It’s Monday! Woo hoo! Finally!

Was that convincing?

Seriously, even if you love your job like I do, Mondays are still ranked #7 when it comes to favorite days of the week. Which is why I completely understand that high school seniors who have already been accepted to college are already more or less on summer vacation—at least in their head, anyway. But the truth is there are several more weeks of class, and you need to push yourself just a little bit further to get through them.

Last week I blogged about the dangers of senioritis and how colleges across the country have been known to rescind admission should this “illness” get the better of you during your final semester. Boy, did that get a reaction. The blog was tweeted and retweeted on Twitter, and I even got a personal email from an admissions counselor thanking me for encouraging students to keep their game faces on until that final exam or paper is turned in.

The bad news is that colleges and universities can and will hold bad academic behavior against you. The good news is that this is completely avoidable and happens only in extreme cases. But if I can bring up some more bad news (it is Monday, after all), it’s that admission, while extreme, is not the only thing that is at stake for slackers. Scholarships, the icing on the cake that is college admissions, are even more vulnerable, and in my humble opinion, even more devastating to lose.

When I was a teacher, I knew a student who completely tanked during the final quarter of her senior year of high school and had her scholarship revoked by a competitive college that she had worked so hard to get into in the first place. To me, this would seem to hurt even more than having my admission revoked, because the college is basically saying, “You can still come to our school, but we no longer believe that you will be a good return on our investment.” Ouch.

This is no urban legend, folks. Ask any admissions or enrollment counselor to back my sad story up. I did for you: Jane F. Dessoye, executive director of enrollment management at Misericordia University in Dallas, PA weighed in on the topic of senioritis:

“There may be some financial ramifications to staying focused [during the final weeks of senior year],” she says. “The Scholarship Committee at Misericordia University, for instance, will revisit a student’s academic scholarship when the final transcript is submitted. In instances where a student’s grade point average improves from the time at which the scholarship was first offered, the scholarship may increase in value.”

Increased scholarship funds—good. Scholarship rescinded—very, very bad. So what’s a tired high school senior to do? Dessoye has some advice (juniors, take note, too):

• Stay motivated; maintain good study habits; develop a study schedule and stick to it.
• Take challenging coursework (e.g. AP coursework) that forces you to stay focused. If possible, take a college level course.
• Participate in extracurricular activities: continue your involvement in clubs, volunteer activities, athletics, etc.Consider a shadowing experience for the major in which you are interested.
• Reward yourself when your study goal is achieved!

Except for the “reward yourself” part, Dessoye’s advice involves work, as it should. Keep in mind that you have the summer to rest and rejuvenate, but for now, hard work has its benefits.

–Barbara Bellesi