As a little girl, Paula Sauder went to Emporia State University with her mother every summer, while her father stayed in Hutchinson. While mom attended class, the daughter explored the campus from top to bottom, falling in love with all of it.
That childhood fascination eventually led to a very grown-up gift. On Tuesday, the university publicly thanked Sauder for a donation of nearly $500,000 to provide scholarships to single parents — and examples for their children.
“I want their children to have those kind of experiences, to know that the campus is there for children as well as adults,” Sauder said at a Tuesday afternoon press conference in the Sauder Alumni Center. “I think that can be done by encouraging single parents to come to school and expose their children. I think it would say that with determination and hard work their parent succeeded, and they can, too.”
Five scholarships will be offered in the 2007-2008 school year, increasing to 10 scholarships a year afterward.
ESU President Michael Lane said the gift would also allow the university to look at ways of providing affordable housing for single-parent students. That’s still a long way off, he added, but now is the time to start discussions.
“Paula’s gift has allowed us to dream big,” Lane said.
He added that having a targeted scholarship would open the door a bit wider for single parents at ESU.
“It says ‘Here’s an opportunity for you as a single parent not to have to compete with an 18-year-old, 30 ACT student,” he said.
The gift also puts ESU’s scholarship campaign closer to its $15 million goal. Including Sauder’s contribution, the total is now up to about $14.4 million.
Sauder and her mother, Inez Carmichael Friesen, graduated from ESU within a year of each other in the 1960s. Sauder also has managed federally-subsidized housing and college apartments in Emporia, giving her more exposure to the challenges faced by a single-parent family.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, one-third of American families are headed by single parents. Eighty-six percent of all single parents are women.
Like Sauder, Lane emphasized the example the scholarship would create for children in the family.
“I think that’s the long-term benefit this program will allow,” he said.