The following policies assist the Office of Student Financial Assistance in administering Miami University scholarships in a fair and equitable manner to all university students. If you have questions about the award rules for your scholarship, hopefully you will find the answers in this document, which addresses issues regarding the Ohio Resident Scholarship and the Ohio Leader Scholarship, general scholarship policies, criteria for renewing scholarships, how your scholarship will be affected by internships, co-ops or study abroad, and how you can have a previous scholarship award reinstated. You may also find it helpful to visit the Frequently Asked Questions section of our web page which responds to common scholarship questions.

The following policies apply to all Miami scholarships except the Ohio Resident Scholarship (ORS) and the Ohio Leader Scholarship (OLS). For information on policies concerning these two scholarships, see ORS/OLS Policies below.

General Scholarship Policies*

• Students must enroll full time to receive their scholarship.
• Students can use their Miami scholarships during fall and spring semesters only. Exceptions may be made on a case-by-case basis for students who submit appeals to the Office of Student Financial Assistance. An example of a reason a scholarship would be approved for summer use (if funding is available) would be if a student would graduate early as a result of attending summer school.
• Students cannot receive a combination of aid, including loans and Miami scholarships, which exceed their cost of attendance. If the total amount of financial aid exceeds the cost of attendance, the amount of the Miami scholarship(s) may be lowered so that the total aid no longer exceeds to cost of attendance.
• If a student is awarded a scholarship for the Oxford campus then transfers to a regional campus, he or she would no longer be eligible for the Oxford campus scholarship.
• Beginning with the freshman class of 2002, students awarded scholarships to pay for room and board are required to live on campus and purchase a meal plan in order to receive the room and board scholarship.
• Annual scholarship awards are made assuming students will attend both fall and spring semesters at Miami University. Students who do not enroll at Miami for both semesters will have their scholarship amounts reduced to reflect their one semester scholarship eligibility.
• Students can use their Miami scholarships for a study abroad program only if the study abroad program is sponsored by either Miami University or another Ohio, public university.
• Students can receive renewable scholarships for a maximum of eight semesters. Students who need scholarships for a fifth year of undergraduate study should apply for a Returning Student Scholarship during the fourth year of college.
• Each year at the end of spring semester, the cumulative grade point averages (CGPAs) are reviewed for students receiving renewable scholarships. Any scholarship recipient who does not have the required CGPA will lose his or her scholarship for the following year.

Criteria for Renewal of Renewable Scholarships*

• Students must achieve a minimum cumulative grade point average (CGPA) in order to renew scholarships. The scholarship award letter from the Office of Student Financial Assistance informs students of the CGPA required in order to renew their specific scholarships.
• Academic records are reviewed annually at the end of each spring semester. Students who have not achieved the minimum CGPA will be notified that they have lost eligibility for their scholarship. Students may appeal the loss of scholarship by sending a written appeal to the Scholarship Appeal Committee, in care of the Office of Student Financial Assistance.
• In addition to maintaining a specific CGPA, some scholarships also require that students remain enrolled in the certain major fields. Students who lose eligibility for a scholarship due to changing majors cannot appeal the loss of the scholarship.

Internships and Co-ops*

• Students who participate in either an internship or a co-op during fall or spring semester will usually not be charged full-time tuition by Miami. Because students are not charged full-time tuition, students are not eligible to receive their scholarship for the period during which they participate in the internship or co-op. In addition, students cannot receive the full annual amount of scholarship during one semester.
  
  • Renewable Scholarships - Since students do not receive their scholarship benefit during the semester of internship/co-op, the intern/co-op semester is not counted as one of the eight semesters of scholarship eligibility. For example, if a student participates in an internship during fall semester of the junior year, he or she would not receive the scholarship(s) during this fall semester, but could use the scholarship during the fall semester of a fifth year of college. If the student does not need, or chooses not to attend a fifth year of college, the scholarship for the semester of internship/co-op will be forfeited.

• Students who participate in a fall or spring semester Miami-sponsored study abroad program may utilize their academic scholarship during the period of study abroad.
• Students who participate in a fall or spring semester non-Miami study abroad program may use their Miami scholarship during the period of the study abroad program only if the study abroad program is sponsored by another Ohio public university.
• Students who participate in a study abroad program not sponsored by Miami University or by another Ohio public university are not eligible to receive their scholarship for the period during which they study abroad. Since students do not receive their scholarship benefit during the study abroad semester(s), the study abroad semester(s) does not count as one of the eight semesters of scholarship eligibility.
  
  • Students who are not eligible to receive their scholarship during one semester cannot instead receive the annual amount of their scholarship during the one semester they are enrolled at Miami University. For example: John has an annual RedHawk Scholarship for $2,000. He enrolls at Miami in the fall semester, but will be studying abroad through Marquette University in the spring. Even though John will not be eligible to receive the spring portion of his scholarship, he cannot receive the entire $2,000 of his scholarship during fall semester.
  
  
• Students who participate in a summer study abroad program are not eligible to receive their scholarship during the summer they study abroad, even if the study abroad program is sponsored by Miami or by another Ohio public university.

Transferring to Miami*

• New high ability transfer students will be considered for annual merit scholarships, which are renewable with a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0. New transfer students with significant need will be considered for annual need-based scholarships, which are renewable with a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.5. Students who transfer to Miami may apply during their first year at Miami for the Returning Student Scholarships for their second year at Miami.
• Students offered scholarships to Miami during their senior year in high school who do not attend Miami in the fall following high school graduation, but who want to later transfer to Miami, cannot appeal to have their Miami scholarship reinstated.

• Students with academic scholarships who withdraw from the University and later re-enroll may submit a written appeal to have their academic scholarship reinstated. The SFA Appeal Committee decides appeals on a case-by-case basis.
• Renewable scholarships are awarded for a maximum of eight semesters. Scholarships that are approved for reinstatement will typically be reinstated for the remaining number of semesters of eligibility.

Policies for the Ohio Resident Scholarship (ORS) and Ohio Leader Scholarship (OLS)

Students admitted prior to fall 2008, who were enrolled at the Oxford or Luxembourg campuses and received the Ohio Resident and Ohio Leader Scholarships will continue to be eligible for these scholarships.

• The ORS and OLS are awarded only to Ohio residents who are enrolled in an undergraduate program in the Oxford and Luxembourg campuses. The Ohio Resident Scholarship is guarantee to equal or exceed the state-funded appropriation per student. The Ohio Leader Scholarship will vary according to financial need.
• Students cannot receive a combination of aid, including loans and all Miami scholarships, which exceed their cost of attendance. If the total amount of financial aid exceeds the cost of attendance, the amount of aid may be lowered so that the total aid no longer exceeds the cost of attendance.
• The ORS and OLS can only be used for study abroad programs sponsored by Miami University.
• The ORS and OLS are renewable until graduation, up to six years.
• Students who do not have full-time enrollments will have the amounts of their ORS and OLS prorated.
• The grade point average required for renewal of the ORS and OLS is the grade point average that is required by Miami University for continued enrollment. For more information refer to Section I, Part III, Section 304 of the 2006-07 Student Handbook.

* These policies apply to all Miami scholarships except the Ohio Resident Scholarship (ORS) and the Ohio Leader Scholarship (OLS). For information on policies concerning these two scholarships above.