What exactly is a scholarship?

I Think I've Lost My Scholarship. What do I do now?

• I'm 14 and I live with my mum. My mum works really hard to try to make ends meet and life's been made easier ever since I got a scholarship into secondary school. I've been on a scholarship since the day I got into secondary school and my mum has been saving up for a house of our own because we live in a room in one of her customer's house. Recently, the lady sent my mum a letter requesting her to start paying rent. The amount of money requested by the lady made my mum depressed for weeks. I don't know what to do now because I feel like I have alot on my plate, more than I can handle. The scholarship was our only life line and if my mum found out that I had lost my scholarship she'd be in the hospital. The scholarship requires me to have a minimum of 85% as my average every term and this term I got about 75%. I really don't know what to do now. My eyes are red and heavy with tears and I'm thinking of killing myself because my mum has invested so much in me. And my dad can't help because he abandoned my mum when she was pregnant and neglected his responsibilities. He has never contributed towards my development or care. Also my extended family on my mum's side cant help in any way cause they themselves have their own problems. My mum is getting old and she isn't even married. I'm sorry for the bad grammar or misspellings I may have made up there. It's not really easy to type and arrange my thoughts in my current emotional state. Thank you.

• Answer:

  Talk to your school/the scholarship people and find out if you can have a one term "grace" period, or if you lose your scholarship immediately. If you do lose it, find out if there are any other scholarships you can apply for, or if you can regain this scholarship if you bring your grades back up. In other words, find out where you stand. Only then, talk to your mom. Know that your mom is doing all of this - the work, saving for a house, living in someone else's house - for you. If you were to kill yourself, you would be spitting in the face of all the things she has done for you. So "man up", take responsibility, and get through this. Giving up is NOT an option. You aren't just doing all this for you - you're doing it for her. If you lose your scholarship, you find another path, that's all. You go to another school, and your goal is to do well there, so that you can provide for your mom in the future. THAT's how you thank her for everything she's done for you - by doing as well as you can in school, so that you can have a better life than she's had, and so, hopefully, you can help provide for her when she's older. You kill yourself, and everything she's done is for nothing. You'll leave her with nothing. That would be completely crappy of you. Unbelievably horrible on your part. You don't give up when stuff like this happens. You FIND A DIFFERENT PATH, and you get to your goals in another way.