ASU students may soon face stiffer requirements to keep the scholarships they count on to pay for school.
Arizona Board of Regents member LuAnn Leonard said the board is organizing a task force consisting of financial aid directors, officers and students to review aid programs and create new approaches toward awarding performance-based scholarships.
“We would be considering raising the grade point average to maintain scholarships,” Leonard said.
The potential changes would not affect federal government issued aid, including Pell Grants, but would affect awards such as the Regent High Honors Endorsement or AIMS scholarship, Leonard said.
She said other options could include limiting eligibility for financial aid to a certain number of credit hours, offering incentives for students who graduate early or offering incentives for students who graduate with math and science-based degrees.
Most ASU scholarships require a 3.0 GPA for renewal each school year. ASU received about $793 million in total financial aid funding in 2010 while around $22 million of the total came from merit-based scholarships, according to the Arizona Board of Regents student financial aid report.
Nursing junior Stephanie Corella, who receives scholarships and financial aid, said she would prefer a more merit-based award system.
“I feel it should be based more on grades because I know when I started my freshman year, my dad didn’t have a job, so I got a lot of scholarships,” Corella said. “Now my dad works and he makes pretty decent money but I still have the same grades.”
Biology junior Mohit Bhakta receives the University-based Provost’s Scholarship and said he supports merit-based financial aid reform because he maintains good grades and is working to put himself through school.
“Half the kids that I’ve seen in Tempe, they get scholarships and stuff like that but they never pay attention in class or they don’t bother,” Bhakta said. “I don’t think a kid should get free money or a scholarship if they don’t work for it.”
Leonard said she also supports more merit-based awards to inspire students to perform better and graduate on time.
“It’s a win-win situation for both sides because they can get more financial aid and possibly graduate in a shorter time and get out into the workforce,” Leonard said.
Leonard said the task force’s first meeting is scheduled for Wednesday and said she hopes the group can offer solutions to the Board of Regents within nine to 12 months that will improve the current system for students and universities alike.
“We want to make sure whatever we recommend to the board or the state is something that is going to be a right fit for our universities and our students,” Leonard said.
Reach the reporter at brennan.j.smith@asu.edu
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