Freshmen awarded wrong scholarship
Last April, Bonnie Evans opened the first of a series of three letters she received from the Utah State University Admissions department. She was delighted to find she had been awarded a Dean’s Scholarship, which pays full-tuition for four years.
About five days later, the second letter crushed her hopes, informing her that there had been an error and she was actually supposed to be awarded the Academic Merit Scholarship, which pays for half-tuition for four years.
“I didn’t know how I was going to be able to pay for it [school] if I didn’t get the scholarship,” Evans said.
A couple of days later, Evans said she received a phone call from USU telling her that they had decided to honor the Dean’s Scholarship. She also got a final letter reassuring her she was awarded the Dean’s Scholarship.
Joyce Kinkead, vice provost for undergraduate studies and research, said the Dean’s Scholarship and the Academic Merit Scholarship recipients were notified at the same time by mail, but due to a computer glitch, letters awarding the Dean’s scholarship were sent to both groups.
Kinkead said the error was realized within a couple of days and was immediately brought to the attention of President Kermit L. Hall. He then met with Kinkead, Stan Albrecht, executive vice president and provost, the business vice president and John DeVilbiss, executive director of public relations and marketing, and decided the university should honor the all of the Dean’s Scholar Awards, she said.
“It was one of those classroom ethical situations you study,” Kinkead said.
President Hall felt it was important for USU to honor its commitment to the incoming freshman, Kinkead said.
The requirements for the scholarships are very similar, differing by two ACT points and a 3.75 GPA instead of a 3.5 GPA.
Kinkead said regardless of the award students were originally intended to receive, they are all “really good students” and USU is proud to have them.
The unanticipated awards will cost up to $2.3 million and will be funded using a central reserve fund, she said.
“The reserve is kept in reserve. It’s kind of like a rainy day fund and this happened to be a rainy day,” Kinkead said.
The additional funding needed for this year will not affect future scholarships because not all the students involved will still be here, Kinkead said.
Historically, only 63 percent of the students at the Academic Merit Scholar level retain their scholarships after students who transfer or do not meet the requirements are eliminated, Kinkead said. She said this could help reduce the amount of money needed.
Kinkead said they decided to honor the scholarships, regardless of cost, because it was the right thing to do.
Judy LeCheminant, director of Financial Aid, said she felt the administration handled to situation well.
“There was nothing that went un-awarded because of it.” she said, “It didn’t cut back on any other scholarships or awards.”
LeCheminant said she has noticed that President Hall has been working hard to put more into financial aid and scholarships. She said she felt that was a really good thing for the administration to take that type of interest in the students.
– krasmus@cc.usu.edu