<p>The college that my son will be attending in Fall 2012 has an honor scholarship that requires an ACT of 26 and adjusted GPA of 3.5. Although he met the ACT with a 29 he was denied because they calculated his GPA as a 3.28. However, when we apply their formula (add .5 for each honors course and 1.0 for each dual enrollment course) it comes out to a 3.52. When I look at his transcript it appears that the dual enrollment courses (college classes taken in high school) are not marked as such, so it’s possible that whoever computed his GPA left off the 1.0 bonuese for the eight courses he took at the local CC. I proved this by removing them from my calcluation and his GPA does drop back down to 3.28. </p>
<p>My question then is am I wrong in pursuing this with his college? He obviously qualifies for the award (up to $6,000), he put in extra effort with four semesters of college work and I feel like he’s being cheated out of the award because of a mistake. I explained it nicely in an email to the head of admissions and also left her a voicemail, both of which have been ignored. Should the appeal come from my son? Should I try someone else? Or am I being too pushy and should just accept the decision?</p>
<p>Call or email now! During January of his senior year, I sent updated transcripts to his favorite schools, even though they hadn’t asked for them. His class rank had gone up slightly, and I knew that the difference would matter for one school. They ended up inceasing the award by a significant amount. In addition to the class rank increase, on the first go round they hadn’t noticed one AP class and one advanced math class. Pretty incredible and it made me wonder what other schools had missed.</p>
<p>But, with that said, schools compute GPAs in many ways. With my son, here is what three similar LCAs in the state did:</p>
<p>School A. took out all weighting of AP and pre-AP classes and recalculated GPA
School B. counted all weighting
School C. Counted all weighting for admissions, but then stripped weighting and recalculted GPA for scholarship purposes.</p>
<p>You won’t find this info on their web sites. You have to ask.</p>
<p>Absolutely let them know. There have been a number of situations where such errors, when corrected have resulted in awards and reversals of adverse decisions. However, unless it is an automatic award given by formula, don’t get all ready to get a positive outcome. A lot of times those numbers are just minimums needed to be considered. ALso if the well is dry, it isn’t going to fill up just because a thirsty passerby comes up to it.</p>
<p>There is nothing wrong with letting them know, but also know that not everyone that has that GPA and ACT score always gets these scholarships. Some schools those are automatic, others they are not. They may need the high school to send some confirmation though.</p>
<p>It’s possible that the school doesn’t recognize the CC credits and therefore purposefully scaled those grades back. Some schools don’t recognize course credit if the class was taken while a student was still enrolled in secondary school(hs,prep etc), they will if it was taken the summer before enrollment, and yes, I don’t understand the logic either. However, there is nothing wrong with opening dialogue with FA about any matter, in fact, it’s encouraged. So good luck!</p>
<p>Had a friend in the same situation a couple of years ago. The school had not correctly given credit for college-level courses taken in high school. School re-calculated the GPA and kid got additional scholarship money. No harm in asking! Call the financial aid office and ask.</p>
<p>Your kid should do everything himself, not you, no matter what. This is just one consideration. Another one is that 26/3.5 are such low stats for any Merit awards, are you sure you got this numbers correct? It does not sound right to me.</p>
<p>Please
a) ignore mean people
b) this is exactly the type of situation a parent needs to get involved in, your child is still in high school and the issue involves money, most likely, your money
c) be ready with paperwork so you can fax and/or mail certified to the admission office, they lose paperwork–all the time</p>
<p>As a warning, colleges would like to see maturity, which is even more considered in connection to any kind of scholarships, some of them might include interviews, calls, emails, everything should be done by the kid. That is what we were told and we listened.
We all have different experiences and this should not produce any name calling. My own D. has obtained close to 10 various Merit awards that covered her whole UG tuition. She did it on her own, we did not participate in a process, that was one of the reasons why she had them.</p>
<p>I know many here will disagree, but your son should be doing it, not you. I am not trying to be mean, I definitely think if he fulfills the requirements for the scholarship he should ask the college to reconsider. But, to be honest, it reflect better on your son if he is the one doing it, as someone with initiative, a go-getter. That’s the type of students most colleges like.</p>
<p>Also, make sure the head of admissions is the person that should be contacted. Perhaps it’s the financial aid office.</p>
<p>I would be less concerned about who does the calling, but please make sure that one of you do. My kids’ high school days ran/run 6:30 am - 5 pm. Not sure when they make the call, so I probably would have had to. Fin Aid is one office that probably expects to deal with parents because they have the money.</p>
<p>THat aside, my kids’ high school did not indicate which courses on the transcript were dual enrollment. You may need to send a transcript from the cc or some sort of documentation from the high school (our course book lists what is de in our case). But by all means find out what would be needed to figure out that GPA correctly and send it to them.</p>
<p>^emails are the best contact, email documents everything. Emails could be sent at any time, before, during, after school, at 2am, it does not matter. Call if you are explicitely asked to call.<br>
I would still underline the importance of kid doing everything himself. D. has mentioned that most college kids do not even pay attention to many various opportunities, scholarships and other that are coming their way during college years. D. was one of very few who was taking advantage of everything. You will not see what your kid will be receiving while in college. It will be up to him to pay attention and most of them do not. Better yet for kids who do, more is left for them. And it is NOT just financial side, there are might be opportunities that even more important than $$. Kids who are used to a parent doing everything for them are going to be left behind.<br>
I would say that doing everything yourself is much more important than actually recieving award. However, kid who does it on his own is increasing his chances of gettin it.</p>
<p>I’ve had to call our finaid folks numerous times over the last few years (and even deal with an IDOC issue) and never had a problem that it was me calling, not the kiddos. In many respects, they are happy to deal adult to adult. If they need to speak with your son, they’ll let you know. It’s not a hard and fast rule where this sort of thing is concerned. Idea is to get it tackled. Good luck.</p>
<p>Miami–there are plenty of schools out there that give merit awards for ACT/GPA stats like that–they just don’t exist on the CC boards because they aren’t “top” schools…</p>
<p>I do agree that your son should do the contact with the financial aid office, however. You can certainly be with him in the room when he makes the phone call because there may be questions he can’t answer but it would be better coming from him.</p>
<p>Absolutely contact them. The same happened to my daughter. We were puzzled why she did not get a particular scholarship and asked her college. Turned out the school she finished her last 2 years of HS at had not marked her AP classes from her previous school on her transcript as AP classes. The college asked us to get an original transcript from the 1st school and she ended up with the scholarship.</p>
<p>I did call myself because she was in a math/science boarding school and had no way of calling them during the day. I think either your kid or you can do it. Good luck.</p>
<p>MiamiDAP- you have told us a million times how perfect your daughter is. That isn’t very helpful to the OP. Some of our kids benefit from help and guidance and that’s not all that bad. Give it a rest.</p>
<p>I’m surprised there’s been no response from the head of admissions - makes me think she’s not the most appropriate contact person. Have you called the financial aid office? If your son has already sent in a deposit, perhaps the dean of students could help?</p>
<p>I see absolutely nothing wrong in a parent phoning the school about a financial matter for an incoming freshman. It’s great if the kid wants to do it, but not an indication that there’s something lacking if a parent decides to handle it instead. Some high school seniors are not as staggeringly independent as others, and that’s really just fine.</p>