The Whitworthian

Issue date: 4/15/08 Last Updated: 4/17/08

After three years of discussion, the financial aid office along with dean of enrollment Fred Pfursich agreed to reduce the minimum GPA requirement for academic scholarships to a 2.0 at the start of spring semester.

Last year's Mind and Heart scholarship required a 3.5 minimum GPA and all other academic scholarships required a minimum 3.0 GPA in order for students to keep their current scholarship.

"This plan is retroactive.It's not just for the new students, but for all students with academic scholarships," Pfursich said.

Pfursich said there are 203 current students receiving the Mind and Heart scholarship, 370 for Presidential, 232 for Trustee and 169 for Legacy.

The decision to lower the GPA requirement was based on several factors, Pfursich said.

He said it was a lot of work for the financial aid office to monitor students' GPAs.

Pfursich said requiring a higher minimum GPA for scholarship recipients was a disadvantage to recipients. Some students had need-based financial aid and only had to maintain the institutional (2.0) GPA, he said.

"This change also reduces stress for students who are athletes, have jobs, are involved in extracurricular activities or who have challenging course loads," Pfursich said.

Wendy Olson, director of financial aid, said the change will benefit students who are on the verge of losing their scholarships.

"A huge portion of students are going to be above that 3.0 GPA level anyway, and this plan just provides a better situation for students who are on that 3.0 bubble," she said.

Some students disagree with the new policy.

"It feels like it compromises Whitworth's academic prestige," freshman Lauren Avischious said.

Senior Victoria Hiller said she was surprised by the change.

"You mean I have had to keep above a 3.5 the last four years and some freshman only has to keep a 2.0?" Hiller said.

Some students, like freshman Peter Pascacio, feel relieved about the change.

"I think it's a good thing because some majors are more intense than others and it puts relief on students with those majors," Pascacio said.

Students with full-tuition scholarships will partially be affected by the GPA requirement change, Olson said.

"Originally, the full-tuition scholarship required students to have a 3.5 GPA and now that has been reduced to a minimum 3.0 GPA," Olson said.

There are currently 16 Faculty Scholarship Competition recipients receiving full-tuition scholarships, Pfursich said.

Contact Beau Lamb at beau.lamb@whitworthian.com.

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