Jennifer Mullins
Associate Director, Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid

In addition to remaining in good standing with the Institute, students receiving financial aid and scholarships have additional academic requirements to maintain. In general, all students receiving aid must maintain a minimum GPA: 1.7 for freshmen; 1.9 for sophomores; 2.0 for juniors and seniors.

Students are also required to successfully complete 75 percent of all coursework attempted at Georgia Tech. Students who receive an incomplete “I”, withdrawal “W” or failure “F” in a course do not receive completed credit. In addition, if a student needs to repeat a class due to an inadequate passing grade, that class does not count as a successfully completed course. For this reason, students need to carefully consider the registration schedule for each term. Withdrawing from classes periodically will not cause a problem. However, students who withdraw repeatedly from classes could run into difficulty.

Finally, all students are expected to complete their degree within a “maximum time frame.” At Tech, this is measured in credit hours. Students lose eligibility for financial aid and scholarships if they attempt 133 percent (or greater) of the hours required for their program. For example, a student whose major requires 122 hours reaches the limit at 162 hours (122 x 1.33). However, it is possible to appeal for an extension of eligibility that may be approved until 150 percent of the required hours have been attempted. In the example above, the extension could be approved for up to 183 attempted hours (122 x 1.5).

The Georgia HOPE scholarship is subject to the guidelines above as well as additional stipulations. To maintain HOPE, students are required to have a cumulative 3.0 GPA at the designated “checkpoints.” Checkpoints are at the end of every spring semester as well as attempted hour checkpoints of 30, 60, and 90. The cumulative GPA includes all grades at all schools since high school graduation. It is important to note that HOPE does not recognize grade “forgiveness,” but maintains a separate HOPE GPA. HOPE also has its own “maximum time frame.” HOPE counts all hours paid by HOPE or Accel (The Georgia Student Finance Commission’s program for joint enrolled students) and it also counts all attempted hours since high school graduation. Once either the attempted or the paid hours is equal to the number of hours required for the major, eligibility ends.

Many other scholarships have their own individual requirements. Most commonly, a GPA of 3.0 will be required, and there is a separate “maximum time frame” of eight semesters.

We realize this can be confusing, and we’re here to help. Students with any questions about when academic progress will be checked, what is required, or where they stand should contact the appropriate financial aid advisor listed at www.finaid.gatech.edu/contacts.