Scholarships!?!

[vsantos316]

Hi!

I'm currently spending hours searching for scholarships.
Am I just wasting my time:leaving: ..cause i plan to clep/dsst out of all of my credits??

Most scholarships say I must be enrolled full time in an accredited college, by taking 12 credits per semester.

An Admission rep said "A full time student is one taking 12 credits at an institution.", she's planning on calling me back when she knows for sure whether I am a ft student cause I will be transferring 12c per semester.

BTW I am part of the enrolled tuition options plan @ TESC.

Any info would be much appreciated.
I need to apply soon..the scholarship deadline is coming up!

Thanks! ,
Vivian

[marianne202]

My understanding is that testing out will not qualify for federal scholarship money. You have to prove adequate academic progress in the course along with good attendance. We are required to show attendance at 10% mark in the course, grades at 50% in the course and then final grades. We also are required to report any student who is close to failing due to grades or attendance. Because of these requirements, testing out would not allow this reporting required by the federal government for federal aid students. I hope this helps.

[Andy1979]

So I'm reading this as you looking for scholarships and not financial aid. These are two completely different areas.

I am an undergrad student now, and work for the school which I attend. I have transfered in many credits (CLEP/DSST are considered transfer). I have not had ANY problems with financial aid. Schools must report on academic progress and if you graduate earlier than the graduation date listed on your loan documents and FAFSA application.

As far as scholarships are concerned, you probably do need to be enrolled full time in order to be considered eligible. However most schools will not allow you to test out of an entire degree anyway. I wouldn't want that for my degree. My school requires a minimum of 30 credits to be taken there in order to graduate. This leaves 93 credits with some probability of transferring in. Every school is different though.

So, I approached it in a reasonable manner. I took as many CLEP/DSST tests as I could to meet prerequisites for classes, and then I am taking the classes I am most interested in either in a classroom or online. This means that I tested out of English and took Operations Management, not that I could test out of OM anyway (no test that the school accepts).

Look at it this way... apply for financial aid, use all of your grant money, use loans that will get you to full-time status, and transfer in anything else you need. This way you're taking the classes you're most interested in and testing for the rest. If you can wrangle some scholarships, GREAT! You can earn a TON of credits really fast this way and learn something at the same time. It's a win-win.

Hope this helps,

Andy

[vsantos316]

Thanks Andy and Marianne for your advice!
I just sent received a reply:

Ms. Santos,

If the private scholarship fund is asking if you are a full time student, then by having paid an annual enrollment fee with TESC, you can legitimately say you are a full time student with us.

Dave Anderson
Assistant Vice President for Learner Support
danderson@tesc.edu

yay!! ..i guess ill email the private fund im applying 2 to make sure

[cookderosa]

Hi!

I'm currently spending hours searching for scholarships.
Am I just wasting my time:leaving: ..cause i plan to clep/dsst out of all of my credits??

Most scholarships say I must be enrolled full time in an accredited college, by taking 12 credits per semester.

An Admission rep said "A full time student is one taking 12 credits at an institution.", she's planning on calling me back when she knows for sure whether I am a ft student cause I will be transferring 12c per semester.

BTW I am part of the enrolled tuition options plan @ TESC.

Any info would be much appreciated.
I need to apply soon..the scholarship deadline is coming up!

Thanks! ,
Vivian

If you get scholarship (or grant or loan) money, it will be sitting in your TESC "account" and do no good toward the cost of CLEP/DSST exams. As you know, you must pay for those on the spot. What you are asking, is if TESC will pay for your CLEPs, and the answer is no.

Now, if you get a pell grant or student loan, you may be subject to taking a certain number of credits per semester to qualify. Without going on too much, I took a pell grant and student loan. They divided it by 4 (terms) and gave me 1/4 of the total each term. The money was first applied to my courses, then any remainder was given to me in the form of a check. I used my leftover to pay for cleps, books, and every penny left over went into a bank account. I was very good about my budget, and as soon as I graduated, I put a few items on ebay and a few dollars here there- anyway, the first day my student loan came due (6 months after graduation) I wrote a check for the full amount and closed that account. So, I used financial aid but I think I was careful. Some folks can get into debt, and that's never good. ESPECIALLY since student loan debt is NEVER forgivable- you can even file bankruptcy and it doesn't go away- be VERY careful borrowing govt money.

You could look at this differently. I gave a talk to my local homeschool group that I called "Give Yourself a CLEP Scholarship." The idea is, of course, that any CLEP you take- gives you a "scholarship" of the tuition saved. For our local university, every course is about $900 plus book/fee, so 1 CLEP ($100) is equivalent to about a $1000 "scholarship." Since many schools allow at least 15 credits (5 tests) by doing so, every student in that room could walk out with a $5000 "scholarship." Not bad!!