More aid on the horizon

By Katherine Kaye

With the start of the college’s new initiative, Scholarship Columbia, and an increase in the scholarship fund, new aid is definitely on the horizon for Columbia students.

Among the things set for change in the coming year is an anticipated 46 percent increase in the scholarship fund for Columbia and its new program, Scholarship Columbia.

Since beginning the effort to raise $1 million in aid for Scholarship Columbia, the Office of Institutional Advancement has received $200,000 in pledges and cash that have been committed to the program. Outside of the program, Dr. Eric Winston, vice president of Institutional Advancement, said that scholarship funding is the first priority of his office.

“Not only are we engaged in Scholarship Columbia, but when we are out trying to seek dollars for Columbia College across the whole spectrum of needs of Columbia, scholarships are always our first request because we know how important they are,” Winston said.

The Office of Institutional Advancement’s objective is to raise funds for Columbia in general. The Office raised $13 million in funding last year, a record high for the department, but there is a push to raise scholarship money right now.

Winston said that most of the donors like giving to the college’s scholarship fund and request that the students get the money right away. His office goes to corporations, foundations and individuals to pitch scholarship funding, but the most difficult group to raise money from is Columbia alumni.

“The reason for that is that Columbia College, historically, never provided support for students, you paid your money and you came here,” Winston said.

Because of this, many alumni have turned down requests for funding and feel as though Columbia students should be financially independent like they once were.

“When I’ve talked to Columbia alumni about giving to Columbia for scholarships, I’ve had people say very bluntly, ‘No, I’m not going to do that because nobody helped me when I was in school… they should get a job like I did,’” Winston said.

He thinks it is just a situation Columbia will have to overcome because those students were not helped with their schooling. For every alumnus who feels that way, there are one or two who are willing to help, he said.

In terms of who is sought out as a donor, the office has a “very sophisticated process of screening people,” Winston said.

“One of the first things that we did when I came on board was create a cadre of alumni volunteers, and we are always asking them to tell us about new alumni,” Winston said.

There are several chapters of volunteers in various states who communicate regularly with Winston’s staff about new alumni to approach for donations. The department also monitors and reads newspapers to scan for important people in the arts community.

“If somebody is a big person in the arts or interested in the arts, they would be a great candidate to be associated with Columbia,” Winston said. “We use all of the vehicles and events that we have to try and get them to the campus and get to know them.”

The Office of Student Affairs is also involved in the scholarship process and plays a role in promoting Scholarship Columbia.

“What we hope is that for next year there will be a minimum of $400,000 of additional scholarships coming from this initiative,” said Mark Kelly, vice president of Student Affairs.

With the new increase in the budget for the scholarship fund, Kelly talked of plans to increase the number of students on scholarships at Columbia.

“Through institutional scholarships, about 1,700 students are receiving scholarships this academic year; next year that’ll increase to 2,300 students,” Kelly said. “We would hope to continue to build on that.”

With this year’s budget, he said the college still focused on what was important.

“I think it’s fair to say that for this coming budget year, the No. 1 priority was scholarships,” Kelly said.

Emma Larsson, a senior graphic design major, came to Columbia two years ago as a transfer student with a 3.8 GPA. She applied for two Columbia (in-house) scholarships, the Phi Theta Kappa Scholarship and the Transfer Student Scholarship, both based on academic achievement.

“I was very disappointed I didn’t get [them],” Larsson said.

She talked about how hard it is for upper classmen with not much financial need to find scholarships at Columbia.

“If you’re not in a financial bind and you are a junior or senior, there’s nothing for you,” Larsson said. “It was very frustrating.”

She said Scholarship Columbia is a good idea but felt it could have been beneficial when she first came to Columbia. She said that as an alumna she would give back to Columbia.

“I would want to support Columbia in some way, be it scholarships or something else,” Larsson said.

As for the future of scholarships at Columbia, Larsson said she would like to see Columbia expand the privilege to more groups of students.

“They should offer a scholarship for people working X amount of hours and still have 15-plus credit hours,” Larsson said.

For more information on Scholarship Columbia and other scholarships, visit Colum.edu/scholarships.