<p>I'm a rising Junior at Fordham University in the Bronx. I'm maintaining an $8,000/yr scholarship with the school that requires a 3.0 GPA. Because of some issues I've been having, my GPA has slipped to a 2.987, a single grade increase away from maintaining the 3.0 I need.</p>
<p>I know you couldn't possibly know how Fordham would react, but does anyone have experience with this sort of situation? How stringent are schools about these cutoffs--am I going to lose my scholarship and take out $16,000 in student loans because of a single grade?</p>
<p>First of all you don’t get to a 2.987 over two years with a single grade.</p>
<p>Fordham can do one of four things.
Put you on a form academic “probation” and give you one more semester to raise your GPA (while continuing to pay your scholarship)
Advise you that you’ve lost your scholarship and will not be able to regain it …ever.
Refuse to pay your scholarship for the next semester but give you that semester to get your GPA above 3.0 ad regain your scholarship for the remaining semesters.
Decide you GPA is close enough and “warn” you that you are in danger of losing the scholarship if your GPA is not above 3.0 by the end on next semester (similar to #1)</p>
<p>How strict schools are is dependent on the individual schools. Some are very strict and very rigid in their scholarship requirements. Is it possible to re-take one of your classes over the Summer to get your GPA up? Have you asked your adviser or the FA office about Fordham’s policy? Even if it is bad news the sooner you find out the sooner you can prepare a contingency plan. Good luck.</p>
<p>My son lost his scholarship at his school when he went below the 3.0 average. The letter he got specifically said that even .1 results in that loss, and that is the end of the matter, as many students each year fall in that narrow corridor. I was not amused when my son stated he was glad he hadn’t lost his by that margin but by a much more significant amount.</p>
<p>Or maybe you can try not being a snobbish jerk to someone who is in need? What exactly can I do at this point? Okay, one class did not put me within one grade increase of a 3.0, ALL of my classes put me within one grade increase of a 3.0. Are you happy now? How are people still misunderstanding what I am saying. MY ENTIRE GRADE POINT AVERAGE is one grade change from a 3.0. Get it?</p>
<p>Belky1, beg and ask and explain. Maybe the one teacher will give you a break since it has such a big consequence. But be aware, according to that letter my son got from a pretty big uni, there are a lot of students who are even closer than you to the breakpoint who lose their awards.</p>
<p>I think an important question here is - what are the issues you have been having that affected your grades, and are they resolved now, such that you can pull your grades up in the next semester or so? Is there a chance you will continue to slide? </p>
<p>Also, is there any chance whatsoever of getting additional points from any of the spring course professors? I once had a (graduate math) course where I took 2 exams in to plead for extra points. On one of them the grader had taken off where I made a stupid math error and then kept taking off when I used the result at several other points so that it came to 7% of the exam. Even the professor thought that was rather harsh.</p>
<p>OP, you are not “in need”. You got the grade you have earned. It is not enough to keep your scholarship (maybe). You knew what your grades were, you determined the level of effort you put in, you knew what the cutoff was. You are not a victim - you created this. </p>
<p>Grade grubbing will not fix your problem. Hard work will. I really hope you do not lose your scholarship. But it is NOT an entitlement. It is an award that you have to earn by keeping a certain level of academic performance. Your results currently are below the standard. Does not matter by how much. </p>
<p>If you have not dipped below 3.0 before…ask to be placed on probation.</p>
<p>Most scholarships have such provisions.</p>
<p>Do NOT wait to receive a letter saying it was pulled…be proactive and write a plea to be placed on probation pending the results of the fall semester.</p>
<p>Thank you all, with the exception of Iron Maiden, for the constructive help and support. It’s unfortunate that IM has to be so ridiculously judgmental, accusatory, and generalized in his/her approach to answering my questions. Sounds like you would be a great university professor! </p>
<p>Anyway, I’ve spoken to other students who have said that they had the same scholarship revoked at lower than 2.987, but refunded at 2.96. That is making me feel better.</p>
<p>Belky1 you just can’t see it can you? You are not a victim. It’s time to be an adult and accept responsibility for your actions. Some day you hopefully will realize this. </p>
<p>Please enlighten me as to how anything I said in post #10 is incorrect. The school did not do this. The profs did not do this. You did. You can beg for a higher grade you did not earn. Or you can accept that this is your doing, accept whatever happens, pick yourself up, and try harder. That is the mature approach that works in the real world.</p>
<p>It’s not incorrect, the person I spoke to had his scholarship revoked at a mark lower than mine, which prompted the revocation. The school informed him that it would be refunded if he reattained a 3.0. They determined that 2.96 was “close enough” and refunded the scholarship when he brought the GPA up to 2.96.</p>
<p>IM, the others here have decided to advise me understanding the facts that already exist. In order to take your advice, I would need a time machine and go back to the previous semester, so that doesn’t exactly help. Instead of giving me actionable assistance, you just berate me about my problem saying I’m being immature about it. You know nothing about my last semester, so stop assuming that you do. Thank you.</p>
<p>Just a thought: Is there any way you could take a summer class, get an “A,” and raise the GPA to 3.0 before Fall semester starts? Does Fordham have any summer online courses?</p>
<p>Doesn’t work that way at any school I know. The scholarship review board meets at the end of each year and signs off on who continues to get the money. Very simple review. You either have the gpa, or you don’t. Don’t even know if they actually meet.</p>
<p>Yes, but even if the scholarship was suspended now, he would have an excellent chance at an appeal to keep it if the GPA exceeded the minimum before class resumed in the Fall.</p>
<p>If he could even get one graded unit for an internship over the summer and get an “A,” that would do it. The tuition fee for the unit would be a good investment to keep the $8,000. If he has approx 60 units at 2.987, that is 179.22 GPA points. 1 unit with an “A” would make it 61 units with 183.22 GPA points for a 3.0036. If as the cpt says there is a “board” reviewing the situation, him having a solid plan to raise the GPA would only be a positive, I would think. (And a 2.987 is awfully close to a 3.0 in any case…)</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, at my daughter’s school (University of Southern California), if a scholarship student dips below a 3.0, they are put on probabtionary status and given one semester to bring the GPA up before the scholarship is suspended.</p>
<p>“Guess I’ll try begging my teachers for one grade bump.”</p>
<p>My issue was with your grade grubbing quote above. That is all. A more mature way of putting it would have been to talk with your professors to see if there is any research or extra work you could do to earn the grade. Not just ask because you feel entitled. The real world does not work that way.</p>
<p>Now if you have an “extraordinary circumstance” then you have an argument per the last post. In my experience that is severe illness, death in the family, etc.</p>