The South Carolina merit scholarship : strategies used by engineering students to keep their LIFE scholarship

We have examined the effects of South Carolina's LIFE merit scholarship on the decisions of engineering students at Clemson University. In Spring 2007, we interviewed 16 current and former engineering majors to learn more about their experiences negotiating their LIFE scholarship eligibility. While the LIFE scholarship influenced their decisions to attend Clemson, it had little influence on their decision to major in engineering. The students used a number of strategies to retain or regain their scholarship eligibility, including being selective about courses and professors, seeking grade redemption, attending summer school, studying harder, and seeking extra help.While merit-based scholarships seem to influence whether engineering students engage in certain behaviors, their reasons for doing so seem to be related less to financial issues and more to the belief that grades are important, a belief which is reinforced by the scholarship rules.