I'm in shock

[EngrGirl]

I really don't know what to do right now. I just received a phone call from the graduate coordinator at my school, asking me what my GPA will be at the end of this semester. Unfortunately, since my GPA will be less than 3.5, they are now saying that my award (which I received over a month ago) no longer applies. In effect, they are taking it away from me and I won't know what funding I'm eligible for until early next week. I'm in shock...I was so happy to get funding from this school (full tuition, health insurance, and a stipend) that I pulled my application from the other schools I had applied to. Now I'm not sure I can afford to go to grad school. I feel like crying :cry:

Are grad schools allowed to take away funding? Should I try to fight this since it was their fault? I told them all through the application process what my GPA was (the grad coordinator says she thought I told her it was much higher...which I would never do).

[vaishnavi]

this is outrageous!! i really feel for you..

i feel you should definitely fight this.. email the grad coordinator n tell her politely but firmly tat you have been honest with your application from the start (assuming u were). And that you withdrew your application from other colleges after receiving their offer.. It is unfair of them to take away the funding at this point!

Good luck.. dont take this sitting down. I wouldn't!

[whentostop]

Yeah, seriously, wow...

You've got to do something, right? If your ap materials are right, can they do that?

[luvalicious]

If the award required a 3.5 GPA and you told them that your final GPA would in fact be less, it seems odd that the school would give it to you anyway... Did you know that you had to have a 3.5? Put your projected final GPA anywhere on the application in writing? I wonder why this didn't come up sooner though. There's obviously some miscommunication going on here.

Unfortunately, I think that most likely they will say that this is your fault and not give you much recourse. Other than appealing the decision in writing and maybe on the phone, I don't know what else you can do.

[snagsby52]

That is so out of line. The school should be ashamed of doing that to a student. I'm sorry--I hope it turns out okay.

[snagsby52]

and no--I don't think they are allowed to take away funding after they have given it to you, and especially not after April 15th when you can no longer choose another school (unless you received something in writing that said this). However, I'm pretty sure there is very little that you can do about it.

[EngrGirl]

Thanks for all the replies everyone...thought I'd give a little update.

So after many many phone calls, it turns out that the graduate coordinator was mistaken. Apparently the cutoff GPA for the award is a 3.0 (as determined by the graduate school). The individual departments can choose a different GPA cutoff if they desire (in this case, 3.5). Since my department and advisor really want me to attend, they're willing to waive the 3.5 requirement (and since I have >3.0 I can still receive the award). So the crisis has been solved and it looks like I can afford to go to graduate school after all.

Again, thanks everyone! I really appreciate all the comments.

[rising_star]

I'm glad this has worked out for you!

[luvalicious]

ditto on that... And how cool is it that your advisor/department pulled for you like that?

[snagsby52]

Yeah!!! That is so great. Good Luck!!!

[Minnesotan]

Wow! What a stupid situation to put you in. Luckily it worked out in the end. Sheesh!

[StarvingStudentYeah]

Wow, I'm thrilled to see this worked out in a positive way. I was getting quite hot under the collar reading this stuff.

What sort of person is this grad coordinator? The rule is that if the mistake is yours you honor it. Period. Call someone to rescind funding during 4/15 week based on a technicality? P'shaw. Outrageous in the extreme.

Glad it worked out for you.