As a student who wanted to attend college in states other than Georgia, where I am from, I was and still am entirely dependent on scholarships.
When I applied to NSU, I was awarded almost $160,000 for all four years. I would not be here if it weren’t for those scholarships.
I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to become an NSU Shark.
As a second-semester senior, I can see the light at the end of the metaphorical tunnel, with graduation and a big-girl job being so close. But what would happen if I lost my scholarship before finishing my degree?
That was a real question that came up when all of my scholarships were randomly canceled in July 2024. I started to freak out. How would I be able to graduate, attend NSU or even afford to move back down here without them?
On July 26, students like me received an email from the Office of Financial Aid and Academic Records with the subject line reading: “2024- 2025 Institutional Scholarship Cancelation Notice.”
In this email, students were told that their institutional scholarships, including the Dean’s, Shark Legacy, Achievement Award and Undergraduate Financial Aid Grant, were being canceled due to a “failure to maintain a 2.0 GPA and/or a failure to earn at least 12 credit hours per semester during the 2023-2024 academic year.”
This academic year, NSU also implemented a new policy that tuition must be paid in full for the semester by Aug. 1 or students risk being dropped from classes and being prevented from moving into residence halls. Scholarship students on payment plans were informed that “installment payments will be adjusted accordingly” if scholarships are canceled.
As a student who has maintained above a 3.0 GPA and has always taken at least 15 credit hours a semester, I was confused and frustrated when I received this email. How can they randomly take away $15,000 and give me five days to come up with that money to pay for tuition?
I was scared that I would not be able to graduate on time because of my inability to pay full tuition.
Luckily, after a lot of phone calls and email exchanges with the financial aid office, I received all but $500 back.
Most of the other students I talked to were also worried about paying tuition. But money is a complex issue, and they stopped talking about it after some of their scholarships, like mine, were partly reinstated. I think they are probably reluctant to speak up for fear of losing their scholarships again.
But not me.
After speaking with the scholarships department on Sept 24 for a comment on this story, they reiterated that the reasons scholarships were canceled were described in the original email and felt that my article was a threat. The only positive was that the office reinstated the last $500 that I was missing from my scholarship while I was there. I hope this threat of losing scholarships doesn’t happen loosely anymore.
I can’t help but wonder what if I didn’t get it back? Would I still be able to graduate or even attend NSU anymore?
I love being a Shark, and I don’t want this type of email scare to prevent me or any other student from being one.
Students should feel secure speaking about anything that can affect their education and ability to learn. And educational institutions, in general, should be careful of the impact of irresponsible communication.
Francesca Abarca, senior communication major, is The Current’s feature writer.
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