One door opens and another one closes: USU campus scholarship change
Utah State University has been ranked one of the most affordable universities in the United States, now that affordability is being expanded to more than just central campus students. In total USU has 33 campuses across the state, all of which offer USU courses for the same price that central campus students pay.
What made these campuses different financially though was that they didn’t offer the same scholarships to their students. That policy has recently changed so that no matter which USU campus students are at, their scholarship follows them.
“If a student in Tooele graduates high school and is leaving on an LDS mission but wants to take some classes before he leaves, he can do that at the Tooele campus and then come to Logan when he returns,” said Katie Jo Nielsen, director of admissions at USU. If a student wants a smaller campus feel but still a true college experience, they can attend our Price campus. If a student needs to take night classes and wants to do some in Logan and some in Brigham City, that is now an option. If a student is from Salt Lake and needs to stay home for whatever reason, they can take classes in Kaysville or Salt Lake.”
The point is to give students access to a state university wherever they need to reside.
“It makes the options personal to the student and what best fits their needs,” Nielsen said.
While distance education students may be overjoyed about this new opportunity, central campus students may not be as excited. With the doors to scholarship opportunities expanding, more competition is created for central campus students while distance education students still receive the advantage of scholarships available specifically for their campus.
“There are specific scholarships still available based on individual campuses but if a student qualifies for an academic scholarshipand meets the deadlines, they can use it at whatever campus is most convenient for them,” Nielsen said.
This new change frustrates many central campus students who want to know why the policy has changed.
“I don’t understand why they would make this change. It doesn’t seem very fair to central campus students,” said Tara McCready, a pre-art major at USU’s central campus.
Other students are simply frustrated with all differences that are presented with USU’s distance education program.
“There should be equal opportunities for all students attending USU no matter where they are going, whether it is opportunities to attend classes or financial opportunities,” said Sam Carroll, a landscape architect and environmental planning major at USU central campus.
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@HowardShanie