College Merit Scholarships: When is it Okay to Withdraw a Prospective Student's Award Money?

My youngest daughter is a high school senior. She has the good fortune of being a member of the largest group of high school seniors vying for college acceptances in literally decades. For those of us Baby Boomers who produced these college-bound babies, many of us already knew that the Class of 2008 was in for a tough time when it came to being accepted to the college(s) of their choice. The rules changed, and in many cases, were almost completely re-written, in the three years since her older sister had graduated from high school and went on to college. According to the University of Delaware, for instance, they had a record number of high school seniors applying for admission this year: 37,500 applicants for 3,500 available freshman spots. These number were pretty similar for many other schools as well, in particular state universities and the Ivies. Getting into a college itself was becoming a small miracle; receiving a merit scholarship - a financial award offered an accepted, incoming freshman for academic achievement - was even more of an event.

We were lucky - very, very lucky. As of April 1st, my daughter has been accepted at thirteen colleges. Of those thirteen, seven acceptances came with offers of merit scholarships as well, ranging from $3,000 a year to $15,000 a year.

The purpose of this article isn't to extol my kid's achievements, academic, athletic or otherwise. (Although she was a four year varsity athlete, she did not receive or apply for any athletic scholarships.) What I do want to share is my puzzlement at the fragility of these merit scholarships, in particular by one Florida university.