Dear Mr. Curl,

Thank you for taking the time to speak with me on the phone Wednesday about my situation with the President's scholarship.

As a quick summary of my situation: I am inquiring about being allowed to apply an unused portion of my housing stipend for this Spring 2013.  I am currently starting my fourth year here at the University and my first semester as a Master's student in Biomedical Engineering.  My undergraduate degree has not yet been awarded to me - I am currently scheduled to receive it this December.  The degree is through the Bachelor of University Studies (B.U.S.) program with a major emphasis in Applied Science.  I understand that the President's scholarship usually would cease after one is awarded his or her bachelor's degree.  Normally this is not a problem for traditional BS/MS students as the Graduate School permits their continued enrollment without having received their Bachelor's.  However, since I am not participating in a formal BS/MS program and will be receiving my undergraduate degree from a different department than I will be receiving my Master's degree, the Graduate School will only allow me to be enrolled for a single semester (this Fall) without having received my Bachelor's.

Currently I have only been awarded six out of the eight semesters that the President's scholarship will support.  I had been planning on using one of the potential two remaining semesters of support for a student-exchange program to Chengdu, China that I participated in this last summer.  As I understand, in most student-exchanges there would have been an opportunity for me to utilize my housing stipend in swapping living quarters with a foreign student.  However, after failing to find any person at the School of Business (who the exchange was through) to aid such an arrangement, I paid for my own housing in China.  It is my hope to be able to apply this unused housing stipend for this Spring 2013.

It is important to note that no part of the scholarship has yet been applied to this last summer semester.  This is because in Spring of 2011, I was given an "I" grade in the class BIOEN 6421.  The grade was finally changed to a letter grade weeks after I had returned from China and had been under the impression that the tuition waiver of the scholarship was going to be applied for the trip.  The grade turned out to be changed to a "B-", lowering my cumulative GPA below the scholarship's 3.7 threshold.  Leila Ames informed me at this point that the scholarship could not yet be applied to the summer but that I could appeal.  I have not yet initiated any appeals because I am currently in the process of trying to get a past grade changed to bring my cumulative above a 3.7, without waiting until the end of this semester.

Assuming I am able to retain the President's scholarship, is there any hope for accommodations after I receive my Bachelor's degree?  For all intents and purposes, I will still be a University of Utah student and would love to continue being apart of the Honors Living Learning Community that I otherwise would be unable to afford.

Thank you for your time - please let me know if I may clarify any details or provide you with any more information.

Kind regards,
Trevor Tanner
801.742.5366