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What to do when things go WRONG
Lost your scholarship? Job?
Here's how to get them back
By Adam Schoof aschoof@kansan.com
You put it off too long. You just couldn't be bothered, until now, and "now" is too late. Your GPA has dropped below the minimum and you've lost your scholarship. You've taken too many sick days and you've lost your job. What can you do to recoup from a lost job or scholarship?
Scholarships help students stay in school and many students depend on them. If Marina Rasuk lost her scholarships, she shed have to go back to Brazil, her home country. Having two scholarships allows Rasuk, a freshman, to spend her money on other things; she's says she's buying a car next year.
But what could she do if she lost her scholarship? What if you lose yours?
Lose your scholarship?
If you've lost a scholarship, then getting it back depends on what type of scholarship you've lost. If you received a scholarship from the Office of Admissions and Scholarships, then you have the option to appeal.The office requires students to maintain a 3.25 GPA and complete 24 credit hours between fall and spring to keep their scholarships.
To appeal, you provide the office with your ARTS form, an appeals form and other personal information. The latter is your opportunity to provide personal information not on the ARTS form, Sherron says.
"The only hoops we ask a student to jump through are academics," says Gail Sherron, associate director at the Office of Admissions and Scholarships. "We're trying to be as nice and fair as possible."
If you don't meet the GPA and credit hour requirements, the office will send you a letter about your opportunity to appeal.
Another option is to find another scholarship. Websites such as www.fastweb.com and FAFSA, or Free Application for Federal Student Aid, at www.fafsa.ed.gov, could be good starting points.
If your scholarship appeal isn't approved or if you can't find another, then you might need
to take out a loan to stay in college. Although it might be a financial burden later, many students, such as Jake Bustad, Granger, Iowa, graduate student, prefer not to think about it. Bustad says he has enough student loans to "equal the GDP of a small island nation." He says he likes to put off thinking about his student loans because there isn't anything he can do about it now.
"I like to think about it as a couple of luxury cars that I'll never own but get to pay for anyway," Bustad says.
Loans come with daunting financial responsibility; this is something Lawrence Henderson, Lansing law student, realizes. Henderson says he'll graduate law school with more than $66,000 in debt.
"While I do have a job waiting for me and I know I can make enough to pay off those loans in short order, (in a slumping economy it's) not something I ... want to be responsible for," Henderson says.
In addition to his student loans, Henderson has a grant that has helped him pay for college.
"If I didn't have the grant (and student loans), then I'd just have to take out more in loans," Henderson says. Despite his loans' substantial amount, Henderson says he considers himself lucky that he will get out of law school with only $66,000 in debt.
Lose your job?
Some people, however; don't want to have such a burden and decide to work their way through college. But how would they stay afloat if they lost their job? If you lose your job, then the most sensible thing to do is to get another.
The University posts jobs on www. kucareerhawk.com. To access them, you have to activate an account with KU Career Connections. Both on- and off-campus job postings are listed on the site, says Ann Hartley, associate director at the University Career Center. The site is geared toward graduates,
but anyone can get an account.
But this shouldn't be the only place you look. Hartley says she suggests persistence in looking for a job. The most critical thing, Hartley says, is networking, which will open more doors than applying to businesses in which you have no connection. However, the basics still apply: If you don't have a solid résumé, your contact in the company won't do you much good.
If you need help with your résumé, cover letters or anything else to do with finding a job. Hartley says you should come to the Career Center, which is in the basement of the Burge Union.
Hartley also suggests going to the center's next career fair, which is from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.on April 30 in the fifth level of the Kansas Union.The fair, which is also sponsored by the School of Business, features employers who are hiring now. JP
Career workshop today
Did you wait until the last weeks of school to look for a job? Don't know how to get one? In addition to the Just in Time Career Fair on April 30, the University Career Center is hosting a "Better Late Than Jobless" workshop from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. today in the Burge Union. The workshop will show you how to identify the job you want to search for, how to create or update a resume and how to network with companies.
Photo Illustration by Ryan Waggoner
Forget to raise that GPA for your scholarship or lose that part-time job? Not to worry—you have only a few hoops to jump through before getting a new job or your scholarship back.
April 23,2009
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