p>The following semester, the semester GPA (not cumulative) must be higher than 3.0 for scholarship or 3.3 for honors college. If the semester GPA falls below that while the student is on probation they will be dismissed from the honor’s college or lose their scholarship. If the students semester grades are above the cutoff, then the cumulative GPA will be looked at. If the cumulative GPA is still below the cutoff, the student will remain on probation. Once the cumulative GPA is above the cutoff, the student will be removed from probation."</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.gradeinflation.com/”>http://www.gradeinflation.com/</a> (list of schools at the bottom) indicates that even schools with the least grade inflation tend to have average GPAs in the 2.7 to 2.9 range. For example, Alabama’s average GPA was 2.90 in 2006. It seems unlikely that the top scholarship students there (i.e. top few percent of students) would have difficulty getting a 3.0 GPA (i.e. just barely above average).</p>
<p>@powercropper, I would love to be a fly on your wall (bug in your computer?). My DD is 19 months away from graduating HS (if I may be allowed to count those chickens before they hatch), and would love to learn your approach/methodology, if not your data/findings. My PM inbox works, too. Whatever you are willing to share, publicly or privately, would be a gold mine for me!</p>
<p>Most schools have a probation feature that pretty much gives you a mulligan if you miss for a semester or two. Schools don’t really have that much of an incentive to yank large merit scholarships prematurely. </p>
<p>Schools give out these scholarships to enroll high stat students. Those enrollments burnish the data that are used by USNWR and others to rank schools. If a kid enrolled at a school due to a big scholarship, it is possible that such kid would leave if the price of the college suddenly spikes by $20-50k per year. Not so likely that the kid will stay put and the parents will happily pay 2X or more than planned for college. Especially if the GPA miss is in freshman year, leaving three more years to pay for.</p>
<p>If the kid leaves, then the school loses the net revenue that kid’s family was paying and has to find a replacement student to fill the empty seat. Also, when a kid transfers out, that hits the school’s freshman retention rate and the school’s 4 and 6 year graduation rates. Those are very important metrics for the ratings as well. </p>
<p>3.5 can be challenging even for excellent freshman engineering students. 3.0 is reasonably safe. A few years ago I saw a gpa chart, and the difference between freshman and senior g.p.a.'s in engineering was larger than for students in any other school of the university. (This was at a major public research university in California.)</p>
<p>i wouldn’t sign up for a school that has a 3.5 GPA req’t. Too many engineering/CS students can fall below that after taking a difficult math/thermal/fluid/statics/whatever class.</p>
<p>and, even one that has a 3.0 minimum req’t and the money is lost with one low semester would be too risky. </p>
<p>Thanks to all who are sharing. My D is having no trouble keeping above the 3.3 needed for her scholies, even with working more than 10 hours/week on campus. But the comfort of a 3.3 threshold is a lot less stress than a 3.5. I am glad to get some feedback that I am not crazy to raise a caution flag at a 3.5 requirement.</p>
<p>I appreciate this thread. I hadn’t really considered the difference between the 3.0 and 3.5 to keep merit aid in place. I’ll be sure to look closely at this when the packages come in. Daughter has a very high GPA now but who knows what will happen in college…things could be much different.</p>
<p>Well, net revenue for a full tuition to full ride scholarship student would not be that much. Loss of full tuition to full ride students who miss the renewal GPA is probably small compared to normal attrition at less selective schools (and the schools probably plan their instructional staffing, facilities, and transfer admissions to account for such levels of attrition).</p>
<p>NEPatsGirl, we have found that the reality of college life presents opportunities for growth both inside and outside the classroom. Although my husband thinks my D is “failing” to have a 3.5 GPA instead of a 3.9, I appreciate that she is building great relationships in her dorm, working her tail off in chemistry dept so she got promoted to research position in sophomore year, and in general making memories that will last a lifetime. </p>
<p>I am glad she has the freedom to fudge a bit now and then in her academics to give her time to enjoy college life.</p>
<p>Much can depend on choice of major. Some majors do seem to have students with higher GPAs. Eng’g and CS majors often have lower GPAs…it’s one reason why premeds shy away from being eng’g/CS majors.</p>
<p>Do not calculate too much. Plunge and then do your best. The rest should be good…we are not talking about rocket science, it is an UG after all…</p>