Scholarship Policies at ISU
If you've been offered a scholarship from ISU or are to be the recipient of an outside scholarship, here are some facts you should be aware of:
- Full-time Enrollment Requirement--Most scholarships at ISU require that a student carry a full-time credit load. That is defined as registering for, and successfully completing, a minimum of 12 credits each semester (24 credits per academic year) for undergraduates and 9 credits each semester (18 credits per academic year) for graduate students. Please note that repeated courses and audit courses will not count toward meeting minimum credit requirements. You must be registered at the full-time credit level at the time of disbursement and as of the 10th day (the last day to add/drop full semester courses) each semester.
- Scholarships are Part of Financial Aid--When you receive a scholarship (whether institutional funds or outside funds) at ISU, it is considered part of your total Financial Aid package. It will be counted as part of the aid you have available to meet the total cost of education as determined by the Federal Financial Aid process. It will not reduce any gift aid such as PELL Grant or State Grants, but it may reduce loan or college work study amounts, depending on the individual situation.
- All scholarships have some minimum criteria--The most common are a minimum grade point average (GPA) and full time credit levels. Some scholarships require maintenance of a certain major or other unique criteria. Please read your award letter carefully and keep a copy of the letter and/or acceptance form for your records. Minimum criteria must be met before each new disbursal.
- Limit of Institutional Scholarship Funding to Individual Students --As a general rule, the maximum total of institutional scholarship funding to an individual student per semester will be limited to 1.5 times full-time resident tuition.
- Calculated GPA--When determining eligibility and/or renewal for certain scholarships, ISU uses the Institutional GPA for such calculations; not the overall GPA.
- Eligibility for Annual Renewal of Multi-Year Scholarships--Students receiving multi-year scholarships are checked at the end of the Spring semester to determine if they are eligible for continuation of the award in the next academic year. We are checking to see if students met minimum criteria while receiving the award during the current academic year (successfully completed at least 12 credits each semester or 24 credits for the academic year, achieved the minimum GPA required, and any other criteria outlined for the scholarship) . Please note that repeated courses will not count toward meeting minimum credit requirements. If a student has a deficiency (credits or GPA), we typically allow them the summer to make up the deficiency. If you are a scholarship recipient who may be in jeopardy of not meeting minimum criteria for your scholarship, please contact the Scholarship Office to inquire about the consequences and your options. When a student fails to meet all renewal criteria, the award is cancelled and will no longer be available to the student.
- Holding Scholarships--Idaho State University will hold students' scholarships if a student's attendance at ISU is interrupted for medical reasons, military deployment, church service, or other select reasons, provided that a student meets certain criteria. For students' scholarship(s) to be placed on hold while they are away from ISU for a specified period of time, we require that the student must attend at least one full-time semester prior to their departure and meet the minimum criteria for continuation of their scholarship(s) during the semester(s) they attend prior to leaving. Students should complete a Hold Request Form and submit verification of reason for leaving (i.e. mission call letter, doctor's note, military deployment notification, etc.). The documentation is used to verify the departure/return dates. Our general policy is that scholarships can be held for up to two years (or four semesters), depending on the documented departure/return dates. However, if a student's departure and return are timed such that they must miss five semesters of school (leave in middle of a semester and returning in middle of another semester), we will hold the scholarship(s) for five semesters.
- Outside Scholarships--If you are receiving an outside scholarship, it will still be processed through the ISU Scholarship Office. When we receive a check for a student from an outside source, we will send you notification of the scholarship (usually via your ISU email account) and any minimum requirements. Please keep your email address current so notifications can reach you. Funds will then be loaded on the student's behalf just like institutional scholarship awards. You may be asked to come to the Scholarship Office to endorse a check as some are made out to ISU and the student. Please do this as soon as possible so funds can be processed in a timely manner. Outside awards are also considered part of a student's total Financial Aid Package.
- ISU Reserves the Right to Change an ISU Scholarship--The ISU Scholarship Office sometimes changes the funding source of ISU scholarships which can result in changes to the name of a student's scholarship when viewed on the BengalWeb web portal, and on the Finance tabl of BengalWeb and other University documents. Such changes will NOT reduce the amount of a student's scholarship, and in some cases, may actually result in an increase to a student's scholarship amount. An example of this might be: When a student is offered the ISU Promise Matching Scholarship, it is initially entered into our computer system as the "ISU Promise Matching Scholarship." Later, however, we may decide to move the award to another institutionally administered scholarship account. For example, a student's $250 "ISU Promise Matching Scholarship" could become a $250 "Steele-Reese Foundation" Scholarship. Feel free to contact the ISU Scholarship Office if you have any questions or concerns about any changes to your scholarship.
- Student Athletes Receiving Institutional Academic Scholarships--Student athletes who have been offered an academic scholarship should discuss the award with their coach to determine whether or not the student athlete can accept the award. Under NCAA rules, student athletes are limited in the amount of institutional aid they can receive. Institutional aid includes both athletic scholarships AND institutional academic scholarships.
- How Scholarships are Disbursed--If all of your requirements have been completed on your "Scholarship Acceptance Form" your aid will automatically distribute. If requirements have not been met (i.e. Thank you letters to donors) your aid will not distribute until this has been met. Please see the ISU Scholarship Office.