Merit Scholarship Appeal Process

The Financial Aid Office reviews each scholarship recipient’s academic standing at the end of every academic year, following the spring semester, to ensure all scholarship requirements are being met. Recipients who do not meet these requirements will have their scholarship terminated and will be notified by email. Once terminated, the scholarship cannot be reinstated, even if the student meets the requirements in a future semester.

Students are given two weeks from the date the official termination notification is emailed to appeal the status of their scholarship termination.

Eligibility for Appeal

Appeals will only be considered if based on significant extenuating circumstances that directly and seriously impacted academic performance. Extenuating circumstances are unexpected, unplanned circumstances beyond your control. Examples include:

  • Serious health challenges and/or mental health struggles
  • Significant personal accident or injury
  • Death of a close family member (parent, grandparent, guardian, sibling, or child)
  • Victim of a crime

Required Appeal Components:

The written appeal must include the following:

  1. Detailed Explanation - Describe the extenuating circumstances and how they affected your academic performance.

  2. Improvement Plan - Outline the specific steps you have taken, or will take, to address these circumstances and improve performance within the next 1–2 semesters.

  3. Supporting Documentation - It is strongly encouraged that you provide documentation that verifies your circumstances and aligns with the time frame described in your statement. Examples include hospital records, obituaries, letters from a university official, physician, counselor, or clergy. Appeals lacking proper documentation may be denied.

Deadline

Students have two weeks from the date of the official termination email to submit an appeal. Appeals must be submitted by email to Scholarships@uml.edu.

The Scholarship Review Committee reserves the right to make individual decisions based on extenuating circumstance(s). If the appeal is denied or no appeal is submitted by the published deadline, the scholarship will be permanently terminated and cannot be re-appealed or reinstated.