Foundation expands tuition vouchers
Monday, November 17, 2008
A new program to help local students with college expenses will be expanded to cover four years of college.
The Walter S. and Evan C. Jones Foundation announced the expansion this morning. The foundation’s Tuition Voucher Program was created last year to encourage high school seniors from Coffey, Lyon and Osage counties to attend college close to home. The program originally provided $1,000 for high school seniors who were enrolling at Emporia State University or Flint Hills Technical College.
The decision comes after review of the program’s first year by the foundation’s board of directors. “We were pleased with the success of the program, and made the decision to extend it to cover all four years of a student’s education at ESU,” said foundation board member Jeff Longbine.
In its first year, the program has provided aid to about 185 incoming students — more than 140 at ESU and more than 40 for the technical college.
“This decision goes back to our original goals of making college more affordable for local students,” Longbine said. “It encourages students from the three counties to seek higher education in our local community. It also strengthens ESU and Flint Hills Technical College by adding enrollment to those institutions.”
“The Jones Foundation has always set the pace for local support of higher education,” said ESU president Michael Lane. “Extending the Tuition Voucher Program’s benefits to all four years of a student’s career at Emporia State is a tremendous reaffirmation of all that support.”
One student who received the grant said it was a major factor in her decision to attend ESU.
“I plan on going all four years here, so the $1,000 a year will be a great help,” said Kimberly Underwood, a freshman from Olpe.
In addition to living in either Lyon, Osage or Coffey County, voucher recipients must be either high school seniors graduating in the current school year or who have received a GED since August, 2008. The students must be enrolled in at least 12 credit hours at ESU. To extend the grant to succeeding years, students must maintain a grade point average of at least 2.0.
“I’m excited about the opportunity (to help) the graduates of the high schools in these three counties,” Lane said. “Given the economic situation in this country, reducing their tuition load by $1,000 a year, that’s a pretty substantial discount.”
Longbine said it’s important to realize what the overall goal of the program is. “The goal is to keep students who would maybe consider other university choices at home,” he said. “It’s to provide the opportunity for some students who may not be able to afford higher education, and the third and most important (goal) is we think education provides a better community. So it would benefit the community as a whole by increasing enrollments and further educating our children, and hopefully those children stay at home once they have graduated, and a more educated community is a less dependent community.”
Dean Hollenbeck, president of Flint Hills Technical College, said there are many students who stand to gain from the voucher program. “We’ve got probably 700 students in the next two days who are going to get information on this program, so this is a good thing for our community,” he said. “And it’s good to keep our students in our region interested in our institutions. This is a great opportunity for our students.”
spensanity (anonymous) says...
This is great news----not only for 2009 graduates and beyond, but for those who graduated in 2008 and took advantage of the voucher for the Fall 2008/Spring 2009 semesters! What a wonderful way to use the money that was set aside to help the students in these counties. Investing in these student's futures is always a win-win situation!
November 17, 2008 at 3:16 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
Fantastic news! Our community is blessed to have such an organization willing to aid our local youth in their quest for an education. Yes, what a win-win situation. We will all benefit.
November 17, 2008 at 4:38 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
slipandslide (anonymous) says...
Great!! this will go along way for the students and i like knowing the university will influence students to stay in emporia when they graduate.
November 17, 2008 at 8:38 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
admireed (anonymous) says...
Slip. Universities have no interest in influencing students to stay around here. That is not the univ. mission.
November 17, 2008 at 9:42 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
slipandslide (anonymous) says...
So it would benefit the community as a whole by increasing enrollments and further educating our children, and hopefully those children stay at home once they have graduated, and a more educated community is a less dependent community.
that was part of the story
November 18, 2008 at 4:27 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )