General BYU-Hawaii Scholarship Policies

General BYU-Hawaii Scholarship Policies

The following only discusses general scholarship policies.  Criteria for specific awards may have more stringent and additional requirements.  Students should carefully review their award letters and the required reading information on the Financial Aid website for further information.

In order to receive BYU-Hawaii scholarships, recipients must be admitted and enrolled at BYU-Hawaii.  The only exceptions are a few private scholarships available for BYU-Hawaii graduates pursuing graduate degrees at other universities.

Advanced Standing students (those who have more than 150 earned or attempted credits), are not eligible for scholarships & awards.

Visiting students are not eligible for federal aid, scholarships, or any other financial aid.

IWES students are not eligible to apply or receive institutional scholarships or awards beyond the IWES institutional aid.

Scholarships are cancelled if the student withdraws from the university during the enrollment period for which the scholarship was given.This may result in having to pay back to the university. There may be exceptions in the case of extenuating circumstances, such as medical discontinuance.

A student may not receive scholarship assistance for more than 10 equivalent semesters. Terms are each considered one-half of a semester.

Although most scholarships and awards require a much higher CGPA, students must have a minimum cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of 2.5 to receive a scholarship or award.

The CGPA eligibility is determined by the CGPA at the time of each disbursement, not the CGPA the student had at the time he applied for the scholarship.

Unless otherwise specified in the award letter, a student must be enrolled full-time (12 credit hours per semester, 6 credit hours per term) in order to receive a scholarship. If a student’s enrollment drops below the minimum number of credits, scholarships will automatically be reversed.  One exception to this policy is that students who are in their last period of enrollment prior to graduation, and who have been approved to take a reduced load, are eligible to receive scholarships without being enrolled full-time.

All scholarship & award recipients need to be registered each semester or term by the registration deadline and must be registered with the minimum number of credits to qualify for each award. If the student is not registered for the minimum number of credits to qualify for an award by the census date, the scholarships and awards shall be withdrawn.

Audit, Independent Study, and language proficiency classes do not count towards the credit hour requirements for scholarship and award eligibility.

If a student has been offered a multi-semester (or term) award, but will not be enrolled for each semester/term due to graduation or withdrawal, or is ineligible for any other reason, the student may not request that unused funds be transferred to the semester/term that he will be enrolled or eligible. Funds may only be disbursed during enrollment periods for which they were offered.

The maximum amount of financial aid offered to a student may not exceed the cost of attendance as determined by the institution.  The entire financial aid package includes BYUH institutional scholarships, federal aid, and external scholarships.  Students are required to report all external scholarships to the Financial Aid office. 

In the event a student receives financial aid in excess of the cost of attendance due to receiving excess scholarships, BYU-Hawaii reserves the right to adjust both institutional and external scholarship awards even after award letters have been sent in order to remain in compliance with federal regulations and institutional policy.  Loans and other self-help aid will be reduced first, and then institutional scholarships and external awards.

Scholarship recipients are expected to carefully read their award letters and the Required Reading section of the financial aid website and become familiar with the terms and conditions of each award.  When a student does not meet the conditions of a specific award or meet all of the general scholarship policies as outlined above and thereby become ineligible for an award, future disbursements of the award will not be posted to students accounts.

These policies are standard requirements for all scholarship recipients. Exceptions are sometimes granted based on individual needs and circumstances. In making decisions, the appropriate committee (Scholarship & Awards Board, Financial Aid Committee, etc) considers extenuating circumstances, which may include serious illness, injury, or disability; death or serious illness in one's immediate family; and extensive family responsibilities (such as those faced by a single parent with dependent children). To petition for an exception, students must submit a formal written petition to the appropriate committee. Whenever possible, petitions for exceptions should be submitted for review prior to the disbursement period of the award.

Last Updated: May 5, 2008