Sarah Mountain Troy University’s scholarships are being revamped. Requirements and awards will be changed for the incoming freshman class in fall of 2020. This will be the second time in three years that alterations are made to the Chancellor’s and Millennium scholarships. The rewards last changed in 2018. However, these updates to the scholarships for next fall do not allow students who entered Troy in fall of 2018 or 2019 to receive the increased awards. “The college recruitment environment is highly competitive, and we felt these changes were needed to make Troy University a more attractive option for talented high school graduates,” said Dr. John Schmidt, senior vice chancellor for student services. Schmidt said that the value of scholarships is due to the amount of funding changing from year to year, which brings changes in awards. “The changes to the scholarships for fall 2020 were made possible by a combination of increased state funding and financial stewardship,” Schmidt said. “However, these changes are not retroactive and will only apply to those incoming first-year students for fall 2020.” The intent of these scholarships, regardless of year, is to interest students who are looking at colleges, and many students can attribute that Troy’s scholarships were a driving factor in choosing this school. “Receiving the Millennium scholarship swayed my decision immensely,” said Alexis Kirkpatrick, a junior elementary education major from Niceville, Florida. “Knowing that those costs would be taken care of made me feel secure about being able to financially support myself in college.” “We hope that these new scholarships will make Troy University a more attractive choice to students making their college decisions,” Schmidt said. “They will help Troy attract the best and the brightest students from throughout Alabama and beyond.” Some students from the freshman classes of 2018 and 2019 are upset by the changes because they were not given the opportunity to be awarded the same amounts, even though they meet the requirements for the scholarships offered next fall.“I think it’s unfair that the amount (of scholarship award) is going up, but my class can’t have the same,” said Devon Ardis, a freshman elementary education major from Fairhope, Alabama. “I understand the GPA requirement is also going up, and I think that if the people in my class maintain a 3.5 or higher (GPA) we should receive the same amount. “If we meet the same criteria why shouldn’t we receive the same amount?” Lara White, a freshman English education major from Gardendale, Alabama, said that she took some steps to fight for the scholarship money. “I went to admissions and asked about the change and if I would be receiving the extra money and they told me I would not,” White said. “I feel cheated. People are coming in with less qualifications (next fall) and getting more scholarship aid than I am. “I feel that those who received the scholarship should be able to reapply or plead our case as to why we should receive the new scholarship.” According to Admissions, the changes in qualifications vary slightly on ACT scores, and the main difference lies in the splitting of the Millennium Scholarship into two different awards. The Chancellor’s Scholarship award varies only slightly by $1,000. The larger difference lies in the Millennium Scholarship where it changes from a dollar value award to coverage of full tuition, housing, and meal plan at the highest level. All updates to scholarships and scholarship information can be found on Troy University’s website.
Staff Writer
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