Grove City College Increases Scholarship Awards by $2.5M
GROVE CITY, Pa. – Grove City College announced today that it will increase financial aid awards available to students this fall to help families navigating college costs in a season of uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
“Ordinarily, our low tuition and extensive financial aid make a Grove City College education distinctively affordable, but these are not ordinary times,” said President Paul J. McNulty in a statement. “Thanks to the remarkable generosity of the college’s faithful supporters, we will make the college even more affordable for families facing financial hardship.”
The college will invest an additional amount of nearly $2.5 million from its endowment and other gifts to increase awards for the 2020-2021 academic year, he said. Sixty-six percent of the private Christian liberal arts college’s 2,300 students receive need- or merit-based financial aid from the college. All need-based aid recipients should see a 20% increase in their scholarship amounts under the plan. The total amount of funded scholarships will exceed $10 million.
In particular, the college will make additional funds available to help students and families experiencing recent economic hardship. Such special consideration scholarships provide much needed assistance for students who otherwise might not remain enrolled at the college. With a rise in the unemployment rate and a decline in personal incomes in the current environment, the college said it anticipates an increase in these types of situations and is preparing to support these students in the new academic year.
A commitment of this level is an unprecedented initiative for Grove City College, according to McNulty. Reaffirming its core value of financial independence during this crisis, the college is not pursuing emergency funding under the Cares Act, which earmarked billions to help colleges and universities, or any future relief legislation, he noted.
Grove City College, founded in 1876, offers the lowest tuition of any private college in Pennsylvania.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
