<p>Hi. Anyone know what happens when you have a scholarship, but hate the school and completely withdraw during your first semester?</p>
<p>Do you have to pay anything back?</p>
<p>I hear about that happening when kids get homesick, but I never hear anyone say that there is a penalty and I cannot see anything on any EDU websites that say what happens.</p>
<p>As the financial aid office at your school about this.</p>
<p>My son is not actually at a school yet. He is a senior. I will take your advice and shoot some e-mails off to schools that he has applied to.</p>
<p>I figure this topic would be something I need to talk to him about (esp. the out of state schools).</p>
<p>If he actually hates the school, remove it from your list and he simply should not attend. Since you are the adult, you should know the long term implications of him considering this strategy.</p>
<p>You would be losing money, because after the first day, the amount of money refunded to you goes down. At some schools the difference of getting back 100% of your money vs. 75% of your tuition money is one day. You may not get back dorm fees after moving in day. </p>
<p>He should by no means do anything that would compromise his first time freshman status. If he is left with a bunch of schools that he hates, he is better off taking a gap year and apply to a different set of schools as a first time freshman. His chances of getting the same kind of aid as a transfer student would be really really hard (close to no chance). Some schools consider students with one credit as transfer students.</p>
<p>The withdrawing could affect other kinds of financial aid that he is receiving Pell/direct loans and follow him to other schools. By withdrawing, he will not have met satisfactory academic progress, which could prevent him from getting federal aid in the future.</p>
<p>If he is attending grad school in the future, he will have to submit transcripts from every single school that he has attended. He would have to go through the headache of having to explain why he did this on his graduate school applications.</p>
<p>Hi sybbie719;</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply. My son is not the type to get homesick. He works every summer at a summer camp and we seldom see him.</p>
<p>For ranked national Public Universities (I think some call them tier 1), we are seeing better scholarships (i.e. lower NET PRICES) from out-of-state Public schools. He should be able to get comparable net prices from regional universities here, but I think that will not challenge him academically.</p>
<p>I want him to go to a better (i.e. higher ranked) school, but others have said what happens if it is too far away. Like I said, I do not think he will have an issue; but I was wondering if anyone knew if it would be an issue if he wanted to come back closer to home.</p>
<p>From how I read the local scholarship pages indicate that you are considered an ENTERING FRESHMAN unless you have 12 credit hours.</p>
<p>So, my logic was…</p>
<p>If he is unhappy 16 hours from home, would withdrawing prior to midterm be an option. That would maintain his ENETER FRESHMAN status. I plan to call the university 16 hours away next week and check what happens to his status there (i.e. what would be the financial penalty).</p>
<p>Then you need to look up the withdrawl policy and the withdrawl policy and penalty. If he withdraws close to midterms and the aid has been disbursed, it is highly unlikely that you will get a refund and it will compromise his SAP (satisfactory academic progress) because he will have attempted credits, but will not have completed them due to withdrawing.</p>
<p>While he may be considered an entering freshman because he has less than 12 credits, he would most likely will still have to submit the transcript because he matriculated at another school since leaving high school (this may not fare well with subsequent admissions).</p>
<p>Hopefully Kelsmom (who is a financial aid officer) will chime in on how this move will affect your son.</p>
<p>I doubt that you have to pay any scholarship money back. Another issue is that your child now has lost his “incoming frosh” status and won’t likely get much/anything when he transfers…especially if he transfers for spring semester.</p>
<p>Some schools might give him scholarship money if he applies for the following fall if he has few credits, but some won’t. Some require that the student be a incoming frosh from high school.</p>
<p>From how I read the local scholarship pages indicate that you are considered an ENTERING FRESHMAN unless you have 12 credit hours.</p>
<p>Often not true. Some won’t consider you an incoming frosh if you’ve taken ANY college classes after summer of senior year.</p>
<p>Are you planning on him hating the school he selects? It’s odd to see this question from a parent of a student who hasn’t graduated yet.</p>
<p>Your premise is incorrect. Your son will be challenged at any reasonably selective regional university if he chooses to be challenged. He can also slide through even the most prestigious university without learning much if that is what he decides to do.</p>
<p>For ranked national Public Universities (I think some call them tier 1), we are seeing better scholarships (i.e. lower NET PRICES) from out-of-state Public schools. He should be able to get comparable net prices from regional universities here, but I think that will not challenge him academically.</p>
<p>If your son can get BETTER scholarships (lower net costs) at HIGHER ranked schools, then that would be a no-brainer for me. Have him visit the schools and make his decision. At this point, it’s too early to worry about this. VISIT!!</p>
<p>Except that just because a school is “higher ranked” by USNWR’s criteria (which correlate to nothing truly meaningful) does not mean that it will be a better choice ** for this particular student**. The true “no brainers” are those who slavishly accept the rankings rather than do the hard work needed to determine what’s the best choice for a given student.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the responses. I spoke with FinAid at two colleges. Both said the same thing (although their websites did not make it clear).</p>
<p>Entering Freshman are considered entering if it is the Fall after their senior year.</p>
<p>I am not sure if I just picked two schools with the same response, or if this is fairly commong definition of “Entering Freshman”.</p>
<p>I want my son to be aware of the consequences of “being homesick” (by that I mean if he goes far away and can only come home at Christmas; he is just going to have to wait it out). The consequence would be to move back home and go to our local regional university; unless a scholarship popped up else where for a “transfer student”.</p>
<p>Both oft kids were told the same thing…regardless of how much they liked or hated their choice freshman year, they had to stay the WHOLE year in order to maximize any transfer options. The kid who went across the country was NOT coming home because she was homesick. The only reason for withdrawal during the term would have been for medical reasons.</p>
<p>^that’s the most sensible approach on every level…fiscally, academically, and in terms of life lessons 
there really is nothing you can’t survive for a year!</p>
<p>Thanks for everyone’s input.</p>
<p>Bottomline: Just ask the financial aid office. They are very helpful. </p>
<p>When he has narrowed down his list, I will coordinate any additional questions with them.</p>