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Arkansas college to base scholarships off GPA instead of test scores

Arkansas Tech University has changed its scholarships to a tiered system that will be based off high school GPA rather than an ACT or SAT test score.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas Tech University will change how potential students will qualify for scholarships at the school.

The new system will be based off high school grade point average rather than a student's SAT or ACT score.

According to the college, the scholarships will be broken up to four tiers depending on your GPA.

The scholarship award breakdown will be as followed:

  • Tier 1 - GPA 3.0-3.49 ($1,000)
  • Tier 2 - GPA 3.5-3.74 ($3,000)
  • Tier 3 - GPA 3.75-3.99 ($7,000)
  • Tier 4 - GPA 4.0 or higher ($11,000)

“ATU is committed to a mission of access and student success, and these scholarships provide a means to help many in our state pursue higher education,” said Alisa Waniewski, associate director for academic scholarships.

Students who have previously accepted their award will be adjusted to the corresponding tier if their scholarship improves. If a student would receive less funding based off the new tiers, ATU said it's "committed" to honoring the previous award amount.

The school is also lowering the renewal rate for freshman academic scholarships to 2.75 GPA.

The new tiered system will begin for the fall 2022 semester.

This change is already impacting high school seniors like Ellie Richardson, who is looking forward to her first semester at ATU. 

"I was originally awarded the Presidential Scholarship, which was $6,000 a year," Richardson said.

She had a lot on her plate as finishes high school, but now there's one thing she won't have to worry about after ATU announced the changes– her academic scholarship.

"That raised my scholarship to $11,000, which I was really excited about," Richardson said. "Like so rewarding, I was just really excited because I didn't expect it at all."

Jessica Brock, Admissions Director at Arkansas Tech, said it's only been a couple of days and they've already seen more students receive scholarships.

"We're seeing a spike in the scholarship acceptances and our phone calls. Lots of questions. Our recruiters out on the road are getting good feedback on it. Yes, we are seeing some changes," Brock said. 

While the change is new, stories like Richardson's aren't. Brock said this change makes higher education more affordable to students.

"It is making school much more affordable for these students. We're in a rural area, this is a very productive change. We're very grateful we were able to make this change midcycle, to implement it, and make this more affordable for kids coming this year," Brock said.

For students like Richardson, there are a lot of emotions that come out after seeing the change, excitement and joy to name a few. But above all it's relief. 

There's less to worry about for students before classes start in the fall, which provides peace of mind to the incoming freshmen.

"It'll just depend on what all my classes look like at the end, but I'm really relieved that I don't have to. That's a whole extra $5,000 that I don't have to worry about each year," Richardson said.

As far as the future of the program, Brock said they'll reevaluate the program in a year to see if it will continue.

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