By RYAN MORGENEG
Money! If you are a recipient of a one-year, Trustees or National Merit scholarship, you’ll want to attend an orientation meeting Aug. 31 at 8 a.m. or 9 a.m. in the de Jong Concert Hall in the Harris Fine Arts Center.
“When students receive a scholarship from BYU there are some expectations that go along with it”, said Steve Hill, private scholarship coordinator for BYU. “The money is an investment to prepare students for meaningful service in the world and in the kingdom. Some students often find themselves ineligible for future scholarships because they did not abide by their requirements. That is why we feel students should be aware of scholarship criteria.”
One-year scholarship and award recipients are to attend the first meeting, at 8 a.m. There they can find out what they’ll need to do to get another scholarship next year. Even if students who didn’t receive a scholarship this year, can go to find out how to apply for a scholarship next year.
Trustees or National Merit Scholarship recipients are to attend the meeting at 9 a.m. Requirements to keep their scholarships will be discussed to avoid the loss of any scholarship money.
A question and answer period in each meeting will also be held for students with any concerns about scholarships.
“The requirement for scholarships that is most often neglected is the maintenance of 14 or more credit hours per semester,” Hill said. “If this requirement is broken a student may not lose their current scholarship, but make themselves ineligible for future scholarship opportunities.”
For entering freshmen, scholarship eligibility is indexed by these four categories in decreasing order of importance: grade point average with adjustments for AP and honors classes, ACT scores, class curriculum and how many years of seminary were taken.
For continuing student scholarships, grade point average cut-offs are determined by the university based on the number of students enrolled in the college and the academic strength of the students within the college. Students are competing amongst their peers within their own college.
Sixty-five percent of scholarships at BYU are funded by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The other 35 percent are given to students by private individuals
