More than 900 University of Wyoming first-year students are taking advantage of Hathaway Scholarships totaling approximately $2.4 million.

With the promise of financial aid, the confirmed new in-state freshman class is up 16 percent from a year ago, says Noah Buckley, interim director of admissions.

This fall 920 entering students are eligible for Hathaway Scholarship Merit Awards, and that number could rise slightly once the new school year begins Monday, Aug. 28, says David Gruen, Student Financial Aid director. Of those students, 276 are eligible for Hathaway Scholarship Need Awards which help cover “unmet need” that is calculated after students fill out the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). Approximately $472,000 will be awarded through the Hathaway Scholarship Need Awards program, Gruen says.

Named for former Wyoming Gov. Stan Hathaway, the Hathaway Scholarships reward eligible Wyoming students with scholarship money to attend UW or one of the seven Wyoming community colleges. The 2005 legislature authorized the Hathaway Scholarship Program to provide merit- and need-based financial aid to Wyoming residents.

“The Hathaway Scholarship program has made a significant impact on this fall’s new student enrollment. It accounts for nearly all of the growth that we’re expecting among new students,” Buckley says. “We are hearing from a lot of students who say the scholarship enticed them to stay in Wyoming. Many students and parents tell us how the scholarships are helping them afford going to college to begin with.”

Any Wyoming high school graduate, starting with the class of 2006, who meets the set academic requirements, can earn between $800 and $1,600 per semester to attend an in-state institution of higher learning. Scholarships are for eight semesters.

Under the rules adopted by the legislature, three levels of Hathaway Scholarships are available to students. The Hathaway Honor Scholarship (3.5 grade point average and 25 ACT score) will receive a $3,200 scholarship per year; students receiving the Hathaway Performance Scholarship (3.0 grade point average and 21 ACT score) will receive a $2,400 scholarship; and students receiving the Hathaway Opportunity Scholarship (2.5 grade point average and 19 ACT score) will receive a $1,600 scholarship. Recipients in all scholarship categories are eligible for need-based aid.

A few days before UW classes were to begin, 261 students received Hathaway Honors Scholarships; 231 received Hathaway Opportunity Scholarships; and 428 received Hathaway Performance Scholarships. Additionally, 276 of those students are eligible for Need Awards, with 82 receiving Hathaway Honors Needs and 194 Hathaway Opportunity Needs awards.

Students admitted to UW for fall 2007 with the award of a four-year Wyoming Trustees Pride Scholarship (formerly known as the Trustees Superior Student Scholarship) will receive the difference between the Hathaway Honors Scholarship and the total cost of tuition, fees, and room and board at UW.

Students receiving the President’s Promise Scholarship (formerly known as the UW President’s High School Honor Scholarship), will receive a minimum of $1,000 for each of four years in addition to their Hathaway merit scholarship.

The Wyoming Department of Education now requires that a high school student complete four years of English/language arts classes for scholarship eligibility along with three years of math, science and social studies courses, however curriculum requirements could change in future years.

“Over time, there will be curriculum requirements and it will require more than just a GPA and test scores for students to earn a Hathaway,” Buckley says.

The curriculum that is being developed will better prepare students for college, Gruen adds.

Buckley says the long-term impact of the Hathaway Scholarship is yet to be seen but it should help curb declining high school enrollment in the state.

“The goal of the Hathaway is to get more Wyoming students to go on to college, but it takes awhile to ingrain that culture into students,” he says. “We need to establish that college is important for everyone, and that it can be accomplished with the Hathaway Scholarship. If we’re going to maintain our enrollment, there is only one way to do that, and that is to get more students into the pipeline to consider going to college.”

This entry was posted on Friday, August 25th, 2006 at 11:57 pm and is filed under Education, Scholarship. Tags: College, Education, Financial Aid, Scholarship, Student. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.