More than $7 million in new scholarships will be available to incoming freshman and transfer students next fall under an initiative announced yesterday by the Emporia State University Foundation.
“Emporia State has always been an affordable school, and this will make Emporia State even more affordable,” said interim President H. Edward Flentje at a press conference at the Sauder Alumni Center.
The new program is part of an aggressive marketing plan to recruit new students, officials said. ESU had a 4.6 percent decrease in fall enrollment, the largest drop of any Kansas Board of Regents institution.
“It’s a really good thing that’s finally getting done,” said Luke Drury, junior political science major and legislative director of ASG. “I think it should help with our recruitment, and I think it should definitely give Emporia more of an advantage now when it comes to competing with the other state schools. So it would be great to see this succeed, as long as it can be maintained.”
The new program was announced by the ESU Foundation’s Board of Trustees Chair, Lana Oleen, and interim President Flentje. The scholarships are expected to come in part from a fundraising drive to be held in connection with the 150th anniversary of Emporia State, to culminate in 2013, according to Oleen.
On average, ESU receives about $1.9 million for scholarships each year, and about 275 freshmen and 185 transfer students will have these scholarships, said Jim Williams, associate provost for enrollment management and vice president of strategic partnerships.
Williams said that this new plan will take effect for both first-time freshmen and transfer students who are enrolled full-time starting in Fall 2012. It adds 65 additional students into the program and extends the renewability of the scholarships based on academic performance.
“It’s a little bit disheartening to know that with all this new money, there’s nothing really for current students,” Drury said.
Drury said he has a decent GPA and is really involved on campus. He applied for several scholarships last spring and was not able to get any.
“We are accumulating debts and we are accumulating loans, and now I don’t know if anyone will have a job when we graduate,” Drury said. “So it would be nice to see an increased effort for current students.”
For freshmen, the scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $3,600 with current tuition at $4,952, are based on a combination of an official ACT composite score, and official final high school transcript and un-weighted cumulative GPA and completion of the scholarship application.
For transfer students, the scholarships ranging from $1,600 to $3,000 and equating to one-third or two thirds of the tuition, are based on the final cumulative transfer GPA, completion of 24 or more credit hours and completion of the scholarship application. Transfers with less than 24 hours will be awarded based on first-time scholarship requirements.
The priority application deadline for Fall 2012 scholarships is Feb. 15, 2012.
TIANHAI JIANG
