Winning a college scholarship takes a lot of hard work. First, you have to find the scholarships, which is made a lot easier by being a Fastweb member. But then you may spend weeks, months, even years applying for scholarships in high school or while in college.
When you finally win one, it’s a major victory. Not only do you feel on top of the world, but you have the financial assistance to realize a very real dream – attending college. Contrary to what you may think, though, winning a scholarship is only half the battle. You have to fight to keep it.
Don’t learn the hard way that you can sometimes lose a college scholarship. Avoid doing the following, and you’ll remain in good standing.
• GPA – If the scholarship required a minimum grade point average to qualify or to maintain the scholarship and you fall below, you could lose the scholarship.
• Satisfactory academic progress – Similar to maintaining the designated GPA, you could lose your college scholarship if you fail to take the required classes or complete your degree within a certain time period.
• Full-time status – Oftentimes, scholarships require that you have at least a part-time or full-time status as a student. If you fall below the minimum or fail to enroll, you could lose a college scholarship.
• Study within a designated field – Some scholarship programs are for particular fields of study – or majors. If you change you're switching majors, you could lose your scholarship.
• College choice – Changing colleges could also affect your scholarships, especially merit scholarships that were distributed by the school you’re leaving.
• Community service hours – Your scholarship may require a set amount of community service hours each semester or school year. Failing to meet those hours could result in a loss of scholarship.
• Military service – Military scholarships, like ROTC, require training during college as well as service after graduation.
• Extracurricular involvement – Finally, some scholarships are awarded on the basis of involvement in a certain extracurricular activity, like athletics. If you quit that particular activity, you could risk losing your scholarship.
Renewable Scholarships
The first way to lose a college scholarship is not technically a loss. It’s simply that a scholarship may not be renewable. A renewable scholarship is a scholarship that can be renewed each academic year for the same amount that was initially awarded. For instance, if you win a $10,000 scholarship and it’s renewable, you’ll receive $10,000 in scholarship money every school year. Most scholarships are not renewable, so if you won a $10,000 scholarship, you would need to spread that out over your college career. To find out if your scholarship is renewable, you need to talk with your admissions department, financial aid administrator or outside scholarship provider. It depends on who awarded you the scholarship. By asking whether or not a scholarship is renewable as soon as it's awarded, you’ll be better able to plan to pay for college throughout your entire career.Eligibility Changes
Scholarships for college students are awarded based on eligibility, so in order not to lose your college scholarship, you need to maintain eligibility. Essentially, there aren’t just requirements to win a scholarship, there are standards to keep the scholarship too. Scholarship eligibility requirements may be the following: • Designated expenditures – This details what the scholarship covers – just tuition or tuition, fees and books. If you spend the scholarship on something other than what the scholarship is for, you could lost it.• Satisfactory academic progress – Similar to maintaining the designated GPA, you could lose your college scholarship if you fail to take the required classes or complete your degree within a certain time period.
• Full-time status – Oftentimes, scholarships require that you have at least a part-time or full-time status as a student. If you fall below the minimum or fail to enroll, you could lose a college scholarship.
• Study within a designated field – Some scholarship programs are for particular fields of study – or majors. If you change you're switching majors, you could lose your scholarship.
• College choice – Changing colleges could also affect your scholarships, especially merit scholarships that were distributed by the school you’re leaving.
• Community service hours – Your scholarship may require a set amount of community service hours each semester or school year. Failing to meet those hours could result in a loss of scholarship.
• Military service – Military scholarships, like ROTC, require training during college as well as service after graduation.
• Extracurricular involvement – Finally, some scholarships are awarded on the basis of involvement in a certain extracurricular activity, like athletics. If you quit that particular activity, you could risk losing your scholarship.