Scholarship Deferral Policy
Every year we have a couple of students who wish to defer their scholarship for an academic year for one reason or another. Do you have a policy that states what your rules are and gives the reasons why a deferral would be granted? Is this a separate policy or written into your Scholarship Policy?
For a bit of background, we usually give students until September 15th of the year they are awarded to respond to us to pay out their scholarship; we have only ever deferred a scholarship for one academic year, but are wondering what standards are and would like a policy surrounding it. Feel free to email me directly at samantha@mainstreetfoundation.org as well!
Comments
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We have a policy that states we will hold a scholarship for one year. If you are going to institute a policy, it would be a good idea to address deferring scholarships for a year at the start but also address interruptions in the middle of a year or 4 years if the scholarship is renewable.
We need to be more specific, as we have students who take a semester off, or transfer, or go part-time and it's creating a circus as far as payout goes.
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We don't have a written policy, but we have an unspoken policy. We defer for one year when a student asks for deferring. I keep a record of our conversations and as long as it is a reasonable ask we assist the student.
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Hi Samantha! We're in the midst of formalizing our deferral policy now. This is what I've proposed to add to the current scholarship policy document:
Payment to the Educational Institution may be deferred, at the student’s request, for a period of up to one year from the original award date. Requests will be approved if the following conditions are met:
- Deferment is not expressly prohibited by the Fund Agreement
- The student provides documentation from their educational institution that their enrollment deferment has been approved. In other words, the student’s place at the institution is reserved for the next academic year.
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We have a deferral policy in place - Students may request a deferral (partial or full) for one year. Students must submit the request in writing and have one year to notify us of activation. After that, it is forfeited.
We are not very strict about reasons or the timing, as long as there are dollars unspent. Reasons have ranged from illness to transfer, and even to offset the negative impact of the school's financial aid displacement policies.
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We allow students to defer a scholarship for up to 2 years (to account for military or missionary service). When completing their acceptance form, there is a place to indicate a deferral. They do not need to select a post-secondary institution until their deferral is complete. Once the deferral time period is up, students must notify us of their school within 6 months or forfeit their scholarship.
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