Getting Scholarships without a Cumulative 3.0

Paying for College
1

So, I’m heading to my transfer school, attempting to apply for money and internships, and lo and behold, most scholarships and internships want met have a 3.0! Which, I mean, is a reasonable request. However, with my background at my first school, my cumulative is still below 3.0, despite my CC GPA being higher than 3.0.

Would it be okay to use my CC GPA to apply for scholarships or should I continue the hunt for scholarships/internships without a GPA requirement? As a note, I do belong to several underrepresented groups, but I’m having trouble finding group specific scholarships without GPA requirements too.

(Note: it is too early for me to get academic forgiveness for my first year, but as soon as I can get it I will.)

2

  1. Most Scholarships Providers will mainly just ask for your most recent college transcript. So you should be able to go under the radar as long as the transcript you submit says its over 3.0. That being said, you are taking a chance - if they do more diligence and ask – just be honest.

  2. There are lots of scholarships that actually have a GPA requirement of around 2.5 or none at all. So you should be able to find a good 20 of them that you can apply to them.

  • Ameet,
3

How much money do you need for this coming year?

Will your transfer school reduce the need-based aid if you get an outside scholarship?

Most scholarships do have a merit factor, and until your overall GPA is in that range, just skip those. Or send all the transcripts along with a cover letter detailing how you have pulled your life together thanks to your wonderful CC. But please don’t send just your CC transcript unless you do verify that the organization awarding the scholarship is specifically only interested in the immediate past.

4

As far as I know when you transfer to another school you have to provide transcripts from all previous institutions!

5

Maybe you should stay at your CC and try to raise your GPA before you transfer. Merit for transfers is not as generous as for freshmen.

6

@ameetm Thanks for the tips! I’ll see whether that’s what these ones ask for.

@happymomof1 I need the entire tuition, but it’s in state so it’s not too much. My school only offered me loans(no need based grants), so I accepted those to make sure I got classes. I don’t think they’ll take those away if I get an outside scholarship. That’s probably a better idea, I’d rather not lose out on a scholarship because they think I’m trying to be dishonest.

@mommdc I did provide all transcripts for my previous institutions to my transfer school, I was referring to opportunities not necessarily through said school. I did stay at my CC an extra year to do that and completed my AST, so there are no more classes for me to take to progress with my major. Furthermore, it is late July, which means going back to my CC would throw away the money I’ve already spent securing a spot at my transfer school.