Starting in the academic year of 2007-08, Seton Hill University (SHU) will offer a new scholarship available to incoming freshman.
This is the new �Seton Scholars� program, and four incoming freshman will be chosen to receive a full-tuition scholarship, renewable for four years, valued at $100,000 each.
One scholarship will be offered in each academic division-one in the Division of the Humanities, Visual and Performing Arts, Natural and Health Sciences and Social Sciences. The qualifications to earn each scholarship differ, but they each generally follow the same criteria.
By Andrea Perkins,
Staff Writer
Starting in the academic year of 2007-08, Seton Hill University (SHU) will offer a new scholarship available to incoming freshman.
This is the new �Seton Scholars� program, and four incoming freshman will be chosen to receive a full-tuition scholarship, renewable for four years, valued at $100,000 each.
One scholarship will be offered in each academic division-one in the Division of the Humanities, Visual and Performing Arts, Natural and Health Sciences and Social Sciences. The qualifications to earn each scholarship differ, but they each generally follow the same criteria.
The student must also display performance in the subject that they wish to study at SHU. That is, if the student wants to apply for the Visual and Performing Arts scholarship, for example, they must show that they have participated or demonstrated proficiency in the arts in high school or their community.
Elizabeth Forward High School senior Nathan Hough must have done just that. Hough was surprised at his school Monday, March 12, when he was awarded the Visual and Performing Arts scholarship, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
To keep the scholarship at SHU, students such as Hough must maintain a grade point average (GPA) of 3.5 or higher.
This scholarship program is part of the strategic plan that has been set for the school. The strategic plan is an outline the administration has been using to guide the school so that it can grow successfully.
Projects such as the building of DeChantal Hall and Farrell Hall, the McKenna Center and the arts center downtown are components of the strategic plan.
According to Barbara Hinkle, vice president for enrollment services and the registrar and the acting director of admissions, the Seton Scholars program was in the plan and now was the right time for SHU to enact the program.
�This was part of the strategic planning process, and we�ve gotten to the point where we can finally do it,� said Hinkle.
The scholarship program is designed to make it possible for students who are brilliant in their intended field of study to be able to attend school. It was also created to help make SHU academically superior.
�The plan had five goals – one is to maintain academic excellence – that is not only what you offer in curriculum, but also the abilities of the students,� said Hinkle.
�I think it’s a great idea – a good opportunity to attract strong students,� said Laura Patterson, assistant professor of English.
Some of the students think that the program is a positive idea, but a few expect mixed reactions.
�A lot of students, upperclassmen, will be upset that they won’thave the ability to apply for anything like that,� said Joshua Toth, a sophomore.
Greg Sell, also a sophomore, brought up an important point that many students have been thinking about.
�I think there will be some people that like it and some that don�t. SHU is already overpopulated as it is, and they�re trying to draw more people in and there’s no room for them,� said Sell.
�And they�re driving people out,� said Maren Masur, a junior.
Amanda Gallagher, a junior, said, �I think it’s good for the school, because the school should have been focusing on academics all along.�
SHU also wants to use these scholarships as a way to recognize and honor students who have outstanding academic performance, and would not receive the recognition, nor the financial assistance, otherwise.
�This is the point of the scholarship – to recruit, and make it financially possible and attractive to academically qualified students to attend school,� said Hinkle.
�It gives recognition to kids who have worked hard to deserve it,� said Masur.
Sell thought that the willingness of SHU to financially help out students will look good on SHU’s part.
�I think it will help the school. They�re saying, �hey, we�re willing to help people out,�� he said.
Jillian Green, a junior, questioned the conflict of the background of the students applying, pointing out that the scholarship benefits students who come from well-endowed high schools with programs that allow them to succeed over a student who might not come from such a background.
�It’s supposed to give them the opportunity to do something they�ve shown talent and interest in. You can’tpenalize a child for coming from a more rural school district where their talent wasn’tappreciated,� Green said.
There is nothing new like this that will be set in place for students that are already attending SHU, and many students who are having difficulty paying might be upset that there are not more opportunities for them.
Hinkle recommends talking to the financial aid office.
�Students need to look for scholarships that are pertinent to them,� Hinkle said.
�Parents and students need to know before they go to college that they can take out loans for living and computer expenses, especially if they are first time students in the family,� said Gallagher.
But some students have suggestions for the program.
�We want a scholarship program in place to reward the students who are getting good grades, representing the school well…and are getting nothing for it,� said Gallagher.
�Maybe they should divvy it up and give some to the second and third place people because they�ve worked hard too,� said Sell.
Green considered the problem of communicating that the scholarship exists.
�I think most students think scholarships are for athletes. I think students would appreciate an academic scholarship, but they don’tknow it’s out there,� Green said.
When the new Seton Scholars arrive, they will have new expectations set on them.
�It’s a wonderful opportunity, but there comes the responsibility to perform well, renew their scholarship, and make us proud,� said Hinkle.
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