This fall, Temple will begin to award qualified students with revitalized freshman scholarships, which can earn a dedicated first-year student a range of scholarships ranging from a few thousand dollars off tuition to a full-ride.
Temple will implement five types of academic scholarships for the fall semester, each determined by the overall GPA along with SAT and ACT composite scores of each freshman. The amount awarded will range from $3,000 to a full paid tuition for in-state students and $5,000 to a full paid tuition for out-of-state students. The new formula is a far cry from the previous year, when students only expected about $2,500 to $5,000 for in-state residents and $7,500 to $10,000 for out-of-state students.
Karin Mormando, director of admissions, said she believes that the intensification of recruitment from other universities this year has caused Temple to amplify its previous scholarship program.
“Certainly what has become more apparent is that the competition for talented students has become quite fierce,” Mormando said. “Demographics are shifting in this area, particularly in the northeast region of the country, where we recruit.”
The intensity of recruitment among the region has also forced Temple to change its financial policy to maintain its standing as a marketable university to top students graduating from high school. William Black, senior vice provost for enrollment management, explained the process of molding the program into a strong enrollment tool to entice academic hopefuls.
“For the last several years, the quality of our applicant pool continues to go up,” Black said. “That is the trend we want to keep going.”
Alongside a growing number of motivated students, the university has also raised the bar by offering full scholarships to the highest achieving high school graduates enrolling in Temple next fall.
According to Temple’s website, students who qualify for the President’s Scholars Scholarship are offered full tuition coverage, plus three $4,000 educational enhancement stipends for approved study abroad, research, internships or other summer academic activities.
Mormando points out the potential of having a stipend available to any student that can utilize it to their fullest potential.
“The idea is to allow a student to apply for approval for a project that does not fall easily into the three categories of study abroad, research or other summer activities, but can be shown to fulfill the spirit of the educational enhancement rationale for the stipend,” she said. “These students may well exhibit any sort of creativity that would justify using the stipend to support their project.”
These incentives, Black said, are the perfect ingredients for creating a stronghold against competing private and state universities nationwide.
“As more schools gets more aggressive and experimental in the amount of scholarships they offer, we feel that we need to be alongside them,” Black said.
The scholarship program was also created to give students an opportunity to achieve their goal during economic hardship.
“We are realists, and we know that in this economic environment, people are making choices where finances are the important part of that decision,” Black said.
Forty percent of first-year students at Temple are expected to receive an academic scholarship, which does not require an additional application.
Both Mormando and Black said they are very optimistic about the scholarship program.
“We will know more when we hit the fall,” Mormando said. “We will be following the yield closely to see how many students accept our offer.”
Edward Barrenechea can be reached at edward.barrenechea@temple.edu.
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