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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]How this happens?  I don't remember the exact wording of the first letters of college acceptance to me (and later to my nephew), but I'm pretty sure there it was something like "we are pleased to inform you that you have been granted tuition remission in full and a stipend of $xxxxx for living expenses."  In other words, there was no wording about this being just for the first year, or "renewable if xyz" or anything like that.  These are very wealthy private colleges so they can get away with a lot of "discretion" in their awards that publicly-funded schools might not.
I remember the thrill that my parents and I felt when I got that letter.  My parents were so proud.  I had a spectacular first year - getting A's, making really good friends, joining teams, finding a faculty mentor.   
Then, a few weeks before finals, opening the letter from the financial aid office in front of my roommates informing me that my aid had been cut off entirely and enclosing loan application forms.  I burst into tears.  It was humiliating and baffling.  I thought I must have done something terribly wrong.  I also remember how cold and abrupt the financial aid officer was when I made an appointment to find out why it happened.  He made me feel ashamed and offered no explanation or apology.  I applied for the loans and incurred a huge amount of debt I had never planned to carry.
For years, I was so ashamed of losing my scholarship that I never spoke about it.  Then, I discovered that it's a pretty common practice at the most expensive schools which also happen to be among the wealthiest - the very ones who could afford to extend those scholarships into the second, third & fourth years.   
Sometimes I wonder whether they target kids who are so happy and productive in their first year that they know they will be motivated to take out loans and stay rather than transfer. 
In my nephew's case at a different private college, he was given a full ride for year one, won an award that year for literary achievement, and was invited to receive it on stage at the graduation ceremony for the seniors.  We all showed up for the ceremony, and then he was told he was being cut off after we returned home.  At least no one on campus saw him crying.
I couldn't believe it happened to him too.  
Someone needs to start a pinned thread here or on College Confidential listing the names of the schools that have done this. I don't think we can count on NYU (there, I said the name of one of these schools) to be honest about it.  [/quote]

I'm the GW poster and this is pretty much how it went down.  Around spring semester finals, or sometimes during the summer, people would start receiving notice that their scholarships and/or financial aid weren't being renewed and that they need to take out loans.  The timing of this notification was also done at a point in the school year when transfer applications were closed, so you couldn't move to a new/cheaper school easily.  I believe this was intentional.[/quote]

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