<p>My daughter is entering her second year in college, a medium sized public university. Her freshman year she received the Hope Scholarship, a Music scholarship, and a general undergraduate scholarship based on her high school academics. All scholarships were listed as renewable annually.</p>
<p>This year Hope and the music scholarship is listed for my d, but the undergraduate scholarship has disappeared. I cannot get an explanation from the school. </p>
<p>My daughter has maintained a 4.0 GPA, and the Honors coordinator is very pleased with her. She also was one of the leads in the Spring musical, so I don't think it has anything to do with her academic or music department performance .</p>
<p>She tells me she received about 5 notices to renew the music scholarship, and renewed it after the first notice. But she states she never received any info about renewing the general scholarship. She is very conscientious, and I don't believe she missed something. I think it is an example of a public university dropping the ball for my daughter. </p>
<p>Getting thru to financial aid is very difficult at this time of year, and when I did they were not very helpful. Even though it is not a lot of money, every little bit counts, and at this point I think my daughter has been ripped off.</p>
<p>I want to pursue this harder. Any suggestions towards getting this scholarship back? Anyone else have this problem before? </p>
<p>Henrob, are you in a position to visit the school personally? I find a parent walking in can get answers when a student may be put off. Would not getting this scholarship be a “deal breaker”? Are you dropping your D off, if so I would visit the financial aid office at that time. Good Luck!</p>
<p>It could be a dropped ball, something falling through the cracks, or could be a case of “bait and switch”, which does happen on occasion. It could also be limited funding in this economy, particularly within a public program. </p>
<p>srw has the right approach. A face to face with a financial aid person is probably the best method, and I would escalate up the chain until you are satisfied with an answer. If the music department holds her in high regard, it’s conceivable you may be able to tweak a bit more money from that area if the academic general scholarship has disappeared. Good luck.</p>
<p>D’s music scholarship at her school just showed up in the financial aide award summary about a week ago. An email just this week said some kids still did not have the scholarship posted yet. Perhaps it is just taking a long time to get everything in the system. Fortunately, the financial people are her school are incredibly accommodating so I’ve never had any problem getting answers. A face to face would be ideal. Have you both called and emailed?</p>
<p>Henrob - I agree with the suggestions that others have made. If those don’t work, you may wish to escalate the issue; bring in your daughter’s favorite professors to compaign for her; speak to your lawyer? if the school made a commitment for a renewable scholarship, I’m wondering if it doesn’t have an obligation to maintain that commitment if your daughter met stated requirements? Thank you for asking the question. I will place my daughter on guard next year to make sure her scholarship doesn’t fall through the cracks. Good luck to you.</p>
<p>Have you thoroughly read the conditions of the scholarship to make sure your daughter met them? (though it is hard to imagine how she would not have if she has a 4.0!). I know my daughter’s includes a minimum number of hours as well as GPA etc. Perhaps there was a returning students scholarship app deadline or something?</p>
<p>At my daughters school there is a guy in the financial aid department who is specifically in charge of the scholarship area. Perhaps you can check and see if there is a similar person at your daughter’s school. The couple of times I have had queries I have had a speedier response when I send an email to a specific person rather than a departmental email address. If the email addresses are not easy to find on the website perhaps it would be worth emailing someone from her department that she has a relationship with - or the head of the music department. Even someone not related to the FA department may be able to direct your query to someone higher up who will respond. </p>
<p>I must admit my daughter’s school is very prompt about responding to queries despite being a large state U, and we have not run into any issues with her scholarships being renewed. But I do remember at my sons school when I was getting nowhere with a query (not scholarship related at all - just some COA info I needed for 529 account purposes which is not on his school’s site). After suffering much frustration I pulled some highish up guys email off the website and sent him my query (even though I knew it was not his area at all). He forwarded it to the appropriate person and let me know who he had sent it to. I got the answer in a day after several days of frustration. It really seemed that having a ‘person’ rather than a generic email address to deal with made all the difference.</p>
<p>I agree that finding a “person” to deal with is key. However, it might be a good idea to either have your D on the phone or bring her with you when you talk with them, because they school may have FERPA requirements that require her to formally “allow” you to see the information. (Ridiculous, I know, but apparently paying the bills doesn’t entitle parents to much.) Hope it works out quickly and easily!</p>
<p>The feedback has been tremendous, and I greatly appreciate all comments.</p>
<p>To update, my d got a phone call from a lady who I later found out is head of Financial Aid. That is great, but four return calls later did not generate a return call from the Financial Aid head. </p>
<p>I will send an e-mail to her. Also, the school is a little over 2 hours away, so a visit by me next week is very possible. </p>
<p>I cannot find a requirement that my daughter has not met. Hopefully d or I can connect with the Financial Aid Director and get matter resolved. </p>
<p>One lesson from this is to get info about scholarships to make sure you know what to do to insure renewal. Also, this story may be different if we had thought to ask about the renewal of this scholarship when d received the renewal notice for the music scholarship. Maybe this story will help prevent problems for others.</p>
<p>Last week I was referred to the Dean of Enrollment Services. Last Wednesday I sent him a e-mail explaining the situation. He immediately replied saying he would look into the situation and get back to me. I have not heard from him yet. I will give him a week and contact him Wed or Thur. </p>
<p>The Honors Coordinator who is an advocate for my D contacted me, saying she spoke with the Enrollment Services Dean. She told me to let her know what I hear from the Dean. I am optimistic. </p>
<p>I will let ya’ll know when I hear something. (Can you tell I’m Southern?)</p>
<p>With a Southerner’s patience, perserverence, and grace, yes I appreciate this, as your story has engendered a concern that some part of my daughter’s merit aid might mysteriously evaporate next year. We are flat out not able to cover the difference.</p>
<p>I have not heard from the Dean since he said he would check into my daughter’s situation. Today I asked D to check her account on line to see if possibly the scholarship funds have gone into her account and we had not been made aware.</p>
<p>She called me today to say the funds were there, labeled “Miscellaneous Foundation”! That is not the name of her scholarship as last year, but the amount was the same, so I am perfectly happy with this. </p>
<p>I will e-mail the Dean and thank him for taking care of this. I also will ask what we need to do later this school year to insure that we don’t have this issue in the future. </p>
<p>In retrospect, we should have been tuned into the fact that we did not get a letter about this scholarship like we did with her music scholarship as well as my S’s in earlier years. My D was given this scholarship later in the process just prior to her going to her college. It was the result of her not getting one of the Honor’s Scholarships, and she received this award when the Honor’s Coordinator submitted her name and application to the General Scholarship Fund. </p>
<p>Also, we should have realized that though she received multiple reminders to renew her music scholarship during the year, she received nothing about renewing this one. That was another red flag.</p>
<p>So, we have a happy ending. All of you, please get documentation about scholarships and keep all of the documentation. Make sure you are aware of any scholarship renewal requirements. Because now you have read of at least one situation where a scholarship disappeared for no good reason. </p>
<p>Lastly, thank you all for your advise and encouragement. It is greatly appreciated.</p>
I appreciate this, as your story has engendered a concern that some part of my daughter’s merit aid might mysteriously evaporate next year. We are flat out not able to cover the difference.</p>