Students find money, relief in scholarships

By Tainese Arceneaux
The Collegian

Books: $400. Semester tuition: $1,515. A better life through higher education: Priceless….right?

Wrong.

As tuition fees are rising and book costs are soaring, students are feeling the mounting pressure on their wallets and frustration as they try to reach the glorious end — a diploma.

To get a diploma 10 years ago, students and their parents were paying on average $2,689 for an academic year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).

Now the average tuition is $4,936.

The NCES noted that lower-income students are more likely to get federal aid or grants while their middle-income counterparts are less likely to receive federal aid.

Lauren Wood and her father found out she would not receive federal aid when Lauren applied to Fresno State last year.

“My dad tried applying for FAFSA, but he makes too much money,” Wood said. “I couldn’t get financial aid because he makes more than $100,000 a year.”

Though her father makes more than FAFSA allows, he is also paying for his wife to attend Cal Poly Pomona, putting his son through medical school and paying off his own student loans.

“It is definitely a strain on my mom and dad,” Wood said.

Student housing is also a rising concern with families sending students to other cities for college.
“My dad is also paying for [on-campus] housing,” Wood said.

“Which is over priced for what it offers,” Ashley Nathanson, another freshman, adds in.

Nathanson is afflicted with the same problems as Wood’s family. Her brother, a senior at UCLA, was just accepted to a medical school in Texas.

“My dad had to take out student loans for my brother and me,” Nathanson said.

This is where scholarships come into play. By offering awards ranging from $100 to $5,000 Fresno State gives students the opportunity to get money they never have to pay back.

It is a much needed alternative to student loans, especially for families who have more than one person attending college.

Paul DeRuosi, scholarship program director at Fresno State said the number of scholarship applicants has increased from about 2,000 since the program left the financial aid department in 2000 to about 3,500 applicants in 2006.

DeRuosi said the reason for the increase is because the scholarship application is available at all times while school is in session.

“It is easier to get a hold of the application,” he said. “Students don’t walk to our office. It is easier to access.”

The scholarships department, which separated from the financial aid department five years ago to exclusively handle private endowments, has made the process easier for incoming undergraduate and graduate students.

“The University Web site provides a directory of scholarships,” Linda Tamura, scholarship coordinator said. “The students are able to see what the criteria are for a certain scholarship and then can put on their application interest or achievements that suit the scholarships they are looking for.”

For priority filing, students should apply between Sept. 1 and Nov. 1 the year before they will need funding. After Nov. 1 they will have less of a chance to receive a scholarship, Tamura said.

“The University processes the application,” Tamura said. “The scholarship office confirms the GPA and matches the student with a school or college that is offering a scholarship that matches their achievements.”

Most departments are looking for students with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Others, such as the agriculture and music departments accept students with a GPA of 2.5 or above.

Or if a student has decided on a major, Tamura’s office will funnel the application to the appropriate school or college.

“The university used to select the students for the awards,” Tamura said. “Now the colleges’ department scholarship committees or other organizations decide which student is suitable for the scholarship.”

Tamura said this way students are better selected for the scholarships because it is the faculty of the department who serve on the scholarship committees, and there is a good chance that they know the students who apply.

“Get to know the faculty members,” Tamura said. “It could help in the selection process.”

Betsy Hays, mass communication and journalism department professor agrees.

“In our committee there are four people who bring different information of students that might not be on the application,” Hays said.

It might be that student’s personality or their determination in the classroom that might help the student stand out from the other applications.

“Grades are important but it is not an exclusive determinate,” Hays said. “Financial needs are also taken into account.”

Paul DeRuosi said along with financial needs, scholarship committees are looking for the total student.

“The committees like to look for those who are getting a well rounded education,” DeRuosi said.

He said students involved in community or campus programs will increase their chance to win a scholarship.

Committees also take into account if a student is working, DeRuosi said.

Tamura suggested an applicant put as much about them on the application as possible.

“Treat the application like an interview,” she said. “Write what the committee would like to know about you.”

Hays said the committee even goes as far as to award a student a scholarship that has a similar personality to the person whom a scholarship is named after.

“Sometimes we think, ‘Hum, Chuck would have liked that student’ or ‘This is a student that so-and-so would have picked,’” Hays said.

More and more donors are seeking to give money to the University.

DeRuosi said about $2 million was donated for scholarships for the 2006/2007 school year. A big growth from $850,000 donated five years ago.

DeRuosi said more focused fundraising has contributed to this sharp increase in donations for scholarships.

“It is an exciting time for Fresno State, a chance to make a great institution better,” he said.

DeRuosi said what attracts a donor to give funds is an interest in the institution.

“A community supports Fresno State,” he said. “It could be alumni. It is mostly those who have some type of connection, passion or interest and the means to do so.”

This is what Mary Anna Dunn, Campaign Director for a seven-year effort to raise private funding, is banking on.

Known as the “Seven Year Campaign”, Dunn said this first-ever comprehensive campaign is set on creating a culture of philanthropy.

Dunn quoted University President John Welty in saying that “private support is the difference between a university that is good and one that is great.”

Dunn said even though the university receives funding from the state, it is a small amount when compared with the amount needed to build up the campus and its programs.

“This campaign is to get the ball rolling,” she said. “To set a higher level for private donation and then to sustain that level well after the campaign is over.”

Dunn said the campaign started in the planning stages three years ago as a response to a report by the Council for Advancement and Support for Education. This national group set the standard for schools seeking to raise funding.

“The report said that it takes a university about seven years to double the level of annual endowment support,” Dunn said.

Dunn said the university is receiving about $80 million in endowments that are invested into programs and scholarships.

To double this amount Dunn said the campaign is one of intensive philanthropy.

“I talk with donors about certain programs that they are interested in,” Dunn said. “My job is a matchmaker. I find the prospective donor that has interest in a certain area the needs funding.”

Dunn said the donor designates the use of the money given.

“When you think about it, it is great and wonderful that people want to make that investment,” Dunn said.

“They are trying to help students get and education to have better lives.”

Dunn said it is important to get as many donors as possible.

“Every year we end with students who need the financial aid but there wasn’t enough money,” Dunn said.

With only 600 to 700 scholarship accounts it is hard to have enough money for the 3,500 applicants who might need it.

“Sometimes the University loses prospective students because the university didn’t have enough money for a scholarship,” Dunn said. “More funding helps in recruiting better students.”

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