The average cost of a college education at a four year state university in Minnesota is $31,000-$38,000.
Get your calculator out. The average cost of a college education at a four year state university in Minnesota is $31,000-$38,000. That 5,439 to 6,667 hours worked at minimum wage. There are a total of 8,760 hours in a year. The math is a bit overwhelming. The answer? SCHOLARSHIPS.
Each year, more than 2,900 WSU students from a total student body of 8,652 on both the Winona and Rochester campuses (8,108 undergraduates and 544 graduate students) receive upwards of $4,130,000 in scholarship support. That is nearly 34% of the student body that relies on scholarship and university grant support. For many, this is the only way they can afford a college education.
Scholarship awards range from $300 – $5,000 a year. The university strives to provide qualifying students with a minimum of $1000 in scholarship money per year. Scholarships are awarded in all colleges, for various types of traditional and non-traditional students, first generation students, with varied disciplines and diverse background and studies. If you wonder whether there is a scholarship for some particular affiliation, there likely is.
Winona State has been awarding scholarship for as long as anyone can remember. The very first scholarship awarded by the Winona State Foundation Board was received by Brenda Litscher in 1984 in the amount of $3,600. The first Scholarship Breakfast was also held that year with 21 scholarships awards. The 30th annual Scholarship Breakfast was held this past September with 1,100 people attending to celebrate the nearly 800 student recipients. Now that’s growth! “It really made a difference,” Litscher said. “There weren’t a lot of student loans back then. The scholarship made a huge impact on my life.”
Where do all these scholarships come from? The answer is easy: YOU. Individuals donate money specifically to a department, cause, or a favored discipline. There are academic and sports scholarships, music and arts, health and sciences, business, engineering, education, electronics, nursing, mathematics, liberal arts, and the list goes on. Annual scholarships are immediate awards through gifts given each year, and Endowed scholarships are gifts given to reach an amount to sustain a scholarship in perpetuity through investing the gifts.
But perhaps the most endearing scholarships are those donated by alumni, faculty, families and friends of the university, who give in honor of someone special, naming the scholarship after that person. The honored individual may be living or deceased, a family member, favorite professor, or significant mentor. It is these scholarships that offer financial support that casts a wide net, allowing so many more students access to success, helping ease the financial burden of an education, thereby freeing students to focus on learning.
But there IS a catch – the student has to apply! And many don’t – whether they aren’t sure how to pursue available scholarships, are confused by the process, or perhaps they are unaware the opportunities exist. The sad fact is, scholarships are left on the table each year due to a lack of applicants. The scholarship application process isn’t difficult and staff are ready, willing, and able to help students conquer the task.
Some scholarships require a written essay and interview, while others don’t. Once a student has applied for one scholarship, the student’s application is automatically evaluated for academic awards across the system, so there is no extra paperwork to complete. But they have to make that first most important step: APPLY!
Establishing a scholarship is easy. You define the recipient criteria, the award amount and the type of scholarship, either annual or endowed. You can make a difference in the lives of students during your lifetime or through your estate. To learn more about helping students achieve their dreams through scholarships, contact the WSU Foundation / Winona State University Advancement office at 507-457-5020 or
ws*************@wi****.edu
