<p>I find it really interesting that each state distributes the funds differently. In OH it’s by congressional district. I think I saw that in NY it’s by county and NC didn’t seem to indicate the distribution method at all. All very strange.</p>
<p>As an aside:</p>
<p>Today, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) sent President Obama a proposal with budget cuts that they claim could save taxpayers “in excess of $375 billion.” From their letter to Obama:</p>
<p>– Elimination of the Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholarship Program. The Byrd Honors program provides scholarships to “exceptionally able high school seniors who show promise of continued excellence in postsecondary education.” Boehner and Cantor’s proposal calls it an “ineffective federal education program.”</p>
<p>Montegut- I am from LA, and I applied to the Robert C. Byrd Scholarship this year.</p>
<p>Your son should receive a nomination form from his guidance counselors early next January. As long as he has a 3.5 GPA and a 23 ACT, he can receive the nomination. I’m not sure if he would get it if those were his stats, however, they do look at ECs and awards/honors.</p>
<p>So long as Senator Byrd is around, he’ll see to it the Byrd Scholarship exists. He is, however, pretty darn old. If the Byrd scholarship survived the Bush years, it will certainly survive the current administration.</p>
<p>Jeez, they can rename it the Patriot Scholarship so long as it gets funded.</p>
<p>How many are given out per state? Son should have those stats, and he has good ECs. Is it a one time award, or is it for four years? Also, do you have to attend a Louisiana university to get it?</p>
<p>I was not aware the criteria varied so much by State. I think in our State you have to have a minimum 32 ACT to even be eligible. My daughter did have a 32 - but not until the ACT after the Byrd deadline :rolleyes:. i think the number awarded are fairly limited.</p>
<p>Montegut- I am not sure how many are given out per state; it probably varies based on the population of each state. It might be why LA’s criteria is different from all the other states, but I don’t really know. </p>
<p>Robert C. Byrd scholarship is renewable, but he has to keep a certain GPA (I think in LA it’s a 3.0). Because the Byrd scholarship is funded by the Federal Government, he can attend any university to get the award.</p>
<p>Texas does not require a minimum GPA for renewing the Byrd - it’s automatically renewed each year. Tigerbound is correct - you can attend any college.</p>
<p>In LA, any student who meets the criteria may apply, but they must have approval signed by the school principal. I am wondering when LA will announce the winners. My son applied.</p>
<p>I hope I am wrong, but I can see Obama replacing this scholarship program with the one he talked about in his campaign. ($4000/year to every student who does some prescribed amount of volunteer service) What makes this ridiculous is the fact that most of the high-achieving students already have a great deal of volunteer service!! It would be fine if he added that component to the current program, but he should not take away the academic requirements!!</p>
<p>The reason I believe this is possible stems from the fact that the U.S. is already plagued with huge deficit spending, and I don’t see Obama implementing his program without eliminating some other program to pay for it. </p>
<p>I think that $4,000 per year for every student who does some prescribed amount of volunteer service is a good idea… if you already do it, what’s the difference. This would benefit more students and is a lot more money than Byrd. That’s the short version. There would be many other benefits as well.</p>
<p>I should think that no matter what changes to the current government-sponsored aid programs go into effect, they will not take place so quickly. Certainly not for the coming year, I would guess. Don’t all of theses types of changes take a long time to get approval?</p>
<p>I’m not arguing with you that students who do a lot of volunteer work (like my son) should not have opportunities for scholarships, but if there are limited federal funds (and since we are borrowing money from China/Saudi Arabia, I would say there are limited funds), the student with excellent academics and service should be the first rewarded. There are other non-government sponsored programs for students with lots of volunteer service that do not care about the academic part as much. (i.e. Bestbuy, Lowes, Walmart, etc.)</p>
<p>Noitaraperp: I agree. The more letters to congress the better!!</p>
<p>if its 75% GPA, 25% SAT, and I have a Byrd GPA 97 (only 2 above min) and a 2400, will that do it for me or will my friend (99.2, 2050) beat me? i want your opinions because conversion is uncertain given their points equation</p>
<p>Just got notification in the mail that I’ve received this for Maryland. I didn’t apply or even know about it, so I’m pretty excited to have gotten it. It’s my ideal scholarship, lol. No application and awarded based on numbers. :)</p>