Josh Falcone – General Assignment Reporter –
Dan Jennings recently applied for scholarships through Southern Connecticut State University Alumni Association website in hopes of receiving some help with his college costs.
“I’m supporting my whole way through college by myself,” said the sophomore communications major. “So every penny counts.”
Jennings said this his first semester at Southern as a full-time student and he recently began living on campus, so the assistance he would receive from a scholarship would be something he would cherish. Jennings said he is encouraged that he will meet the requirements for scholarships offered by Southern due to his stellar grades.
“I did the best I ever have last semester,” Jennings said, “earning a 4.0 GPA so I can only hope that helps.”
According to the National Center for Education Statistics’ National Postsecondary Student Aid Study, or NPSAS, Jennings is not alone in applying for scholarships. The NPSAS is a sizable survey taken every few years that inquires about how college students paid for their education. In 2008, eight percent of the college students polled had received some form of scholarship. Also according to the last NPSAS in 2008, the average amount of the scholarships these students received was 2,523 dollars, and included over 1,152,000 recipients.
Junior elementary education major Jessica Beauvais has also taken advantage of the opportunity to receive a scholarships through Southern.
“Last semester I received the Julie Szabo George Memorial scholarship for elementary education,” Beauvais said. “And it was such a great help because it covered all of my tuition last semester and half of this semester.”
Beauvais said that she has reapplied for the scholarships offered by Southern but she is anxious.
“I’m nervous,” she said, “because my GPA dropped a point this past semester from a 3.9 to a 3.8.”
The Southern Alumni Association and Southern Foundation Inc. scholarships, offers Southern students the ability to receive one of 131 scholarships in the schools of Arts and Sciences, Business, Education, and Health and Human Services. The Southern Alumni Association and Southern Foundation Inc. recently extended the deadline for application until Jan. 31, at 4:30 p.m.
In addition to applying for the scholarships offered by Southern, Beauvais said she also applied and received scholarships the last three years that are offered by her hometown fire department in Guilford. Jennings said he is currently in the middle of applying for a scholarship offered by one of his employers, Big Y Food Inc. Big Y awards college students in the Massachusetts and Connecticut area who they deem academically outstanding.
Kyle Tamulevich, a senior political science major, said he wished he had taken advantage of scholarships in the time he has attended Southern.
“I always saw offers to apply for scholarships or had people tell me to apply for scholarships, but I never did,” Tamulevich said. “I could have reduced the amount of student loans I have amassed.”
Tamulevich said he tells everyone to apply for as many scholarships as possible, even though he never did.
“I saw that the deadline for scholarships offered by Southern was extended and I told the people I was with who were eligible to apply, that they should definitely apply,” he said.
Jennings also recommends Southern students apply for every scholarship they are qualified for.
“They are easy applications,” Jennings said before adding, “I just hope I hear something soon.”
