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Financial Assistance

Renewal of Aid

Merit Scholarships

Bentley merit scholarships for undergraduate students will be renewed each year, provided that students earn the required cumulative grade point average (GPA) specified on the letter they receive from the Office of Undergraduate Admission.  Students must also remain enrolled full time (12 credits per semester) and scholarships cannot be used for summer terms or wintersession.  Students can receive merit scholarships for up to eight semesters total.  Student grade point averages will be checked at the end of each academic year, after spring semester grades have been recorded.  An appeal process exists for those who fail to earn the required GPA.  If you are concerned about your academic performance and have a scholarship, please contact your financial aid counselor.  Bentley merit scholarships are not available to continuing students who were not awarded a scholarship upon admission.

Need-Based Aid

Bentley financial aid decisions are made on an academic year basis.  You must apply each spring and meet the application deadlines to receive aid for the following year.  We do all we can to offer you a consistent award, but your financial aid may be higher or lower in future years if your family's circumstances change.  Significant changes in need-based financial aid eligibility can be due to changes in income, assets, family size, and the number of siblings enrolled in undergraduate degree programs.  In addition, your financial need will be affected if costs change due to a change in enrollment or housing status.  Federal aid can change based on funding levels determined by Congress.  Late applications will be awarded based on the availability of remaining institutional funds.

Satisfactory Academic Progress

In order to remain eligible for financial aid, you must meet standards of satisfactory academic progress (SAP) established according to federal regulations.  We must evaluate your academic progress annually.  This evaluation generally occurs in May after spring semester grades are posted, as part of our determination of aid eligibility for the next academic year.

There are two components to achieving SAP.  You must have a 2.0 cumulative grade point average (GPA) in order to be awarded Bentley need-based grant funds or federal financial aid (including the Federal PLUS loan).  In addition to a 2.0 minimum cumulative GPA, you must demonstrate progress by successfully completing (finishing with a passing grade) at least 67 percent of all attempted courses.  An attempted course is one in which you are enrolled after the second week of classes.  Failure, withdrawal after the second week, or an incomplete (I) in a class constitutes an attempted course that is not successfully completed.  Although aid is sometimes not available for repeat course work, repeated courses will be counted in measuring this standard.  In addition, aid applicants may not attempt more than 150 percent of the number of credits required for their degrees.  For example, if your degree requires 122 credit hours, you may not attempt more than 183 credit hours to achieve this degree.  The complete policy, including information regarding the appeal process, can be found here.