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Student Scholarships – $8 million Accomplishing academic excellence requires long-term investments in scholarships that attract top achievers. CMU already has made it a top priority to competitively recruit and provide financial support for talented and diverse Michigan students. To maintain competitive status with peer institutions, additional endowed merit-based and need-based scholarships and financial aid are essential. Merit-based awards CMU and its six academic colleges attract many talented students from around the world. It is becoming increasingly difficult to keep the best of these students here without the availability of more full scholarships. Each year, many students who would prefer CMU accept more competitive scholarships from other institutions. The need for these awards is clear and growing. More than 1,900 prospective freshmen applied in 2003 alone for 40 prestigious Centralis Scholarships, the university’s top renewable merit-based awards. Another 1,500 applied for the renewable Leadership Advancement Scholarship. CMU will continue to earn favored status with many future generations of talented Michigan high school students when it can provide additional scholarships that raise learning standards in classrooms and promote academic excellence among all students. Need-based awards CMU provides exceptional higher education value, and it attracts a large pool of freshman applicants. Among CMU applicants, an unprecedented 40 percent are first-generation college students, most coming from families with modest means. These students grew up in many of the same underserved communities that are the focus of CMU’s innovative outreach programs in the areas of health care, social welfare, teacher education, community planning, and more. Additional need-based awards will make it possible for more of these students to enroll at CMU and fulfill the dreams of their parents, many of whom may not have had adequate resources or incentives to succeed in college. CMU currently provides a large percentage of all students with assistance, but these awards are not keeping pace with rising costs. In the 2002-03 school year, CMU provided financial support to 19,324 students. Although well over half of CMU students held jobs while attending classes, on-campus seniors with loans still graduated with an average debt of nearly $16,000, and students in some programs graduated with debts as high as $60,000. Central Michigan University is proud of its long tradition of providing high-quality, cost-effective education. Additional financial assistance will attract an increasing number of outstanding students from a variety of backgrounds, improve the overall quality of classroom experiences and student achievements, and continue to advance the university’s reputation as a learner-centered institution. Back to Previous Page |
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