Out-of-state merit scholarship recipients are facing less pressure now that the GPA requirement for scholarships has dropped from 3.5 to 3.25.
Student Financial Assistance, in conjunction with the University Undergraduate Initiatives, the Barrett Honors College and Undergraduate Admissions, announced the change last week.
The announcement comes two months after the Arizona Board of Regents decided to eliminate the community service requirement. Until this year, non-residents were required to perform 20 hours of community service per semester to retain their scholarship.
"When ABOR eliminated the community service requirement, we knew it was the perfect opportunity to consider changing the GPA criteria for out-of-state students," said Scholarship Director Christie Norwood.
Previously, when ASU gave out tuition waivers, they were tied to ABOR rules of community service and a 3.5 GPA. Now, ASU no longer awards waivers, but grants larger cash scholarships to cover tuition costs. They did so to align with other top institutions, Norwood said.
With cash scholarships, the University is free from the ABOR policy and can change the minimum GPA requirement, she added.
University officials have been interested in changing the minimum GPA for some time, she said.
"We wanted it to mirror the requirements for resident scholars," Norwood said.
In-state scholarship recipients have always had to maintain a 3.25 GPA and were not required to perform community service.
Norwood said she believes fewer scholarship appeals will be made at the end of the year because of the change.
But Barrett Honors College Dean Mark Jacobs questioned why the policy change didn't come sooner.
Jacobs began looking into possibly changing the policy after his first year as the honors college dean during the 2003-04 year. That year, eight out-of-state students asked him for letters of recommendation for scholarship appeals. Last year, 45 out-of-state students asked him.
Jacobs said that after learning from Norwood that nearly 100 percent of appeals were granted, he realized the 3.5 GPA was outdated.
"I asked around, and people told me the rule came from somewhere, but nobody knew where," he said.
Jacobs said he assumed the non-resident scholars were held to a higher standard because they were not paying Arizona taxes, but still getting scholarships and therefore must be considered "better students."
"But we still have good students here, even with a lower GPA," he said.
Jacobs eventually learned the University Undergraduate Initiatives set the policy and contacted their office. Within two days, everything was in place.
Molecular biosciences sophomore Sara Esquibel, a National Hispanic Scholar from California, said she is happy about the change.
"Freshman year of college is a huge adjustment in the first place, and it's almost as if to keep the scholarship, one would have to take easier classes and give up on attempting more difficult ones," she said.
BHC administrators had similar sentiments.
"We hope, along with changing the honors college GPA requirement, it will eliminate the disturbing tendency to shop for easy credits," Jacobs said.
Norwood said more than 1,600 students will be affected by the policy change. The scholarships affected are Sun Devil, Dean's Leadership, National Merit Finalist and Semi-Finalist, National Hispanic Finalist and National Achievement Finalist.
Other universities across the state are changing their policies as well.
UA lowered its requirement to 3.0 after the ABOR policy change, while NAU now requires a 3.25.
Ross Meyer, an economics junior and a Sun Devil Scholarship recipient, said he is happy ASU didn't lower the GPA requirement beyond 3.25.
"It keeps us at a higher standard than other universities," he said. "But students can still keep their scholarship while having a job and participating in other activities."
Reach the reporter at krisit.eaton@asu.edu.
