Scholarship requirements may seem like they are set in good faith, especially the academic ones – it’s just rules to make sure only those who deserve it get the money, right? I don’t think so. 

Scholarship requirements are absolutely meant to make you flunk out, so the university does not have to hand over any more money. I managed to get myself a cushy excellence scholarship from UCA in 2020, right before they threw out the old system.

For those who don’t know, to keep my scholarship I have to take 30 hours each academic year and maintain a 3.25 GPA. That works out to roughly 15 hours each semester, although there is a slight caveat that you can get away with 12 in the fall – you’d just have to make it up somewhere else.

At face value, these requirements don’t seem particularly difficult, especially considering the hoops I had to jump through just to obtain the funds, but the GPA requirement in conjunction with the hour requirement is evil.

I realized that the university was sitting around, twiddling its thumbs, just waiting for me to lose the money it so graciously handed over to me my sophomore year — when I had the bright idea to get a job.

I had just moved into my first big-girl apartment (shout out college avenue) and I had bills to pay and dogs to feed. 

So there I was, working my part-time job in addition to being the News Editor here at the Echo. Not only did I have to keep up my GPA and find time in the day for all these classes, but I also had to find time to work, to do the readings, to write my articles … oh, and did I mention? I was keeping up another scholarship with entirely different requirements on top of all of this.

It was impossible. I cried and tried my hardest to scribble out every little detail of my schedule so that I could maybe, one day, accomplish everything I needed to do. 

News flash: It never happened. I couldn’t keep it up at all. I had to drop a class, I had to cut my hours and in turn, I had to start visiting the food pantry here on campus. 

While trying to maintain the hour requirements, my GPA began to fall. 

The course load is entirely too much. I recently learned that Hendrix won’t even let you take more than four classes. 

UCA should take serious notes…but that would mean fewer credit hours and less money, so I doubt it. 

To remedy my horrible mistake of not being a superhero student, I took a may-intersession class, which I really enjoyed. 

Spreading out my classes by taking half-semester classes, summer classes or intersession classes allows me to succeed academically and in life. 

I genuinely believe that the requirements are meant to make you fail. But with just two semesters left, I’ll keep working towards that degree without losing my “gift” from the university, which is starting to feel more like a curse.