[Rotary] Fwd: Fw: URGENT!! Unfortunate Scholarship Situation...

[Donna Schuler]

Dear Fellow Rotarians,
Below is a letter from Ali Morse, our top scholarship recipient from this
years Mendocino Graduating class. She describes a situation below that has
been described to us by other scholarship recipients. This is a time
sensitive matter for Ali, she may be returning the scholarship funds unless
we can figure out a way to give awards with out having it interfere with
the student's financial aid from the college. If we went with one of Ali's
suggestions, for example, option one, Kathleen would need to request the
money back from the school, and then write a check later in the year.
Please respond with any suggestions you may have.
Thank you,
Donna
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <nosila14 at gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Sep 18, 2014 at 7:07 PM
Subject: Fw: URGENT!! Unfortunate Scholarship Situation...
To: "schuler.donna at gmail.com" <schuler.donna at gmail.com>




Dear Donna and Rotary,
I am writing you today because there has recently been a change in my
financial aid… I really appreciate the money that you guys have given me as
a scholarship, and it would help a lot… IF the University wasn’t just
absorbing it. Originally my family and I thought that at UC Davis, I would
be receiving $12,124 from the school in grants to help pay my tuition. I
had hoped to pay for most of my schooling with scholarships, and this
grant. Unfortunately, things changed. A few days ago we found out that the
$12,124 in financial need that our family had, was actually taken away when
I received my scholarships. (I also found out I only received $90 from
filling out my FAFSA)
After working countless hours on scholarships and working my butt off in
school, I was completely thrilled to receive $13,000 in local
scholarships for this upcoming year! This was up until a few days ago when
I was notified that because I had $13000 in scholarships, the school was no
longer willing to give me any money in grants.
My options are pretty upsetting right now. I can either take the
scholarship money that you two and a few other organizations have given me
(totaling $13000), and pay taxes on it, or return your money and let the
school grants pay for it and receive $12,124 for the year.
This absolutely crushed me to hear, because this might mean the end of UC
Davis for me and it may also mean that I will have an even harder time
getting into the Veterinarian program later (since the majority of people
accepted into the UC Davis Vet program did all of their undergrad at UC
Davis). While I was trying to think of ways around the problem there were
only a couple of ways I could think of where I could actually receive some,
if not all the financial aid I was originally promised.

   1. Grants are only reviewed once a year. Is there any way you would
   consider requesting your money back from the school and sending it again
   for my 3rd quarter? I can send progress reports during school as well as
   the date to send the money in for the 3rd quarter.
   2. The school doesn’t know about any scholarships that are sent directly
   to me. So if the money was sent directly to me, I could get both the grants
   and the scholarship money. I know it is against many people’s and
   organizations rules, but it is the only way for me to receive the
   scholarship money without Davis absorbing all of it. The reason you guys
   give scholarships is to help the student, not the school. If this could
   happen, I could send progress reports and show you exactly where the money
   was going. I promise I’m not going to buy a new car or go on vacation with
   it. I REALLY want to be a vet.
   3. The last option I thought of was if maybe you could hold onto the
   money until I got into vet school (after 3 or 4 years of under grad). After
   my first four years, my tuition will raise to $50,000 for the first 3 years
   of vet school then $60,000 for the final year (not including a
   specialization which is another 2 years). At this point I will need the
   money even worse if I am going to make it through vet school.

Once again I thank you so much for your scholarship and I wish there was
some way to make this work… If you have any ideas or are willing to do any
of these things for me, It would mean the world to me! I can send progress
reports, school bills, ect.  What ever you need to make this work, I am
willing to do! Thank you for your time and I hope to hear from you soon!

If you would like to do any of these options or a different one, you can
get your money back from the scholarship office by calling
*Undergraduate and Prestigious Scholarships*
Telephone: 530-752-0520 (9 a.m. to 4 p.m., M-F)
and my student ID is: 999721801

We now have been told this with only 1 week before school starts, so I have
to figure this out as quick as possible. Thanks so much!
-Alison Morse



-- 
Donna Schuler
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