<p>We are filing the finaid paperwork for our son’s upcoming sophomore year. Academic scholarship is guaranteed. However, do colleges have criteria other than the FAFSA and institutional statement when renewing grant aid and subsidized loans. For example, do they look at the student’s current GPA to help determine whether they want to make a good offer to cause him to return next year? Also, do they look more favorably upon him if he continues in the sport he was originally recruited for (and the school worked hard to get him in spite of the fact that it was a DIII)?</p>
<p>I think my DD’s school looked at her GPA (4.0 at that point) - They increased her grant - that’s in addition to her merit scholarship. We were pleasantly surprised. Of course, her Fed loan amount also increased but that’s true for everyone.</p>
<p>For the Federal loan - it should/will make no difference - and neither should the athletic piece since it is a D3 school - has nothing to do with his aid package - the GPA may be important for the grant piece tho or for merit aid. It sounds like his package is based on need - so as long as he is good standing it should not be a problem at all - but if not it may effect the grants/merit part. Does that make sense?</p>
<p>I knew the loans wouldn’t be impacted, and the scholarship won’t be because the college dropped all GPA requirements beyond simply being in good standing. My concern was that when looking at the grant piece, they would consider DS’s GPA (which is slightly above 3.0), but particularly penalize him because he droppped his recruited varsity sport at midterm at the strong recommendation of the academic dean, because he was in danger of failing one of his courses. He may or may not return to the sport in the future, but he/we/the dean want to know that he can handle it all without all the struggling and stress.</p>
<p>OB - one of the reasons for going to a D3 is that nothing financial is based on being an athlete cuz no scholarships/grants/fa can be based on being an athlete - so it cannot effect the grant/scholarship piece if he was an athlete and stopped playing - the athletes essentially play for the love of playing - like in the Ivy’s as well.</p>
<p>JeepMom, while that is what the colleges say, in actuality, if a D-3 school really, really wants an athlete, there are ways around things and they are given scholarships/grants named as other things.</p>
<p>This has been the case with D #3 - her grades are pretty much what I would consider “average”, yet because she was a recruited athlete, she was offered “academic” and institutional grants and scholarships above the typical financial aid package. This was for D-3 schools and also D-1 & 2 schools who don’t offer athletic scholarships in her sport. We were told that if she contributes to her sport the way they would expect, her grant/scholarship aid would increase the following year to full.</p>
<p>MAM BUT they are NOT titled/labeled as athletic scholarships/grants - your D obviously fell into the academic level of the school or she would not be there.</p>
<p>Even D3 schools will hold several school based scholarships in reserve for their athletes…and many of those reserved scholarships, which are not labeled as athletic scholarships are not based on a students academic ability, GPA or need…but strictly to keep the athletes enrolled at their institution.</p>