Scholarship Discontinuation Appeals

Academic Reviews

The Merit Scholarship Unit reviews scholars’ academic standing at the end of each fall and spring semester once final grades are posted, to determine if students are meeting the terms of their scholarship agreement. If students are not meeting their minimum requirements, depending on the type of student, the following will occur:

  • Only first-semester, first-year students are granted an automatic “warning” period if they fail to meet their terms. This does not include transfer students. You will not lose your scholarship, and will be automatically notified of your scholarship warning status via email (you do not need to submit any kind of appeal for this to happen).
    • Scholarship Warning is as it sounds, a warning to the scholar, that they have violated their scholarship agreement and should be conscious about this requirement going into their 2nd semester.
  • Scholars failing to meet their scholarship requirements will lose their scholarship and be notified via email of their Scholarship Discontinuation–this means the loss of your scholarship for all future semesters.
    • Scholars concerned about their status are strongly encouraged to closely monitor the myUMBC email following the fall and spring semesters, as discontinuation notices are sent to students myUMBC email once grades are finalized and our unit has completed our Academic Reviews, with information regarding the appeal process.
    • Scholars discontinued from their scholarship and/or programs do not have to repay their scholarship amount from the previous semester(s).

Once a scholar has been discontinued from their merit scholarship, their award will not be reinstated, even if the student is able to meet the terms of their scholarship in a future semester. However, students will have approximately 2-3 weeks following official discontinuation notification to appeal this decision and explain the circumstances regarding why you were unable to meet your scholarship requirements.

Discontinuation Appeal Process

Scholars with extenuating circumstances may appeal their scholarship discontinuation by submitting a Scholarship Discontinuation Appeal following the Discontinuation notice.

Note: If you choose not to appeal within the allocated time frame, your award will not be reinstated regardless of whether you show academic improvement in future semesters. This is the only period to appeal for reinstatement, and you must submit your appeal by the published deadline below.

Submit a Scholarship Discontinuation Appeal

The following information is required in order to complete the appeal request. These documents will become available to you when you access the online appeal form. However, feel free to review the required information prior to accessing the online form.

  1. Scholarships Appeal Statement – a personal statement explaining the reason(s) you failed to meet scholarship standards for the semester(s) as reflected on your transcript.
  2. Supporting Documentation – Documentation supporting the extenuating circumstance(s) listed in your appeal statement (i.e. medical records, police report, etc.). Timeframes on your documentation should support the circumstance described in your statement.
    1. Please note: The contents of this appeal are confidential, however, we are concerned for your well-being. In an instance where someone’s well-being appears at risk, our staff will consult with the appropriate UMBC personnel.
  3. Scholarships Academic Plan Worksheet – This is an online self-reported worksheet on the appeal form which does not require a meeting with a UMBC Academic Advisor, in which you provide a detailed plan and timetable on how your will restore yourself academically.

The Scholarships Unit has completed our Spring 2024 Academic Review of scholars to determine whether they are meeting the terms of their scholarship agreement. Students who were not meeting the the terms of the agreement have had their scholarship discontinued effective the start of the Fall 2024 semester. If there are extenuating circumstances, you do have the right to appeal the loss of your scholarship, note that this is the only period to appeal for reinstatement:

Discontinuation Appeals will be accepted Friday, June 07 – Friday, July 19 at 4:00PM EST. The deadline to submit a discontinuation appeal has now passed. No late appeals or in-person meetings with the committee will be accepted. 

Timeline

Once you have submitted your scholarship discontinuation appeal, the Scholarship Review Committee will review all appeals as they are submitted. If submitted prior to the deadline, final decisions regarding appeals will be sent to each student via email within 3-5 business days of their appeal submission. If submitted the week prior to July 19th, please expect additional processing timeframes. Appeals submitted after the deadline will not be accepted.

  • The Scholarship Review Committee reserves the right to make individual decisions based on extenuating circumstance(s). Our unit carefully reviews all accounts when rendering appeal decisions.
  • Please note: If the appeal is denied or no appeal is submitted by the published deadline, the scholarship will be permanently discontinued and cannot be reinstated.

Scholars whose Discontinuation Appeal has been approved will have their scholarship reinstated, and will be placed on “Scholarship Probation” for the following semester. This will appear as an alert on your myUMBC account, and serves as a reminder that you must be mindful of meeting the terms of your scholarship agreement.

If your scholarship discontinuation appeal is denied, your scholarship is permanently discontinued and cannot be reinstated in any future semesters. We encourage you to review other funding options, such as applying for scholarships on Scholarship Retriever, external scholarships, or speaking further with your assigned financial aid counselor for other aid options.

Scholarship Discontinuation vs. Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) Failure

Scholarship Discontinuation Appeals are not the same as Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) Appeals. SAP Failure is related to your financial aid (grants, loans, etc.). A Scholarship Discontinuation is strictly related to your UMBC merit scholarship. It is possible that you receive a Scholarship Discontinuation Notification AND a SAP Failure notification. Please note these are two different processes with two different appeals.

If you are appealing both a SAP Failure and a Scholarship Discontinuation, you must complete both appeal forms by their respective deadlines. The forms are not interchangeable. Learn more about the SAP Appeal process and deadlines here.

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