<p>My son has lost his full ride scholarship due to academics. He has always been a great student in high school. He said "I tried", but alas, he is now paying for school on his own. WHAT HAPPEN !!!!! He was in the gifted programs in grade school. He did great in high school, obviously he got the scholarship to begin with. I'm beside myself, how, why, what can I do? Can anyone relate, or maybe pass on some advise. 06bananas</p>
<p>More details would be helpful. Are the academic reasons just a slight dip in grades during senior year, or near failing marks.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that some of these scholarships can be tough to hang onto after the first year due to high GPA requirements. If you couple that with some rigorous major, engineering for example, at a school that tends to deflate grades and has weeder courses, keeping a scholarship can be very difficult.</p>
<p>I know in my case (many years ago) it was a lack of knowledge on how to study. Going from a top student in HS to a more competitive, more challenging environment can trip a student.</p>
<p>My son lost his scholarship as well. It's a long story, but basically he had never had to work at all to get great grades, and college is different. Also no one made him get up and go to class, so he didn't. He did get diagnosed with ADD at one point, so gets extra support and takes a reduced course load.</p>
<p>He's on track now, and stayed in school. Couple of rough years. My sympathies. Feel free to PM me if you want more info/ideas.</p>
<p>This scholarship had a pretty reasonable "keep your money" GPA: 3.0....
But in looking for schools that have full rides that son#3 might apply to, I have seen GPA requirements for keeping the full ride 3.4 and higher. I would be very wary of such a scholarship, especially if we couldn't afford the school should he lose it.</p>
<p>I am sorry about your son's circumstance. I do have a question regarding first semester grades and what changes in course registration your son made for second term? I think this doesn't happen in one semester. Were you unaware? I think the striving student many times takes on course work in quantity and difficulty that set them up for low GPA. I also believe that advising is difficult to judge when a smart kid comes in for a meeting and clearly states
"I can defy the odds". Just my take on this. Is your son returning to the same school? Borrowing funds and hoping for an improved outcome? I'd be a bit worried about that as a strategy.</p>
<p>My older S, who is very similar to how the OP describes her son, lost his virtually full ride scholarship, too. It was at a college of his choice where he had entered as one of the top students. The reason (that I learned a couple of years later when I stumbled across his blog) was that the young man who never had partied in h.s. (was virtually the quintiseential nerd) fell in with an older crowd in college, who thought he was cool because he was exceptional in an EC that they participated in.</p>
<p>He began partying -- hard -- in college and didn't go to class or even show up for exams. He ended up flunking out of college with the worst gpa I've ever seen.</p>
<p>I've been a college prof. Because I advised the student newspaper, and had a doorless "office" right in the middle of the paper, I got to know the students very well, including being able to overhear their conversations. The majority of students who flunked out and/or lost scholarships were students who had spent their time partying. Meanwhile, students who were highly motivated and LD or even not that naturally bright were able to maintain decent grades.</p>
<p>From what I've seen, merit scholarships tend to go to students who have the brains to be able to keep them even if the gpa requirements are high and the scholarships are for difficult majors.</p>
<p>A brilliant, high gpa student whom I know got wonderful merit aid to be an engineering major at a top school. He failed to make the gpa and ended up transferring to an easier, cheaper school. His parents thought that he had trouble because the scholarship requirements were too rigorous. A couple of years later, though, after he had flunked out of that college, he was diagnosed as bipolar. Apparently he also had been self-medicating his mental illness by using street drugs.</p>
<p>OP, since your S is motivated enough to pay for college himself, I'm betting that he also will be motivated to do what it takes to stay in college, whether that's cutting down on partying, being more organized about studying, getting tutoring when classes are tough, etc. Younger S (gifted, but an academic underachiever in h.s.) had to pay for his first year of college because he got horrible grades senior year, and H and I had warned him that if he got severe senioritis, we would not invest our money into his college education until he proved himself by getting good grades over the course of his first year.</p>
<p>The student who had always liked school, but never had been self motivated to work to his potential, got it together very well when he was going to school on his own dime (including taking out a large loan), and got Dean's list grades, while also balancing some nice ECs and working a part time job. </p>
<p>Hugs to you and your S. Believe me, there are many students like him. Heck, I even got on academic probation during my first year at an Ivy. Why? Too much partying. I hadn't had a chance to party in my boring hometown, and I went a bit wild the first year of college. Got back on track, graduated with honors, and later got a doctorate.</p>
<p>We have little info, but snce you asked, here are some opinions based on what I know and will guess.
I also think it rare for a student to lose scholarship so fast. Were there warning signs, or did school put student on probation before yanking scholarship? If so, what specific actions did student take to correct problem? Did student know he was in jeopardy, but chose not to pass info on to parent?
How did it happen? As a gifted child it seems unlikely he couldn't handle the work if he gave it his best effort. Was he distracted by parties? By dating? Or a common college attitude- unlike high school, where a student has to be there, in college the prof is paid to be there, not the student. Did he attend each class?
I hope you sought more explanation than merely accepting "I tried". That answer might be adequate to me as a parent of a junior high student or younger, who has probably argued with you "don't treat me like a child!" I made that argument to my parents about that age, my son did with me. I would not consider it enough from a student on the verge of adulthood. Also consider that although losing a full ride is a huge blow, it might be best for the student in the long run. Now that he has blown the gift and has to actually pay for his learning there, he might value the learning far more. To paraphrase: he might get his education the old fashioned way, he earned it.
As a parent I would likely encourage this student to continue, work harder in school, be more attentive in school, remind him to use counselors and advisors there if he is struggling, and to know this is now his bill. However, also as a parent, if/when he graduated I'd likely chip in to help with his debt as a gift. I just wouldn't tell him my intent until after all school was done.
Not everything one learns in college occurs in the classroom. He is learning lessons about finances, effort, achievement, rewards/consequences, and responsibility. No parent wants youngster to learn the hard way, but that's better than going up into real adulthood without having learned them at all.</p>
<p>Are you sure that it makes sense for your son to stay at this school? Can he (or you) really afford that? Most would agree that it would be a big mistake to take on a huge load of debt to finance an undergrad education.</p>
<p>Maybe he needs to look at another school for this fall.</p>
<p>It's not that unusual. I know of LOTS of kids who have lost their Florida Bright Futures scholarships. </p>
<p>And it's not because the schools are too hard. It's mainly because for 18 years mommy has been making sure that child is doing what he or she is supposed to do, including going to bed at a decent hour and getting up and going to school and doing their school work, for the most part. And they head off to college and they think they are brilliant (and maybe they are) and the class seems boring so they figure they'll just read the book, and then they don't, and then the world comes crashing down.</p>
<p>Some of them drop out. My own son stuck it out, working and taking out student loans for a year. We elected to get back in to the equation, since he was not going to be able to do it on his own. That was not an easy decision.</p>
<p>The good news is that he's doing well now, although his GPA will never be what it could (should) have been. Also, younger brother learned a few things watching big brother, and will have his scholarship intact as he enters his sophomore year.</p>
<p>Anyway, I would NOT assume that the school is too hard. Call the Dean and ask where child can get help. There are PLENTY of services available that our brilliant, "I can DO it!!!" kids don't avail themselves of. My son finally went for help, and it actually HAS helped.</p>
<p>Good luck. This stinks. I know. Good luck to you both.</p>
<p>"Call the Dean and ask where child can get help. There are PLENTY of services available that our brilliant, "I can DO it!!!" kids don't avail themselves of. "</p>
<p>I suggest that the student, not his mom do this. Frankly, more than likely this info is on-line and also was told to the student during freshmen orientation. If the student needs help and is motivated to find it, the student can do so.</p>
<p>NSM -
You are absolutely correct. I made that phone call when my son was, figuratively, drowning. The dean gave me a few places to point my son, and I did, and then he took it from there.
I honestly don't know that at that point, he would have called the dean to ask. He was lost. 20/20 hindsight, I'm glad I made that call. Not the right choice for every parent, every kid. BTW, he took the help and ran with it, making all his own appointments, etc., etc.. including his appeals, etc., etc.</p>
<p>I made one phone call to help my son. Glad I did.</p>
<p>One factor in our son's decision to attend RPI was that his $25k/yr of merit scholarships only required that he maintain off academic probation which we were certain he could do. The institute's rational was that they want students to develop academic programs based on their interests irregardless of potential grade/scholarship eligibility issues.</p>
<p>We have friends whose daughter attended a LAC with a merit scholarship. Fourth semester her cumulative gpa dipped below 3.0 and she lost it. However it was reinstated a semester later when it again rose above 3.0. OP he should inquire of the college if this is the policy there too.</p>
<p>Friends of ours have D who lost a scholarship sophomore year at a private university. Our friends earn too much to qualify for much FA, but are far from wealthy, so losing the scholarship really hurt. The school did allow her an extra semester to pull up her gpa to keep her scholarship because she had a personal extenuating circumstance the prior semester. She ended up losing her scholarship a semester later. Her parents did allow her to remain at this school. They have decided that their younger children will go to a less expensive public U. or an instate U. because they do not intend to put themselves into this kind of financial situation again.</p>
<p>I am sorry to hear about your son's misfortune. It is hard to judge anything without more details. However, in our HS, college counselor warned our kids many times that they can even lose acceptance (in very rare, but known cases), not just scholarship , if their grades in senior year deep below certain level. And they have to continue working hard in college to retain it.<br>
On the other hand, they may get scholarships for Returning Students in subsequent years in college. So, your son might get substantial Merit scholarships if he trys hard in college. My D. did after freshman year, and it was in addition to her original package. Encourage him and reassure him that not everything is lost. They are at this age that sometime they lose focus. At least he is still going where he wanted to attend. The best wishes.</p>